The Vanity

If you've ever snooped around my bathroom, you know quite well that I have a make-up hoarding problem. It is so bad, in fact, that there is now a self-imposed ban on the purchase of any beauty product. I rarely even wear it but I've still managed to accumulate every form of eyeliner, a bajillion different blushes, and any color of eyeshadow imaginable. I'm fairly certain my addiction to e.l.f. keeps them in business. You can imagine the horror that was my make-up tote and I desperately needed a place to put it all. I also needed a place to apply it. I've spent well over a year hunched on the floor, staring into a tiny lighted mirror. Because that just screams "gorgeous", right?

Many of my years have gone into drooling over those Old Hollywood, glamour-oozing vanities with the big mirrors and lights galore. You know the ones that are so beautiful that you're somehow more beautiful just sitting next to it? Yeah, I needed one of those. So I decided to build one. At first I decided I wanted the typical square mirror surrounded by lights. But I realized I don't know how to wire things and didn't want to die in the process of learning, so I played it by ear as I looked for pieces. I found a gross pressed wood tragedy of a desk and a set of vintage wooden folding chairs at yard sales, my mother had a gorgeous but hideously painted mirror collecting dust, and I bought a scrap of wood at the lumber yard for the back.

I nailed the backboard to the desk and painted for three freaking days. The mirror is definitely the focal-point on this baby so I chose a romantic, old glamour palette. I then hung some pegs to showcase some jewelry, painted and filled an old planter with marbles to stash my brushes, and beautified some basic votive holders and a tea tray for lighting (no wires! Now let's hope I don't burn my hair off...)

I spent a grand total of $43 and a week of my time on this. You really can't beat that. I think it turned out gorgeous and I absolutely cannot wait to use it. It is more than what I wanted and I am truly proud of it!

Electronic Cigarette Switch

My husband and I grew up with smoker parents so it seemed almost natural to light up as adults. I had easy access to cigarettes and swiped a few from my mother as a young teen, but found them much too gross to try them again. After I turned 18, I wanted to flaunt my legal status and bought a pack of menthol cigarettes and some lottery tickets. I quickly fell in love with the taste and became a full-fledged smoker. At the age of 20, I became pregnant with my daughter. Cigarettes made me incredibly sick so I thankfully kicked the habit from the very start of pregnancy. I couldn't even handle being around smokers. Post-breastfeeding, I sadly made the doltish decision to pick up where I left off.

We discussed ending the habit for months and months. We tried and failed at stopping cold turkey many times. I would limit myself to half a pack a day and binge when the withdrawals got too tough. My wake-up call came when I began hacking up chunks of brown gunk and wheezing with every breath. We mutually decided it was time to make a drastic change. Cigarettes were a constant stress on us, with the cost and worrying about the health of our children and ourselves. Electronic cigarettes were finally becoming widely available at affordable prices in smoke shops near us and we had nothing to lose at that point.

So what is an electronic cigarette? You start with a battery base, which signals the atomizer in the "filter" to heat up the liquid in the cartridge when you inhale. This produces a smoky vapor that looks and practically feels and tastes like regular smoke. You are actually inhaling water, propylene glycol, nicotine and flavoring. They look just like traditional cigarettes, only slightly heavier. They also have realistic lights on the "lit" end that glows and dims just like a regular cherry. This light will blink when the cartridge is dying or the battery needs re-charged.

With a disposable e-cig, you buy one piece and toss it after it dies. These tend to be a little longer and heavier than reusable varieties. Most tout being good for 500 drags and range greatly in price, from $3 to $15. With reusable kits, there really is no limit on what you get. Some kits come with the basics; others come with everything you'll need for several months. It all really depends on what you want to spend, and there are kits in every budget. You have a battery, which screws onto the cartomizer. To charge your battery, you simply screw it into the USB charger and plug it into your computer or a USB compatible wall charger (I use my cell phone charger, minus the cord.) You can even charge in your car. With our current kit, we buy cartridge packs. However, there are cartridges you can refill with a syringe. This seems to be the most cost-effective option but we haven't tried it yet (although that is our next step.) This opens up a variety of choices and custom flavors. Speaking of flavors, there are a TON! Along with your traditional tobacco and menthol flavors, you can pick cake, coffee, peanut butter and banana, brownies, spearmint, bacon (!), beer (!!!)... really, the sky is the limit!

