a Sims 3 house, designed by yours truly 
Sensible Ambience
A definite bargain! Modern, upscale 3br/2ba at just under $30k, this home features an enormous Master suite with Jack & Jill style bathroom, fireplace, eat-in kitchen with island, laundry room, front/back porches and a 2 car garage with work area! A great place for Sims looking to get out of a starter home!
REQUIRED:
The Sims 3
The Sims 3: Ambitions
a Sims 3 house, designed by yours truly
A-Typical
A “non-traditional” A-frame styled house. 3 br, 2 ba – master suite, island kitchen, fireplace, front/back patios, a touch of landscaping and 2 parking spaces make this affordable modern home a nice place for your eccentric Sim starter family!
REQUIRED:
The Sims 3
The Sims 3: Ambitions
Click HERE to download this house
THIS. IS. THE. COOLEST. CROCHET. PATTERN. E-V-E-R.
Karla Fitch is my new hero. as soon as i saw this pattern on ravelry, i busted out the yarn and hook and went to town!!! and i am amazed at how quickly i was able to finish it, and love how it turned out!!!!!!
upon completion, as you can see from the pictures, he went on an all-out attack on the pets (since there were no pigs available!) and he will be going to work with Travis tomorrow – now he can take his Bird obsession out on his coworkers!! heheheh. 
Alex was, as usual, disturbed by this. he was like “ahhhh it’s on me! i can’t move!” LMAO. kudos to Karla for the pattern (and awesome that she made it free!!!! BONUS!) check it out on ravelry, here:
MATERIALS:
so…. the intention here was to make more than ONE of these cards…. but for some reason i just never could seem to find the time. the lucky recipient of this example card i ended up making was Brodyn’s teacher, Mrs. Carley, because i needed a card to give her gift card in, and i had a Dr. appointment and was REALLY running late for his classroom Christmas party – so i just grabbed this card, scrawled a message and bolted out the door! (i know, that sounds terribly impersonal – but i really DO adore Mrs. Carley, and i was happy to be able to give her this card!!!)
i *REALLY* love the way it turned out… i spent quite a bit of time (hours in Hobby Lobby, picking out the materials… days at my kitchen table, planning out the design and cutting all the papers!) getting ready to mass produce these, but i ended up just not being into it and having a million other things to do in between! oh well, there’s always next Christmas – and i PROMISE that i’m totally going to make these in July and have them all ready to go come Christmastime… that way i don’t end up going out and wasting a bunch of $ buying another round of stuff for Christmas cards that i inevitably never end up handing out. OH! my favorite thing about this card is that it’s an “easel”-style card, like the one i made for Travis’ grandma a few weeks back. here is a (blurry) side shot of the card, so you can see what i mean:
thanks for stopping by! i hope that everyone has a very blessed Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year – from our family to yours 
MATERIALS:
today is BFF Ryan’s birthday!!!!!!!!
made him a card, and included a super sneaky pocket on the front to stuff the obligatory iTunes gift card into… since he LOVES buying apps for his phone, but hates to pay for them 
and yes, that is a ribbon-and-bow-topped jar of Marshmallow Creme next to the card (bonus gift!) after our conversation about love of Marshmallow Creme, and eating it out of the jar!!! he loved it – but the bow ended up on my head. joy. 
happy birthday, Little Buddy !!!
MATERIALS:
so today is momentous in that it is the birthday of three people who are near and dear to my heart! the nearest (and dearest!) being my son, who is TEN years old today!!!! ten! i can hardly believe it!!!! seems like not that long ago he was four, and not much longer than that that me and his dad fought our way through a blizzard to the hospital… i still can’t believe he’s TEN. sigh. time really flies.
there he is – pleased as punch – holding up his new Halo Lego Wraith, that he purchased with Grammie Birthday Money.
speaking of Grammie…… today is her birthday also! that’s right. my dear, sweet Grammie’s birthday is also today!!!!
and, in an odd coincidence, today is ALSO Travis’ grandma’s birthday! how weird is that? so, since she’s visiting us from Michigan and we are taking her out to dinner this evening, i spent a little time this morning making her a special card, because she really appreciates the cards i make her! she loves gardening, and flowers, so i thought this was perfect for her:
SUPPLIES:
* Cardstock – Colorbok
* Patterned Paper – DCWV “Glitter Stack”
* Velvet Alpha, 3D Butterfly – K & Co.
* Felt Flowers – Michael’s
* Bling Flowers – Dress-it-Up Buttons
* Birthday Sticker – Making Memories
* Scalloped Punch – Fiskars
* White Gel Pen – Gelly Roll by Sakura
it’s an “easel” style card, i lifted it from one of Tami Mayberry’s card designs in September’s issue of “CardMaker” Magazine. i think it turned out pretty good! and i’m sure Grandma will like it, too
well, that’s all for now! a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all my Birthdayers today!!!! 
thanks for stoppin’ by!
baby it’s cold outside!!! well, not when you’re 8 months prego… you can really go without a coat in this weather – but, in keeping with the season, a scarf does look kind of cute
i’ve noticed people wearing a lot of fancy scarves around lately – and i wanted something that was more of an accessory than a warmer… so i looked around and found a lot of patterns for “ruffled” or “spiral” scarves. i really liked this one best, though:
Ruffle Scarf by Rachel Choi
it worked up really easy (believe it or not, it only consists of Triple Crochets! SO EASY!) and it didn’t take very long to make – i finished it in a matter of a few days. mine is three rows wide – but Rachel’s original pattern called for five. i guess it really depends on how thick / thin you want it to be. i also really like her example scarf – the black with light pink edge – it looks very …. classy. i might make one of those sometime, too. i really enjoyed this pattern, and i’m happy with the way it turned out!!
