Success!

I sewed today!!  Unfortunately, my bum face made it really hard.  It's hard to focus with only one eye!  I'm doing Oh, Fransson's Sparkle Punch Quilt-A-Long, and I started today!  I only sewed one star, just to see how hard it was.  I'm really excited to officially get the quilt underway...it's so cool!  I'm using blues, purples, greens, and yellow with white "negative space."  I think I'll bind it in pink.  Maybe.  This quilt is all for me!

I did a whole lot of sitting around again today.  It's really starting to bum me out!  We also started looking at cruises for the vacation we're planning this coming December.  Fun!  I'm going to need to start working out.  :)

Also, Ellie is the sweetest thing ever.  Danny, too.  I guess.  And my face hasn't gotten any better, but it's starting to twitch now.  Weeeeird.

Hopefully I'll get some more sewing done soon!  It felt good to be slightly productive today!

Still Standing

My life has basically been full of paralysis lately.  I have done nothing but go to work, close my eye with my finger, and sleep.  And I've watched a lot of television.

In case you wondered, this is what I look like at the moment:

 This is a smile...

And this is me doing nothing with my face.

Here's a picture of me without Bell's Palsy, in case you wondered:

I can smile with both sides of my face, I promise!  Also, I can feed cute kittens!  Eeeek!

So anyway, there's my week.  Paralyzed.  And it keeps getting worse.  Let's hope it starts getting better now!  RIGHT NOW!

Paralysis

I have Bells Palsy!  Woooo!  Basically, one side of my face is partially paralyzed, and will be for awhile...like maybe 2-3 weeks or more.  I have a mild case of it...not too much drooping, and I can move my muscles a little bit.  Thank goodness!  Speaking clearly is hard, and chewing is even harder!  I also can't blink my right eye, which I'm sure looks really creepy to other people.  

Also, I have to wear an eye patch to bed so my eye doesn't dry out.  I'm technically supposed to tape my eye down first, but that makes me cringe.  Instead, I filled my eye patch with cotton balls to keep my eyelid down.  Much better!  Call me old fashioned, but I prefer not to rip my eyelashes out with tape.

Before I knew that I had Bells Palsy, I was pretty much certain that I was dying.  On Monday morning I ate some yogurt, and then noticed that my lips were numb.  I figured it was a suddenly-developed allergy to dairy (thank goodness it's not!).  I googled "numb lips" just in case it wasn't an allergy.  BAD IDEA.  Numb lips can be an indication of SO MANY bad things, like multiple sclerosis and lip cancer. Gah!

I then noticed that one side of my mouth wasn't working when I made silly faces in the mirror.  Later, my eye stopped blinking.  Luckily, the doctor got me in quickly and confirmed that I wasn't dying of a horrible disease.  Yay!

Being paralyzed is exhausting, as it turns out.  I'm so tired, even on the great steroids they gave me!  Also, the more I talk, the harder it is for my muscles to move.  I've been talking out of one side of my mouth, which is my husband's specialty.  Maybe this will be permanent and we'll the be side-talking family!  Yee haw!

...I just imagined us in chaps and spurs, talking out of the sides of our mouths.  Of course little Cletus was there on his pony!  Giddyup!

ALSO.  Eye drops are from satan.  I hate them.  But if I don't use them, my eye will shrivel up into nothingness and I'll have to get a magical glass one and they'll call me "Mad Eye."  So I guess I'll continue using them.  Bah.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Once upon a time, we moved into a little house.  It was not very nice, but it was a rental, so we couldn't do much to improve it.  So we decided to paint (with the landlord's blessing, of course)!  This is what we did to the living room (IGNORE THE MESS, PLEASE!):

 I spy Danny!

A peek into our embarrassingly messy bedroom...

So, I love the red paint.  Love.  It.  The brown...not so much.  It looked great next to the red on the paint swatch in Walmart, but it makes our living room/kitchen seem cave-like.  It's just so dark!  We decided to repaint it a cream color to brighten up the tiny room!  Here's what it looks like NOW!

 There's my puppy!  Also, a huge picture of us will go above the couch!

 Pretend that one picture frame isn't crooked...we're working on it.

 Watching Modern Family!  Also, a biggish picture of us will go under the music note thing.

