Yesterday, All My Projects Seemed So Far Away...

So much happened yesterday that I had to wait a whole day before telling you about any of it! lol

First of all, yesterday was Sesame Street's 40th anniversary. Holy cow, this show has been going strong for 40 years!

I loved watching Grover teach about near and far:



And I L-O-V-E-D the skits where Grover was a waiter:



Toot turned 13 months old yesterday and she is now officially over the one year mark, yikes! Speaking of which, when do you stop counting months and just say "one year old"? This extra months + 12 months thing is confusing...lol.

Yesterday I watched "The Edge of Love" with Keira Knightly and is was...eh. But it took place during WWII which leads me to say....

Thank you to all veterans every where for your invaluable service and sacrifice! I appreciate you keeping me free! :D

Also yesterday I finished my Christmas tree skirt! This pattern was actually pretty easy and luckily I was able to crochet on auto-pilot for a good while which is always appreciated (you can't really do that in amigurumi! lol). It was raining here yesterday so the pics aren't great but here it is, with and without the flash (I'm sure you will all notice the sneaky arm in the bottom right corner. Mommy's little shadow! lol):





Now on to the next project! Happy Veteran's Day everyone!

Family Pictures: Album Five

First of all, concerning my last post that included some Renaissance Festival pictures...did anyone else notice (besides Carmen lol) that Twig the Fairy HERSELF commented on my post?!?! HOLY SMOKES! Coolest thing ever! lol Thanks for your comment Miss Twig! :D

So it is time once again for some pictures from our Family Vault (i.e. the box in our den) and if you're just joining us you can read about these albums and see the first one HERE, the second one is HERE, the third album is HERE and the fourth album is HERE.

Album Five is a little sad. Not because the pictures are not as fabulous as the others but 90% of the pictures are so stuck to the pages due to the evil picture eating glue in these types of albums that I couldn't safely get a lot of them out. Thus, there aren't as many pictures to share with you today unfortunately! :( That being said, this album was so delightful and full of treasures, I hope you enjoy them!

And as always: I'm sure it goes without saying that these pictures are not to be posted anywhere or used in any way without express permission from me. Period. I can be contacted at katamommy at gmail.com. I promise I don't bite! :D

















Have a fabulous week everyone! :D

Some Random Huzzahs!

Welcome to Ye Old Post of Random Yore!

First things first, for all of you scrappers out there:

Vicki is holding a HUGE giveaway over at her blog: Texas Scrap Addict and like I said, it...is...HUGE! So get on over there and enter for your chance to win, tell her Maggi sent ya! :D Click HERE to see her giveaway post!

Don't believe me? Check out the grand prize:



Told you so! Click to make it bigger, you'll pee yourself when you see everything up for grabs! lol

I've already watched "A Christmas Story" about 10 times and it's not even Christmas yet. Well I can't help it! I love it! lol PLUS some of the local radio stations are playing Christmas music this weekend, yay! lol

Anyhoo, last weekend we made another trip to the Renaissance Festival and had a blast! Here are some random pics for your looking pleasure...

We saw the Green Man:



And Twig the Fairy:



A glass blowing demonstration:



And then we saw The Cheerio With A Strong Will To Live:



Here's some randomies:







Plus, a friend we were with got hypnotized and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E! lol

I hope y'all are all having a fabulous weekend! :D

Friday Night Fab Five: Bummer

Thank you for all of the compliments on my bird mobile, they are so appreciated! Someone pointed out that it was a Twitter mobile and the more I thought about it, the more I realized they were right! lol

Anyhoo, welcome to another Friday Night Fab Five where I list Five things I am into, at least for this week. Now this Friday Night Fab Five is going to be quite different from previous Fives because I'm going to focus on movies that are total bummers.

Maggi, I'm bummed just reading this post, what is going on?

Well, give me a minute and I'll tell you!

