jmommy08

I am a working just to survive woman married to a wonderfully supportive man. Our sweet little girl was born 10-8-08. I have a dog (Sadie) and a cat (Mona). We bought our house in November of 2006 and are slowly (and I mean slowly) working to fix it up.

I run my own company as a PartyLite Consultant and also work full time for the City of Akron. I received a BA in History in 2005 from Texas Woman's University. Someday, I'll be able to use that degree for something.

I listen to Country Music primarily. My husband is a big fan of 80s rock (the good stuff) so I hear a lot of that. I have my moods when I want to listen to something else, but mostly it's country. My all time favorite song is Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks. My current new faves are Waiting on a Woman by Brad Paisley, All I Want to Do by Sugarland and All Summer Long by Kid Rock.

I am currently reading Gone For Soldiers by Jeff Shaara. I recently finished The Rising Tide, The Glorious Cause, and The Last Full Measure by Shaara and loved it! I also adored Gods and Generals - but ironically couldn't get into Killer Angels. Apparently, Jeff Shaara writes differently than his father.

My all time favorites include The Great Gatsby, Wurthering Heights, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I have several classics on my list to read to Baby J so I'm sure that list will increase.

I adore historical fictions - Gods and Generals, Gladiator, Cold Mountain, Amazing Grace, etc.

I also have a thing for a good ghost movie. I find most ghost movies have some sort of ridiculously corny ending, so aside from that, I found White Noise and The Eye to be in my top faves in this genre.

The all time best television show ever was MASH - no contest. I also really enjoyed Friends.

When we get the DVDs in from Netflix, I like to watch Desperate Housewives, Heroes, Ghost Hunters (the real one - International just doesn't do it for me - apparently everywhere in Europe is haunted), and CSI (Vegas - there is something to be said for an original). We recently dumped cable and were left with three religious stations, two spanish channels, and PBS. I just don't know what I would do without the digital transition.

I'll admit I have a slight addiction to Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel - I just can't wait to see what he will eat next.

I am currently enthralled with sewing. Having recently completed my first applique project, I am totally in love with the idea and desperately want to work on some more. I also recently completed my first couple articles of clothing and cannot wait to make some more. I already have a reversible jumper in the works for Baby J to wear for Thanksgiving.

I would, however, say that I am, at best, a novice sewer. I am still learning all the stitch functions on my new machine (my old one just went forwards and backwards). I am working to diversify my experience as well.

I am a huge scrapbooker/card maker but find little inspiration lately. I love to make handmade cards as I think mailing is a lost art form. I'm tired of receiving only bills and ads.

With my sewing I have dabbled in quilting - mostly block quilts. I just finished my first pieced and first quilted quilt. I was very excited to finish it after a year of working on it and my sister LOVED it! Hopefully, her daughter, who it was made for loves it too. However, seeing as she currently only speaks Adrienne-ese, it's kind of hard to tell.

My next quilting project is Baby J's quilt. All of the applique is ironed on and awaiting the time for me to sit down and sew around all of the edges. Then it's piecing together the sides, putting it together, and quilting it. Maybe I'll finish it before she grows up.

I engulfed myself in beading in high school and still have so much in the basement. Every so often, it gets pulled out and played with.

I have knitted and crocheted as well - but I wouldn't put any stock in my knowledge. I have to follow a guide as I learned all the stitches when I was little by just following a babysitter, so I don't know any of the names. However, as a six year old, I did win second place in the county fair for an absolutely adorable flower magnet I crocheted.

Tell you the truth, I am willing and wanting to try anything and everything!

My favorite color is yellow. However, I find almost anything can be a beautiful color when it is put with the right pattern or other color. I love Brown and Blue or Brown and Pink combos. I have also found several greens and blues that I love too!

My favorite animal is the hippo. I have a huge collection of hippos that my husband wishes didn't exist. I am a freak for hippo fabrics. If it has a hippopotamus on it, I have a very hard time leaving it on the shelf.

I love country-ish fabrics; gingham, country stars, etc. I firmly believe you can work a stripe pattern into almost any decor, but that may be because I'm addicted to stripes. I also adore swirls (for lack of a better way to describe them) - I have seen some beautiful swirly fabric. I am also falling madly in love with paisleys and Amy Butler-esque fabrics. I love the bright colors!

I love fabrics that have shiny prints. Okay, that's probably not the technical term for it, but lately I have gotten some really cute fabrics that have some sort of sparkling aspect to the print. For instance, for a winter apron swap, I found a blue fabric with silver sparkly snowflakes that I just love. And the winter apron I got has small sparkly stars on it.

It is very hard to put my decorating style into one category.

My living room is different brown tones with wrought iron and multi-colored mosaic pieces.

My kitchen is yellow and brick red with sunflowers. I even grow sunflowers under my kitchen window every year. They grow tall enough to bloom right in my window. I love the saying in Calendar Girls about how, no matter what, a sunflower will always find the light. It reminds me a lot of me.

I plan on doing my dining room in an oriental theme. Both my husband and I would like to travel to Japan at some point and we have quite the collection going so far. Someday, I think the room will be a beautiful ivory with gold accents and all of our collection.

My bathroom is going to be two-toned purple in the shabby-chic style. It is the next room to be done.

I painted Baby J's room cream with accents of celery green and yellow. The theme is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I even went so far as to paint antique gold stars on the ceiling (the ones that kind of have lopsided - uneven sides). I believe that is my favorite room in the house...but that could be because it's the only clean room in the house. LOL

Our bedroom is my wildcard - my husband is supposed to be able to pick the color for that. He picked a cerulean blue, but I'm not settled on it yet. We'll see what happens when it actually comes time to paint.

Our guest bedroom will be mint green and cranberry in a country theme. This room will theoretically double as my sewing room at some point. Right now, it just holds all the junk.

Our den is going to be the Harvard style - a deep red wall, tall book shelves (if I can find some that will fit), wood floor...luxurious. I think that's what Red says - luxury, intelligence, inspiration. It's a very dramatic color.

I am not really a fan of toile; I'm not quite sure why. Nor do I particularly like fabrics that have lots of flowers on them - I don't mind single flower fabrics (i.e. fabric print with lots of sunflowers) or fabric that the print is flowers interspersed over the fabric. The stuff I really don't like is the kind of floral fabric you would more than likely find upholstering your grandmother's couch ( I know because I inherited my husband's grandmother's couch and it is hideous). However, if you send me either of the above, I won't be severly offended. Everything has it's own little quality I suppose.

I also am not into cartoon characters much. I have picked up a couple for Baby J's stuff, but I would rather pick those out on my own.

I ALWAYS send out EVERY swap by the deadline. So, if you don't receive a swap from me, please let me know before rating me. It is entirely possible that it got lost in the mail somewhere.

As far as ratings go, I always check to see if a partner who has flaked on me has marked the swap as sent. If they have, then I will contact them if I haven't received it. If they haven't, then I will rate accordingly. I hope that the same courtesy will be taken with my swap partners. I was extraordinarily surprised and little bit hurt to see a one in my profile for a swap I sent out (even with extras). So please, contact me before you rate...unfortunately, our post office system is not infallible.