House of Cards ... and Hair.

Have you guys watched House of Cards yet? It's the new Netflix-produced series that is now available on Netflix streaming. I'm not sure whether there are other places you can watch it. Well, if you haven't, you probably should. Because it's actually really awesome.

Kevin Spacey plays a Congressman who is also the House Majority Whip, and political drama and intrigue ensues. It's exactly B's style of television show, and I am generally a sucker for a good dramatic television of any kind. We started watching it this weekend, and we only have two episodes left to go. When we first heard that Netflix was producing its own series, we weren't sure whether they would release all the episodes at once, or if they might actually try to be more like a television network, releasing a new episode every week. They did release all of them at once, embracing what is most awesome about watching television episodes on Netflix (aka, allowing us viewers to stream episodes non-stop, schedule permitting). All the characters are so driven by their own desire for power, it's one of those shows that don't make you feel bad about your own moderate success (unlike my feeling of overall inadequacy when watching the first season of Girls).

More importantly, can I pull off Robin Wright's hair? (I've been considering a major hair change. B is not convinced, but men always like long hair so I don't take his opinion too seriously.)

Photos courtesy of Robin Wright's Facebook Page

Here is the other option I am considering:

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

Lastly, for ease of input, here is what my hair looks like right now, in a not-flattering photo I've taken in the middle of this writing blog post.

Would it have killed me to put on some lip goss before snapping this pic, and maybe smiling a bit? The answer is YES.

In other Netflix related news, here are some other programs that have been streamed on the weekends:

World Without End, based on Ken Follett's novel, and a pseudo-sequel to his Pillars of the Earth. Excellent, if you're into period stories. B was not a big fan, but I secretly like that so that I have something to stream while he is at work on Saturdays.

American Horror Story, Season 1. I got on the American Horror Story bandwagon way too late this year. I noticed it on Netflix and watched the entire first season over the span of a couple of weeks, but by that time, it was already way too close to the Season 2 finale to catch up. I'm [im]patiently waiting for the "new episodes" icon to pop up on my screen so that I can catch up.

We've tried Breaking Bad, and it has surprised me how difficult it's been for me to get sucked in. I'm usually pretty easy to engage, but we've watched two episodes without feeling the need to go any further into the series. I'm not one to miss out on something everyone seems to like, but I'm not convinced on this one. What else do I need to add to my instant queue? And also, seriously, tell me what you think I should do with my hair. I am not afraid.

Instant Gratification, Lost Style.

I am jumping on the bandwagon a little late, but I have just recently become obsessed with LOST. Okay, not just a little late, but really late. I was never interested in it when it first came out. I had heard that it was supernatural and uber-suspenseful. Harry Potter is as supernatural as I get. Anyway, I am obsessed with it. If I'm not at work and B is not home, or doing something else, an episode is on. I've even put down my knitting needles mid-project! Cannot read knitting pattern and figure out The Others! The Smoke Monster Thing! The Dharma Initiative! WOW!

During my maternity leave, I discovered the wonders that is Netflix streaming TV shows. B had always used the streaming for movies, but I realized that there are a gazillion tv shows on that thing! No commercials! No waiting between episodes! Awesomeness. While Mia was napping, or eating, or just wanting to be held and played with, I would stream a TV show. First, I started re-watching all of Grey's Anatomy. Then, I took Netflix' suggestion to watch Army Wives, which I liked a lot. And now, well OUT of my maternity leave, I have not given up on my streaming shows. LOST. I am so glad that I didn't get into it when the rest of the world did, because the way it has taken over my free time, I'm glad that I can at least watch the entire series in just a couple of months (I am almost halfway now), rather than dragging out my obsession for the 6 seasons that LOST was actually airing. Phew! Netflix, you rock. If you get past seasons of The Bachelor on here, I would actually never leave the house, so work on that. Or don't... because then I would turn into a pasty human-like couch cushion. Yeah, as much as I love LOST, I love the Bachelor even more. So yeah, you can look forward to that in January when Ben (so cute!) searches for the love of his life (or just the person he'll date for the next few months, but whatever, same difference).

