Miracle on Buaro Street?

Hey guess what?  My computer came back to life today.  I don't know how, but I am not going to question it.  I will look at it as a gift from the universe, and just be happy.  

Okay, so I have slipped up with my eating.  When my computer died, I quite effectively lost my internet support, and I had a crisis involving fears of becoming a zealot and being too preachy.  So, I lost my way.  But, I am striving to get back into the swing again, and plan out my eating instead of waiting until I'm too hungry to make good choices.  I know in my head that I was happy, but I am really struggling now.  I think I just need to talk it out, because the pro list is soooo long, and the con list is just a list of excuses to be lazy.  Eh.

I bug Jake all the time about watching his language around Mimsey.  He's more careful around her, but I was so annoyed when from the backseat yesterday she shouted "Oh crap!"  Now, this was mostly annoying because that is not a phrase that he uses.  It's one that I use.  Errrrgh.  So, I've got to watch what I say, and he gets to laugh at me.  Oh, who knew that it was so annoying to teach a kid to talk.  She's so cute, but she has a little lisp, so today she was trying to get out of a "time out" and was crying "Sawee Mama, sawee Mama."  Broke my heart.  

I hate time out.

March Girls know how to Party!

Tonight we had our March girls family birthday party, so I got to celebrate a little early!  Overall I scored an awesome load of presents, and am so happy that it's all stuff I really wanted!  Yay!

I am so proud of myself I have to blog about it.  I am on Day 6 of a new adventure.  I am experimenting with a vegan raw food diet, and so far I love, Love, LOVE what is happening with my body.  I have dropped 12 (!) pounds, and I feel better than I have for years.  Much better than I did as a cheesatarian (bad vegetarian, processed food junkie).  And I am happy.  Like, off the charts happy.  This is a big deal.  I am not, by nature, a happy person.  I am cynical, and depressed, and grudge holding.  And despite that, today I found myself thinking, as I dug into my avocado salsa salad, "wow, I'm really happy" which then sent me into a fit of chuckles, since that was the most 'un-Jaime' thing to think in the world.  So it's working for me!

Today my adventure led me to the new Mother's Market & Kitchen in Santa Ana.  Beautiful store filled with tons of yummy organic produce and lots of raw products to help me with my 'un-cooking'.  There were jars of Raw Coconut Butter sitting next to the Raw Cashew Butter, and both of them looked so yummy and decadent that I had to buy them!  I don't know what to expect from the coconut butter, but I am thinking it will be muy delicioso!  I am 'trying out' some raw books, thanks to our library system, and the more information that I get, the more committed that I am to continuing this lifestyle, in the face of all of my family members gathering and eating chicken strips and coleslaw from KFC... I broke down and had a bite of my birthday cake, (my fave! Lemon Cake!!!) so I'm feeling a little guilty.  But hey, once a year, one single bite... I'm gonna let myself off the hook now.

Now I'm gonna go look for some tasty thing that I can find to make, so that I can use my new food dehydrator!!!  Thanks Mom and Dad!!  You can try my crazy flax-seed bread, or goddess chips (made with dehydrated kale).  Oh, don't make that face, maybe you will like them?

Go With the Flow Merit Badge

Life is crazy! You never know what you're gonna be facing. Sometimes it awesome. Sometimes not so much. This is the Go With the Flow Merit Badge, which I earned because of my great ability, okay, struggling ability to roll with it when things don't go my way. I live in a multi-generational household, and while my grandma and I don't always see eye to eye, we wouldn't have been able to live with each other for so long (almost 10 years since her stroke! Yay Mema!) without both of our abilities to roll with the punches and go with the flow. Awww. I should make her one as well. :D

If you want to earn your own Merit Badge:

Go with the flow, baby! When live hands you lemons, make a bad-ass lemon cake! Write me a comment about what you did to go with the flow, and then go make your badge. (I knew you could do it!!)


As for the tutorial about how to make these, ah, perhaps this is how you will have to go with the flow. I find that I am not one of those people who is gifted at writing tutorials, but I will tell you that I use olive felt (100% post consumer recycled water bottles transformed into crafty fun!) for the background, and green embroidery floss (DMC 700) for the outer whip stitch. The rest I wing. I think that the pictures are very close so that you should be able to see pretty clearly what I've done. I don't keep track (usually) of embroidery floss colors, so I can't tell you what colors I used. I don't use wool felt, it's all acrylic. Ummmm, if I am overwhelmed with requests I will draw out patterns and post them, but at this point I am talking to myself, so I'm not gonna go to the effort... LOL!!!

The Rise and Shine Merit Badge

This morning sucked. I really dislike daylight savings and the clock turning that it involves. Ugh. And, for whatever reason, Mimsey woke up super early this morning. So, at least it was an hour "later" than it would have been yesterday, but still, it was too early to me. Neither Jake or I wanted to get up, but he worked late last night, and I didn't, so I gave him a break, and got up with the kid. On my way downstairs, he hollered at me that I was earning a Rise and Shine Merit Badge. It made me laugh, and I didn't mind getting up so much. I ended up making morning smoothies for Mims, Mema and me. (Watermelon and Banana - yum!)

It occured to me later, that a Merit Badge would be an excellent motivator to get your friends to help you move, or to get up early to stand in line for concert tickets (ooh, does that show my age? That's all done online now, isn't it? :blushing in embarrassment:). I do think that it would be so much fun to tuck into a card, or to attach to a gift, as a fun way to show your appreciation for a job above and beyond.

If you would like to earn this badge:
Get up early and do something nice for someone else. Write me a comment to tell me what you did. Make your badge!

