Jumping Ship...

Too many blogs to keep updated! Everything is now over at www.monkeytailz.com
See you there....

I'm hooked!

Any of you who know me, know that I'm not much of a sports fan. I do enjoy attending the occasional sporting event in person, but am not all that interested in watching sports of any kind on TV and am not really overly fond of any team sport....until now. Roller Derby ROCKS! I can't believe that I've lived on this Earth some 40+ years and have never been to a Roller Derby Bout. I guess I just haven't been in the right places at the right times. I attended my first Bout this past weekend and LOVED it! We ventured to The Kill Floor in Greeley and watched the Slaughterhouse Derby Girls vs. Sioux City Roller Dames! Here I am enjoying a giant PBR while watching the Bout...

I think drinking PBR during Roller Derby Bouts is required ;)

I was at this Bout because Thing 1 has joined Junior Roller Derby and her team, the Butcher Babes, was working...selling raffle tickets, helping at the concession stand, skating around letting other girls know about Jr. Roller Derby, etc. She was decked out in full derby gear and had a blast! Check out Toxic Neon rolling around the rink after the Bout:

Here are Cha-Cha Crusher and Toxic Neon:

Cute, huh? ;)

At the next Slaughterhouse Derby Girls Bout, the Butcher Babes may get to do a little scrimmage at half-time.

Also happening last Saturday was the Sneak Preview of Whip It! I really wanted to go see it, but seeing real Roller Derby was pretty awesome. So, I'll just wait until this weekend. In the mean time, I'm reading Derby Girl (the book the movie is based on). I looked up Roller Derby at our local library and this was the ONLY book they had on the subject. I'm only about halfway through, so I'll do a little review when I'm done. So far, I am enjoying it!

It has also been re-released in paperback with the title Whip It! 

I'm also watching trailers for Whip It!...

 

...and watching documentaries about Roller Derby. I watched this one late Saturday evening. There wasn't a lot of actual skating, but I really enjoyed getting a glimpse behind-the-scenes at the Austin League that brought Derby back and learn about the business side of things, as well as some of the politics.

 

...and looking up Derby names.

Next on my agenda is to figure out how to get my own skates (and protective gear, of course!) and see what this old gal can do on wheels!

Birds on Skates

Clever little play on words there, if I do say so myself. Check out my new Roller Derby Blog Button to the left AND then head on over to The Selvedge Yard  for a great blog article about Vintage Roller Derby complete with fabulous photos of some awesome "birds" on skates ;)

Vintage Roller Derby Bad Girls | Sass On Wheels!

'round and 'round she goes....

...and where she stops, nobody knows.

First, let's clear the cobwebs off this blog. Sometimes, I get so caught up in existing that I forget to LIVE life like the beautiful gift it is. It is so easy to get bogged down with the HAVE TOs and forget about the WANT TOs. Lately, I've been on a quest to cut the excess baggage from my life. Purge the crap, decrease the negativity, and increase the positivity. I am trying to surround myself with people who make me feel good. I don't mean people that pump up my ego. I mean people who love life, are positive, live out loud, and it just feels good to be around them. Perhaps I'm having the onset of a slight mid-life crisis after my recent 4[mumble]th birthday. Perhaps I'm tired of tearing up every time I see someone living their passion and wondering when I'm going to get to live mine. Perhaps it's just time to start LIVING again.

My main priority for the past 13+ years has been being a Mommie. I love this job. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it does tend to become your whole world, if you let it. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are growing up and don't need my constant attention any more. I have my hobbies...Asian Ball Jointed Dolls, sewing, and various other silly things I like to do...but, I long to do something big. Something fantastic. Something outrageous. Something that will make people talk. I've always said I would rather be interesting enough to be talked about than be so boring that no one talks about me ;)

I ask myself...What is my passion? What is it that I really want to do that I'm not doing? I've pushed it down for so long that I really don't know. I look at my hobbies...the things I enjoy doing most. The Dolls. The answer is in the Dolls. I discovered Asian Ball Jointed Dolls about 5 years ago and was immediately hooked. Each Doll I have (or  have had...if they've moved on to new homes) has a distinct developed (or being developed) character...actors, burlesque dancers, buskers, carnies, ghosts, knife throwers, musicians, pinup girls, rollergirls, steampunks, sword swallowers, time travellers, vampires, witches ...but what is the common underlying theme with all of them? Each one is some kind of performer or exhibitionist or has some fantastic ability that sets them apart from what is considered ~normal~. I realize...each doll represents some part of me. Each one is a tangible form of what I wish for, long for, or am fascinated by. I have been living vicariously through the Dolls and their stories. All well and good, but that still leaves me with a hole in my soul that needs to be fulfilled. And, lately, my Dolls have just been sitting there...staring at me...taunting me with all my unrealized hopes and dreams and aspirations.

So, what does all this have to do with going 'round and 'round? Ever since we moved here, I keep finding myself wishing that we lived closer to Denver. STUFF is going on there! STUFF I want to be a part of. STUFF I want my girls to be a part of. But, I have my priorities and they keep me close to home...away from the STUFF. Every so often, I search the web to see if something, anything, that calls to me might have popped up close to home. Nothing. Until yesterday...

I have been fascinated with Roller Derby for years (and secretly wanted to get involved), but [insert rambling from above]. All of sudden, it's popping up over and over in my life. I have reconnected with many old friends from my past on FaceBook. Three really good friends were or are currently involved with Roller Derby. I recently made a new friend that was on a team in Denver. There's all the buzz about Whip It! (can't wait to see this! Reading the book now)...