I realized that this way of watching TV shows perfectly matches my way of "getting into" TV shows, and even books. Instant gratification. If I really like a book, I cannot put it down. The same goes for a TV show. If I start to really think about it, this type of passion (note the positive spin I've put on what is really some kind of obsessive disorder) is a big part of my personality. From ages 12-17, my room was plastered with posters of the Backstreet Boys and I spent most of my free time daydreaming about my wedding with Brian Littrell. ALL of my babysitting money went to concert tickets. (Did you know there is a yearly Backstreet Boys Cruise? I owed it to my teenaged self to at least look at schedules and pricing. And no, I did not go to the NKOTBSB show, I was mega-prego).

So, I swear that when I sat down to write this, I had planned a coherent post with a point at the end, but I've gotten myself all jumbled listing things I am obsessed with. Right. I wish I could come up with a way of channeling this obsessive behavior into something positive or productive, like running or biking, or any form of exercise. I want to be one of those people that is like "If I go a day without doing an hour of _fill in the black activity_ then I feel totally off". Any suggestions?

Or, more realistically, any suggestions for awesome TV shows that I may have missed while they were out and can now become obsessed with on Netflix? Ha!

PS: Netflix did not pay me or give me any type of free anything. I wish!

Fall TV line up

I will freely admit that the television is on in our house much, much too often. B loves movies. On his week days off, I'll come home and he'll have watched, three or four, in a row. He's not on his ass watching movie after movie after movie, his days are very productive, but always with movies on in the background.

I like movies, generally. I like sitting down on a Friday night after Mia's gone to sleep and watch whatever we have from Netflix (I think I am one of the last few people who still gets DVDs from Netflix). But, if it's up to me, I would much rather watch a TV show. My ideal way to watch TV is of course in the serial form, as I've discussed many a time. One after the other, and whenever I want. I've really come to love netflix original series. House of Cards isn't the only one anymore, you know! Orange is the New Black was great, I even liked Hemlock Grove. While Netflix series are great for the summer, the regular fall series are all coming back! 

Another great thing to watch during the summer? Cable TV. This summer, we watched The Newsroom, whose second season was not as great as the first, but wrapped itself up very nicely this weekend. We discovered the wonder that is HBO Go, so we watched the first and part of the second season of True Blood. We didn't bother finishing the second season, it started getting a bit annoying (with Sookie being ridiculously annoying). When we have about 100 hours free, we plan to re-watch all of the Sopranos. Also, guilty indulgence: the While Queen, on Starz which was based on the Philippa Gregory novels that I love. The series itself was not amazing, but seeing the books come to life is completely worth it.

And, since I know you've all been wondering, here is the lineup of regular tv shows that are going to be lined up on our DVR this fall:

How I met your Mother: If this wasn't in its last season, this would have been axed this year. It's been too many seasons of basically the same storyline. We liked it so much at the beginning, our Swarley's name is taken from an episode. And, at the end of last season, Marshall (the lawyer with about 2-3 years of experience) got offered a judgeship, and that is just WRONG, so they almost got the boot. You have been warned, HIMYM. Wrap it up nicely.

Modern Family: steadily funny, reliable. Not one that gets watched immediately, but once we do get around to playing it, we're always glad we did.

Parks and Rec: A couple of years ago, this was the funniest show on TV. It may very well still be. Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari are seriously magical.

New Girl: Brian likes this show more than I do, probably because he (like all other guys 28+) lurves Zooey Deschanel. He also likes Schmitt as much as I love Tom Haverford.

Walking Dead: By far, the show that I am most excited to see start up again. It's much more satisfying when watched serially, but last season we really looked forward to Sunday nights specifically for it. It starts October 13th, and really, should be great. Though the hopeless negativity better ease up a little bit, or it's going to start to get too exhausting to watch.

American Horror Story, Coven: Okay, so I didn't watch Asylum because I caught on to American Horror Story too late to catch up, but the beauty of this show is that every season has a completely independent story line. So, watching Murder House on Netflix gave me just enough of a taste to know that I am definitely, 100% watching Coven. The previews hint to almost nothing, but are so creepy!

The Mindy Project: actually a new addition to our DVR this year. We watched a couple of episodes here and there last season, and it was always funny, but somehow we never got around to recording it. Mindy Kaling is seriously hilarious in such a smart, self-deprecating and ditzy way. I read her book last year, and was THAT girl laughing out loud at subway while eating my lunch. So, it has earned a spot on the DVR.