My kit, plus my wall charger and an extra battery.

The lights differ on this brand. The ashy end has a central air intake, while the other is from the sides.

 We decided to try a few disposable electronic cigarettes before making the leap into kits. I found all menthol versions were way too sweet and I felt sweaty and sick after a few puffs. My husband's e-cigs would last a few hours, making it more expensive than smoking real cigarettes. We opted for $20 Cig2o kits, which came with a battery, two cartomizers, and a USB charger. The extra cartridges come in packs of 3 or 5. One cartridge claims to equal one to one and a half packs of traditional cigarettes. I find this to be mostly true, with one lasting exactly 24 hours for me (I smoked a pack a day.) I find both the tobacco and menthol flavors for this kit to be incredibly realistic and tasty. Towards the end of a cartridge's life you will get a weird taste and less vapor, but I don't find this to be too unpleasant. You get a great amount of vapor- you can even feel the moisture on your lips from time to time. With this particular kit, you can buy cartomizers from different brands. They have compatibility numbers to match, although we haven't yet tried any. I do suggest getting at least one extra battery to have on hand. A charge usually lasts at least 8 hours, but it never hurts to be prepared. I do recommend the kits over disposables because you get a more realistic taste, a higher quality vapor, the cartridges last longer, and you really aren't saving any significant amount of money.

What is my final opinion on e-cigs? I FREAKING LOVE IT. We will never, ever, EVER go back to traditional cigarettes. I did smoke a few real ones after switching and found it to be utterly disgusting. There are NO withdrawals; you can barely tell you aren't smoking the real deal. I have endless energy and can tell a huge difference in my endurance level during my workouts. I breathe, smell, and sleep better. My house is cleaner. There is no ash or smoky smell. I truly cannot stress the change my body has made. Weight comes off easier. My skin and hair look fantastic. My nails aren't brittle. I can even wear my contacts again because the smoke doesn't dry them out. I do try to keep up with my smoking routines and step outside to "smoke" at bars and restaurants, but you really don't have to in most establishments. The biggest improvement, however, has been on our bank account. We were spending $300+ a month on cigarettes. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about how much money we threw away on something so horrible and useless. That's almost $4,000 a year! We now spend $75 a month and that is even dwindling down. The great thing about these is, the longer you smoke them, the less you seem to crave smoking. Think about it- you light a cigarette and usually smoke the whole thing, thus upping your tolerance. With this, you take a puff here and there and miss it less and less. You can also control your nicotine intake. The cartomizers come in 24mg, 18mg, 8mg, and 0mg. Right now we are on 18mg and working our way down to zero. While the jury is still out on how healthy these really are, they are a helluva lot healthier than cigarettes. If you're in the same shoes we were, I cannot recommend these enough.

New Projects

One of my best friends in the entire world is a total ray of sunshine. Nothing gets that lady down- nothing! Being quite stressed myself, I decided to rip a page from her book and try my hand at crafting. You see, this girl has talent and is always, always producing something awesome. Boppy covers! New clothes made from old clothes! And don't even get me started on her crocheting skills. She credits a lot of her 'can't bring me down' attitude to crafting.

Now I'm no stranger to crafting myself. I grew up with a tattoo artist for a father, a seamstress/painter for a mother, a brilliant musician grandfather, a master woodworker grandfather, a grandmother who always had a project going, and a great-grandmother who constantly knitted. I've made at least one of my children Halloween costumes for the last three years and I recently made a totally recycled dollhouse as a Christmas present for my daughter. Before I became pregnant with my son, my dream was to go to School of the Art Institute in Chicago and study fashion design. Beyond that, I never really tried to make anything. Lord knows I can't follow a pattern to save my life and I despise sewing machines, so that gives you an indication of where I stand. Nevertheless, I made a homemade dress form, loaded up on $22 worth of material and decided to give it my best shot. While these pieces aren't fantastic and I see myself wearing them maybe a handful of times, I did fall in love with making my own clothes and it truly made me happy and drastically less stressed. My friend is definitely on to something. It was like a form of meditation for me and I'm getting ready to start on a few more dresses. I'm even giving my sewing machine another chance.