MATERIALS:
didn’t sound too excited about that did i?
not sure how to feel about this song. the only FOR SURE feeling i had was that i should have had some glow sticks or a beach ball in my hands.
Linkin Park
“The Catalyst”
ah, the music of my youth. the 90s. it was like the 70s, but better. we saw the advent and evolution of everything from Grunge to Boy Bands, and there wasn’t a year in the decade without some awesome soundtrack full of memories for those of us who grew up then. when i think of my teen years, the best memories i have are tied to some of the best music. i think of Nirvana, Sublime, Alanis Morissette, the Backstreet Boys, Snoop Dogg, Ace of Base and No Doubt. i think of summers and evenings spent watching video after video on MTV or sitting in front of the stereo with a cassette in the recorder and the radio blasting, waiting with my finger on the pause button to catch every note of the next favorite they’d play so that i’d have a sweet mixtape of all the songs i loved to carry around in my boom box or Walkman… eventually to listen to in my car. those were definitely the days.
one thing i’ve always been very keen to pick out about the history of everything is the way that it comes full circle, and seems to go in trends. i’ve been wading through crappy Emo and Pop music for 8 years now, waiting for that trend to die. now, at the tail-end of the 80s revival period, we are starting to see a show of our favorite old Grunge bands restringing their guitars and gearing up for tours and the release of new albums. ::screeeeech:: WHAT? yeah, that’s exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago when i learned Soundgarden was playing Lollapalooza in Chicago.
#1 – Soundgarden
that’s right. Chris Cornell is over himself. for now.
on January 1, 2010, Cornell announced via Twitter that Soundgarden was officially going to make another go of it. they played their first live show in 13 years on April 16, 2010, in their hometown and followed that up by closing down Lollapalooza in Chicago back at the beginning of the month. on September 28, their new compilation CD, Telephantasm: A Retrospective, debuts and will be included with copies of the new Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock game – another monumental occasion in that it will be the first time a video game has ever been packaged with a retail CD. which, in my humble opinion, is pretty f-ing cool. the only newcomer track on the CD is the previously unreleased “Black Rain“, which will also be featured in the Guitar Hero game. the album will also be released that day to retail, a 2-disc set with DVD. super. i’ll end up having the CD, by proxy, since i will buy Guitar Hero. double bonus for me.
so then i climb in the car the other day and hear The EDGE (our badass local rock station) announce that Bush is coming in concert. wait, BUSH? the Bush, like, with Gavin freaking Rossdale Bush?
#2 – Bush
okay, so maybe not ALL of these guys, but Gavin Rossdale is back with original drummer Robin Goodridge, and that’s good enough for me! in June they announced their reunion and new upcoming tour, kicking off in California on September 25, 2010, as well as the release of a new CD, Everything Always Now. i really hope that it can pull off what Sixteen Stone did… man, that’s still one of those albums i can just listen to all the way through and be happy. their first single in 8 years, “Afterlife” also premiered coinciding with their announcement.
another time, about a week ago, i was listening to the EDGE again and heard a song and thought, “gee this sounds an AWFUL lot like Sublime with a different singer…”
#3 – Sublime with Rome
and i was right. although word of the “Sublime” reunion has been on the street for a year, we are only now hearing some of what they have to offer because of a legal dispute over the name of the band. Sublime’s demise in the 90s was the unfortunate loss of Brad Nowell, the original lead singer. his family and “estate” did not feel it was right for the remaining members to continue to use the name Sublime without Brad, even though they were quoted as saying that they were happy to use the moniker to generate awareness and still use Sublime for something positive. howevermuch i see both sides of the argument, the family is right – it would be no different than Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic trying to pass off another Nirvana. Brad WAS Sublime, and it’s just not the same without him. not that i don’t appreciate what these guys are trying to do, and glad to hear one of my old faves back on the airwaves again.
okay now i’m done with the pictures. research for writing blogs is exhausting! but nonetheless, i march on.
some other 90s bands (who i am also equally excited about) that have decided to give it another go include:
none of these can be as bad as the NKOTB reunion, though, right? (although seriously i probably would go to that too.)
my wish list for 90s bands that should make a comeback?
hm. i guess that’s all i have to say on that subject.
I WANT MY OLDSCHOOL MTV ANYWAY! WTF IS THIS REALITY SHOW GARBAGE?
![=]](http://shaunnarooskie.com/wp-content/plugins/smilies-themer/rooskie/spin.gif)
this website -> 8ball.co.uk
has some fantastic shirts for babies and little kids! i’m def getting some of these
Does My Head Look Big in This?
lmao! this site has a lot of other cool kids’ shirts, as well as some great funny and band t-shirts for adults. if this is your type of thing, it’s definitely worth checking out