New shows that are going to get a try: The Goldbergs on ABC, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Andy Samberg's new show, Super Fun Night, Rebel Wilson's new show. Anyone else looking forward to anything this fall?

Guilty Pleasure: Downton Abbey

Actually, I don’t feel guilty about liking this show at all. It’s awesome and critically acclaimed. It is British.

I had no idea this show existed until this year’s Golden Globes, when it won about a bazillion awards, and I searched in vain for it on my DVR schedule. My Netflix queue, realizing that I am always watching period British things, suggested it and even told me I could watch it instantly. Oh Netflix, you know me so well. So, I dutifully went through all the first season in about three weeks time, and absolutely loved it. If you haven’t seen it, get on Netflix and request the DVD, or watch it on streaming if you’ve got it. You will not be sorry.

The first season is set in pre-WWI England, and the storyline documents the lives of the residents of Downton Abbey, a grand home owned by the Earl of Grantham. As all other great houses in England at the time, there is a big staff of servants, from the Butler at the top of the hierarchy, to the kitchen maid. The Earl has an American wife, a “dowager” mother, and three daughters. On the first episode, you learn that his cousin and heir has died in the Titanic, and they are left to search for the next living male relative to inherit the title and the house. Downstairs, a new valet (pronounce the T) comes to Downton to serve the Earl, and stirs things up. From there, you’ll have to watch to get the rest of the scoop!

The story is poignant and beautiful, from love to intrigue to ambition and even some nice snarky British humor (is there any better humor??). Maggie Smith is wonderful as the Dowager.

As my Mom and I watched all of season 1 and caught up with what I missed of season 2 on the PBS website and tuned into the Bachelor the following Monday, we remarked how funny it was that the shows we were both most into at the moment were on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. Anyway, last night was the conclusion of season 2, and I cried at least 4 times during the episode, and then once at the end when I realized that it would be months, if not nearly a year before season three returns to PBS. Watch it, you’ll be glad you did.

Queue Wars

I remember reading somewhere, back when Netflix was DVD-only, that couples would break up over a re-ordered queue. Well, as one of the only remaining DVD subscribers out there, I still feel this pain. While it'll certainly take more than a DVD queue to break us up, I do think a penalty system should be implemented for changing the order of the DVD queue. And that penalty should be doubly imposed when the movie that does show up sucks. SUUUUUUUUCKS.

I have tried, for ages, to convince B that we no longer need to include the DVD option in our Netflix subscription. I mean, who has time to watch 2 full length movies anymore? B strongly opposes the downgrade of our subscription. With the streaming TV shows, movies and now with the addition of HBO Go, it is seriously unnecessary and I will continue to fight this $15/month battle.

As you can gather from my above paragraph, I no longer care for the DVD rental option. Hence, I completely neglect the queue. Very occasionally, I will log on and add a few movies here and there that I can't get on HBO or on streaming that I definitely want to watch. The most recent example, Austenland. I honestly can think of nothing else that I still have on the DVD queue, since my silly husband is continually messing with the queue's order, putting newer movies that he "really wants to see" at the top, and pushing those he "doesnt really want to see" further and further back. I am confident that whatever movies I add, they will be showing up in my mailbox when hell freezes over. Also? I won't notice, because... I won't care.

With Austenland however, I did care. I love Keri Russel, and I love all things Jane Austen. This was up  my alley. I added it, and waited, and waited. Last weekend, I asked B about it. Why haven't I gotten Austenland yet? I put it on the queue ages ago. I checked the red envelope on our entrance table: Riddick. Seriously? The 4th movie in a series of terrible movies? He defended himself: "You saw the first one and didn't hate it!" I sat on the couch, on a Saturday night, with my knitting project, and watched Riddick.

15 minutes in

Frenchie: This movie isn't very good.

B: Yeah, but it's only been like 15 minutes. Let's give it a chance.

45 minutes in

Frenchie: It's getting worse.

B: Yeah, but we're already 45 minutes in. Let's just watch the second half. I think the ending will redeem it.

End of the movie

Frenchie: That was awful. When is Austenland coming?

B: Hmm. You're right, that movie wasn't very good. Austenland? I don't know, let me check. [Clicks a his mouse a few times] Next week!

Great, I get to watch a 4th sequel to a movie I didn't hate, instead of watching a movie called Austenland. My penalty proposal: Everytime you rent one awful, terrible movie, you are banned from reordering the next 3 DVDs. I think that's fair.

