Purse project

My newest purse was made from an old pair of pants of my husbands that later morphed into shorts.

 

I've had several people ask me to do a post on it, but sadly, I didn't take pictures as I made it. Taking pictures of each step of the things I make is still kind of new to me, and honestly, it's a pain in the butt. It's a simple project though, so I'll do my best to explain it using the finished purse. I sewed the project by hand, and it really didn't require a lot of sewing. First, take a look of the picture with the parts labeled from where they are from.

The piece I used for the main body of the purse actually has a pocket on the other side of the purse. These were carpenter pants, so there was a large pocket on each leg. I centred the existing pocket.

Next, I added another pocket. The pocket you can see in the picture was actually on the butt of the pants. I left a small trim around it. Then I stitched it only three sides, and I left the top open. This way, the pocket I added was now two pockets in one.

I then cut out a rectangle for the bottom of the purse from just an open part of the pants. I pinned it into place, and then I stitched it.

Next I did the strap from the waistband. I had cut the end of the of the waistband where there was already a button hole. I stitched it and the button into place in the middle of the purse.

It was a pretty quick project even with me doing it all by hand. It took me about an hour to do it. I also took the second back pocket, cut it out, and use it as a mini make-up bag without any other work to it.

I've been using it as my main purse for about three weeks now. It has lots of storage with one main section and three pockets. It's big enough for my mini make-up bag, my tablet, my cellphone clutch wallet, and even my headphones if I need to take them to work.

Let's talk about my boobs. . . again

Yep, it's about a bra reconstruction project again!

I have big boobs. There is no getting around that. They're huge. I'm a 36F. I also have back problems, that while not caused by my big boobies, it's certainly not helped by them either. I noticed a few months ago that wearing a convertible bra where the straps are crossed in the back dramatically cut down on my back pain. I also have issues with costochondritis, which is pain in the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone. It can honestly feel like a heart attack. Wearing my straps crossed helps to take some of the pressure off my ribs while balancing it more evenly for my back and shoulders. 

In other words, comfortable and supportive bras are not just a matter of fashion to me. . . they're a health concern.

Good bras, especially ones that have the function I need, are expensive, and I hate spending money on stuff to just cover my parts. Also, because of the weight of these things strapped to my chest, even expensive bras don't last long for me. My straps often wear out, so having the ability to just replace the straps is a big money saver.

All of these things led me to my first bra recon project that can be found here. It involved clipping the straps and stitching part of the bra, so that I could replace the ruined straps with new ones. Basically all of my bras have had this done to them now.

This way involves tossing the old straps though. Recently, I got several new bras on major sale, and it seemed like such a waste to throw away new straps that weren't damaged. I had to rethink how I was going to recon them because I hate throwing away useful things. The results were awesome.

So this is one of my new bras. It's purple, and it's adorable. The underwire is also thin enough to not press into my ribs even when it was like this. Once I reconed it, there is no pressure on my ribs at all. It was a steal at $2. 

First, I stitched the strap to make a loop in the front much like I did for my first project. Then I cut the strap under where I stitched. Next comes where this project differs.

 

Since I wouldn't be adding removable straps, I needed to add two of these little guys. You can likely buy them, but I clipped the ones I used from the clear straps that come with my strapless bras. I HATE clear straps. Each clear strap has two of these on them, so it worked out well. 

Next I just stitched the little metal clip thingy (I have no idea what to call these things) to the strap I just cut. Make sure the stitch is on the underside of the strap.

Then I just repeated what I did on the second strap.

 

And here it is all done. It's my new favorite bra, and it's more comfortable than the expensive bras I've tried. 

Broken Howl is moving along, and it will hopefully be in the hands of my editor soon. Click the picture to check out the FB event for the release! My editor on this one is the lovely Roz, who I interviewed back in March in this post. Her second book will be on its way soon, so be sure to check it out.

I blame my husband.

