Ever been in a bar fight?

This morning, I woke up feeling like I had been in a bar fight.

To explain, first, I have a cold. In August. It sucks. I feel like I have a mini elephant sitting on my chest, and I can't breathe through my nose without medicinal help.

Second, I met a coworker/friend for lunch on Tuesday, and we ended up taking an impromptu hike. The hike led up down a bunch of stairs, and back up a very steep hill. Wednesday morning, my calves HATED me...and my coworker.

This is just one section of the stairs. The hillside goes almost straight down to the water.

Yesterday, I had to take my dog to get her vaccines updated. My dog is very sweet and obedient (for the most part) in the house, but take her anywhere and it's like she's a completely wild dog. Add in people trying to touch her butt (take temp, etc.) at the vet and she loses her mind. I had to hold her muzzled head still while she was whipping around trying to bite the vet techs as they gave her the shots. I walked out of the vet bleeding after being head butted and biting my lip.

After the vet, I met the same hiking coworker for a few quick lap around the track at work. We must have walked about 2 miles. We were chatting, so I wasn't keeping track of how many laps we did, but we walked at a pretty brisk pace for an hour.

During all this, my cold has gotten progressively worse, so last night I took some Nyquil to try to get some decent sleep.

This morning, I woke up sore all over (upper body from fighting with the dog, lower body from the hike/walking), busted lip, with a slight Nyquil hangover (a little out of it, slight headache, dry mouth)...pretty much what I imagine someone would feel like after a bar fight.

Ugh...

On a happier note, one of my Seahawks fabrics arrived in the mail today. Thanks J&O Fabrics for being on top of it! I'm expecting my second order (which was ordered 4 days before the other order) tomorrow. Come on, Joann's!

Here are the two fabrics:

Now, seriously, 12th Man...can you stop buying the whole bolt of fabric? Leave some for the rest of us! There is NEVER any in stock in the stores around here.

What am I going to do with my Seahawks fabric? Well, you'll have to check back later to find out, but if it turns out as cool as it is in my head, it's going to be awesome!

Preseason game 2 tonight - Go Hawks!

Blue Mountain Quarry Cardboard Play Set

My son, Elijah, loves Love LOVES Thomas the train. He is particularly obsessed with the movie Blue Mountain Mystery. He would watch it all day, every day if we let him. We don't. In fact, we limit it to no more than 3 times a week. Mama's sanity can't take much more than that :) However, we still have to read him the book every night at bedtime, and he is constantly acting out the movie with his toy trains.

As I was preparing to recycle a couple of boxes (Huggies diapers and Kirkland brand wipes), I was struck with an idea. I could make the Blue Mountain Quarry for Elijah to play with!

So, those two boxes + a lot of duct tape + a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper + a couple of images from the internet (thanks, Google) + answering "is it done yet?" a thousand times =

The Blue Mountain Quarry! 

It comes complete with two tunnels, an unbroken bridge (per Elijah's request), ramps to get to the second level, Owen and Merrick images, and paper rocks.

Elijah loves it! I love that he loves it! However, I hate that it always ends up in the kitchen! I'm constantly stepping over or stepping on trains while making breakfast...and lunch...and dinner :)

It's funny how crafting changes once you're a mom. I used to spend my crafting time making things to wear or to decorate my house. Now, I make toys. It makes me smile to see how happy a couple of boxes and some time on my part makes my kid. Totally worth the time!

July: Monthly Update

This summer is just flying by! I can't believe it's already August.

I've spent my time reading, working on a new hat pattern, and making gifts when I'm not chasing around my 3 year old and enjoying play dates with friends.

Here's what I've been up to:

Crochet:
Here are a couple of pictures of my new hat pattern in the works. It's a 1920's flapper style turban. I normally don't wear beanies because they just don't look right on me, but this style I actually feel comfortable wearing. I'm looking forward to cooler weather!

A couple of simple baby hats for a friend who had a baby girl earlier this month in Chicago, but moved back home yesterday.

Here are the hats all packed up! Their last name has been blurred out, there isn't really a smudge there in the middle :)

Sewing:
I made a copy of this Kate Spade bag (which I own) for a friend who loves the bag, but isn't a big fan of red. It turned out pretty well and I'm excited to surprise her with it! In the future, I'll need a heavier interfacing to help the bag hold it's shape a little better.

She's a cook, so I added a cute cupcake fabric lining for the lining. Now she just needs to stay home long enough so I can drop it by!

Reading:
Love Finds You Series - 1, only 3 more left to go before the end of the year
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon- gotta get ready for the Starz premiere, you know...
The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon
A Necessary Deception, A Flight of Fancy, and am currently reading A Reluctant Courtship to finish out The Daughters of Bainbridge House trilogy by Laurie Alice Eakes

And just because, here are some cute pictures of my kid - popping bubbles and rocking some shades :)

I hope you all had an awesome July! Stay tuned for my new hat pattern (once I get it just right...)