Utter Failures

I love that song 99 Red Balloons so that's why it's in the title. It really doesn't fit this story at all. Now that we've cleared that up... I went to my 5-year-old friend's birthday party Saturday morning at the Mountain Goat Indoor Rock Climbing Gym . Our friends from our small group at church had very kindly invited us, and we were super excited to help little Katie celebrate 5 years! She is a very sweet girl and an avid reader like myself. In fact, we exchanged books a few times. She gave me Fancy Nancy to read (very cute book!) and I let her read my Poky Little Puppy book -- a favorite from when I was little -- and a Snow White book I had. Katie got lots of gifts, including some awesome light sabers. I gave her a couple of books for kids by Neil Gaiman -- I love his books for adults and was really excited when he started also writing kids' books. So we had a blast. We climbed walls and ate yummy cake that Julie (Katie's mom) made. All was going

I am not a  parent... yet. Nor am I pregnant (for anyone who took that the wrong way). I'll let you know if and when that happens. You will know because I will say so, but I will not be posting alien photos aka ultrasounds of said future offspring. I do not mind if you do of course, and that is none of my business, but I personally find them off-putting. Hello, little alien creature. I wouldn't say that in general I like kids. Actually that's never been the case for me. I never really dreamed of having kids. I dreamed of being an astronaut though. Having said that, I know I do want kids. Not because I think being pregnant will be fun (probably not), nor will giving birth, nor will cleaning up after them or changing my whole lifestyle or spending my money on them. WOW Laura, you're so cynical. Maybe, but it's true isn't it? Gotta be realistic about these things. But knowing all those things are in my future if we do have kids, I still want to... eventually.

In May, Jeremy and I went to Ice and Fire Con in Ohio. It was a blast! I cosplayed Asha Greyjoy  based lightly on the linked image (don't get me started on Yara , the show version of her. What is dead may never die , but I'd be ok if Yara died...). Jeremy went as book-version Oberyn Martell , The Red Viper. Why do I specify book version? Because in the book Oberyn is soooo cool. He has that Asian/Middle Eastern flair and you know he is smart, calculating, and will kick your butt. Show version is less impressive in my opinion, though Pedro Pascal did a good job for sure. Plus I wasn't thrilled with how they handled his relationship with Ellaria. But I digress... So I made this (not shoes or spears), and Jeremy rocked it! And if I do say so myself, it looks really cool. Especially in pictures. Now if you got up close to the red tunic you'd see the gold trim I used wasn't ideal. As someone who's still learning every day more about sewing, each project