I'm not in love with this shirt but I don't hate it. It was my first attempt and I really had no idea where to start. I'm also pretty sure I have it on backwards in this picture, as the front lays flatter to my bust. It came to a total of about $3 and a day of my time.

I am pretty proud of this dress. It has a red base and a lace overlay. I'm considering adding lace cap sleeves. I do really like this but it is actually quite heavy and very itchy so I'm not sure I would wear it a whole lot. I do love the shape of it, as that is my constant issue when shopping for dresses. I also discovered I love working with lace, as it hides my crappy stitches. This totaled around $15 and took 2 days complete.

I also made some jewelry, which I really love doing. It's so simple and easy and I am beyond picky when it comes to selecting pieces to buy. The necklaces are quite long and fall below my bust (excluding the rose one). The crystal necklace and matching bracelet were crafted with chandelier crystals I saved from our old house. The new owner intended to trash everything and I couldn't stand the thought of our beautiful chandeliers going to the dump. A previous owner had them imported from her native England in 1950 and I loved the idea of having that history hanging around my wrist.

My next pieces will most likely be a black cotton trapeze dress, a nude base/black fringe lace sheath dress (think flapper meets 50's bombshell), and a color blocked bandage dress. We'll see how that goes, ha.

The Recycled Dollhouse

Barbie is a big deal in my family. We had massive boxes filled to the brim with every Barbie accessory you could dream of. She dated a doll from New Kids on the Block, her mom was a beat up Gem doll, she sat on Waffle Block furniture, and she had a ton of pets- ones that didn't have huge eyes and bobble heads. But the things I cherished most were the homemade Barbie clothes my grandmother and I would craft. I still have the mauve dress with green trim we sewed especially for my Pocahontas doll. My inspiration behind my newest project, though, was my papa. He was a master crafter who had two daughters and oodles of granddaughters to build things for. He built my aunt a massive, gorgeous Barbie house. We're talking towel rods, real wallpaper- the works.

During my pregnancy with my daughter, I made a rule that nobody could buy her a Barbie until after I had purchased her first one. Every girl remembers her first Barbie (mine was Ariel and I still have her, minus a leg) and I wanted it to be perfect. I searched high and low and finally found her in August. Bella will receive her on Christmas. But then Barbie needed a place to live, right? I priced houses- all clocked in well over $100. No thanks! So I gave myself a challenge. I had to make the house from completely recycled materials or from things I already had. I was not allowed to buy a single thing, aside from the massive amounts of glue sticks for my glue gun. My initial plan was to build it from a light wood but could not find enough of the same type and nobody was keen on donating it. I did not have the right tools for what I could find, either. County Market was kind enough to donate banana boxes, and I had been saving up small boxes from my recycling bin for the furniture. This was my hoard and basic outline.

 I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this project.

1. I can't cut a straight line.

2. I can't measure properly.

3. You need both those skills to successfully make a dollhouse.

I started this project a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I just finished... 5 days before Christmas. By far and away the biggest, most stressful project I have ever done. I had my moments where I really thought I would just give up and shell out the $100+ for the dollhouse. But the end result turned out better than I could've expected it to. 

 I realize the house is quite slim, so I opted for foam board on the lower levels, which I sneakily weighed down. If you can't tell, this house is huge. Bella's head doesn't even reach the top and it would do some damage if it fell on her. I would also like to fashion some sort of anchor system but am still in the brainstorming stage for that.

We had to have a Pet Room. My mother recently found all of our old Barbie pets and gave them to Bella. Right now, they sleep in an old shopping basket so we're excited to give them real beds!

This is Barbie's bedroom. I would like to add more to the dresser, perhaps some little cosmetics and brushes and such. I love the throw on her bed. I took the decal from an old baby shirt and attached it to tie-dyed material. It says, "Love Our Planet", which I found fitting for a recycled project like this.

Along with Barbie, Bella will be getting a little Kelly doll. The curtains in this room mean so much to me. As I mentioned, my grandmother and I sewed a lot. I learned everything I know about sewing from her and she is why I much prefer hand-sewing to a machine. My grandma had a porch full of boxes and bags crammed with old material scraps. Going through those boxes was my favorite part when creating something new. The curtains are the last remaining scrap of material I have from my grandmother. I've held on to it for at least the last decade, waiting for the perfect project to use it on.