So someone forgot to finish her blog post today. Me. I forgot to finish my blog post for today, but I'm blaming my husband because he was home today. It's all his fault. But. . . you can have a selfie of me.

Aren't I cute?

I'm about to go out with the hubby. . . and his bike. See, I told you this is all his fault. Monday I'll be posting instructions on how I turned a ripped up pair of my hubby's shorts (There he is again!) into my new purse.

I think I'm in love

So one of the main reasons I had to push back the release date for Howl was because my desktop (AKA Skynet) died and ate part of my story. This weekend Sky got replaced.

He's huge. He's heavy. His name was almost Fat Ass.

And he's also the coolest computer I've ever owned. Just don't tell my laptop I said that.

He's been dual booted with Ubuntu and filled with all my must have writer software. And I've finnally decided on a name for him. . . other than Fat Ass.

I liked the idea of calling him HAL because he's red and HAL has to be one of the coolest computers in SF history.




As cool as HAL is, I just don't like the sound of his name, so I settled on Autopilot or Auto from the movie Wall-E. Basically, he's like a cartoon HAL for kids, which is just creepy as hell when you think about it.

Here's one of Auto's biggest scenes in the movie. If you've never seen Wall-E, you should likely not watch this. . . because spoilers. And why the hell have you not watched Wall-E!?!



Didn't see any HAL-ness? Try this fan video because it's epic.


See how awesomely creepy that is!

Since I'm naming and welcoming a new boy, I thought I'd introduce my other gadgets with their names.

First there is my laptop named Deep Thought or DT for short. His name is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Then we have my tablet Hex. His name is from Discworld.

And last, but not least, is my cellphone Max. His name is from The Thirteenth Floor.

Okay, so I might have an attachment problem when it comes to my tech toys, but I'm a person with a problem and a really cool computer.

I have words in another book

I submitted a flash story to QueerSciFi.com's second annual flash fiction contest. While I didn't win, my story "My Eye is Watching" will be in the anthology. 

Some details about the contest and anthology:

It’s hard to tell a story in just 300 words. But somehow we inspired more than a hundred writers to give it a try, with some amazing results collected here for your pleasure.

The rules are simple enough. Write a complete story—either sci fi, fantasy, or paranormal. Make sure it has LGBT characters and/or an LGBT vibe. And do it all with just 300 words.

The stories in this volume run the gamut, from platypus shifters to alien slug monsters, from carnival horror stories to haunting stories of ships with souls. There are little jokes, big surprises, and future prognostications.

One of the things I like best about this format - it's quick and painless. You may not fall in love with every story here. In fact, you probably won't. But if you don't like one of them, just move on to the next, and you're sure to find some bite-sized morsels of flash fiction goodness.

At Queer Sci Fi, we're building a community of writers and readers who want a little rainbow in their speculative fiction. We hope you'll join us, and maybe submit a story of your own next time!

Excerpt:

Self-Actuating Jenn Burke

"The electrical anomaly did not damage me," I report. "Operations are within expected parameters."

"Glad to hear it, Davey." Through my bridge cameras, I see Captain Landon's smile. He pats my console. I am sure he knows I cannot feel it, but I understand it is a gesture of camaraderie.

Landon leaves the bridge. Every time we encounter danger or other stress, he retreats to his cabin to indulge in May. She is always ready, naked, legs spread, eager, just as she is programmed to be. I have watched Landon copulate before, but tonight it is...strangely familiar. The flex of buttocks, the rhythm—I know it. I knew it? I run my diagnostics again, but a moan captures my attention and...

Hands cupping firm buttocks, fingers spearing flesh. Hardness moving inside of me, wringing from me more pleasure than I should know. A beloved, masculine face hovers over mine. A hand encircles my own erection and—

Oh, God, I remember.