...I want to be a Roller Girl for Halloween...Yes! I AM dressing up this year! It's been way too long and that is just wrong...then I start searching for more info about the Denver Roller Derby teams and plan to attend an upcoming bout. Unbelievably (mostly to myself), this will be my first. Then I do it...google...Roller Derby Loveland...and discover FoCo Girls Gone Derby! I click all over their web site, sign up for the newsletter, plan to attend a bout, join their FaceBook Fan Page, start getting all pumped up and thinking...maybe, just maybe, I could do this...and then I remember that (1) I'm not all that coordinated or athletic, (2) I'm quite out of shape, and (3) I'm no Spring Chicken. I am working on the out-of-shape part by biking daily and have dropped almost 2 sizes over the summer...yay!...but, there's not much I can do about the uncoordinated part or the Spring Chicken part. Whatever. Then...I notice a link I hadn't clicked yet. One little entry on their blog...Jr Roller Derby. What!?! My heart skips a beat and I click the link. There is a League in Greeley for girls 9-17 and I have 2 of those! Well, Thing 2 will be 9 in exactly one month from today ;) I quickly leave a comment asking for more info and if there is a Jr. League closer to home. The reply comes back from a mom who lives in Loveland and they have a carpool!

So, you guessed it. We are going to join Junior Roller Derby! Right now, it will just be Thing 1 since Thing 2 is in Ballet on practice nights, but she wants to check it out, too. Thing 1 is super excited and I'm excited for her. She hasn't found her passion yet, but I think this is a step in the right direction. I want her to experience anything and everything that ignites a spark within her and one day she will find that thing that lights her fire. I may not get to realize my dream of being a Roller Girl, but I am going to try and give my daughters every chance I can to find their PASSION and ROLL with it...whatever ~it~ may be.

I know. All that means I'm still living vicariously through someone else and not embracing my own passion, but who knows where this will lead? ... ;) Right now, it's leading me to create a new blog button for ROLLER DERBY because I have a feeling this topic is going to need it's own section!

Busy, busy, busy...

...busy, busy, busy. It seems that I have been so busy being not bored that I have neglected to update my blog in quite some time. Last week, I had big plans to jump back into this with a fervor, but managed to keep so busy that I didn't. The family went canoeing on the Green River and were gone for a week...a whole week...all of them....which left me home ALONE :) for a whole week. A whole week of being responsible for no one but me (well, me and the 4 FurKids ;). I ate when and what I wanted (and lost 4 more pounds to boot!), I got up when I wanted (well, as long as the FurKids would let me sleep), did what I wanted ALL day long and into the wee hours of the morning (i.e. sewed for MYSELF, watched movies, got in touch with my inner geek and hooked the laptop up to the TV, etc). I missed my family very much, but it was a MUCH-NEEDED break and probably the only vacation I'll get any time soon. So, I enjoyed it :) I will get back to blogging soon because I enjoy that, too....

Buggin' Out

Mr. NeverBored planted a lovely garden this year (i.e. I have brown thumbs) and we have been eating delicious fresh spinach for the past month or so. A couple batches in, I noticed some teeny tiny white specks on the underside of most of the spinach leaves. Trying not to be overly alarmed while thinking about how many of these we must have already eaten (and hoping we don't have caterpillars growing in our tummies), I started washing each delicate leaf by hand. ugh. This takes sooo much time. I have no idea what these white dots are or what to do about them. If anyone knows what kind of bug lays these, if they are harmful to eat, and/or how to get rid of them...I would appreciate a comment ;)

File Me ORGANIZED!

Ha!ha! Not really. I have my own style of organizing and, to the outsider, it probably looks quite UNorganized. BUT! I do usually know where to find what I need. So, I guess whatever system I have come up with works for me.

I have a love for all things vintage, especially metal vintage things. Recently, I found a couple old metal files that I have not been able to put to good use...until today!

First up is a vintage card catalog file found at Re-Store for a couple bucks. It has been sitting in my office, under a pile of stuff, being neglected. Today, I started walking around the house and looking at things that needed to be changed [to make life a little easier AND more organized]. I was in the kitchen and noticed that Mr. NeverBored had, for the umpteenth time, hidden away my messy, disorganized menu holder. I admit, the cute wire basket didn't look very nice sitting on the counter, stuffed to the brim with tattered menus, but I always knew where to find the menus when I wanted them. I dug it out of the pantry and the idea hit....I could use that old card catalog file to NEATLY store all the menus! But what to put in the 2nd drawer? Another glance into the pantry and a glimpse at my messy recipe books provided the answer. I could transfer our recipes to index cards (yeah...just what I need...another project) and keep them all NEATLY in one place! So I made a couple labels for the drawers, dragged the file up to the kitchen, and decided on just the right place...

Now I know right where to find that awesome Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe so we can fill up the cookie jar!

New project to add to the ever-growing To Do List...fun recipe card templates AND then transfer all the recipes to cards.

Next up, I found a vintage metal slide organizer for about $3 at Goodwill. Again, it had been sitting in my office waiting for inspiration to hit. This morning, I was in the bathroom getting dressed and trying to find something in my drawer. I have one drawer in the bathroom counter and it's stuffed full. I organized it very nicely a couple months ago, but somehow it just didn't stay that way. I will not take all the blame. I did try very hard to keep things neat, but with two little girls who love to rummage through my stuff...well, I don't think I need to spell it out. So, the lightbulb went off (the one over my head ;) and I decided to thin out, organize and re-home my makeup collection into the All-Metal Slide File and keep it out on the counter....

Inside view...

 

Each drawer was divided into two sections and I found that some of the makeup wouldn't fit. In the top drawer, I bent down the middle divider and managed to make everything fit.

I LOVE finding new uses for old things!