First off, you need to know this about me: 1. I hate spoilers and try to avoid them at all costs. I like to be totally surprised by everything, good or bad, a movie may offer me. And 2. I HAVE to have a happy ending. None of this dead person, unrequited crap. I want happy, I need happy. (I'm still mad at "Mrs. Doubtfire" for not getting the parents back together in the end and I've never forgiven Cameron for killing off Jack in "Titanic". I mean come on, take turns on the door or grab some dead persons raft or SOMETHING Leonardo, sheesh! Yes yes, I know that this is not realistic or "real life" but I don't care...

Okay, so we have Netflix and I started just throwing a bunch of stuff in our queue that looked interesting or that I hadn't seen yet. I started getting a little depressed and it was about my third movie in that I realized that everything I had watched either had a sad ending, was totally depressing or just plain sucked. It was then that I knew I was destined to highlight the best of the saddest for you, my fine readers.

A little note: 1. Just because I was bummed by these movies does NOT mean they aren't worth watching. I thought they were all good. 2. Yes, this may make me an awful person but if a movie or documentary is super sad, I LOVE showing it to friends and family without telling them anything about it ahead of time or what's going to happen. Don't ask me why I think it's fun to bum the people I love out but there it is...

So do you have your tissues? Great, on we go! (Feel free to click the movie titles to go to their Wikipedia page, just be aware of spoilers if you've not seen them yet!)

1. Phoebe in Wonderland



Ah yes, the first in a long list of sad and/or upsetting movies that I accidently watched all in a row. First of all, there is the word "Wonderland" in the title, how can that be bad? Then the opening sequence has these seemingly cool parents giving their daughter this mixed media hand made Wonderland thing-a-ma-jig. Then the movie makes this weird turn and the delightful Wonderland movie I was expecting turns into something completely different.

2. How Green Was My Valley



I had recently finished Maureen O'Hara's autobiography and she spoke often of this movie so I decided to check it out. This is a black and white drama about a Welsh family of coalminers and it is a bummer. People dying or leaving or doing goodness knows what else.

3. Revolutionary Road



Ahhh finally! A movie set in the 50s could never betray me right? RIGHT?! Holy smokes talk about a train wreck of a marriage suffocating the life out of it's occupants and the innocent people (i.e.-ME) watching them! Mother of pearl, this was a sad piece from one end to the other. But it was nice seeing DiCaprio and Winslet together again!

4. Atonement



For the love of...Are you kidding me?! This movie about A Girl Who Sees Something is an excellent movie. That being said, come on! Seriously? What a downer! Plus, the ending you don't see coming?! Double Downer! Sidenote: I am admittedly not a huge fan of Keira Knightly but she is quite good in this movie.

And finally....the Queen of All That is Depressing *drum roll*

5. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father



This one is worse because it's true. This is actually a documentary and it will rip the heart out of your chest. A film maker is told that a childhood friend is killed and so he decides to travel around the country, interviewing family and friends to create a movie of sorts for his friend's son so that he may know something of his father. What results is mind boggling and I wholeheartedly suggest you watch this movie ASAP.

And on that note, here passes another Friday Night Fab Five! :D If you've seen any of these, I would love to hear your thoughts! (Just no spoilers please, just in case others want to watch them. :) Have a sad movie you want me to check out? Just leave it in your comment!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Of Birds and Birthdays...

Today is a VERY special day because:

1. It is Callista's birthday! Woooooo hoooooo! I met Callista through her blog, Down the Rabbit Hole and have only known her a short while through posts and e-mails but I consider her a very great friend and want to wish her the best of birthdays today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLISTA!

And 2. I'm finally getting around to showing you my fully completed amigurumi bird mobile! I got the pattern from the book Amigurumi Two! by Ana Paula Rimoli. The patterns are a little more advanced than her first book but there are so many cute things to make from this book.