He [re]reordered the quene to bring Austenland to the top, and we watched it. It was good! Not fantastic, but certainly better than Riddick. 

OMG, don't watch Riddick.

Bad Sleep Habits

I mentioned last time that we were in the middle of sleep regression. Amalah says that this is only supposed to happen during the baby's 4th month, but Mia turned 5 months on Monday, and we're still in the thick of it. A couple of weeks ago, on a particularly difficult night when neither me nor B could afford to be awake for two hours in the middle of the night, we plopped her down between the two of us, and she fell right asleep. And so, we did it again, and again, and again, and basically every time she wakes up in the middle of the night... we pick her right out of her crib/bassinet, and put her in our bed.

I know, I know, there's all sorts of stuff about how you shouldn't put a baby in bed with you because you might roll over in the middle of the night and crush it... but really? I've slept with my dogs in bed about a million times and I've never even come close. So let's move on from that.

I'm afraid that our "laziness" (I dare you to call it that when you're the one who desperately wants to sleep in the middle of the night because you have to get up and go to work in the morning) is going to end up biting us in the ass. Tonight, for example, Mia woke up at 1am, which is significantly earlier than she usually does, so I tried (this being friday night and all) to get her to fall asleep in her own bed. After an hour or so of me continuously patting her chest and replacing the pacifier, she finally did fall asleep. But... not me!

So here I am, at 4 am, realizing that perhaps I am the one who now needs to have a baby in my bed to fall back asleep in the middle of the night... who would have thought?

On an unrelated note, I have gotten much better about waking up in the mornings and actually getting some exercise in before work. I'm doing it at least 3 times a week (which is about 2 times more than I ever did before!), either with a DVD, some streaming Netflix, or going to our crappy apartment complex gym. On the other hand... I have absolutely failed on the diet front. I am eating all sorts of un-complex carbs (does that make them simple carbs?), and even made a second batch of those double chocolate chip cookies replacing the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips. So one win, plus one fail.

Unfortunately, the Las Vegas weather is already taking a turn for the cooler, so my goal of fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans before I actually need to start wearing them again is likely not to be hit. I may have to stop at the Gap tomorrow and pick up some tweeners.

Friday Bullets

- I've had this pretty massive cold for just over a week now. I hate posting about being sick, so I keep quiet about it, but this was a nasty one. This morning, I realized that I was on day 10 of cold meds, and I realized that while my congestion et al was getting better, my throat hurt very very much. I dragged myself to the CVS Minute Clinic and it turns out that I have a massive ear infection. Who gets those over the page of 10? Well, me. She was surprised that I wasn't feeling pain and while I maintain that I wasn't, now that I know I have an infection, it's starting to hurt. Go figure.

- Today, Friday, a bunch of people are out of the office, and I'm defaulted to go to our PO Box and pick up the mail, and then I'm supposed to open it all up, and if there are payment checks, go deposit them. It was pretty fun driving around town, though a bit depressing to see how little payments healthcare providers actually get for taking care of patients. Yikes.

- B is off all weekend, and I usually like to jam pack weekends that he's going to be spending with us. But this weekend is jam packed with a whole lot of nothing. I mean, grocery shopping and walks and all the regular stuff, but I am committed to not planning our days out. I am, however, planning on having House of Cards on Netflix basically whenever possible, so as to remember the 1st season in time for the February 14th Season 2 premiere.

- I found a new (professional) blogger that I am loving - enviable hair, house and clothes: www.whoorl.com

- I am currently working on a Shifting Sands scarf as a gift to my French uncle. It's really pretty, and I'm hoping to get a nice chunk of it done on our lazy weekend.

Colleague Consultation and Weekends Redux

It feels like ages since I've posted -- usually I try to keep it up at least twice a week. But, I've got some stuff going on that I cannot post about, for fear of jinxing things. So, that's what has taken up the majority of my thoughts for the past 8 days. But, onto other things!

