A plague upon my household

Well, it's hit me, and I hate it. I'm sick, following Stinky and WBH's rounds with the cold. I'll be going off the air until Monday, when I'll give you a special "He Made it Monday," featuring WBH's jewelry creations. Yep, I've got a friend in the Diamond Business.

I Made it Monday: Hat to knit in just a few hours

Sorry for the no-make-up face. I know this isn't supposed to be a scary blog. Stinky dumped my make-up all over the carpet in a fit of awesomeness (following what will henceforth be known as the 'cornstarch incident').

Nonetheless, amidst all of the "will-I-won't-I-make-a-team?" stress this weekend, I decided to make a gift to thank a new bruisers coach for all she's done. This hat works up in just a few hours, and you can find the pattern HERE. I reccomend this one. Great weekend project.

Purple Reign

I was drafted! I'm a Marauding Molly! I couldn't be happier!

Test Results!

I passed the scrimmage test! I'm so excited! Last night those of us who passed interviewed with the captains of each team and we should hear this weekend. There's not a guarantee that we'll make it on a team, but it's really exciting to be at this point. I'll keep things updated here once I know more.

To update:

Tonight is fundraiser. Tomorrow is scrimmage test to figure out if/where we can be drafted on to teams. Thursday I will probably collapse in a heap, but will return to the world of blogging. Keep fingers crossed for me?

I made It.... today: Stinky's Quilt

I've got the top and back pieced and quilted, and all I've got left to do is the binding. I should be doing other things, a large number of other things, but I procrastinate. It will be fine. Anyway, the quilt is for when we make the transition to toddler bed for Stinky . It's flannel, but with a low-loft batting, so it should be good for all seasons.

The pattern is called Around the World and I found instructions here. It sews up quickly- the top took me two nights. I didn't realize just how much fabric the back can take up, though. I got more than I thought I needed, and ended up with enough for the back, sashing, and binding. and just a little bit of scrap, but I'll need to get more for the pillow case.

A reccommendation

Back in November, in this post I was bemoaning my terrible skills as a homemaker. It's something I struggle with, because it's not always fun to clean, when I'd rather blog, or play with kiddo, or look at cool knee socks online. I tried the reccomended Flylady (again), but I've fallen off that wagon so many times that it's hard to picture myself staying on!

Someone, somewhere reccomended the Motivated Moms Planner . I downloaded this last week, and I love it. It makes most of your daily to-dos for you, with room for more, and it includes things that I tend to forget about, like cleaning the front of the dishwasher, or dusting light fixtures. Anyway, this planner has really changed the way I'm doing things, and I reccommend it highly. It's a whopping $8 for any of the 4 formats, with or without a guided Bible reading suggestion.

Give it a whirl, it's fantastic. It makes maintaining a clean home so much easier for me!

Facebook Mentality

Do you find, with the rise of Facebook and Twitter, that you will analyze your feelings in tweets and statuses? I think in Facebook status!

For example, as I woke up this morning, there was "Rae thinks giving up caffeine was a really bad idea," and "Rae doesn't know what hurts more- the bruises on her butt and hips, or the sore muscles underneath."This afternoon, at Costco "Rae thinks the guy behind her in line is a total dillhole." Then, after finally getting some Mountain Dew (a little overloaded on the Dr. Pepper lately). "Rae says 'aahhhh, that's better.'"

I don't think this is a bad thing. I think with all the things I need to do in one day, to check in on my personal status by putting my feelings in a one-sentence format, then moving on, is probably a very healthy thing. So, thank you, Facebook. You're my new therapy.

Rae is going to go finish watching General Hospital before cleaning the house. Don't judge her.

I Made it Monday (Tuesday): Embroidered Rice Pack

This this a hot/cold rice pack for one of the gals in the New Bruiser group for DyDD. She's a fantastic skater, but broke her ankle at one of our practices a few weeks back. I embroidered the anchors.

Sorry I'm keeping it short to day. Stinky lived up to his pseudonym and pooped on the floor. Then he tried to hand it to me. I think it's time to think about potty training.

What's going on?