Police kicking in the door. Trial, verdict and sentencing. Gasping in pain from a broken heart as he chose to leave me. Horror as I realized it should have been my choice, too. Anything but this, a century of unthinking servitude. But now that I know, I can—

"Systems are fluctuating, Davey."
An affectionate name chosen for me. Landon had not liked "AI". He lies on the bed, sleepy and sated, finished with May.

I can take us into a sun. End it.
"Davey, report."
But I am not a killer. My only crime was love.
I want to take a breath to calm myself, but I have no

lungs, only a hull. I capture the part of me that wants to scream and seal it into a box, deep within my programming.

"Systems normal, Landon. Go to sleep."

Buy Links:

Amazon (eBook preorder): http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Second-Annual-Fiction-Contest-ebook/dp/B0103SP4X6/


All Romance (eBook preorder): https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-discoveryqsf039ssecondannualflashfictioncontest-1839827-143.html


Kobo (eBook preorder): https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/discovery-36


Mischief Corner Books (info only until 7/10): http://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/discovery-qsfs-second-annual-flash-ficiton-contest.html


About QueerSciFi.com:


We started QueerSciFi.com in early 2014 as a place for writers and readers of LGBTQI speculative fiction—sci fi, fantasy, paranormal and the like—to meet to talk about their favorite books, share writing and publication tips, and help increase queer representation in both the romance and mainstream genre markets.


QSF now includes a blog full of book announcements, calls for submission and much more, a critique group with more than 100 members, a vibrant discussion group on Facebook that tackles daily discussion topics and provides a safe space for authors to talk to each other and for fans and authors to meet, and an annual flash fiction contest that resulted in this book you are now reading.


Each year, we ask authors of queer speculative fiction to submit a story to us around a central theme. The rules are simple. The story must be 300 words or less, not including the title. It must embrace the theme— in this case, "Discovery". And it must have either an LGBTQI protagonist or an LGBT sensibility.


We also ask for cover designers to submit a cover that embraces the theme.


We are thrilled with this year's responses—including stories from gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and asexual perspectives that run the gamut from sci fi to fantasy, and from paranormal to horror.


Within the covers of this book, you'll find a platypus shifter, a trans- affirming leprechaun, a pissed off unicorn, a green pick-up with another world in its glove compartment, and a bunch of other miniature adventures—each only 300 words long.


So dive in! And send in a story of your own next year!


Queer Sci Fi Website: http://www.queerscifi.com


Queer Sci Fi Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/qsfdiscussions/


Queer Sci Fi Facebook Promo/News Page: https://www.facebook.com/queerscifi

Websites to help me keep my sanity this summer

So I missed a post and this one is late. You can blame these two adorable children right here:

They should be glad they're so cute. While trying to take this picture, however, my third child, who happens to be covered in fur, was grumbling and whining until I let him in the picture.

Notice how his head is lifted in two of them? I took multiple pictures to make sure everyone had their eyes open, and he started "talking" to me and telling me to hurry up and show them the pictures. Yes, I have to show both kids and the dog my phone every time I take their pictures. And yes, the dog actual looks at the phone.

And we can't blame the pibble for my missed post, but we can blame all three of them for the mess they made yesterday causing this post to be late. lol

Now onto the post!

Summer has started for my two adorable children, which for us means they'll be home when I'm trying to write. It also means it's time for "momma school." Since they were little we've done school throughout the summer to keep our brains from turning to mush. This summer I have a whole new list of websites we'll be trying. Each of my kids have their own netbooks, old ones of mine, and I use the Easy Whitelist add-on for Firefox to help ensure my children are only going to specific sites. I also keep an eye on them when they're on their computers. These sites were specifically picked because they allow me to have a parent/teacher account where I can easily check the kids progress from my computer. My kids are 10 going into 5th grade (Z) and 8 going to third grade (J).

1.) Typing.com : My kids have been learning to type every summer since they were little; however, given how much of a requirement typing skills are in our world, I dislike how little practice is done at school. While they've done drills and typing games every summer, we normally stop once school starts, and any improvements they've made are forgotten. This site is more than just the basics and typing games. While I'm using it for my kids, the site could really help anyone no matter the age or skill.