I had a lot of fun with the living room. I purposely made it look like a 70's throwback because we had hand-me-down furniture from my aunts. The inflatable green and yellow Barbie couch? This is my homage to it.

The kitchen. 'Nough said.

I wanted the pets to have a place to run around, so they got a fenced in yard. In an earlier picture, you'll notice it is white. I made it double-sided so the animals could either run around in the grass or trudge through some snow.

I had so much fun making this, despite it being a pain in my butt. I would absolutely do it again. I did limit myself by only allowing the use of things I already had (and I'll say it's a damn good thing I'm a craft hoarder, otherwise this would not be possible.) Bella hasn't seen it completely finished or with all the furniture yet, as I'm leaving it set up for her on Christmas morning. Obviously I couldn't hide such a huge project from her so she has been under the impression that this is for my sister. My 28-year-old sister. Yeah, I totally know this is the last time I can pull off a lie like that... I'm so excited to bust out some Barbies and play in this house with my little girl. I even have the original Waffle Blocks bagged up and ready to go.

ADVENTURE TIME!

This year, we decided our Halloween theme would be Adventure Time (for those of you who are reading this and thinking, "What the hell is an Adventure Time?", it is a silly, highly addictive show on Cartoon Network about a human boy and his magical dog buddy who fight evil in the post-apocalyptic future.) I handmade nearly every single item we used and never touched my sewing machine or a pattern. It took about three weeks to complete everything.

Finn
Finn is the human boy and main character on this show. My son was the obvious choice for Finn and I'm so happy with how his costume turned out. The only things I made for this were Finn's white hat and his green backpack, both hand-sewn with fleece.

Jake
Jake is the magical dog. My daughter opted to be Jake (and then changed her mind, resulting in a failed attempt at a Lady Rainicorn costume, which she also refused to wear.) We finally, FINALLY convinced her to wear her Jake costume and, shockingly, she actually had fun in it! She wouldn't let me paint her face as we originally planned, otherwise I would have added to the headpiece. Oi, terrible twos! Jake is made from tan fleece with two separate pieces for the body and head. I had to add extensions on the legs, as Bella would not allow me to measure her. Again, terrible twos!

Ice King
The Ice King is the main "bad guy", as he likes to steal princesses and force them into marriage. Of course, Finn and Jake save the ladies each time, duh! Ice King's robe is made from blue fleece. Since I couldn't find a white wig or beard (small town living, I guess) I had to make them from yarn. 425 yards of yarn, to be exact. I made several small bunches, knotted them, and sewed them into either white fringed fleece or the foam crown I cut out. I'm not thrilled with the beard, as it came un-hemmed at the last possible second, so you can see all the knots.

 

 

 Marceline
Marceline the Vampire Queen is one of Finn and Jake's good friends. She's quite the badass and enjoys rocking out on her axe bass. There really wasn't anything to this costume, as I used clothes I already owned and swiped on some face paint and black hair spray. My fangs would not stay in so that was a bit of a fail. For the axe bass, I cut it from foam board, painted it, and threaded in some jewelry wire for the strings.

Lumpy Space Princess
LSP is the princess of Lumpy Space. Think Valley girl meets chain smoker. She is our favorite character and through a magical twist of fate, my husband can do the perfect impression of her (YouTube her if you've never heard her. Greatest. Thing. Ever.) We knew we had to have an LSP but didn't have another person. I made a plush toy of her instead. I used various types of fleece and this was probably the biggest pain in the butt out of all the pieces I made. I couldn't get her very round and she is quite uneven. However, LSP now makes the perfect pillow.

  

All in all, I'm very pleased with the final results. We had a blast on our city's Halloween night and we got a ton of compliments. We're already brainstorming next year's costumes!

My Journey to Motherhood: Isabella Joanne

There was a brief dark moment in our lives not so terribly long ago. I had just left college and was battling severe insomnia, which is much more than just not sleeping well. On top of that, our landlord had just sold our rental unit, we had less than 30 days to move, and TJ got laid off from his job.

