I'm alive, I swear (warning: photo heavy)

Wow, I am a bad, bad blogger. This blog post is WAY overdue. Sorry! I am going to have to post this very late at night since this is the only time I ever have to get on the internet.

A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll start from the beginning.

First, unfortunately, we lost our dear sweet kitty Jack.

 

Jack has had problems since day one and is extremely fortunate to have found Jess. I really don't know who else would have put up with him. Don't get me wrong, he was very sweet and a cozy cuddler who would always sit in one of our laps and we loved him to pieces. It's just his bladder and allergy problems got out of control and we finally had to face the fact that he was miserable and probably uncomfortable 99.9 % of the time. We loved him and didn't want him to suffer anymore. We will always cherish the 10 years we got to spend with him. R.I.P. my sweet pain in the ass. We love you.

As promised, here are some photos from our Halloween. The theme this year was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It blows my mind that some people have never seen this movie. It's one of my favorites!

Here we have my sweet little Legendary Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhh!

 Here is Jesse setting up the Knights of Ni!

 Here's a close up of the Knights of Ni!

 Even closer...

 Ni!

 We made sure to bring them a shrubbery.

Here is our Bridge of Death. It was very perilous.

 We had to have a Black Knight, of course.

 I think the highlight of our Halloween was that Jesse had a running loop of bits from the movie playing for the Knights of Ni and the Black Knight and as a jogger ran by the Black Knight, he said, "Oh, oh, I see! Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!" The jogger was heard laughing as he ran away. Love it :)

Here is our Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog .

 Scary, right? Jesse rigged him up so we pushed a button and he jumped up at you.

Here is the bridge keeper.

 Bridge of Death again at night.

 Our yard wouldn't be complete without a grail...

(Bad, naughty Zoot)

 Our Halloween party wouldn't be even half as good if it weren't for these wonderful people.

 Not only do they always come up with great costumes every year, Sir Robin and his minstrels (a.k.a. Jesse's brother Tyler and his cousins Drew and Kate) make the best homemade donuts for us all. I love them so much.

Here I am (she's a witch!) and Jess.

We had a blast and hope Sam did too, even though he had no clue what was going on. I think we picked a great first Halloween costume. I wanted something other than a peanut or any of the other overly used infant costumes. 

I think I have his (and my) costume(s) picked out for next year already.

Also, I would like to add how amazing my husband is. We were under the impression that this year wouldn't be up to our usual Halloween yard standards since we couldn't spend much money this year and didn't have a whole lot of time, but somehow Jesse pulled it off. And it turned out amazing. Drew and I were pretty skeptical when Jess told us about his Bridge of Death idea, but when he started building it I was just blown away. Not to mention envious of his ingenuity and creativity. I am thoroughly convinced he can do anything. If only he could get a job that utilized these skills...

Thanksgiving was pretty low key, although we had two or three of them and I ended up getting the stomach flu and was only able to eat a small portion of mashed potatoes :(

Christmas was pretty fun, despite the usual hurried-traveling-to-each-house-thing and Sam missing his afternoon nap. He did very well and I am proud of him. I must say, Christmas on my side of the family is definitely more fun with a little one to celebrate with.

Gus even got in the spirit.

Unfortunately we are now a one-income family since, if I were to get a job, I would only be working to pay for a babysitter or daycare and therefore I would rather stay home and raise my son myself. I make a little money here and there through my Etsy shop, but not enough. And Jesse makes just enough for us to keep our house. Usually. Sigh. Needless to say, I was having a very hard time buying Christmas presents since the only things I buy anymore are baby food and gas for my car. And since I don't bring in the money, I feel super guilty buying myself anything anymore.

So, I ended up making a majority of the presents I gave out. It took forever and I was working like a mad woman.

Here's what I made for my sister-in-law.

 I used the images from this book. 

My Mom asked for potholders since she burned hers. I made her this.

The other side.

 And this.

 The other side.

I found the pattern for these here.

I made my Aunt a dishcloth and dishtowel.

 And potholders.

Whew! I feel very tired but, strangely enough, very satisfied. Handmade gifts are the best :)

I even had time to make a cherry pie for my friend's birthday and a pecan pie and pear pie with gruyere baked into the crust for Christmas (I was channeling my inner Chuck. How dare they cancel Pushing Daisies after only two seasons), with the help of my wonderful husband who kept the little one busy so I could bake, and also wrapped all the presents for me. I don't know what I would do without him.

Now I plan to get down to business and start designing patterns to sell in my shop. I am really trying hard to bring in more money for my family, and really hope to make my little home business a lucrative business. It would be my dream job!

We'll see how that goes with an eight-month old...

I am dreadfully unorganized so that means I might go awhile without blogging or leaving my house. Don't worry, if that happens it just means I am being productive! Or that Sam is keeping my extra busy.

 This one is a little blurry, but still cute. He loves his ugly doll.

Times may be tough, tougher than I have ever experienced before, but my babies make it all worth it. Especially when I wake up to things like this.

Oh, and I am excited because my cousin got me this book for Christmas:

Holy crap I want to make EVERYTHING in this book!! And I plan on it, assuming I can find the time (and the yarn). Why do all these books always suggest the most expensive yarn??? And you always need like fifty skeins of it too. How do these people afford it? I'm just hoping I can find yarn in my own stash that will work.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and a wonderful (and safe) New Years Eve! I will leave you with our family Christmas card (if only we could have gotten the dog and cat in there).