In an effort to secure free advice from my fellow MILPs out there, I'm looking for a bit of guidance (If you are not interested, skip this paragraph to hear about the rest of my riveting weekend). As I've mentioned before, I'm playing a bit of an HR role at the moment with my job, and I've been entertaining a few companies who want to sell their services to the Company's employees. Last week, I had a visit from someone looking to sell what I'll call "memberships" into a sort of "Legal Club". Without giving away too much about the service itself, the basic gist of it is you pay a monthly fee (low -- like, the price Netflix) and you have access to 24 legal advice. There are limits to the representation, such as a few pages of contracts reviewed, a certain number of hours of litigation, etc. I feel sort of uncomfortable offering this service to the Company's employees; something about it feels off to me. Anyone have thoughts on this?

On a more run of the mill note... we're three days away from leaving for Chicago for a much anticipated extended weekend. In addition to the wedding of one of my high school BFFs, we've got an early first b-day celebration planned with B's family, a playdate with Mia's (only) cousin at the Lincoln Park Zoo (weather permitting - alternate plan being the aquarium), and a super-secret pre-mani/pedi morning meeting (see first paragraph).This weekend was spent doing laundry (everyone's clothes but mine -- as usual) and buying baby travel-related items. The three of us were hit with another daycare bug, but this time just a cold that has depleted our apartment's supply of kleenex. I'll take 10 colds over another stomach flu, so I'm not complaining.

Mia's follow up at the pediatrician -- Strep Free, but confirmed daycare cold.

Last week, the Frenchie family took advantage of actually living in Vegas and visited the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden at the Mirage. It was actually really cool! They had about a dozen dolphins in different pools, some white lions and tigers, and one (regular colored) cheetah. We were surprised that Mia actually noticed and watched the animals with the same enthusiasm she shows for Swarley. It was, of course, overpriced and very hot, but hey, it's Vegas. The following Tuesday, B and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by having a family dinner at the Todd English Pub at the Aria, which was fabulously decadent pub food. I had lobster rolls and a Beergarita, and B had a fancy burger and a Beer flight. Mia ate my sweet potato fries. We thought about getting a babysitter, but decided against it. My parents almost always brought us on all their anniversary dates, so we thought this might be a nice tradition to start.

Last but certainly not least, while at Babies R Us on Friday, I strayed from my travel-list and purchased a lawn mower looking walking helper as an early birthday gift for Mia. I've been eyeing one of these types of things for a few weeks. I set it up when we got home, and she started pushing it around without hesitation immediately. She hasn't figured out how to dislodge it when it runs into furniture yet, but she got very confident in her abilities very quickly. She'd stand next to it and try to topple it over every time it stopped moving forward. After three solid days of pushing it around, she took her first steps without it!!! She went from holding herself up on the coffee table, turned around, and took four steps to her toy box. They were four unmistakable, unassisted, real steps. I tried to coax her into doing it again, but any distance further than four steps, she just drops down to her hands and knees and books it. It's not clear whether she can't go more than four steps, or if she just doesn't want to. Either way, it was very exciting and I'm so glad she did it at home and not at daycare. She turned 11 months last Wednesday, if anyone was curious. I was hoping she would be walking by the time her birthday pool party rolled around, so she's well on her way to it!

Not a picture of the actual event, but there's the toy box and the coffee table.

To Gym or not to Gym?

My office's new location is right across the street from a big big big gym. Membership there is not expensive, especially compared to the gym membership that I had during law school in Chicago. At the time, I paid about $80 a month for a membership. It was nice, but basic. Cardio equipment, weights, a few group classes, pilates and a locker room. The one across the street from my office (with a location about a 3 minute drive from my apartment) is $31 per month and a 25 month commitment, which can be broken if I lose my job or move away from Vegas. It's cheaper without childcare, but if I can't have childcare, then I'll just work out at our terrible apartment complex gym for free.

I had thought about joining last summer, but just ruled it out as something that I might not take full advantage of. This time, I feel that since I've actually been working out regularly with DVDs and Netflix at home, that I am physically ready to take advantage of a gym. This gym is nice, too. It's got indoor pools, sauna, steam rooms, lots and lots of cardio and weight machines, lots and lots of group classes at all times of the day, racketball courts (not that I would use them - I play tennis and squash) and a running track. The membership gives you access to six locations throughout the valley, so even if we were to move (please, I want to move!) we'd likely still be close to a location.

I kind of want to do it. $31 a month really isn't much, I just hate committing to paying for something for that long. Should I join? What do you think?

Idealized Summer

Between constantly being sick, and the above 100 degree temperatures and scorching sunlight of Las Vegas, I realized that we're in quite a bit of a rut.

