Yay Camera!

So getting ready for William is kinda a big deal. Happily, one of the most fun components arrived today! I got me a camera ^^ Not a dinky get-a-new-one-in-two-years one but a really nice one I hope will last me a very long time and several children. We got the Canon SX40. It isn't a DSLR. I didn't want to have to spend that much and get expensive extra lenses as well. I'm not exactly a budding professional photographer here, but it does have a x35 superzoom and is pretty much the top of the line Canon point and shoot with a lot of nifty features I'll probably not use as much as I should. Other than the ones that automatically correct my natural deficiencies as an amateur photographer at least. Image stabilization... auto focusing... all that good stuff

But check it out! Here's a shot out our back door across the fence into the neighbor's yard (since ours is pretty much empty still and their is more interesting)...


and here's a zoom in of that truck from the exact same spot.

It's a Boy and his name is William!

As most of you know, we're having a boy! I finally got the scanner on my picture to work (yay!) and so have the ultrasound to share. Seth and I waited until finding out if he was going to be a boy or a girl to really think of names, but I was drawing a blank on girl names anyways. And the only one we could imagine naming him William. It wasn't one I'd ever thought of when imagining my children's names before, but it just fits him and feels right. He is William.

He's also getting into the Halloween spirit early apparently and going as Skeletor. ;)

Aaaand done

Don't mind the packaging mess.

The great shelf project

I feel very good about my weekend even if my hands were rubbed raw now, Seth, our friend Alex, and I made an Ikea run Friday afternoon and picked up a bunch of bookshelves! I've got four made so far and another two to go, there'll be another big one on the other side of the corner shelf and a medium one on the right end. Funny enough, of all the bookshelves we've bought and put together over the years since we've been married, Ikea's were the cheapest but also the best made.

Expecting! and Eye trouble

Well! As everyone knows, things have certainly been busy around here! Seth and I are expecting our first and I'm just into the second trimester now. The first one was rough. I was sick a ridiculous amount- and still get sick regularly, though it's dying down now thankfully. We're so excited and feel so blessed to finally be having a new little Pease in the family, I just about started crying when I got my first sonogram and seeing Seth's expression when we heard the heartbeat fluttering away is something I'll never forget.

There's a lot to do to get ready still! The small bedroom is going to be turned into our nursery and is still full of bookshelves and half unpacked and sorted books that haven't been dealt with since moving in since we didn't have the shelf space. (whoops, we have a lot of books. A lot.) BUT! Tomorrow we've got a friend who's bringing their Dad's big SUV up and we're hitting Ikea and buying a whole ton of bookshelves. Hopefully they'll hold all of our books and our existing shelves can go into the upstairs living room and hold pictures and things. If we need more shelf space for books then they're going to get relegated to the back bedroom.

In other news, you know how they always say not to fall asleep with your contacts in? I can now confirm it. Don't. Really really don't. Ever. Before now the only thing that's ever happened to me was getting dry eyes that were easily remedied by blinking a while or putting eye drops in. Monday night though, I was up late (my sleep schedule is all out of whack.) and fell asleep without taking them out since I realized I was out of solution and was just going to pick some up on Tuesday. By the time I woke up my eyes were severely irritated. By the time I went to go get new solution it was so bad that Seth had to drive because they'd become so photosensitive that sunlight was blinding and extremely painful. Wednesday morning I still couldn't look at a computer screen even with the brightness turned all the way down without feeling like it was attacking my brain with a knife and I hid in the basement with the shades drawn feeling like a vampire as I tried to rest my eyes as much as possible. Seth brought home some OTC anti-inflammatory eyedrops that were recommended on a medical website and they've helped a lot. This morning I can at least use the computer again and be in rooms with light, though direct sunlight still makes me tear up. And my eyes now just look severely bloodshot instead of bright red with white streaks in it! I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be alright in direct sunlight and by Sunday I can ditch the glasses again. But yes. Never fall asleep with contacts in. It is not fun.

Deer!

