Two Thumbs Up!

Ok, I just woke up from a bit of a catnap with my daughter. I am still tired, and therefore do not understand the rave about catnaps. But since it's 8:45 and I shouldn't be sleeping anyway, I'll let it pass. So now I am on my computer for the first time all day (shocker, I know), and the first link I clicked on from my homepage took me to the cast for the new The Hobbit movie that they've been trying to get going for years. And, if I am recalling correctly, Kili and Fili are two Elf brothers or cousins or something (I only made it halfway through the book, but I did watch the animated movie). My completely and hearty approval for the choices of those two actors!!!! Holy hotness! I am so very, very excited to see this movie now, even more excited than I was before, because I can now look forward to seeing those two actors. I feel like I'm in high school again. *Breathy, girlish sigh*

Onto other news . . . for Halloween I want to be Tarrant Hightop, the Mad Hatter that Johnny Depp (*swoons*) played in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Well, there were and still are a few problems with that plan: I had NONE of the costume. Like, seriously, none. Not the hat, bowtie, shirt, coat, pants, socks, shoes, hair, the white face makeup, NONE OF IT! Well, after spending my $20 gift card at JoAnn's and taking a sneaky and not quite approved trip to Walmart, I got the fabric and pattern for the coat! I know, it would be 1000 times easier to buy the thing, except, the coat I want, a frock coat, is upwards of at least $50 online. I don't have that kind of cash, but I have exciting news on the matter . . . I made the coat! And it was surprisingly easy, once I quit being stupid and sewing the pieces together wrong. I made it out of brown costume satin (but turned the other way, so it was shiny side in), stretchy brown velour/velvet stuff for the collar and cuffs, and I even did lining, fell free to be impressed. I am so proud of myself! The only things I have left to do it hand sew a bit of trim on, and slip stitch the lining in place at the bottom and waist. I wore it out to lunch with one of my best buds today, and she said it was awesome, and I wore it to work too, and they were all suitably impressed. And I felt all sorts of awesome, wearing my Mad Hatter/Pirate coat. It makes me all sorts of warm and gooey inside. Oh, and I bought the white face makeup for my costume, and I already had the other makeup needed. So now I just need . . . all the other stuff. I can borrow the crazy socks from my sister in law, and the pink shirt should be easy, and lacy cuffs should be easy. And hopefully the fingerless gloves. I need to go to DI. They have everything there.

In other news, I finally read my stack of Dr. Seuss books I got from the library! I've had them for at least 2 weeks, and I finally squeezed in some personal time to read them. I read The Sleep Book last week and had the funnest Kid Moment. My dad used to read us that book all the time when we were little, and you have never heard Dr. Seuss until you've heard it read by my dad. He was about 17 different kinds of amazing. He could read it so fast, and he never messed up, and when I was reading it last week I could just hear his voice while I read it. It was the coolest thing ever. That is still my very favorite Dr. Seuss book, and I just read Oh The Places You'll Go for the first time, and that contends for second place next to Scrambled Eggs Super. I love Dr. Seuss. Brilliant, brilliant, genius man.

Ok, I may be done yammering on for now, and it's almost time to get my two year old out of the tub (she saw one of those Pillow Pets for the first time the other day . . . she latched onto the unicorn, gave it a HUGE hug, and didn't let go til we got to the checkout. Now we know what to get her for her birthday . . . ) and put her to bed. So, bonsoir everyone, have a lovely night!

The Trouble With Gardening

Today has actually been pretty good so far, so I think it's safe to say that I've given a decent effort at being happier than a seagull with a french fry. And how weird is this, I'm posting something before midnight or the wee hours of the morning! This is a very strange situation for me.

So I have a confession to make. You know how most people say they are really crappy gardeners and they can't grow anything, but they really can and they're just saying that? Well, it's actually true in my case. I have not only killed pansies, primroses, johnny jump ups, daffodils, and a myriad of other flowers, but I have also killed . . . petunias. Yes, you read that right. Petunias. Did you know that petunias are the most ironclad plant in the world? You can't kill the suckers!

But I did.

I don't have a green thumb. I have a black death thumb. I planted 35 pansies last year and 12 lasted through the summer, and that is only because I practically steeped the things in Miracle-Gro. Two months ago I bought four primrose plants. One was dead inside a week. The other one succumbed a month later. I now have one that is still alive with very large leaves but, naturally, no flowers, and one that is clinging to life by a thread. I figured I'd better stop trying to baby the things to life so I planted them outside where a few of my more successful pansies used to be. If they die now, at least they die free!

But I have great news! Last week I planted a packet of shasta daisies and another of California poppies. They are in those trough-looking planter boxes in completely store bought dirt, and I have refrained from watering them because I am more likely to drown them than kill them another way. And I went outside yesterday and in one of the boxes there were all of these tiny gray-green shoots with two to four thin grass-like leaves! I was completely ecstatic!!!! I can't remember if those are the daisies or the poppies, but I don't care, I grew something! I'll let you know in a few weeks if they stay that way . . .

It's really windy here right now! It's been windy all day and I could hear it just shrieking by the front door at work like it does in the twister section of Wizard of Oz. The trees out the window are thrashing around like crazy and the wind chimes on the back patio are clanging around in a frenzy. Maybe we'll actually see the rain that the sky's been threatening all day. That would be nice, I love the rain. I love the smell of it and the sound of it. I always feel like just curling up in a blanket and sleeping or watching a good movie or reading a book. And rain is good snuggle weather, bonus for me!

Wow, this is bad. I just got really tired and it's not even 7 o'clock yet. Technically, my bedtime isn't for another 6 hours! I'm going to have to force myself to do something productive. Mabye I'll try to finish sewing my dress together. I found a really cheap pattern for dresses like Arwen's in Lord of the Rings and I couldn't help myself. Add very cheap fabric onto that and it was a match made in heaven! I sewed some of it together a few weeks ago at my moms, then I needed a certain pattern piece and I couldn't find it anywhere! I looked all over the place and it was nowhere to be found. So when I was cleaning up my desk area this weekend, I decided to look through the pattern pieces one more time, and lo and behold, there was the piece I needed, not even cut out of the tissue paper yet. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or stamp my foot so I settle for a *facepalm* moment instead. Then I cut the stupid thing out and muttered about my stupidity the whole time.

Yeah, I think I'll go sew. I have one of those rare moments when my daughter is awake and there isn't anybody using the office right now. Wish me luck!