I realized this as a I glanced over at my husband, who was doing something on his computer while the Matrix 2 was playing. I was sitting on the couch finishing an epic bracelet. Mia was already asleep. This is the same scene that plays out almost every weeknight in our living room. Something on TV (plus, now that it's summer all the good TV is in reruns), B is on his laptop, while I make jewelry/knit/work on my Etsy Shop. It was Sunday night, we had already done our chores for the day, stocked our refrigerator for the week. I asked what he was up to, and almost dramatically, he said "Just waiting for bedtime, I guess". It hit me how depressing that sounds.

We have big summer plans. We bought a membership to the Springs Preserve, with the full intention of going at least once a month. We haven't gone back since, because... HOT. We are going to take a weekend trip to LA, but don't want to deal with hassle of boarding the dogs now that we've lost our go-to college student dog sitter. We are going to spend a night at a Vegas hotel with a fabulous pool towards the end of the summer when Mia is more steady on her feet, but it seems like the hotel prices aren't dipping below $125 which was our cut off. I still think we'll make all three items happen.

There always seem like so many excuses not to do something out of the ordinary. My husband is a home body. The baby shouldn't be out in the heat for long. The dogs. Gas. Money. We talk about ordinary things: carseats, soy milk, Netflix queues, what our next car should be sometime in 2013.

In reality, we don't sit at home that much on the weekends. We went to Costco (soymilk and baby wipes), Babies R Us (more Playtex Dropins for Daycare), the grocery store, Frys (new mouse). In fact, that afternoon, we had spent an hour or so at our complex's pool. We went out to dinner on Friday, and walked around the mall. I even drank a margarita and bought a skirt! Last week, we had a visitor. We went to a wine tasting. Somehow, in that moment, none of that seemed exciting enough. Because it's not very exciting. It's life! Weekends in a family of two working parents are inevitably going to stuffed full of errands that pile up during the week. Weeknights are about cleaning up after dinner, picking up baby toys, and getting ready for the next morning, and oh yeah, resting.

In about a month, I'll be boarding a plane LaGuardia-bound with Mia for a visit with my college roommates, then spending a few days with my Aunt, and then heading to Chicago for another wedding, where B will meet us.. I'm sure by the time I'm a few days into single parenting Mia, I'll be daydreaming about my rut.

What not Wednesday: Frenchie Edition

Well, I have been having some bloggers block recently. I have four different posts started in Word, and I have yet to like or finish any of them. So, I figured I would give whatnot wednesdays my first shot. [it is wednesday, right?]

• Happy Leap Day! I think it's supposed to bring you luck, right? So I'm sending out two job applications today. One back in Chicago, which would be awesome, and one in the UK which I am qualified for according to the job description, but I mostly sent in my application for the LOLs. The job in Chicago's job description fit me to a T, and writing about it makes me nervous because I feel like I'm going to jinx it, but I figure leap day will counteract jinxes. And, I haven't written about any other job that I've applied to and that hasn't made any difference, so... who cares?
• It's T-8 days until my long LA weekend. I've mentioned this trip before, but it's for one of my high school BFFs - we were a very tight group of five and all five of us are making the trip out to California. I have been friends with her since we were 14 years old, and I'm so excited to celebrate with her next weekend, and in May at her wedding. We're staying at a condo on Venice Beach and going to some wine tastings in Malibu. And, the kicker is that this will be my first time away from my family since we became three. I spent one night away from Mia-boo when we went to Paris, but this time, she'll be spending the weekend with her Papa. B is pretty nervous and I can only imagine his terrified face when I drive off into the sunrise on Friday morning, but everything will go well, of course. As for me, we'll see how I handle myself being away from my little munchkin, with whom I manage to spend 24 hours a day with since my Mom went back to China.
• I'm thinking about covering up a tattoo that I got of a little chili pepper on my shoulder blade when I was 18. I have no idea why I went with a chili pepper, but I liked it at the time and throughout college. Now, ten years later, it's faded and no longer cute. I've been thinking about getting Mia's initials (MJC) in a scrolly-monogrammy letters to cover it up.  I hesitate for a couple of reasons. 1) B doesn't like tattos. I have two, and I don't think that covering one up counts as a third, so he should be fine with it. 2) If I have another baby at somepoint down the line, I'll kind of have to get that one's initials tattoed, right? And I don't particularly want another tattoo. I just want to replace this one that I no longer like.
• I've been knitting. A lot. In the past month, I've made a cable sweater (I finished the one I had initially written about a while ago), and two little blouses for Mia. Right now, I'm making another little summer top out of a beautiful cotton yarn. I think about making clothes for other people's children too, but I don't know that they would like that. Would you like it if someone gave you some handmade clothing for your child? Below is one of the blouses, that looks more like a vest, and the other is a close up of the stich I am currently working on.

