Monday, September 24, 2012

Here Come the Pandas

It's almost here! At 3 AM, Blizzard will be releasing its latest World of Warcraft expansion - Mists of Pandaria.
Source

I've heard a lot of naysayers complain that this expansion will be lame. They compare it to Kung-Fu Panda, and I admit, at first, I had my doubts. However, I find myself eagerly anticipating this expansion as a fun, lighthearted break from the usual drama in Azeroth. The first expansion brought us a demon invasion, the second had us battling undead hordes under the control of the Lich King, and Deathwing nearly ripped the world in two in Cataclysm. Mists of Pandaria promises rich lore, beautiful graphics, and the brew-loving Pandarens. Now, I'm sure there will be a fair amount of strife, since our pre-expansion event was Garrosh destroying Theramore Isle, a move that didn't sit well with the other Horde leaders or the Horde's long-time human sympathizer, Jaina Proudmoore, but it wouldn't be World of Warcraft without out some Horde-Alliance conflict. Anyway, enough out of me. I'm going to share the MoP cinematic trailer with you, which even if you aren't a WoW fan, I believe you can still appreciate (be sure to watch in full screen):

And with that, I'm out of here. See you when the Mists lift!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

All moved in...

So I was doing pretty well there for a while, wasn't I? Blogging every week, keeping you up to date on the ins and outs of life. Well, then we moved. Our little family was living in chaos while living out of boxes for a couple of weeks there in mid-August, but now I can officially state that we're all moved in. Now it's time to get back on the blogging train. So here's a little peek at what I've been up to:

That is one of the fingerless gloves I made from a pair of Halloween knit tights. I bought the tights thinking it would be fun and quirky to have a pair of stripey stockings in my wardrobe, but the "one size fits all" label evidently meant all children, because I am a short adult, and I could not get them up to my waist. Anyway, I threw them in my fabric bin because I paid for them, and I wasn't about to throw them away. (In case you're wondering, returning them was out of the question because in my fervor to put them on I put a hole in them.) So I got them out the other day after deciding that I wanted to be a witch for Halloween -  just to make sure they really wouldn't fit. Sure enough, they were still too short. After staring at them for a few minutes, wracking my brain as to how I could use them, I said, "Screw it." I threw caution to the wind, and cut them off at the stripe where they reached my knees. I fray-checked the ends, and put them on. To my surprise, the ends didn't roll down and the socks stayed put, so I have a new pair of striped knee-socks. Well, I still had the tops. I thought about throwing them away, but a friend of mine posted a picture of some fingerless gloves for another friend of mine, and eureka! I made two tubes out of the tops, cut thumb holes in the sides, fray-checked the whole thing and now I have fingerless gloves. I've always kinda wanted some because my hands get cold when I'm on the computer or doing crafts, but I don't want to put on gloves because I lose all my manual dexterity that way. So there, problem solved. I didn't throw away money on ruined tights, and I got two articles of clothing out of the deal. Upcycling at its finest!

Now, I mentioned that I wanted to be a witch for Halloween. Obviously a witch needs a hat, but a witch hat is not one of the things I have in my arsenal of Halloween goods, believe it or not. I found one at Target for $2.50, and it was purple! (Purple is one of my favorite colors AND the color of the dress that was going to be the foundation for my costume.) For $2.50, I was expecting a basic hat with no frills whatsoever, but it had tulle, feathers, and a satin flower on it. That being said, it still looked a little cheap because the ends of the feathers were showing. Me being me, I cruised on to Hobby Lobby and picked up a pack of six small, sheer black roses with a rhinestone in the center of each one for $1.99. I hot-glued those bad boys on, and now for $4.49, I have a pretty snazzy witch hat:
 
And here's a close-up of the flowers:
 
I seriously like this hat enough to wear it without a reason.