To sort of escape for a few days, TJ and I decided to take a trip to see my father in my hometown. While there, we decided to eat at one of my favorite bbq joints. I ordered what I always did... but I couldn't stomach it. It smelled horrible. As a matter of fact, everything smelled horrible- and I could smell everything. One of my relatives joked that I must be pregnant. Ha! Not possible.

Two days after we returned from our trip, I woke up and felt... something. I couldn't pinpoint exactly what the issue was but I certainly felt different, somehow. I was on autopilot when I took a pregnancy test, fully expecting it to be negative. I even remember asking myself what the hell I was doing.  So there I sat on the edge of the tub, a 3 year old Adrian perched outside the door. TJ was still sleeping soundly a few rooms away. Two little pink lines popped up almost instantly... and I almost hit the floor.

I didn't tell TJ. I made an appointment with a midwife- I didn't even tell the receptionist. The next day, ready to go to my appointment, I finally broke down and told TJ I thought I might be pregnant. I didn't think a person could turn so white. At the office, I finally told the nurse about my positive test and she immediately had me take another one. That, too, was positive. It was official: I was pregnant with my second child. 

My first trimester was intense. Morning sickness hit this time too, although not nearly as awful with Adrian. I had my first ultrasound at 6 weeks. There was this tiny little bean connected to a tiny little blob. I stared at the print of it for hours in amazement that that tiny little being had a heartbeat, was my baby. TJ and I created this beautiful little life, this family. How profound is that?

This will certainly sound horrible, but I dreaded having another boy. By that point, I knew this was probably my last child and I desperately wanted a little girl. I struggled to come to terms that that wouldn't happen. I convinced myself I was having a little boy and we named him Julian Dean. Amazingly, TJ got called back to work... the day of my ultrasound. I went in alone, already shaken and dreading being by myself when I was told one of my biggest dreams wouldn't happen. Awful, I know.

On the ultrasound screen, my little baby was curled up tight but appeared to be healthy. I wouldn't be finding out the gender that day. I was devastated. After getting cleaned up, the nurse realized how hurt I was and offered to try again. This time, there my little one was, stretched out and proud as could be. "See that little butterfly-looking area? There's your girl," the technician said. I bawled all the way out the door. Back home, my mother and sister were anxiously waiting, as they also desperately wanted a little girl running around. I tried my best to keep a straight face, to not get hysterical. I handed my mother a gift bag containing a little football and a sports themed card. Inside read, "Remember, girls can play sports too. Love, Bella Jo". TJ still didn't know what we were having; I didn't want to tell him over the phone so I told him I didn't find out and had to go back another day. That night, I showed him all the ultrasound pictures of our baby all curled up. At the very last photo, I blurted out, "And here is your beautiful daughter." Beautiful, indeed.

The rest of my pregnancy was hard. I had a pinched nerve in my hip and walking was excruciating. I still suffered from severe insomnia. My midwife went on maternity leave to deliver her twins and I got stuck seeing the idiot who delivered Adrian for a few months. He was not invested in my pregnancy and didn't seem to care very much about my health. The baby wouldn't move for extended periods of time and it scared me senseless. I charted everything for months- every kick, every hiccup. There were even a few terrifying instances where we couldn't pick up a heartbeat.

Around midnight on February 23, I started having regular contractions. My midwife, newly returned from maternity leave, determined I was definitely in early labor. As the day went on, contractions still very regular, it was obvious I was not going to go into active labor on my own. At 4:30pm I was admitted to the hospital and my water was broken. Hard labor started immediately. My contractions were right on top of each other and incredibly intense. I got in the laboring tub for about 15 minutes before a nurse who had heard my screaming came in saying it shouldn't be this hard or this fast yet. I had to get out to be checked by my midwife. I could see from the look on her face that she was shocked. We were ready to roll NOW. TJ almost missed it because he had been outside calling family. At that point, I sort of just went inside my own head. I followed my body's lead and let it do what it was meant to do. It was a beautiful natural delivery that was even more than I hoped for. I have never been more proud of my body.

At 6:31pm on February 23, 2010, Isabella Joanne entered this world, weighing in at 9 pounds and 9 ounces. She had gorgeous blue eyes and dark blond hair. She was and still is perfectly healthy. The second she was put on my chest, we made eye contact and my entire world fell into place. This little girl finished the puzzle of our family. I never knew I could fall in love like that.

