Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies last week and I loved every page of it. I should preface that I have never read the real Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen so I have no basis for comparing the two but taking "and Zombies" as it is, I loved it.

It has all the elements of an old novel set in the English countryside which I've always been partial to. Rolling hills, horse drawn carriages, dinner parties, formal introductions, arranged marriages, family estates, etc. Throw zombies into the mix and it was an awesome book! I now kind of want to read the original just so I can see how the real story was written and what may have been taken out or changed to make the whole zombie plot work. The author did a pretty good job of getting the zombie plot all entangeled into the original story so it actually made sense and flowed well. There were a few times that I thought I hadn't read about zombies in a while or when something zombie related came up I realized it didn't matter if it was there or not as far as the story goes. Still, it was a fun read.

The 5 Bennet sisters are all zombie slayers, trained in China and highly recognized for their abilities. They are employed by England to help keep their part of the country free from the zombies. Once they are married however, they no longer need to be zombie killers. Like most women and mothers of that time, their whole goal in life is to be married. The main character, Lizzy however does not want this. She is the most revered of the zombie slayers and loves doing it. She doesn't want to be married and have to stop killing. Throughout the book we see 3 of her sisters married and we watch her fall in love with a man who she initially despised. Also, her best friend becomes infected by the disease and has her life prolonged by a serum but it seems like this serum just prolongs the suffering and inevitable death. It has a happy ending and all in all I really enjoyed this book.

I also liked that there were a few illustrations throughout the book. It's nice to see a visual of a lady all dressed to the nines as only they did in the 1800's and kicking a zombie in the face!!

The Ninni I Sent

As I mentioned yesterday, I was in a swap on Craftster using the Monster Ninni pattern from Revoluzzza.

My partner has received so I can show you what I sent her!
One thing my partner listed on her questionairre was that she likes the color combo pink & brown so I just ran with that. I found the pink fabric first and it was exactly what I was looking for. Some of the other swappers went all different directions with the Ninnis they made, I stuck pretty close to the original I think.


The Ninnis are kind of small as you can see so after I finished him I decided he needed a little friend. This little guy is also a magnet!


I hope my partner enjoys these two as much as I enjoyed making them!


This pattern was super easy and after seeing the swap gallery, it's clear the possibilites are endless!

More Grannies Received

I receieved more Granny Squares from my Craftster swap partners!!

These ones are from my partner, Indiecraft. I love the colors she chose and look how amazing that spiral one is!! I can't even fathom how to make that one, I love it!



I should have had these squares a week earlier but my mailman is such a douche sometimes. I was checking my Delivery Confirmation number and it said that they couldn't leave my package because it needed a signature. Which I instantly thought was weird because you don't need signatures with Delivery Confirmations. So I get home and there isn't even a notice or anything saying that they made an attempt. The next day they left a notice, same thing about a signature required was marked. So I go on USPS to the redelivery thing and tell them that I will never be home when they deliver so I will have to wait and pick it up on Saturday. In the meantime I had another package delivered with a DC and they left it at my door, no problem. Friday I get home and there are my squares from Indiecraft sitting at my door with a print out of the notice saying I would pick them up Saturday?! WTF?! I swear I must have multiple mail men because some of them have no problem leaving the packages that don't fit in my small ass mailbox at the door and others do. It's really irritating actually. Anyway on to the next set of squares I received.

The next bunch came from Koalascout. The rainbow yarn is so pretty and she even spoiled me with a 7th square! The best thing is that she reused a pringles container to wrap my squares in, so awesome!!




I am so happy I joined this swap and said that I didn't have any color preferences. I'm getting all different kinds of great colors!

My Ninni!

I participated in another swap over on Craftster that just finished up. This swap was to use the Monster Ninni pattern from Revoluzzza and customize it for your partner. I thought the Ninni was so cute as soon as I saw him! Normally I'm not one for super cute but these little guys were just too adorable to pass up! Plus I think one would be pretty awesome on my desk at work.
EDIT: He is now in his new home on my work desk =D

My partner made me SUCH an awesome Ninni! I fell in love with him the moment I opened the package. He's a bat and I'm sure you all know how much I love bats!!



AND what I didn't even notice at first is that on the back she stiched my favorite quote!!!! It is glow in the dark thread and even though when it glows it is totally visible, it would not photograph AT ALL!


She totally spoiled with me with some extra goodies too. Ribbon with adorable owls, two owl charms, these clear stamps (now I have the perfect excuse to buy ink!) and she made me a shrinky dink with the image that my favorite quote is from, a sketch by Francisco Goya. In her note she said she wanted to make this a bookmark for me and that it didn't come out how she planned. I really like it though and I think I am going to stick a magnet on the back of it and use it that way.