Exciting news!!

Howdy howdy!!
My favorite time of year is coming soon and I have a lot of exciting news coming up!
First up is that I am going to be selling my zombies at the 13th Floor Haunted House in Denver! It's one of the best haunted houses in Colorado, along with the Asylum where my lovely husband Jesse works. If you go to the website, you can catch a glimpse of him ;)

There he is!

Here he is again

and again...

I swear, he's a really sweet person in real life ;)
If you get a chance, check out both haunted houses. They are the best!
Next, I am going to be involved in another art show -
Bogeyman at the Macspa
The opening reception is on October 6th from 6-9 and there is a bonus "Afraid of the Dark" reception on October 22nd from 10-2 before the zombie crawl. Come check it out!
I will also have a semi-solo show at Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge with my friends from In Case of Attack, but I haven't gotten all the details of that show yet. Hopefully I will soon, and I'll let you know :)
Also, I received an email informing me that my zombies have been accepted into Stuffed Magazine!

Stuffed is an awesome magazine featuring adorable handmade plushies.

So cute!
I was honestly a little worried that my zombies would be too gory for the magazine, but apparently not!
They will be featured in the January 2012 edition of Stuffed, so check it out! I am so excited!
Hopefully I will be able to post more often, but right now I need to make a ton of zombies.
Thanks for reading!!
Happy Autumn!!
Cori

Not too tired to be inspired, but too lazy to do anything about it

There is The Westin Hotel across the street from my building at work. Occasionally, you will see naked people hanging out (literally) in their rooms. You would think that they would realize that there is a very large building across the street with windows, so someone can probably see them in their birthday suit. I guess they don't care.

The mood I am in today is just so wonderfully weird.

I read on a blog somewhere that there is a tag you can get online (as in "tag, your it!") where you grab the book that is closest to you, turn to page 28, and post the third paragraph on your blog. Sounds interesting. Of course, the closest book to me is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll because I am re-reading it for inspiration. Page 28, paragraph 3; here it goes:

"I'm sure I'm not Ada, " she said, "for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh, she knows such a very little! Besides, she's she, and I'm I, and - oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is - oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication - Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the Capital of Rome, and Rome - no, that's all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for Mabel! I'll try and say 'How doth the little - ' " and she crossed her hands on her lap, as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do: -

Well, that's all of paragraph 3. But I bet you're curious as to what she was about to recite. Would you like to hear the rest? Okay, here you go:

"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

"How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!"

I love this book. It's full of nonsense. Yay!!!! Tag!! You're it!

Last night Jess and I went to his haunted house (he had the night off) and went through it with our friend John. He comes out here every October to work at the Asylum. He is leaving tomorrow to go back home to the U.K. so we wanted to hang out with him before he leaves.

We also went to another haunted house called Frightmare (where, incidentally, Jess used to work); I realized how much better the acting at the Asylum is than Frightmare. The guys at the Asylum (including Jess and John) emphasize the importance of the actor's performance and not just rely on props and weapons. Frightmare's setup was awesome, but (some of) the actors just seemed really lethargic. No energy; I didn't even pretend to be scared. No pity scream for you!

Afterwards, we went and saw "Quarantine" at the Promenade. I really shouldn't have stayed up that late, but the movie was awesome. I'm just really mad at the people who made the previews, though, because they showed a vital part in the freaking preview! You're not supposed to show too much. It gives the end of the movie away! Jerks!!

Now I am tired. And my mind is wandering.

Ah, crap! I just spilled water on myself.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was greeted by crepe paper streamers and balloons. Jess had stayed up late after working the haunted house to decorate for my birthday! He is irreplaceable. And I'm pretty lucky, even though sometimes I want to shoot him with my point-of-view gun (watch "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). It was very sweet, but the next day he was very sleep-deprived. Poor thing!

I only have two years till I am 30. I got up out of my chair a second ago to get some water and my hips and both knees popped all at once. I feel old.

Is it 5:00 yet? I really want to go home and take a nap.

I really, really despise the phone. I know that is horrible, considering I am a receptionist. But I don't care. All day long, the phone keeps ringing, usually while I am in the middle of something, and nine times out of ten it is some solicitor or person who hardly speaks any english and I can't understand a word they are saying. I wish I had a device that only allowed "real" calls to come through. It would save me so much trouble.

I have made (as in crocheted) quite a few friends and am anxious to make some more, possibly from my own designs. If they are popular at all, I will have to make quite a lot. I should make some for me as well, because I can't give them all away. I should probably make some scary ones, because Jess has said he doesn't want the wedding to be too girly. Hence, scary stuff. Of course, I have to admit that I don't find my little vampires that scary.


Argh!!! There goes the phone again.

I am so tempted to go in to the empty conference room and take a nap under the table. I wish I could, but I think I would be missed. Especially if the phone keeps ringing and I don't answer it. Meh.

It's 4:00!!! Tea time!!

I really feel like I should be doing something right now. But I don't really have a lot to do. Expect this stack of files to be proofed that Juli told me to take my time with. What's that you say? Don't worry about doing it right now? Go ahead and goof off on your blog? Well, Ok. If you insist. My job is so hard sometimes *giggle giggle* That is until the phone rings for the millionth time.