An Update

Hi,

It has been an inexcusably long time since my last blog post. I have been busy, but really- everyone is busy-so here is a quick recap of what has been going on, with random photos intermittently placed.

I am having a little difficulty seeing right now, I am waiting for some clear sunlight so I can burn one of my new shirt designs. That has resulted in me staring (albeit through cloud cover) at the sun much more than is appropriate. (by the way, before I finished the preceding sentence I got just enough sunlight to burn one screen. Awesome. Still cant see though. )

Last time I wrote a blog, I was pregnant. Sadly I experienced the very common occurrence of a miscarriage. Unfortunately, just because miscarriages are frequent, does not make them any easier. I really wanted to have another baby and was very disappointed. We are currently "trying" to get pregnant again. I have not skated, I haven't really felt up to it, but I am thinking about practicing for the next few weeks so that I can play in the last game of our season, and continue to play roller derby until I get pregnant again. To add insult to injury, my body freaked out again as soon as I got pregnant and I gained at least 30 lbs in that month. It is really frustrating.

Autumn is doing well, she is crazy cute and does new fun things all the time. We have started her watching some educational programs on netflix because admittedly Adam and I occasionally need a reprieve from the rambunctious -almost- two year old. It seems like she is a little addicted though. One of the first things she asks for when she wakes up is "dora?" as in dora the explorer. You would think without a TV we would be able to keep autumn from falling in love with TV shows, but I guess not. On the other hand it has taught Autumn quite a lot. She can actually count from 1-11. Sometimes she even gets all the way to twelve!

Adam Got promoted to acting director of natural resources, which is very exciting. I also took the leap and decided to "quit my day job". Caustic threads has been VERY busy lately, and I expect that it will continue to get busier as Christmas approaches. I have gained the interest of several boutiques, and am working with one in Albuquerque. Until now she has been buying items at a wholesale discount, but she is interested in offering a wider variety of my items than her budget allows, so we are working on a consignment agreement. Awesome. One of my goals for this working from home change is to write blogs daily, however, if today is any indication I may not have time even now.

See you all tomorrow.

♥Erica

A NEW YEAR PART ONE: Looking back

I feel like this year should really begin with the birth of Autumn, even though technically she was born in November of 2008.

Autumn, Minutes old

Autumn Ringia was born, November 14Th 2008 via Cesarean at about 8:00 am after 17 hours of labor. the Cesarean was necessary because she was not positioned correctly.

uncle Nick, Aunt Erica and little Autumn (about 4 weeks old)

I learned a lot this year from Autumn. Most importantly I learned that things don't turn out as planned SURPRISINGLY often, especially as a parent. Some of my plans, failed due to perseverance, and possibly exhaustion-like using cloth diapers. Others failed because not everyone can do them-like breastfeeding- which was a long, determined, exhausting experience that left me feeling heartbroken, useless and defeated. I still have never had the energy to record my thoughts and emotions regarding breastfeeding, but may soon.

Captain Furious ( Autumn 4 weeks old)

8 weeks after Autumn was born I started skating with Rose City Rollers in Portland. It was nice to get out, and get a lot of exercise.

silhouettes of roller girls

I Decided not to return to work because daycare cost almost as much as I would get paid, but It was hard on me to spend all day at home with a baby-as wonderful as she is- and skating didn't help with that. Adam was traveling a lot for that job and it was depressing.


Autumn and I at the rose garden in Portland

In February I opened our etsy store. I had no goals or expectations and found the community to be an addicting and welcomed reprieve from my life as a stay at home mother, wife and derby girl. I was also surprised that things sold without a huge amount of effort from me.

Arm warmers were out top seller in our etsy store this year

I can't remember much about March or April. I found myself too stressed out by skating with Rose City to really want to stick around, and at some point I quit because I couldn't attend many practices and I didn't want to subject myself to unnecessary stress when I felt like I was already at my wits end at home with a baby, and often left alone during the work week while Adam was doing surveys in other states.