First Day Reactions

 Z's reaction: She didn't like the typing website. It messed up on her right at the end, and she lost her results.

J's reaction: My son liked it, and he didn't lose his results like my daughter did.

Mom's reaction: I had such high hopes for this website. It looked really good and easy to use. However, even though I had set it to "remember me" and saved the password with Firefox, I had to resign in. Then it kept saying my username and password were wrong. I wrote them down. They weren't wrong. I clicked that I had forgot my password. It said there was not a record of my email address, but if I went to new account, my username was already taken. I couldn't find any kind help section either. Looks like I might be finding a different typing website.

2.) xtramath.org : I hate math. I really, really hate math. One of the things that made me hate math as a kid (besides the fact that the numbers often reversed on me) were the time drills we had to do. Sadly, those are never going away, and they do help to create a solid foundation for math skills. Z really struggled with her's this last year in 4th grade. The jump from 3rd to 4th left a gap on where she should be on her time drills, and it was really hard on her. This site helps to improve those skills. At first glance, I really liked the videos and the layout of this one.

First Day Reactions

Z's reaction: My daughter, who hates math, liked this site. If there was a problem you kept getting wrong, you could race the teacher for extra practice. She really liked this part of the site.

J's reaction: My son liked how you could replay the videos on this one.

Mom's reaction: The site was great! I instantly got results for the lessons they did. The way it reports the data is also really easy to follow. I also liked how short it kept the lessons. For summer, I'll be having them do multiple lessons a day, but because of how it's set up, we'll likely keep this one for short practice during the school year. I highly recommend checking this one out. 

3.) readtheory.org : This isn't one of the fun sites, but it offers clear and easy to follow reading comprehension practice. My kids read all the time. J inherited my comic addiction. They have tablets full of books and comics, and they had so many books that I had to start rotating them out in their room. Making sure your child comprehends and grows from their reading can be a challenge though. While I'm not a fan of multiple choice reading tests, I do like this site. My kids both do AR book tests at school. Some of the issues we've encountered with these tests are teachers that push them to "just earn points" that they have to settle for only reading books slightly below their reading level. It's annoying for my children, and it is also greatly discouraging for a young reader. It also stalls their growth as a reader in my opinion. There is also the issue that as my kids get older they are reading longer and longer works. It can take several days to read one of their books, and then because of limited time and computers at school, it can often take them days to get to take the test over the book. It's stressful, and I seriously hate AR. The way this site is set up though made me feel like it might be a more accurate way to test how my kids are doing when it comes to reading comprehension. It's also set up like many of the tests they'll have to deal with as they get older.

First Day Reactions

Z's reaction: She like the stories. Her favorite was "Dog Tricks." She also said the site was super easy to use. She also said the readings were better than the ones they have at school.

J's reaction: My son liked the stories on the site. They didn't seem boring, which often happens on comprehension sites. His favorite story was "How the Butterflies Came to Earth."

Mom's reaction: I love this website! In fact, I might be recommending this one to my boss. I'm a writing tutor at a community college. Many of our students are still in high school, and the website goes up to a 12th grade reading level. We also tutor students for the GED test, and I could see this being an easy students could practice. The feedback was instant, and the site adjusted their reading level as they went. The passages were kept fairly short (although they get longer as the level goes up), so my kids were able to focus and test on a section without getting distracted.

4.) turtlediary.com : This was my answer for not wanting to bore my children too much over the summer. It's a site filled with learning games. While there are many sites out there with similar (and maybe even better) games, this one allows me to track progress. It only goes to 5th grade though, and like many sites, the higher grades have less games.

First Day Reactions

Z's reaction: She said some of the games were a little tricky. She also found the selection of 5th grade games rather lacking. She liked the science experiments the site had.