So the picture's bad. All I've got to take photos right now is my ipad or even worse quality camera. But while I was making lunch yesterday these four came to visit. Mom hopped the fence to see what the neighbors had, but the two fawns came up nearly to the house. Dad hung out in the treeline keeping an eye on them all. You can't see him very well, but he's a big guy with 6-8 points.

Awww...

Nope, didn't win the shoes :( Sadness.

Devonshire 18th century shoes

18th Century Shoe GIVEAWAY!
Want to *win* your very own pair of leather Devonshire 18th century shoes?  Then help us spread the word about the pre-order going on right now!

About the Prize:


The Devonshires are a leather 18th century shoe based on museum examples from the 1760s through 1780s.  They're made of top-grade dyable leather, with a beautiful, smooth Italian leather sole for dancing, and are hard-wearing, water- and mud-proof, for even the toughest of outdoor re-enactments.

Pre-Order the Devonshires through August 10, and get the special $100 price.  We're only making 200 of these shoes, so don't miss the chance to own one of only a couple hundred pair on the planet!  Visit www.american-duchess.com to order.

---

*Drools* Don't exactly have $100 for these babies, but here's hoping...

And if any of you were to enter the contest yourself and then get a size 9.5 *wink wink, nudge nudge*

I'm so crafty

Maybe it's silly I'm proud of myself. I managed to install the curtain rod without mishap or accidentally drilling into drywall. I always remember mom as the one who'd fix things around the house and do crafty things. I'm not that good yet, but maybe this is the first step to it!

Good things in Life

Sometimes life is just plain good. Things that made me happy this week include:

Waking up to seeing a pair of foxes playing in our back yard.
Tomatoes.
Talking to AnnaMarie on the phone.
Seth getting me an iPad to replace the fried laptop.
Finding a gorgeous 18th century style print on cotton heavy enough to make the caraco jacket out of it... for $4/yard.
And a racoon sauntering down the middle of our road in the middle of the day.

Time Traveller's Closet Project!

So this past week or so, word of a new convention being planned for next year came across the ether. Dress U. It's a 4 day event for historical costuming. My (totally awesome award winning) plunderhosen are sadly the only bit of historical costuming I've done properly.



Of course I did throw together my rockin' Turkish Harem inspired steampunk outfit in a week and a half for Balticon.



But that's really more inspired by history than actually historically correct.

So I'm starting a new little project for myself. I want to put together costumes for most of the major time periods that Costumers pull from so that whenever an event comes up, I've got something suitable in my closet already. This project will probably take several years, but over the next year as I get ready for Dress U I'll be getting several contributions to it made.

Medieval- Got that! I've got a very comfy 'gates of hell' dress for the Ren Faire every year.
Renaissance - Crossdressing, but I've got my Plunderhosen!
Mid 18th Century - A Piemontaise. Sadly only popular for a short period of time, but I found a pattern made from an surviving example.




Since that's a bit formal, I'm also going to throw together one or both of these too for daywear. I do love this period of dress.




Victorian - Nothing specifically planned for a historical Victorian outfit yet since the steampunk Turkish is contemporary.

Edwardian - About as late as I'm willing to go. I rather like this dress though it could probably use less train.

Dad's Visit!

Well we're almost ready for you Dad! The couch is here and super comfy. We've also got a cot on order for the third girl and plenty of pillows for everyone thanks to you! Seth's going to call his Dad today and see about getting that bed down here this week or at least before you come, though if he can't, we'll be putting in a quick order for this guy. It's not fancy, but it's solid wood and metal construction, has good reviews, and is in our price range for this month. It also doesn't need a box spring so that saves us some money as we'll be getting this guy to go with it. We have the King Size of that mattress for our bed and it's still one of our best overstock purchases. Very comfy, good firmness and it doesn't bounce around when you roll over either.

I'd prefer to get something like this eventually, but that's a lot of money. Well the guest room is big enough for two twins, so maybe I'll get one of those eventually too!

Hmm...

