I dream of being a roller derby girl!!

I have found my people....they look like me, they talk like me.....they act like me.....they are my people....I just haven't met them yet!!!  *L*  I am obsessed...and I do mean OBSESSED with roller derby.  I want to be on a team....I want to skate!!  Unfortunately I live in a very small rural farming town...and they are only interested in the county fair and cowboys.  My town has a hard time accepting the bright pink hair, the piercings, and all the tattoos.  The closest roller derby team is two hours away...and they are a brand new team!  Oh what I wouldn't give to get in on the ground floor of that.  I just can't afford to drive two hours several times a week.  So I obsess from afar *L*.
My husband bought me a roller derby game for the Wii....not quite the same but I love it anyway!

I work as the office manager for two lawyers...and I found out on Friday that one of them won't be working for the county anymore at the end of April.  This will cause my hours to be cut back and I will be losing about a thousand dollars a month.  I'm still in a whole lot of shock over that one!  I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do.  I had been planning on trying to get back to school for hair and nails...but that may be right out with the loss of income!  *L*  But, life goes on and it will all work out!

Getting older is complicated.....

Yep...I've been away for a while.  I've had all sorts of things pop up that need me immediate attention.  First and foremost, my husband's dad is sick.  He was diagnosed with prostrate cancer a little over a year ago.  It's progressing pretty fast so he's in and out of the hospital.  So we've trying to help out with that as much as we can, since my husband's mom isn't as young as she used to be.
We've been arguing with my 18 year old son about graduation.  Looks like he's going to be able to pull it out in the end, but it's been nothing but a fight to get him to do homework!

I did manage to squeeze in a little arts and crafts time for me.  My hubby is a member of Craftster and he was doing a Dungeon's and Dragon's swap....so while he worked on that I crocheted him his very own beholder.  Got the pattern here: http://www.theanticraft.com/archive/imbolc08/beholder.htm

His name is Bostwick

I've been plugging away at a shirt I'm modifying but it's been slow going.  I have a small attention problem...I start things then think of something else that would be fun to do.  *L*

I found a phone case tutorial on Crafster....because you can find all the coolest people making the coolest things there....and since I keep dropping my Droid and breaking the hard cases I keep buying, I thought I'd give this a try...

 http://www.4shared.com/document/-r1W4GNh/Blackberry_phone_case_Tutorial.html

Super easy to make!!

Had a long weekend

I got to enjoy a 4 day weekend at home with my family.  I did a whole lot of stuff....did my daughters nails (twice because she broke one), dyed her hair purple.  My mom came over and I did her nails...first time ever she's had acrylic nails on...she's hooked I think!  She stayed for about 4 hours or so just to visit.  I hung out with my husband and my son let me use his computer to play Left 4 Dead 2.  Boy am I terrible at first person shooter games.  However, they are my husbands favorite types of computer games so if I wanna play a game with him, I'm gonna have to brush up on my zombie killing skills.  *L*  I gave my hubby a shave and a haircut so it looks like someone cares about him now.
I thought I would share a few things from around my house today...so here are 5...count them....5 vaguely interesting things about me....

This is the empty space my 32 inch flat screen used to occupy in my bedroom for the many nights I can't sleep....we had a quick little power surge that knocked to power out for about 5 seconds....it was enough to kill my TV.  *sigh*

I have the absolute best husband in the entire world.  He puts up with my strange behavior and weird obsessions and loves me still.  *L*  I got a wild hair one day and decided I simply HAD to paint our master bathroom hot pink....he took me straight to the store for paint!

These are little love notes from my hubby....they are currently stuck to the wall under my bathroom mirror.  But originally they were stuck all over the house....under my bathrobe, in the fridge, on my sewing machine...he's the best!!  He does this kind of stuff a lot...enough that it makes my friends make retching noises when I tell them about it.....so you'd think I'd be used to it...but I am constantly amazed and how much he loves me and how often he shows me.  I ain't kidding around when I say I'm spoiled rotten!!

Though I hate to admit it....this is what my craft room usually looks like!!  A huge disaster.  The cutting table in the middle there is sort of like the straw game where you have to pull a straw without knocking any others over.  There are scissors, pins, clothing projects, nail stuff, glass beads, my husband drawing tablet...pick a thing and I could probably find it on that table!!  *L*

And this....this is what my kids call "The Chair of Power"!!!  It's mine..no one else is allowed to sit in it but me.  My laptop is there, my glasses are there, usually a water bottle, almost always at least one bottle of nail polish.  When I'm done working and done crafting....this is where I rule my home from....it's also where I tend to fall asleep if I kick the foot rest up...so I try not to do that to often.  My children LOVE to let me know I snore!  *L*

I had nothing to add yesterday!