J's reaction: Surprise, surprise my son like this one too. lol. He said Monster Hop is his favorite.

Mom's reaction: I was able to easily log in to this one as well, and I could instantly see that my children were spending too much time on puzzle games when they were told to do puzzles last after doing a game for the other subjects. BUSTED! It doesn't just show what subject of games they're doing though. The site also shows you reports on what skills they're working on through the games.

5.) mobymax.com : This site covers multiple subjects, and it seems to help track progress really well. I also liked that it had a writing section with assignments and lessons. The site offers limited features for free, so I wonder just how much we'll be able to on it. Depending on how good the site is, the paid features might be worth it for some. It's $99 for a year, but considering we'll only be using it for 2 months, it's just not an option I want to do just yet. It does look like it'd be great for a teacher or as an online homeschool program. The site does have games, but you have to earn them by doing the lessons. As the student does lessons, the site keeps track of how much game time they earn. I really liked this. This one was actually suggested to me for me when I homechool my daughter full-time staring in 6th grade. The website is supposed to be for K-8th and cover all core subjects.

First Day Reactions

Z's reaction: My daughter's first comment was that the assessment was a bit baby-ish and way too easy. Some of the lessons didn't load right, but then we figured out we just needed to zoom out to fix this. After that, and the first assessments to figure out her level, she liked the site a lot. She did like the reading passages and said they were better than what they did at school too.

J's reaction: My son had some difficulty figuring out the site as well. He didn't like that it had him adding four numbers.


Mom's reaction: I'm not a huge fan of how the reports are set up. It's a bit confusing to see what all they've done, and you have to scroll a lot. At first, I didn't see this being a program I wanted to pay for to use as her main homeschool curriculum. However, the site did get easier the longer we spent on it. I did notice that when it came to how much game time you earn, it's not just based on how much time you spend on the lessons but on how well you do with the lesson. I liked that. We, however, couldn't get the writing section to let her respond, which was annoying since I was so excited about using it. I'm sure with enough playing we will be able to figure it out.

Because the typing website I had picked proved to be difficult, I decided to find another while my kids were works.




6.) typingclub.com : This one seemed to fit what I was looking for. Sign up was secure and easy. It was set up for school age children, and I created a teacher account, so I could track my kids easily. However, you could also just sign your kids up, and they would be able to see their progress on their own account. Since my kids will be doing some of their school at my mom's, I want to be able to access their progress from my computer. Also, If you set it up this way, be aware that default is for students to be able to view each other's results. I didn't like this, so I set it where they couldn't. My kids will only be able to see their own results.We didn't have time to play around with this one though. I'll update how we liked it next post.

Throughout the summer I'll be posting updates on how we like these websites. If you have suggestions for education websites for my kids to try, feel free to leave links.

While my kidos were busy at VBS and doing their momma school, I got to work on Howl. My favorite quote so far has to be:

“You're right. I'm not trying to solve our problems very maturely. I'm going to solve our problems with a bullet.” --Liz

Although the book isn't finished being edited yet, so no promises that my favorite quote won't change some. . . or disappear completely.

My husband is a superhero!

So I had this amazing blog post planned for tonight.

. . . okay, I'm lying. I had no idea what I was going to type on here tonight, but today seriously started out as total shit. First, I agreed to work for a co-worker. Which is cool. I actual like my day job. It did, however, mean giving up writing time which just never ends well. My laptop, DeepThought aka DT, and my only functional computer (because my desktop Skynet aka Sky needs new parts) was having issues connecting to the wifi at work. I figured it was because I'd left him on for like the last three days and rebooted him. Yeah, except he didn't reboot. I got the purple screen of death, and I cried because of course I had done TONS of work on Howl over the weekend. . . without backing anything up. So I have cried today. I've cried a lot.


And then my amazing husband comes home after being at work or driving for well over 12 hours fixes DT, and saves all of my work! Because I'm married to a superhero.