Today, Bella is 2 and a half years old and the center of my world. She is unbelievably smart and sassy. She is a tomboy that loves anything that sparkles, dressing up, running around after her big brother and snuggling up with her mama. I absolutely adore her. After all, she was my dream come true.

My Journey to Motherhood: Adrian Lewis

I took some unexpected turns on my journey to motherhood. Hell, I even ended at my destination years sooner than I planned. I'd always wanted to become a mother- oodles of children with thick, dark hair. Growing up, I could never pinpoint exactly what career I wanted, where I wanted to live... but I knew I wanted children. 

And then my dream came true- in a much different way than I had anticipated. I was 15, 9 months into my relationship with TJ. Something wasn't "right" so I scheduled an appointment to see a doctor. Every test I took, at home and in the doctor's office, was negative. Everybody was at a loss for what could be wrong so I had blood taken on a Friday afternoon. I was instructed to call back Monday morning for the results and should they be negative, I was to start a new birth control that day. Monday morning came. I'd convinced myself I wasn't pregnant and clutched the pack of pills, ready to take one the second I hung up the phone. "Congratulations, Erica. You're definitely pregnant," I heard. Well, then.

My first trimester was an absolute roller coaster. TJ and I briefly split because he needed to mentally prepare himself, as he initially wasn't supportive of my decision to have the baby. Then morning sickness hit, oh lord, did it hit. I lost 23 pounds in a month and became so severely dehydrated that I almost put myself into a coma and lost the pregnancy. I couldn't even walk on my own anymore. I eventually ended up in the hospital at 10 weeks, with the health and safety of my baby still up in the air. My doctor wondered if I was pregnant with twins, even. Thankfully everything turned out alright for both of us... and thankfully there was just one baby in there!

My second trimester was a breeze and my mother had me convinced I was bringing a sweet little girl into the world. She "just knew" and I trusted her. I wouldn't say I was hoping for a girl; I just had this vision of my daughter growing in my womb. We even named her Ellie, watched her flip around like crazy at an ultrasound at 13 weeks. I was in love. I went in for my 20 week ultrasound, so excited to have the gender officially established. My mother came with me, bubbling over with excitement, even telling the technician about her granddaughter. 

"Here HE is," the tech said, pointing to something that was not a third arm. I thought my mother was going to hit the floor. I thought I was going to hit the roof. A son. A SON! I went straight out and bought a card that spelled "BOY", slipped it in a pink envelope and handed it to TJ (it was his birthday; he assumed it was a birthday card. But no, I gave him the best birthday present a man could ask for instead!) When it finally hit him, he started blurting out sports talk. They would play hockey. He would teach him about baseball. It was beautiful. 

My third trimester was incredibly unpleasant. I had severe swelling- I'd actually gained 75 pounds, which all but 10 was water retention! I couldn't breathe at night. I couldn't eat anything. I was miserable. At 6am on March 10, I started having regular contractions. I was scheduled for induction at 9am the next morning because he guessed the baby was getting too large. My doctor wanted me to come in that night instead to be on the safe side, in case I went into active labor on my own. And I did. Around 3am on March 11, I started having very strong contractions. My doctor, for some idiotic reason, decided to start pitocin, despite the fact that I was doing well on my own. The pain became absolutely unbearable and I was given 2 shots of Demerol, 3 paracervicals, and an intrathecal (an epidural of sorts). I was so drugged up that I repeatedly stopped breathing. I also couldn't stay awake through my labor and most of my delivery. It was a traumatic experience and mostly a blur that resulted in me having a severe reaction and put me back in the hospital two days after I left it. I was also unable to breastfeed. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

At 9:18am on March 11, 2006, my due date, Adrian Lewis came into the world screaming his little heart out. The first words out of my mouth were, "He's BLOND!" My little (big) man weighed in at 8 pounds and 2.4 ounces. He had huge, crystal blue eyes and looked just like his daddy. He was absolutely perfect.

Today, Adrian is an incredibly smart, crazy, rock and roll loving 6 year old. He says and does the craziest things and he is so sweet and loving. My journey to motherhood must have had all the right detours because I ended up with this little guy and that is just a blessing.