Nintendo Thumb Merit Badge

This is my Nintendo Thumb Merit Badge. I got this badge for my hours upon hours of gaming on the NES. I loved Super Mario Bros. I sucked at Duck Hunt... So, this is my Merit Badge. Mostly I just really wanted it. And it looks cool.

If you want to earn one of your own:
Remember the excitement of your youth. The awesome 8 bit graphics. The days before hi-def digital super computer gaming systems.
Write me a comment and tell me about the game you rocked. And then make one for yourself. (and add it to the flickr group!)

Got Over It Merit Badge

This is my Got Over It Merit Badge. Recently there have been several family issues that are stressing me and Mr. Optimist out. Jake goes with the flow. I hold a grudge. When we were talking about the issue, Jake suggested that if I got over it I could make myself a merit badge. That was enough motivation for me... Ahahahaha!!!

If you want to earn this badge yourself:
Challenge yourself to get over some very painful/anger inciting event that you just can't let go of... Let it go. Listen to Eckhart Tolle. Write me a comment so I can celebrate with you. Make yourself the badge. (I'm proud of you!)

Read the Comic Before the Movie Merit Badge (Watchmen Edition)

This is my Read the Comic Before the Movie Merit Badge (Watchmen Edition), aka The Watchmen Merit Badge.
I earned this badge by reading the comic (several times! - ah, I'm a geek) before the movie came out. Okay, yeeeears before the movie came out, but still, I read it last week too... LOL!!! To me, us comic geeks don't have enough finery to show our awesome coolness to the world, so I neeeeeded this... Plus, I thought it was a cool/geeky comic craft...

If you want to earn your own badge:
Read the Comic! It's totally worth it. When you're done, you can leave me a comment about what you thought about it. That's all it takes to earn this badge. Then you can make your own awesome The Watchmen Merit Badge.

I will post a tutorial this weekend on how to make your own!

Bringing an Idea to Fruition Merit Badge

Here is my first Crafty Merit Badge! It's about an inch or so across (I used the top of a vitamin bottle for the circle) and I love the homemade-ey-ness of it. This is my badge for Bringing an Idea to Fruition. I earned this badge by actually finishing my badge, and posting about it. I plan to make a cover for my laptop, and sew my badges on to it.

If you want to earn your own badge:

Think of something that you loved from your past, and create a version that will support the person that you are now!
Leave me a comment about it, and maybe a picture of your project (if appropriate), or a link to your blog about your project.
I will post a very small tutorial about how to make my badge this weekend, so you can make your own when you've earned it!!

I think I'm also going to start a flickr pool for merit badges so that we can all see your awesome completed badge!

Merit Badges

My littlest cousin is a Brownie.  A very accomplished mini-scout with a vest full of badges to show for it.  Last weekend, at Mimsey's birthday party, she brought along some boxes of cookies, which everyone went crazy for!  I haven't seen a scramble for cash like that since the time that Jake and I got stuck on a toll road and had to scrounge quarters out of the floorboards of the old Sprint (or was it the Geo?).   Sandy and I both marveled over her vest, since we too were once bedecked with the scouting jewels of accomplishment.  The hours of time invested in learning new skills, worth it for the awesome badge of honor we wore proudly.  We were the only ones in our troop with full sashes.  I asked my mom about that recently, because I just thought it was because she was troop leader and wanted her kids to set a good example.  She said nope, she thought it was cool that her girls had the most badges!  I laughed for days about that.

I miss merit badges.  I want something to show off my mad movie quoting skillz, or my advanced pizza making skillz, or my ability to complete sewing, knitting, and crochet projects these days without crying (even once!!!).  How about a badge for throwing a kick-ass party?

I found some awesome Nerd Merit Badges at this site.  There are two so far, but it looks like they have plans for more.  Not my dream badges, but good for my Nerdy-Cool brother-in-law.

I have looked at this book a number of times.  I really want to like it.  I want to find it awesome, and just what I wanted, but it's all of the work of "earning the badge" and aside from the actual skill learned, it's sort of anti-climactic.  And it looks like hard work.  And I don't want to learn those skills... I admire the idea.  But it's not crafty/creative enough for me.

That leaves me with one option.  I will have to create my own.  Perhaps that will be the first merit badge: Seeing an Idea through to Fruition...  Hmmm...  

I will think about this for a while, and let you know what I come up with...

Evil Cookies!

Savor the Thyme and Tangled Noodle are running this awesome contest/roundup  called Eating Your Words, and is a challenge to create words written in food and/or drink...  I just couldn't waste an opportunity to play with cookie dough, so this is my entry into their roundup...

Behold, the Evil Cookies!!!

They are evil because they are so tasty. 

Mimsey and I made them this morning (she watched, ate raw dough, and poked her fingers in the completed letters, and I tried really hard not to nick her with the knife when she reached in front of me... Argh!!!!!), and I frosted them with leftover frosting from her birthday cake.  The elephant just showed up this morning, Mimsey found it in the back of a closet I think, and it was too cute to not include...  

If you would like to enter your own creation, you can find out more here!

Latest Project

One of my back teeth has been bothering me.  I keep getting stuff caught back there when I eat, so I've taken to carrying around floss picks with me.  I know, so gross, way too much information.  I've been carrying them in my first aid kit, but I saw the cutest project bags on a blog that I now can't find, and wanted one soooo bad, so I decided to make a miniature one to carry my floss, a travel toothbrush, and some toothpaste in my purse.  And because I loooove Doodle Embroidery, I had to decorate it...  It's a simple little lined pouch with a stretchy loop and button, but oh, it makes me so happy...