There's been a periodic metallic rattling in the house these past couple of days. If we were in the old apartment I'd assume it was construction on the metro line half a mile away or so. (The jackhammers were that loud) As it is, I found out what it is this morning! ... There's a woodpecker attacking the metal cap on top of an exhaust vent on the roof...

I have a new Hero

This man is awesome.

Coolest thing ever

http://kathack.com/

Progress!

So life moves on and things have actually gotten done! Yay! With Dad and the girls coming up to visit us in a couple weeks, Seth and I have been getting ready for that, and getting the house ready. Our goal is to have the guest bed for Dad and a couch in the family room by the time they come. Seth's Dad has a twin bed he's going to bring down, but I saw a furniture ad in the paper for a red twin/full bunk bed that looked kinda like the one in the red room at home on a super clearance sale for $150. That'd be pretty sweet and then we'd have bunks for guests if we needed 'em so I went over to look at it. Unfortunately, the bed was apparently made for midgets as there was only 2 feet of clearance between the lower bunk and the upper. No exaggeration either. It was kinda scary to lay down on. So we skipped getting that. No worries, the bed from Seth's Dad is still coming.

However, I also sat on a few couches while I was there, and lo and behold, a near exact replica of my favorite couch in another store... for $700 less. The colors are different. Black, grey, and cream instead of tan and browns, but wicked comfy.
Also, it's huge, seating 4 comfortably. At least one, possibly two of the girls will be able to sleep on it when they come over. Depends on how tall they are. We're going to get an air mattress or maybe one or two of these suckers. I think that would hold up better over time than an air mattress. Also, don't be scared guys, but we do have the occasional common house spider that skitters across the basement family room floor. They're harmless, but peace of mind will probably be higher to be off the floor with the cot. Heh.

Also, Michael and Caroline! Want to move back to Utah? I wouldn't mind the $5K for referring a software developer to Overstock. If you know anyone else who'd qualify for the job I'm sure you wouldn't either!

Ok, so other stuff that's seen progress. I continue to putter away the Plunderhosen project. The Pants have been fit and are currently in the construction phase. The Most Impressive Codpiece in the World™ is shaping up to also be the most complicated part to construct. Because I obviously don't need a codpiece, I've had to do some extensive work on the shape of this. Mainly this involved making it slightly less... well, the emphasis will now be on the poofs of silk spilling forth rather than the, er. shape of the codpiece. Unfortunately, Janet Arnold neglected to mention exactly how the slashes were finished. They look like they were bound in a self-bias, though that would definitely be a pain in the behind to do on as small of a scale as these slashes are. With that in mind, I decided to simply create them as large bound buttonholes/ miniature bound pockets. This is a modern technique, but creates a beautifully finished slit that's wide enough for a lot of silk to come through without stretching the shape of the codpiece and has the added benefit of being pretty simple to do too. Very detail oriented, which is why I spent 3 hours doing half of the codpiece and will probably spend another one (going faster now that I know exactly what to do) to do the other side.



Once the codpiece is put together, I can sew together the pants. The pants come in roughly four layers. From the skin out they are: the lining, the foundation breeches, the poofy silk, and the panes of velvet. The lining and the foundation are pretty much the same thing. The only part that is actually visible of the foundation pants are is behind, which is why when you look at the picture below, there's velvet sewn in odd shapes on it. Also, this pants pattern is the most bizarre and annoying to fit ever. I've never seen any other type of pants cut like this, probably because it doesn't make any sense to do it this way whatsoever. While sizing it to fit me, there were many frustrated howls of "Who designed this thing!?" heard coming from the sewing room.



Sorry the pictures aren't very good. Its better when I take photos in my sewing room during the day, like this one, which displays the fabric selection accurately. Unfortunately since I needed to scrap the work I'd originally done and start over, I didn't have enough of the purple velvet to do the pants and the doublet in it. Fortunately, my friend and co-conspirator in all things costuming, has a fabric stash the size of Alaska and had that blue velvet hiding in one of her boxes. So the doublet will be one in that, with purple trim and the pants will be with purple panes (and behind) and blue velvet trim. It was awesome how well that blue velvet matches the blue silk, eh?