So it would seem that blogging everyday just isn't in the cards for me.  It's not that I don't aspire to writing every day...it's just that some days I have nothing of value to talk about.
However, I did get some more sewing in yesterday.  I came across a website about repurposing, revamping, reconditioning your wardrobe.  It's a group of people who have promised themselves they won't buy anything new until they can and will wear everything in their closet.  I think I can do that!  I have a closet and dresser full of clothes that sort of fit, that I sort of like, that I don't like at all but I paid good money for.  So, I pulled out everything that I refuse to wear for whatever reason and started cutting last night!  I've always been a fan of making something usable out of something I already own, so that was easy enough.
Let me first start by saying that I am in love with my duct tape dress dummy.  This was the second time I've gotten to use her, and the first time I've used her for a recon.  If you don't have a dress dummy...get one, make one, steal one....they are soooo worth it!!  Mine now has a pink name tag placed by my 18-year-old son that says Hi, my name is Mom.  He tells his friends I made it so that he would have something to hug when I'm not around *L*.  He says he'd like to take her with him when he moves out this summer so he won't miss me so much.

Ok, so onto the new shirt...here is the first in a long line of things I will be revamping.  It started out as a long sleeved button up..I don't wear it as it way too big and sort of frumpy:

It has now become a cute little blouse that I will totally wear...in fact, I am wearing it right now!!

A close up of some of the details.  I already had the skully fabric in my huge stash!!  If it's pink and has skullies or bows I buy it!!

I was going for a bowling-esque shirt...didn't turn out exactly as I pictured it in my mind...but they almost never do.  *L*  I have a tiny bit of tweaking to do still.  I want to shorten it up a bit...it's still kinda frumpy long, and I got a little chop happy with the neckline and it shows a bit too much boobage.  So I'm gonna add a little skully panel to fix that....But I would say it is now a wearable article of clothing for my closet....

Overalls are a GO!!

I have been obsessing over trying to make a pair of 1940's style overalls...seemed like they'd be comfy and flattering to my ... um ... more rubenesque figure.  Sadly, I couldn't use a vintage pattern, for several reasons.  Can't afford to purchase one, and I'm pretty sure that once I bought one I wouldn't be able to bring myself to cut it up.  *L*  And, finally, those girls in the 40's where a bit skinnier than I am so I would have to do some major modifications. So, in true Trixie fashion I morphed a couple of other patterns into what I was looking for.
Using Betty the dress dummy is AWESOME...why I never made one of those before is a mystery.  It made sizing so much easier!  She's not quite as "soft" as I am, but what a great tool to have!
My husband got me a book for Christmas called Sewing for Plus Size by Barbara Deck.  What a great book.
She shows you how to correctly alter patterns to fit us bigger gals.  I tried my hand at moving the darts on the front of my overalls and wouldn't you know it....it worked!  *L*  So, it would seem that my sewing skills are advancing again just by using the right tools and information....who knew??
I had a few hiccups with the overalls...this is the second incarnation of them.  I buggered the zipper a bit and my next pair will have a slightly longer crotch....but they're really comfy, I look sorta dressy while still being able to wear overalls.  So great!

 Hubby and I went searching junk stores yesterday.  I love second hand stores...you find the best stuff for very little money.  I have a bad habit of buying way too much stuff though, because I look at things with a slightly different eye than most.  I look for fabric prints and textures that I love because I know that I can modify it into something I will wear and/or that will fit.  I managed to get away from our shopping trip with two pairs of shoes, one pink plaid shirt and a lavender twin set.
I am most proud of my shoe finds.  The first pair was a black modern take on a vintage oxford.  I LOVE them and I only paid 3 bucks for them!  My second find...and probably the coolest, was a pair of maryjane style Keens!  I have been trying to figure out a way I could score a pair of those, but they're 85 dollar shoes...just couldn't justify it.  However, I found a brand new pair at the second hand store for $1.50.  SCORE!!

I'm going to modify the pink plaid into something a little more form fitting and rockabilly....it's a 5X long sleeved button up....lots of fabric...I can do something with that so check back!

Day 7 - Trixie's back baby!!