The door got some new paint, too! :)

Basically, we love the transformation!  We still need to hang a few pictures and get some new curtains, but other than that, we're very happy!  The kitchen still needs to be painted, but it'll have to wait awhile...painting is apparently very strenuous exercise.  My muscles need a few days to recover from all the furniture moving!

Here's some eye candy for you.  Because I know you wanted some.  :)

 She somehow got paint on her nose...

 I almost captured her "baby rabbit" face!  She puts her ears back and makes big sad eyes.  Like a baby rabbit.

 Ellie obviously loves the new couch...she's on it constantly.

A peek at me during nap time!  Ellie thinks she's a cat.  Meow meow.

And now it's bed time!  I'm pretty sure my hubster is turning into a pumpkin...and he won't go to bed without me.  Dorkus!  Tomorrow is cleaning day, which will be SO MUCH FUN!  My sewing room needs some serious organization...although it's last on the list of things to do.  Hopefully we get to it!  Gute nacht!

Some pictures!

I know that you're probably wondering what my dog looks like!  She's beautiful.  The most beautiful thing I've ever ever seen.

Another beautiful animal in my life is Danny.

Ain't he cute?  :)

This week has been slightly crazy, and I haven't taken any time to sew.  Darn.  Just so you know I'm not lying about my crafting abilities, here are some pictures of Christmas presents I made this year!

 I made a couple other bags, but I don't have pictures...darn!  They're so much fun to make, though!  And so easy!  I used Noodlehead's Gathered Clutch Tutorial (found here) for the black and white and red clutch, and did my own thing for the others!

 Quilt for the in-laws!  My husband sewed all the squares together AND basted it!  He's a rock star.

Love that binding!

 A quilt for my parents made out of Grand Finale by Sandy Gervais.  Love that beautiful fabric!

Front and back!

SEE?  I totally can sew.  I just haven't lately!  I have a long list of things that I'm working on...first and foremost, a receiving blanket and matching burp cloths for my cousin's baby.  I also need to finish some quilted coasters for Christmas presents (late is better than never, right?).  Elizabeth over at Oh, Fransson! is doing a quilt-along for her Sparkle Punch quilt, and I plan to follow along and make a quilt for myself!  I also have a baby quilt for our future (unconceived) child started that I need to finish.  So many projects!  I think I need to quit my job and sew.  That will pay the bills, right?

Drowning

I've been drinking water lately.  Lots of water.  When I'm home, it's not a big deal...I can just drink water and pee all day long.  At work it's a different story...I drink lots of water, and then I pee a lot (you didn't know this was going to be a science blog, did you?).  A lot lot lot.  While wearing dress clothes.  In a public restroom that smells bad.  Not my idea of a good time.

Today I'm wearing tights under a dress.  Tights are the WORST.  They're super cute, but pulling them up and down is a pain in the tush.  Also, the more times I use the restroom, the greater the chance of accidentally tucking my dress into my tights and making a fool of myself.  It hasn't happened yet, but it's just a matter of time.

I thought you should know.  Also, I'm bored at work and blogging is the only thing I could think of that would entertain me.  

Maybe I'll sew tonight and share a project with the blog world instead of continuing to share dumb stories about my bodily functions.  We'll see.

...doubled in half!

Hello!  I decided that I need to start a blog.  It's obviously the cool thing to do.  I figure it'll be mostly about the crafty things I do, although I also want a record of my exciting life!  I'm absolutely terrible at keeping a journal or diary, so maybe I can make this work.  I have no idea who is going to read this...probably just me.  And maybe my husband, because he's the only person who even knows that I started a blog!

I have a funny dog named Ellie.  And a funny husband named Danny.  And my name is Erin.  We're a funny little family.  We also got a new couch, which is basically like a child to me.  We have a fish named Dart...he has defied the pet store gods by staying alive almost a year.  We forget to feed him a lot.  He ate the other fish we had (Wiggles).

I love to sing and sew.  I have a degree in singing (super useful!), and I mostly taught myself to sew.  In ninth grade I took a "clothing" class during the summer to take care of a credit of practical arts.  During that summer, I made a terrible blue dress, a mediocre 9-patch pillow, and I sewed through my finger.  It was fun times!

Again, I have no idea what this blog will end up being about.  Probably Ellie.  She's kind of the center of my life.

I love you, non-existent readers!  We're having a sleepover in the living room tonight so I can sleep on the new couch (weirdos).  Here's to having a sore back in the morning!