I try to blog here regularly, but lately, I've had to be so focused on skating that I'm a little consumed with it. When I'm not at practice, I'm still feeling practice, physically, trying to learn official rules, and processing what's happened at practice so that I can get better each time. I've moved up to scrimmaging now, which is a new challenge. Later this month, we scrimmage test to see if we're ready for draft, so I'm attending every practice I can make so I'll be ready for that. Each night I understand a little more, and feel like I'm improving with each practice.

I'm also working on an annual fundraiser I do for Miss Auburn. I've been doing it for years, so it's pretty easy to work up and run, but that's in my head right now, too.

Of course, I'm fighting to maintain family time, and WBH is so patient and good to me while I need to be so focused and gone so often. It sucks to be gone this much, and I'm really missing him. Last night I came home to a shiny, clean house. He said "This is how I can support your doing something that makes you happy." Sexiest thing ever. I wished I hadn't been so sore already... Anyhow, we're working on establishing a 'family movie night' each week. Apparently, when Stinky went to my mom's, he talked all about the pizza and 'Horton,' several days after the event. For a two year old to remember and be excited about that is a big deal, I think.

Crafting usually takes place late at night when I'm trying to wind down. After two or three hours of a heck of a workout, it's tough to come home and try to sleep. I've almost completed a quilt top for when Stinky moves to a big boy bed. I think that will be next week's I made it Monday!

So that's where I'm at. These things are eating my brain, and while I still want to blog, I'm sure it would get pretty monotonous. I don't know. What would you like to know/read?

I know I said I would...

...and I will. I will post an I Made it Monday, but it might be next monday by the time I get to it. I've had a lot of thoughts rolling around in my noggin, and this one is the one that is surfacing the most right now.

WBH and I had joked about my doing roller derby for a long time. It usually went something like this:

Me: I'm thinking about doing roller derby, sweetie.
WBH: That's odd, I was just considering a career in cage fighting.

Of course, we didn't know much of anything about it at the time. A little more knowledge (especially an awareness of new rules and safety precautions), and I knew it was something I'd place on my bucket list, but it didn't really make it beyond that.

Then came this year. We found out in March that I was pregnant- a total shock. Stinky was conceived with the assistance of some fertility drugs, and we assumed any children to follow would be created in the same way. A month later, I miscarried, and it broke my heart. I am so grateful for WBH's constant support, and to Stinky just for being there, because without them, I'd have taken to my bed, and I don't know how long I would have stayed there. Some complications followed, and the physical pain made the emotional pain that much more difficult to manage.

In the fog of emotions that followed, I remember sitting at dinner one night, probably a little zombie-esqe, and WBH said "You know... I think if you can survive this, you shouldgo ahead and do roller derby." A month later, I tried out. I didn't make it, but I got a taste for the fun. Over the summer and into the fall, I attended open skates, dropped in on practices, and volunteered at the bouts. This fall, I tried out again and made the league.

What really has been rolling around in my head is why I do this. I've learned through this sport that I can get knocked down, tripped up, have my feet come completely out from under me, or any number of ways of falling. Yes, it hurts, a lot sometimes. But I get up, even when it hurts, and I skate again. Learning that I can get up and keep going, even if it hurts like hell, has changed how I handle other pain, too. I think that this is the lesson of 2008. Just get up and keep skating.

under the weather

I made it monday will need to be moved to later in the week. I'm rather under the weather today, and asked WBH to take Stinky to my Mom's today- Thank you, Mom!

I've been couch surfing for most of the morning and intend to do some more. I hope your day goes well, and I'll post pics of my sister's Christmas gift, along with a link to the tutorial tomorrow. Hope your day is great!

Incomparable.

I really like new year's resolutions, but I also tend to lose focus pretty easily. The always-awesome Ali Edwards has a word that she focuses on every year, and encourages her readers to do the same. I love that this gives the year a broader focus, without narrowing it down to a narrow goal that can sometimes be pass/fail.

This year, my word is incomparable. The dictionary gives two definitions for the word. First, "Eminent beyond comparison." Well, that one doesn't seem quite right, but on view the second, I knew I'd found my word: "Not suitable for comparison." I love that.

You see, I find that most of my frustration, sorrow, lack of confidence, what have you, stems from comparing myself (my life, my choices, my ability) to others. I think that when I do this, I'm usually comparing my worst to someone elses' best, which is pointless.

So, this year, I will recognize that my life is not suitable for comparison, because it's mine and no one else's.