I am so happy I decided to join this swap and feel so spoiled by my partner. I am so in love with this little bat ninni, I just hope she likes what I made for her!

7 Day Push - Week 1 Recap

As I mentioned here, I have joined in Ashley's 7 Day Push challenge. This past week the challenge was to do some sort of exercise or physical activity for at least 15 minutes a day. I have to say I am pretty proud of myself. Even with my allergies acting up, I only skipped one day!
I've been doing little exercises at home every night. Jumping jacks, crunches, leg and arm stuff, etc. Mostly just basic stuff but I really like it. I have the exercises broken down into , Arms & Chest one day, Legs & Butt one day and then Belly another day. This way I'm not working out one area too much and I don't get bored. I made myself a little list (shocked?) of each exercise, the reps, etc. I also went on a few walks when the pollen counts weren't too high, heh!
I started doing a few exercises the week before and with this past week included, I can totally feel a difference in my back/pelvis area. I used to always be really sore in the morning, getting out of bed like an old lady. I would roll over a lot in the night too because of my back hurting. (I say my back but it's really my pelvis, I just say back because saying pelvis is so weird!) It has been hurting less and less which is AMAZING! If anything, I think that is one of the main reasons I will keep up with these exercises.

I'm so glad I joined this challenge! Now on to week 2 - Quit Procrastinating!

Granny Swap

Sorry I've been absent this past week. My allergies have really had me down for the count. I went to an allergist Thursday and got some new meds and I'm already feeling MUCH better.
Anyway...back to the craftyness!!

As I've mentioned, I was in a swap for granny squares over on Craftster. I made 30 squares total, 5 partners got 6 each. I was pretty lucky to have 2 partners who listed specific colors that both included blues, purples and greens and 3 other partners without any color preferences. I looove the jewel toned yarns, so scrumptious!! It was so perfect to find a "dusty" version of each color too. All this yarn is Vanna's Choice and I got most of it with awesome coupons for Joann's, always a plus!

Here's a group shot with all the like squares in stacks. These squares are bigger than the ones I have been making myself. Mine are about 5 inches but these bad boys are 7 inches!


Here are all 30 spread out on my dressers. I love seeing them all together, these colors make me so happy.


You know I couldn't resist some close ups of these lovelies!




I can't wait to get the rest of my squares from my partners and share them with you all. My plan at the moment is to sew all 30 that I get from my partners into a lapghan for work. Once I have them who knows what ideas I might get though!

I hope everyone had a great week, I have lots of blog reading to catch up on. I'm going floating down the Lehigh River today, wwaaahhooo!! Hope you all have a great weekend too!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Since Sunday I have been majorly stuffed up. Like zero capability of breathing through my nose. I have terrible allergies, I am allergic to damn near everything. I take zyrtec every night and use a neti pot periodically. I don't know what exactly happened Sunday because the pollen count has only been about 7-8 out of 12. (I get an email every morning telling me the pollen count.) When it was the beginning of spring and the count was up to 11 or 12 some days I wasn't even as bad as I have been this week. I have a giant oak tree outside my house, it's right outside my window and I'm sure it's part of the problem. It's just blooming and budding all in my face!

So last night I was so miserable I decided I must have a sinus infection. I haven't had one in a few years but I used to get them all the time when I was a kid. I had polyps removed from my sinuses when I was 11 and that sucked! It was major surgery and I was out of school for 2 1/2 months, that part was pretty awesome though. I spent all day watching game shows with my Nana and eating her awesome grilled cheese sandwiches.
Anyway, last night I was miserable and Jeremy told me I need to make a doctor appointment to get this figured out. I didn't want to, I don't like going to doctors. It's a pain in the butt, it takes up my time, money, etc. I decided to Google some natural cures for possible sinus infections before submitting to a doctor. I found a bunch of stuff I already know about, breathing in steam, using a neti pot (which I have but was too stuffed to get the water up my nose), hot compress on your face, etc.
Something I've never heard of but had a ton of recommendations was to drink Apple Cider Vinegar. Turns out, I randomly have a bottle of it in my cupboard! I had to drink 2 tablespoons of it in 8 ounces of water. About half an hour later I was able to blow my nose and sooo much of the sinus pressure was relieved. I was completely blown away and amazed!! I've had this in my cupboard the whole time and never knew it could help so much. A few hours later I was pretty stuffed up again but it was nice for a while.
This morning I chugged another 8 ounce glass of water with 2 tablespoons of the ACV in it. Oh ps, it's pretty disgusting. Well...really disgusting but whatever, it helped and I just muscled through it! I've also been drinking 1/4 cup of the ACV diluted in 32 ounces of water throughout today. Again, it's disgusting and I really have to force myself to drink it but it is helping so much. I'm not 100% better, I'd say I'm at about 75% breathing ability. Which is better than nothing in my book. I can chug another small amount two more times today and then do it all over again for a few days.
Apparently the whole reason this works is that ACV thins your mucus which relieves the sinus pressure and helps you be able to blow your nose. Whatever the reason, I am now in love with this remedy!