No makeup and pink hair!

I have gone and done it...I dyed my hair pink and black....AGAIN!!  Whoo Hoo!!
I'm having a "down" kind of day.  Not sure what the deal is...nothing happened...had a pretty mellow day.  I was a bit productive.  I slept until 10...because I'm spoiled and I don't work on Fridays.  I got up and worked on my overalls.  Betty the dress form, had her first job today of sizing my overalls.  She's currently wearing a blouse I'm working on.  The overalls are coming together great!  Soon, very soon there will be pictures of me wearing them.

Day 5...I am addicted to nail art!!

There..I said it...out loud...in a public-ish forum!!  I am addicted to nail art.  I've worn freakishly long acrylic nails for years.  Paid out the nose for them too.  Then it occurred to me one day that I could do them myself...how hard could it be? *L*  So I've been doing my own nails for about 6 or 7 years!  It's way cheaper and I don't have to explain to the lady that YES I do want them that long....and YES I can function properly with them that long....and YES I can type, tie my shoes, put on jewelry and open pop cans with them that long!!  *L*
My thoughts on it is...the longer, the flashier, the trashier, the brighter the better!!!  And since no one in the small town I live in is willing to do my nails the way I want them I started hand painting them myself!!

The only downside is that my friends and daughters now want their nails done all the time...so I suffer from burn out from time to time which means that my own nail maintenance falls to the wayside.

Pictures of nails past:

Oops...missed a day!

So I missed a day of blogging already!!  Dang it....and it was partly my fault partly the fault of the building I work in. The heat was out in my office for two days making for a very miserable Trixie!!  My boss sent me to buy space heaters so we could at least function...so $100 later I was huddled in front of my brand new desk heater...which ran for approximately 3 minutes before knocking out the power to only my office!  This effectively killed the phone system, knocked out the internet, and shut down my computer and printer!  Took them an hour to find the breaker box.  Finally, power gets turned back on...me huddled in front of my desk heater again...tried to print something...BANG...no power again!  This time there isn't anyone in the building with the key to the breaker box so I got to go home an hour early!!  I haven't been doing any sewing or crafty stuff as I've been coming home and bundling up in my chair with a blanket and warm socks and trying to bribe the dogs to lay on my feet!!
This morning we have power AND heat!!  Whoo hoo!!

I did manage to get my daughters acrylic nails on yesterday.  I'm going to finish painting them tonight...since my girl has a love of long trashy nails just like her momma!!  I have two people asking to get their nails done as well....perhaps I should start to charge for this stuff!!

I got a bonus from one of my bosses for christmas so I bought myself a pretty new bauble!!  It's hard to tell in the picture but the stones are pink!!  I am obsessed with pink!  I have a beautiful wedding set, gold...diamonds, but I've been feeling that Trixie should wear something big and flashy.....and pink!  *L*

My Christmas present to me!!!

Day 3...Watch out for that holiday poundage!!

So we are back on track with our "lifestyle change".  We've opted to NOT call it a diet  *L*.  I gained a whopping 10.8 pounds over the holidays.  DAMN!!  Not gonna beat myself up though....them were some darn good cookies!!
Not a whole lot going on at the moment.  First day back to work for the new year and we showed up to a broken boiler.  Our office is in the upstairs of a post office...a historic building built in I think 1910...it would seem the boiler is just as old.  The office is a balmy 42 degrees!!  We're all sitting around with runny noses and our coats on!!  My boss keeps referring to everyone as "my comrade" then went out and purchased two egg rolls from the gas station hot case to keep in his pockets to warm his hands!  *L*

Day 2...so lazy!!

I accomplished about nothing today.  I did manage to get part of the sewing room picked up and I tightened up and replaced my friend Polly's hair extensions.  That's about it.  My neck is still out so I'm not really able to do much.  Tomorrow will be a better day!

I think I'll call it a night early, take some Aleve and go to bed and watch some tv!

365 Project....and we're off....

All dolled up for New Years

Happy New Year!!!  We had no kids for a change so we decided on a grown-up night.  My husband and I went to the bar with a couple of friends.  My husband bought me lots of rockabilly clothes for Christmas, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to wear something super cute!!  I even dug out my cherry print bra that I bought last year and never wore.  We went dancing, had a few drinks and rung in the new year with some good friends.

My duct tape dummy, Betty, is all finished.  So tomorrow I will tidy the sewing room and begin my projects!!