Autumn and Daddy

In may Adam and I moved back to Albuquerque! I am so happy to be back home. I started skating with duke city derby again which makes me very happy! I also started working for my dad which really helped me break up my day and feel more productive and less trapped. I get to take Autumn to work with me so it works out very well, and the extra money is very nice. Adam did NOT have a job when we left Portland, but before we moved in to a house he had secured a position as Natural Resources Manager for the pueblo of Laguna! Everything seemed to come together so smoothly. I am sure my mother would say " it was meant to be".

Adam seems to enjoy his job, and I enjoy working part time for my dad. It is very nice that autumn gets to see my dad so often, I think it is good for both of them, and it is nice for me to get out of the house.

Autumn Thinks that dinner looks good!

At the end of last year's travel season Duke City Derby lost Kamikaze Kim, which has been very difficult for me and many other skaters. Kim moved to Seattle, and I am sure they are very happy to have her. Kim is an amazing skater and an amazing person, and I miss her very much. She had changed a little in the year that I was in Portland- but then I suppose, so had I- and some major changes had happened in her life that would surely effect anyone.

At the end of the season Killer Queen and I were elected as the new travel team captains. We have some very big (even though they were actually really small) shoes to fill as Kim's predecessors. I think that in some ways we are doing pretty well, but a lot of people are very sad that Kim is gone and seem to be taking it out on us, and the rest of the team. We may lose some very good skaters, which would be disappointing. A few other skaters have also really stepped up, and been very helpful, and I am very thankful to them.

Adam and I

Our First Christmas on etsy was very lucrative. I did not have any real sales goals when we opened our shop but I was really surprised by how many sales we did make, and how little effort it took. YES, it is a lot of work, but without doing craft shows, art shows, or promoting ourselves locally we were able to make enough sales to buy ALL of our Christmas presents with pay pal money from etsy sales.

I guess that leaves us about where we are now, Many things unresolved as is always the case in a new year, and a few things changed forever, so completely that It is hard to remember what life was like before.



Autumn at the Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor Michigan

TUTUtorial! No Sewing required!

As I promised, I will be sharing my tutu making experience. I made a white TUTU for Duke City Derby's good VS evil bout. Our team won, by the way.

So, one of the most important things I have learned in life is that ALMOST everything is easier than it looks. The same is true with tutus.


You will need a few things. Ribbon or string, and Tulle. For ease I purchased rolls of Tulle that were not very wide. They sold it in many different colors at Micheal's in the wedding favor department. If you purchase it by the yard you can cut it so that it is 2"-12" wide. The narrower the strips the more ethereal and whimsical the outcome will be (see the tutu I made for Autumn) I used 12" strips for my tutu.

Measure your waist and add enough to the ribbon to tie the ends. I then folded the ribbon to make sure my tutu was centered and marked the waist measurement so I knew how many "knots" to make.

Decide how long you want the tutu to be and double that. Add about two inches (it will be dissolved in knotting and fluff) cut several strips of tulle that are that long.



I then tied the ribbon taught between two sturdy objects ( a bed and a playpen in my case) because I thought it made it easier.

This is the meat of making a tutu. this knot right here. To make it fold a strip of tulle in half and hold the loop up to the ribbon. Then bring the tails of the tulle around the ribbon and through the loop.



And repeat.


....and repeat

.... and repeat until you have filled the waist measurement. Then untie it from the objects that are holding the ribbon taught and tie it around your waist! Voila! An easy no sew tutu!


And just in time to make that fairy or princess costume for Halloween!



AND I used scraps (I trimmed the bottom of the tutu to make it more even) to make a tutu for Autumn.


If you like to sew you can make a variation where the string that you tie the knots around is just longer than the waist measurement and then sew the ribbon on top for a more finished looking waist.

Also, notice that in Autumns Tutu there are other colors, you can do this by alternating colors of tulle.