100 Days

There are only 100 days left until Christmas. Less if you're on the other side of the world.

Don't believe me? Check out the Christmas Countdown Clock.

Cause you know, we all need more stress in our lives - countdown clocks really ratchet up that old spazz level. You can sit there and watch it tick down. Freaky.

In twelve hours from this writing, there will be only 99 days left . . . double digits! Omg.

Pause for freakout.

I am unprepared.

Extremely unprepared.

For a lot of things actually . . . not just the 100 days until Christmas (lists? sewing? what?)

Slightly less than a month and half after that lovely little Christmas Countdown Clock hits zero and resets to 355 (actually my favorite part) I will be releasing my first novel into the wild.

Pause for slightly larger freakout.

Maybe I should create a countdown for that . . . just to see how high my blood pressure can get as I watch it tick down. It would be like a medical experiment!

There are also less than 7 weeks to the start of November, which means NaNoWriMo!
Planning, outlining, deciding how the darn thing ends?
Sure. Whatevs.

Not pausing for a freakout here because I am in d-e-n-i-a-l.

It's September. I now live in Montana. It could snow any day. Fall is like the blink of an eye here, at least that is what they tell me.

Pause for huge, out of control, I-have-no-winter-clothes-and-wear-flip-flops-everyday freakout.

But enough about me . . . and the celebration of the Christ Child's birth . . .

The biggest, most important countdown clock is this:

There are only 13 regular games left in my team's regular baseball season!

Thirteen.

Mind blown.
Whatever am I going to do with myself after the season is over?
Maybe, you know, finish editing that novel, sew those Christmas presents, buy some real shoes, or curl up in a ball and cry until spring training.
It's really a toss up.

Meanwhile, we are 3 back in the division race and starting to make some noise in the very intriguing wild card race . . . so GO ANGELS!
The rest of it can wait.

At least for another 13 games or so.



(gratuitous cute kid picture with Angels tie in. Um, yes, he's restrained with a jump rope, he seems ok with it, my kids are weird.)

If I Had a Million Dollars

I love this song by Barenaked Ladies, if you haven't heard it you are totally missing out. There are a million live versions on YouTube, but usually they include a lot of really hilarious ad libbing, so I thought I'd give you this original version (boring green screen with lyrics aside), it might be the best intro to the song. Love it.

So what would you do if you had a million dollars?

Not that a million dollars goes all that far these days, ahem.

If I had a million dollars (either via lottery or if I somehow become an ebook sensation and my novels sell like proverbial hotcakes, if you know, hotcakes sold in the millions), I think I would totally buy one of the newer condos near Angels stadium, get season tickets, and walk to all the games. The walking would a) save gas and parking costs, thereby making my million dollars go further and b) burn calories, so a win win.

Wouldn't it be awesome to get to see this approximately 80 games a year?

So, what is in on your "If I had a million dollars list?"

"Spring, Spring, Spring" Sang the Frog and a Winner!

I think we can officially say that it is spring!

So maybe we had some snow last Friday - but since then only lovely, gorgeous spring weather! Even when it rains it seems like you can always see at least a little bit of sun and blue sky . . . and when there is sun and rain you get insane rainbows like this:

Can you believe this sucker? And I am telling you the photo does not do it justice at all! We could see both ends where they touched the ground and it seemed like if we just walked up into the hills we would definitely find a pot of gold or two . . . it was so close!

Another sure sign that it is spring is that baseball season has started! Yippee!!!! And of course we had to have our famous opening day nachos! Yum!

Here is Maddie doing her best Vanna White with the official Melendez Family Opening Day Nachos Angels Plate (we got it at the kid's first ever game at the Big A, pretty sure James was about two months old):

And here are the nachos, yes, we make our own chips!

And because it is spring it is time to pick the winner of the spring fabric giveaway!

And the winner is the lovely Stephanie of Sand and Starfish! You lucky girl you!

I've sent you an email! Congrats!

Halo Holiday Photo

This is the Angels's 50th anniversary year, and they have been having some fun events to celebrate already, even though it isn't baseball season yet! One of the events was the opportunity to have your family holiday photo taken at home plate at Angels stadium - they called it the Halo Holiday Event. For a donation of a $10 toy you got the photo take, and a little magnet frame. We still have to buy the photos from the website, as the photographers are the same ones they use during games for fan photos, but all in all it was a great deal!

I have no idea why, but I was mildly obsessed with making Maddie and Angels tutu for the Halo Holiday Photo. She loves to be princessy, but man, she loves her baseball too . . . right after they took her picture at home plate she swung her bat and took off down the third base line . . . when I snagged her she asked "where go ball game?" She definitely knew where she was! And we were, of course, totally jazzed to be on the diamond!

I followed this tutorial for a toddler tutu by Bethany on Vermillion Rules, although I found it on Cut out and Keep originally. In the end it ended up being a little big in Maddie's waist, and extremely puffy, mostly my fault as I didn't have time to modify for her skinny little waist (nothing like starting a project the night before you need it), but still an easy to follow tutorial if you're looking to make a toddler tutu!

Why I Am an Angels Fan

In life, much like in baseball, you don't always make it to the post-season. Not every year can be a championship year. Sometimes you lose more games than you'd like. You can get frustrated. Unexpected hardships and injuries can damage your offense.