•  We've made some progress on the whole sleeping front. We've continued the Ferber method to put her to sleep, but if she wakes up in the middle of the night, we've taken to sitting in her room and singing to her until she falls asleep. We used to pick her up and just plop her down in our bed. Lazy parenting = bad sleep habits. Last night, she actually slept from 8:30pm - 7:00am. It was amazing, and I work up at 6:30 wondering what the eff happened to me. Nothing, apparently.
• B and I have been watching Mad Men. We had initially tried the first season last year, when we first arrived in Las Vegas. When we moved here, we had a terrible experience with our movers, and our stuff didn't get to our apartment until we had already been there five days. We went to Target and bought the first season of Mad Men on DVD to watch and pass the time. We both disliked it. A lot. We picked it up again on Netflix, and whether it had something to do with the circumstances, or the first season just wasn't that good, we like it now. A lot. We're just starting season three, and hopefully we'll be able to catch up.
• In addition to the knitting, B and I have turned very domestic as of late. It's a good thing, really. We've been keeping up with the dishes, the cooking, the laundry, and everything else. This may not seem like much to all of you put together people out there, but this is a big accomplishment for us.
• Lastly, I'm giving the whole low-carb thing another go. After a memorable meal of Five Guys for dinner, I've had an egg and mushroom scramble for breakfast and a shrimp salad for lunch. I'm heading to the grocery store on the way home and making a turkey chili. Yums.
• And also, this:



 Need to clear your head? Write your own Whatnot Wednesday post and link up below so that we can all see the randomness that fell out when you rinsed your brain.

Frenchie McKnitsalot

A few years ago, one of my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s friends, in a completely nice way, asked: “So, what are your hobbies?”. My response was a very decided “Uhhhh… I like to go to restaurants. Does that count? I also like to drink Margaritas?”. I found it so strange that, #1, someone was asking me about hobbies, and #2 that I seriously couldn’t come up with an answer other than eating and drinking. In my head, I can justify my lack of answer by telling myself that I was 24 and in law school. I am not going to pretend that I was one of those people who spent every waking moment outside of class studying, but it still took up a huge chunk of my time. Also, when I wasn’t studying, like, on Saturdays, I was usually hung over from above-stated hobbies.

I had learned to knit in college from a couple of girls in my sorority. My roommates and I all learned together, and we made a couple of scarves here and there. My biggest knitting accomplishment by the time I graduated was a Gryffindor scarf, which I think I wore to one of the Harry Potter movies. Striped scarf, basically. During law school, I probably made a couple more scarves. When I graduated law school, and while I was taking BarBri courses, I got a terrible job as a law clerk. This was seriously the worst job I’ve ever had, including the 3 weeks I spent as one of those people who stands on the sidewalk asking people whether they had a second for    fill in the blank related to the Environment   . She was a super conservative sole practitioner who worked out of her apartment. She was in her 60s, had never been married, and had craploads of hobbies. She had 3 harps in her living room, a membership to the Lyric Opera, tons and tons and tons of books, and a basket full of yarn. She was a really interesting woman when she wasn’t criticizing me for living with B before we were married, or even engaged. (Once, she asked if I wanted help with a cover letter I wrote applying for a family law position, when she got to the part when I was writing about family values, she laughed and said : "Yeah right, you don't have family values living with your boyfriend".) She ended up firing me, claiming that she looked on the internet history of the computer I was working on and saw that I had checked my personal email and looked at a blogs. I didn’t lie, I told her that I did do those things from time to time. She then said she didn’t know what those websites were, and that she thought those might be disguises for porn. Yeah… that’s exactly what Lag Liv is.