If you're new to crochet or know a stitch or two but would like to get into amigurumi, I wholeheartedly suggest getting Ana's first book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. She has good illustrations and explanations of stitches and I've found her patterns to be the easiest to understand if you're just starting out.

Anyhoo, here's my finished mobile and I apologize for the pictures. I made this for Chris' aunt's birthday and didn't take pictures of it until I got ready to pack it up in the middle of the night to ship to her the next day. By the way: really enjoy these pictures because I will NEVER make this project again, it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R! lol Lots of pieces, sewing together and what not...

So yes, this thing is huge and it took forever, lol. But I am quite pleased with the result and I hope his aunt likes it! :D

Have a great day everyone!

I'm a Renaissance (Wo) man, huzzah!

First I'd like to say that this post is extremely picture and video heavy! You've been warned. :D

I know that this post is running a little late as we took our first trip to the local Renaissance Festival a couple of weeks ago but in my defense, it took You Tube that long to upload all of the videos. Every year for the past 6 or 7 years we've gone to the Renaissance Festival for my birthday. I enjoy going so much and if you've never been to one, you are really missing out! So many talented performers and artists milling around, it is awesome!

Here's Toot and I before leaving the house. I'm wearing my vintage 50's hat that is covered in acorns.



We usually eat first thing when we get there and Chris got his usual fare: the Scotch Egg. (A hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage and then deep fried)



My mom and her best friend dressed up for the occasion.



We watched some Royals dancing in the street:



It's was pretty cold that day but luckily Toot did not mind her hat and mittens.



She loved watching anything with music. She liked the harp:



And she really loved watching the belly dancers (who actually had bellies thank you very much! In your face Society!)





Here's my mom with Toot.



We saw Dexter Tripp juggling a chainsaw:



Then he balanced on a rope:



This little guy was in the petting zoo and apparently he loves getting his picture taken because he jumped right up on the fence to pose for me.



Toot enjoying her lunch with Nana:





Here's Toot and Nana doing God only knows what but it made Toot laugh so...



We all had a great time and it was much better than last year (Toot was a month old, I had brought her formula but no bottle AND I wasn't able to breast feed to needless to say, Toot did NOT have a good time!) lol But this year was fun and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Costumes of Halloween Past

There's not a lot going on here for Halloween this year so I thought I'd drop in and share some of my costumes from years past. Somehow I could only find 3 pictures from childhood and 2 pics from my Corporate America phase. lol Ah well, here they are anyway!

All the way from 1978, I was a...what is that? A bear I guess? This was definitely one of those costumes in a box you could get at the drugstore. I miss costumes in boxes...



This was 1979 and my favorite costume when I was a kid. We didn't have a lot of money growing up so Mom paired my Wonder Woman Underoos with a Wonder Woman mask and my red rain boots and voila, instant super hero!



I think this was 1982...again, not much money so this fabulous costume was holes cut in a sheet with a lipstick mouth and my Easter hat...ta da! Lady ghost!



So for my first Halloween in the corporate world, I was so excited to find out that all the departments dressed up and I was all about being a fairy. Then I found out that each department picked a different theme and ours was military...what the what? So I put together this military fairy thing, complete with wings, camo shirt, fishnets, black boots, glitter belt and fake grenades...tell me I can't be a fairy, huh!



This one is my absolute favorite costume of all time. The next year I made sure to organize our department's Halloween so I could pick the theme. I went with Time Warp. Muwahahahaha I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to go as and I ran across this cigarette girl costume. When I got it home, I realized that it was the cheapest ugliest thing in the world except for the fake cigarette box carrier thing that came with it. So I kept the box, threw the rest away and came up with my own thing. This costume is totally not period correct but whatever, I loved it! I even found stocking with the seam up the back and wore a short red wig. My mom made the hat for me out of a paper box from Michael's. The rest were just pieces from my closet I put together.



Ah, sweet memories...do you have a favorite costume from your costume-y past?

Happy Halloween and/or Happy Harvest everyone!