I am an Angels fan, and this year I've often felt like my team's struggles on the field parallel what a hard year it has been for us personally.

I was raised in Southern California, I could easily be a Dodgers fan, and I was for most of my youth. However, for the last fifteen years or so my heart has belonged to the team on the other side of the freeway series. . . and maybe that isn't so surprising, our manager Mike Scioscia is one of "Tommy's Boys" after all.

The Angels play great baseball. Even in a bad year there things I know to be true and that I am proud of:

We don't cheat.

We play as a team.

We believe in the fundamentals of the sport.

We never, never give up.

This is why I am an Angels fan.

This is why I am glad my children are becoming Angels fans.

This is how I hope they play the game of life.

Jamie's Birthday - Field of Dreams . . . er, Cake

I am not a cake decorator. I never will be a cake decorator. I'd like things I spend so much time on to last more than a few minutes. However, I want my kids to have cute birthday cakes and (here's the rub) I don't want to spend large amounts of cash to get said cute cakes.

Earlier in the year I perfected my "grass" frosting technique with Maddie's Winne the Pooh birthday cake, and I was able to whip it out once again for Jamie's "Field of Dreams / Angel's Stadium Without Any Walls Or Other Identifiable Features" birthday cake.

The color is a bit off on these pictures because I took them with my iPhone mid-decorating at 2:30 am the morning of the party . . . cause, um, yeah . . .

I am pretty sure there are a few daylight pictures of this cake on the cd Grammy gave me, I so hope so because pretty much all I have of the cake from the party is this:

I love how the candle is standing amidst the wreckage . . . like a noble warrior among the destruction of his homeland . . .

Or something.

James seems to have enjoyed his cake and ice cream at least.

Getting ready for the James Par-tay

You still have a few days left to enter the Birthday Month Giveaway #4, click here!

My little man is going to be turning one this Sunday! I can't believe it has been a whole year since he made his speedy and rather dramatic entrance into the world! James has enriched our lives immeausrably throughout the last year, and to celebrate his first birthday we are going to be having a pool side party tomorrow . . .

The theme?

Angels baseball of course!

I am sure everyone is so, so, very surprised . . . ahem.

Here is the front of his super duper cute baseball card invites!

Who can resist that smile? What a cutie pop.

I am a busy little bee trying to get everything ready for his party . . . because, um, well, I can never make it easy for myself. Because I am working yesterday and today, I was up until 2:30 am sewing and baking a cake. Tonight it's more sewing, more baking, some decorating (I may or may not be using my previously perfected on the Winnie the Pooh cake grass frosting technique), a little more sewing, frantic searching for the birthday shirt which I seem to have misplaced, and general insane pre-party busy-ness.

A few minor side notes:

a) I looked everywhere for current logo Angels fabric to add to the fabric bunting I am making. I could absolutely not find any . . . the fabric warehouse that is one city over from Angel's stadium - nothing. Joanns, a mere five miles from the Big A? Again nothing. However, they did both have Red Sox fabric . . . what the heck?

b) My Mom is awesome. She had on hand several yards of Angels fabric and sent it out to me . . . it is the old Anaheim Angels "Disney" logo, the one with the wings, many purist fans will disparage this logo, but I personally think it was kind of cute. Not as crisp as the current one, of course, but at least we were still the Anaheim Angels . . . not the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (how does that work again?)

c) The US Postal Service was shockingly prompt this week. My Mom mailed the fabric Saturday afternoon from Peabody, MA, and it was delivered to Whittier, CA, Monday morning at 11 am. I have never been more flabbergasted. Thanks post office!

d) I have discovered about myself that I can never just settle for doing something cute, I have to ramp up the cuteness factor, create more work for myself, stress myself out totally, and usually give up in tears and desperation at some forsaken pre-dawn hour the day of the event. If I ever went into event planning I would proabably produce adorable events but most likely experience a mental break within the first year.

Wish me luck.

The weather report for tomorrow is 74 degrees and mostly sunny.

Pool par-tay here we come (ready or not)!

Spring (Training) Fever

Major League Baseball's Spring Training has begun, and the Angels played their first spring training game yesterday in Tempe, AZ!  We watched the game on Fox Sports West and brought out the hats and Rally Monkey.  We also had homemade nachos on our Angels Chip and Dip plate.

Here are my little Halos:

Maddie relaxing after her ice cream from the ice cream "yuck" (truck), the scary thing is that at 22 months she has a better throwing arm than anyone I know and applauds when Angels pitchers throw strikes or Angels batters get hits.  Me thinks she is a baseball genius.  (And no it's not Halloween, she just wears her Halloween shirt for pjs now).

Cutie patootie, I realize it's kind of inappropriate that he is wearing a Salem, Mass sweatshirt (from Uncle David and Aunt Brit) with his Angles hat . . . All I can say is we are going to kick you butt John Lackey - you and the Sox get ready for another sweep baby ;)

Jamie wants my hat!

And out comes the monkey!  Jump around!  Jump around!

Daddy's homemade nachos, yum!

And before you say it Tor, yes, I know I am funny when I'm in rabid fan mode.