Anyway, I did get one good thing out of that job. For Christmas, she gave me a beginner's knitting book, with simple and easy to follow patterns. She suggested that I YouTube the instructions I couldn't figure out from the text. And from there, I became a real knitter. I started making hats, and I made a pretty baby blanket for my not yet born nephew, Tyler. When I was done, I picked up one of those free knitting patterns they give out at Michael's for an adult sized throw blanket. It was 6'x6' and had cables. I wish had a picture of that one to show you guys, but since it was my first real big project, my stitches weren't even enough and it hasn't held up very well.

The second I got pregnant, my knitting went from a now and then hobby to a full on obsession. I made Mia a striped cable knit blanket, which this time, came out very even and has held up to a few machine washes on the gentle cycle. She has a matching hat, which I made quickly afterwards. All the yarn colors I used match her nursery bedding from PB Kids.

I have made her 4 sweaters, one which she outgrew before I was even finished. I hadn't finished by the time she was born, since she came a few days before our scheduled induction. Once she was born, I didn't have the energy to do anything but lay down and watch tv between feedings and diaper changes, so it was too small by the time it was even done:

The second cardigan I made, I was super meticulous with. Also, I was super nervous that it was going to be too small again, that I followed the directions for 6-12 months. It turned out really well, just... a tad large:

It's not a big deal that it's so big, really. She doesn't need a sweater here in Vegas until late October/early November, and by then, it won't be so huge. Sidenote: Yes, Mia has the CRAZIEST HAIR EVER. I swear, I don't neglect it. If I don't put a hat on her for HOURS after her bath, it'll come out like this about 10 minutes after she gets out. If I do put the hat on her for the proper amount of time, it turns out like this by the end of the next day, so... yeah. She's got crazy hair, and I'm living with it.

The second sweater I made with this ridiculously expensive yarn that I bought at a yarn boutique near my house. I was so excited to find a place to buy specialty yarns, I kind of let myself go a bit. This is a cotton/bamboo blend that was at $12.00 for a 50g skein. (For comparison, at Michael's yarn costs no more than $4.99. I've bought plain cotton yarn for 88 cents for a 75g skein before. I'll show you what I made with that one in a sec.) The yarn was so gorgeous, it was different shades of purple. There's no predicting what it will look like all knit up, but when the yarn was all balled up, I couldn't resist it. This sweater ended up costing $24... and ended up looking a little too much like a Cosby sweater for my taste. But I don't care, she'll wear it and so will any other girl babies that I might have in the future.

Pretty purple Cosby sweater.

Lastly, I made a green professor cardigan. It has a rolled up collar, and looks like I should have inserted some elbow pads. I absolutely love it, but it's a bit narrower than I had hoped. Most patterns come with ample belly space for baby bellies, but the woman who designed it clearly didn't have a baby of her own. She'll wear this one straight away, on those chilly Vegas nights. RIGHT. Still cute.




I added heart buttons to make sure she still looks like a girl.

  In addition to baby clothes, I've also taken to making stuffed animals. I've made three of them so far, and I've had a lot of fun with these. I have a feeling that kids aren't going to like them as much as they would like store bought stuffed animals, but I'm OK with that. First up, I made a Teddy Bear while I was still pregnant with Mia. This one sits in her crib, waiting for her to care a bit.

My first stuffed animal. Kind of embarassingly bad, actually. But still, I made it!

The second animal I made for our nephew, Tyler. I sent it to him at Easter. I used the same yarn on this bunny as I did on his baby blanket.

Lastly, and the item I am most proud of to date, is this guy:

By far the most complicated item I've made. It only took a week to knit up, but it's putting together all the little pieces of shell that was so time consuming. I love it. I thought it was so great because it can double as  cushion. This was for Tybalt's first birthday. This is the item I made using the 88 cent cotton skeins! It only took a bit of yarn from each skein, and a couple of the light blue ones for the shell edging and underbelly.

So, that's it for my knitting post. I'll continue to post pictures of my completed projects. I'm working on (another) cardigan for Miss Mia, this one will have some varied stitches and is in a 100% supima cotton that I also bought at the specialty yarn store. I made it following the 6-12 month instructions, too. So, it'll be a spring sweater. Next on the project queue (that's what Ravelry calls it, and I like that term, like Netflix!) is a "mushroom beret" for myself, and then a double breasted coat for Miss Mia. Also coming up, knits from this book B surprised me with last week: