a lot of guff

Melted Crayon Window, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

This is one of my favorite DIY projects. There's something about crayons I will always love.

I recently discovered I've been plagiarized-- over a dozen times actually. I'm flattered and angered. Flangered. In all honesty, I've been having a lousy few weeks. My body feels like it's turning against me. It was rough enough but this new drama is the last thing I have time or energy to tackle.

I'm trying to focus my energy on happy stuff while I'm waiting for the thieves to remove my content. I take a lot of guff for watching shows like The Real Housewives of New Jersey-- but they have life lessons embedded too. I've learned a lot about dealing with people-- especially people you'd rather not deal with. I missed out on some of those lessons when I was home-schooled for high school. Also... "Holding onto anger makes you ugly." And Dina Manzo is far from ugly, so I'll consider her a reliable source.

So to keep me from stewing in my own anger, I'm working on new DIY projects for this month. I'm also planning out my costumes for NYC Comic Con in a few weeks. My husband and I are leaving Arizona for a bit to attend a wedding and visit with family. Thanks to my mother-in-law, we've got tickets to CC. I finally tried on my Ghostbuster flight suit this morning-- something I have been avoiding for fear it didn't fit anymore. Even though I weigh less than I did last year, I still weigh more than when I wore this costume in 2009 while promoting the next-gen Ghostbuster game. It fits just a tad more snug, but in all the right places. I feel more attractive in it now.

when I'm a millionaire

french lace cookie, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

This is a cookie recipe that I did an article for over the summer. You can check it out here.

Having said that, it's actually my one year anniversary writing on HubPages. Pretty crazy how time flies (excuse the cliche) but also I never saw this coming. I didn't think I'd stick it out and here I am.

I'm excited for Autumn! Along with the other 50 classic reasons, it also means the Arizona weather will cool down a tad and I can do tons of baking. I won't have to worry about my AC working that much harder when it's 115 degrees outside and I'm running the oven like a crazy lady. Small price to pay for doing things you love? Well no. Almost three hundred dollars for summertime electricity is far from small-- but someday when I'm a millionaire, it will be ;)

sounds advanced but feels archaic

Valentine Wedding Inspiration, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

I came up with some neat wedding ideas for a Valentine's Day Wedding. You can read about it in my work blog. It was a nice excuse to dig out my wedding dress and wear it for a short make-shift iPhone photo shoot. Coming up on my one year wedding anniversary-- unbelievable! Wearing my dress made me realize where and approximately how much weight I lost. Always a plus for a plus size girl!

It's hard to believe it's been almost two months since I've blogged for leisure. I've been balancing my time between working at the bookstore, my online writing job, and 20 other miscellaneous aspects of my life. It's a stress-free juggling act, so no complaints.

We've been trying to make a baby for over 9 months now. Putting a number on that just makes me realize that we could have had a baby by now! My endometriosis has been progressing and I've had a good amount of rough days lately. I had my Fallopian tubes checked last week in a procedure that sounds advanced but feels archaic. They injected dye into my uterus via a catheter which was terrible enough but the uterus immediately cramps when a bunch of foreign dye is introduced. I got to watch the process on a screen as it happened and let's just say that Fallopian tubes are tiny like angel hair spaghetti-- not at all like the giant sausage casings that anatomy illustrations would have us believe. Long story short-- I lived. And my tubes are fully functional and free from endometrial scarring since my last surgery.

something cute

lego monopoly, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

Getting ready to play some monopoly. We're taking advice from my boss and playing with Lego guys. It's something cute he does with his family and I love the idea. Jason is using R2 and of course, I had to be a little dramatic. I've got my creature from the black lagoon knock off with a spear riding a vintage horse.

We have quite a few Lego people that we've collected but need to come up with a way to display them. Let me rephrase that-- a way in which I won't have to dust their intricacies.

Rosson House

cptgame446 & ceck0face, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

Looking through wedding pictures and I really love this one. It was taken in front of the historic Rosson House in downtown Phoenix right before sunset. I'd absolutely love to live in a house like this someday.

when you open your mouth

29th birthday, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

So it happened. I turned 29. It was a pretty good birthday. My husband and I are now the same age for six months.

I remarkably lost weight, but don't ask me how. About fifteen lbs or more. I wasn't trying to. In fact, I have wanted to lose weight but haven't done anything about it. I figured I would be gaining more weight during my baking/blogging month which went so-so, btw. I look at my wedding photos from 9 months ago and can definitely see a difference. And my jeans are so loose and practically falling down. It's a great feeling but honestly, I would rather be huge and pregnant and ready to pop.

Eight months of baby trying so far. I can't get frustrated yet, and I'm not. God has been very good to my husband and I. My parents tried for three years to have me. I'd probably be a lot more patient if I had the luxury of time instead of a painful disease that's going untreated. Speaking of which... I'm going to start doing acupuncture for my endometriosis pain. I don't want to live my life on pain killers every day. Plus it will decrease stress and promote fertility. It's an all-round good choice as long as I can physically/mentally handle it. I hate needles. And with good reason. I hated them my whole life and in the past year, between a PIC line, hit nerve, and multiple collapsed veins-- I only like them less.

Work is fantastic. My only complaint is my borderline frustration with kids who do want to read but only want to read one series or type of book and shut down all other ideas. A little girl was arguing with her mother today because she only wants to read a children's series called The Magic Treehouse. Someone had bought us out of what we had and all of my and her mother's suggestions weren't good enough. Anne of Green Gables. Black Beauty. The Secret Garden. Nancy Drew. Little House on the Prairie. Judy Blume. None of these were good enough for her. She wouldn't even look at them. It's a teeny bit offensive because these are great books. She kept shooting me looks like I was an idiot for suggesting them and also from another planet. Is this what parenthood is going to be like? I want my children to read well at an early age and truly love it, but I don't want them to be snobby elitists who only read contemporary gimmicks and scoff classics.

A similar pet peeve is as follows: two people come in, one who genuinely wanted to come in and the other who is being dragged. The person who is there against his or her will always crosses the threshold and immediately says something like, "I hate books," "I don't read," "This place is boring," or all of the above. Do they understand how unintelligent they sound? I always end up thinking that they didn't even need to say it out-loud because I can tell. If it's a teenager who can't properly form sentences or use the correct tense or if they speak in double negatives I find myself thinking, "Yeah, I can tell you don't read because if you did you would probably make sense when you open your mouth." If it's an adult, the previous examples usually fit in addition to the tell-tale signs of what a lack of literature and reading has done for them, their career, and life choices.

Okay, now I sound like an elitist.

Global warming

beatnik mermaid, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

Job perk! Putting together random Legos to sell. This is beatnik mermaid. She comes complete with black turtleneck, cup of coffee and journal. She cares about issues. Global warming. Our oceans. Women's rights. The usual.