Yay for House things

So things with the house have been going pretty awesomely. Seth and I are completely out of the apartment now that it's March. We've still got some miscellanea that was in storage at the apartment in the living room to go through and put away, though that should be done this weekend. We've also got all of our pictures to hang still. Need to get nails and all that. And figure out how to hang an enormously heavy 5'x3' solid wood framed mirror. (Only $5 from an antique store/flea market when we visited Seth's Dad a couple years ago!) Other than that, I'm determined to be organized in this house. I don't have the excuse that we'll be moving eventually to neglect getting proper storage for all my stuff anymore even. The worst culprit for me has been my fabric stash which in our apartment was 'neatly stacked' on the floor of the closet. (It quickly devolved into a random enormous pile of fabric that I couldn't find anything in. Surprise, surprise.) To that end, I hit up Ikea today and....

Ta Da

Shirt-of-1000-Pleats Close Up

Here's a close up of the pleats, as requested!

Shirt-of-1000-Pleats Progress shot

Almost done with it! :D

CLOSING!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WE'RE ACTUALLY CLOSING ON THE HOUSE TODAY! YAY!

Stiiiill waiting!

Well we still haven't closed on the house, but Seth heard this morning that the paperwork to resolve the title issues is now complete. The lawyers are double checking things, but if it's actually all done this them then we will actually be signing this Friday!


...


Or Tuesday. >.>

Longpoint 2011

My life is mostly a waiting-for-my-house life though! heh. The Longpoint Convention was a lot of fun though. Here's the videos of the Dusak Tournament that I took

This is a Dusak. They were a leather or wooden training and crowd control weapon in the Renaissance. Leave people on the receiving end (without armor) black, blue, and probably with a few broken bones along the way, but they rarely drew any blood.


I also took video of the Longsword Tournament finals.

You'll notice they've moved away from using the wooden wasters and are not generally using synthetics like this which is the sword they used for the tournament (I want one >.>) or steel (or other metals) "feder schwert" which are blunt swords for practice though you have to armor up if you're going to practice with those.

I also got to take a couple of classes. First was an unarmed vs. dagger class which was brilliantly fun and the most probably useful in the modern world. The teacher was Jason Vail, author of this book and he really knew his stuff. I'd forgotten how much fun hand to hand stuff is, even if my arms and legs are really sore today.

Speaking of sore, the second class I got to take was on the Spanish Montante, also known as the Spadone or Zweihander. Talk about a beast. I got to swing this one around though I'm looking forward to Purpleheart's redesign of it if it's going to be in plastic. I really like their synthetic longsword. It's got such a different dynamic to use than a greatsword. You can't eek by just swinging it around with your wrists and arms, you really have to get behind every movement properly with your entire body. I can feel it everywhere today. Talk about a full body workout. I'd really love to get one for myself (or a couple so I can practice with someone!) and play with it some more. Maybe next year there'll be a Montante tournament I'll enter. ^^

The House (of course) and other stuff

If anything has been an exercise in patience and frustration, the buying process is it. No, we're still not closed, but the legal hurdle of the title is finally clear and a judge signed off on the sale finally. SO they're saying (again) that we're closing next week and I actually feel confident this time around that there will be actual follow-through. I hope.

Other things! I'm starting to gear up for Costume Con, which is in New Jersey this year. I'm competing in the historical competition and possibly the scifi/fantasy as well. Not decided there yet though. The Shirt Of 1000 Pleats is underway, an if you remember me swearing of pleats before, well...yes. But I just can't help myself. I need a support group or something. Pleaters Anonymous maybe?

This weekend Seth and I are also helping Jake out at the big HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) convention this weekend. Seth and I have been out of practice for a couple of years but once we move then we'll be within half an hour of Jake's group and be able to start that again. Everything's changed since we were in it last apparently. Just watching the fighters and looking at their equipment I can tell it's come a long way and grown enormously since 2003. We have over 60 fighters attending Longpoint this year and the event is ending in the black, which is a significant accomplishment.