I just wanted to share this with all you lovely kids. I know a lot of people suffer from allergies and this is such a cheap and easy (albeit disgusting) alternative to doctors and over the counter medicines.

In other news I'm going to Renegade tomorrow and I am sooo excited!! Have a great weekend darlings!

7 Day Push

We all know that I love goals. I set them every month and I have ones set for the year. So when I saw my wonderful friend Ashley over at After Nine to Five making a call for people wanting to participate in a weekly challenge together, I jumped on board.


This all stemmed from Ashley and her husband implementing a "No Spend Week". After the success of that week and reflecting on everything she learned from it, Ashley thought "What else could one week do for me?". So the 7 Day Push was born!
In Ashley's own words, this is how the challenge will work;

"Every Sunday a new theme will go up. The challenge will run for seven days, Sunday to Saturday. Those that want to participate that week can link up and help inspire/motivate others that are taking on that week’s challenge. After the week is up, you can continue with it or you can stop doing it, but a new challenge begins."

The first week starts this Sunday, June 12th. The theme will be to exercise every day, for 7 days, for 15 minutes a day. This is so perfect for me personally because I have started exercising a little every night. I live a terribly sedentary life which A. is horrible just for my own health in general and B. even worse because of the injuries to my pelvis I sustatined in my accident. I really need to strengthen my back and core muscles to help with the pain.

SO! If you want to participate in this 7 Day Push head on over to Ashley's blog, After Nine to Five so you can read more about it. You can sign up for a newsletter to be informed of the challenges a week in advance and also to be included on the list of bloggers participating. I'm super excited about these challenges and really look forward to the motivation for and from my fellow bloggers!

I hope you join!

Craftster Swap Squares Received!

I received my first 6 squares in the Granny Square Craftster swap yesterday! They are a lovely mint green and white. It looks like maybe the squares weren't the full 7 inches so she had to quick add two more sides. I kind of like them this way, I'm not a big fan of symmetry.



Such a good start to this swap! I can't wait to show you guys the sqaures I made for my partners but I'm going to wait until they receive.

Have a good day friends!

List 21

I'm keeping up with the lists now!!

List 21 in the 30 Days of Lists challenge is Things To Do This Summer (it was Spring but Spring is almost over now!)


All are pretty self explanatory. I love warm weather activities. After being cooped up from the cold winter and quarantined from all the pollen of the Spring, I can finally get outside and enjoy nature once it's Summer!

Thanks for popping by dears!

List 20

List 20 in the 30 Days of Lists challenge: Celebrity Crushes



In case you can't read them all the list is as follows

Johnny Depp (first thing I saw him in was Cry Baby and it was love at first sight)
Brad Pitt (only when he's dirty like in Fight Club and Snatch, I do not like pretty boy Brad Pitt)
Edward Norton
Trent Reznor
Paul Newman (in the movies, not on the salad dressing LOL)
Elijah Wood
Scott Weiland
Charlie Hunnam

I'm sure I forgot a few but these are the major ones and most of them have been since I was a teenager!

Have a great weekend friends!

List 19

List 19 in the 30 Days of Lists challenge: Recipes to Try

How perfectly timed is this list since I keep complaining that I haven't been cooking enough meals lately!?! All of these recipes are pretty simple, a few are from AllRecipes and a few are from these awesome 1970's cookbooks I thrifted.


Oh and I wrote Mangia at the end. I was a waitress in a family owned Italian restaurant for a few years and that word was always said. If you don't know what it is, it's pronounced Mon-ja and it basically means Eat, Enjoy, etc.

I hope everyone is having a great Friday!

June Goals

Holy Crow I can't believe it's June already!! I don't have too many new or exciting goals, mostly the same stuff but here they are...

Finish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the new Book Club book.
Send out Craftster Monster Ninni Swap package.
Plant tomatoes in my topsy turvy! (better late than never)
Save another $100 for FL
Cook more MEALS for dinner.
Figure out a Father's Day gift.

A few sweet things I am looking forward to this month:

Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn
Training for and starting my new position at work
Seeing my Dad!