hello, beautiful

I got a new toy the other night, and I loves it (so far).

It's a Brother CS-770 computerized sewing machine. And it's super fancy shmancy. In fact, it's fancier than I need, but the price was great and it works (something my rinky-dinky Shark stopped doing, hence the new one.) I've been working on my costume for Decemberween (a themed Halloween party in December). This year's theme is Tim Burton and I'm dressing up as the Oogie-Boogie man from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (The hubs is going as Danny Devito's character Amos Calloway from Big Fish.) Between Decemberween and all the Christmas gifts/decorations I will be making, this little machine definitely has its work cut out for it. And me. Hopefully we make it through the next two months in one piece. Now all I need is to finally set up my desk in the office/craft room/guest room so we can use our entire kitchen table.

Also, if you look in the background, you can get a peek at the painting I'm wrapping up today.

And ten points to whoever can guess which movie we were watching. Hint: "oh my giant blue head!"

The duck is actually my measuring tape. The monster likes to make it "swim" around the mat.

A New Challenge?

Ok, so I know that I haven't finished my last challenge, but I am going to start a new one that, thankfully, is only once-a-week and one that I'm hoping I can keep up with. I have every intention of picking up on the previous challenge once I am able to find the next picture I want to use. (The problem with packing and moving? Everything you need is in a box you can't find.)

So the new challenge has to do with Songs. I love music- every kind, and almost every genre- and I absolutely believe that music is food for the soul. I know that sounds super corny, but I really do believe it. I cannot imagine a world without music. So I am even more excited about this challenge than the last (but I swear I will get the last one done. Eventually.) So here's where it's coming from:

My husband has a group of friends who call themselves "The Badgers" (there is a backstory to that name, but I'm not going to share it-- I'm not sure I even remember it and it's not my story to tell.) Anyway, these badgers are some of the most creative, kind, and loving people I know* and when they come up with an idea, it's usually a pretty good one. So anyway, Alex came up with this specific weekly challenge, so I'm going to copy her FB note and maybe one of my very few readers will take the challenge up themselves and it will become a new internet phenomenon.

I've noticed the '30 Day Song Challenge' floating around recently, and the first time I saw it, I thought, "Fuck. I can't pick one song. Ever. How can I make this something I want to do?"

And then....

I started writing my own categories, thinking about songs that mean a lot to me, songs I wish I could share with my friends and ended up with 52. I've written them down, sealed them and will be picking one at random for the next year.

Monday I'll pick a new category and post vids every friday with 5 relevant songs. My personal challenge is not to repeat any songs.

I'm posting it here because it's easy to access, I'd really like any of you who are interested to play along with me. =)

This is Week 1, category chosen at random...

Songs you know all the words to.

So here we go. These songs are in no particular order, just list as I remember.

DRESS, Buck-Tick

Ventura Highway, America

You Get What You Give, New Radicals

Come What May, The Moulin Rouge version (Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman)

Barbie Girl, Aqua (yeah, that's right. I even had a dance a friend and I choreographed in middle school. We were awesome.)

Ok, week 1 is complete! Maybe I'll find my pictures somewhere so I can post the picture that always makes me laugh. There are actually a lot that I could post, but there is one that I have to post because it's hilarious, and will always be hilarious. Anyway, I'm going to listen to the lecture going on right now. This is why I don't use my lappy to take notes.

*sappy much?