All Things Amai: Almost Spring!

I say that it's almost spring while it still being in the negatives here on occasion >.>

There's still SO much snow on the ground. Barely like an eighth has yet to melt. ;-;
Oh well. At least the summers here are worth it.

Let's see where did I last leave off?
I want to say it was almost xmas time.
So I must say it has been a while. AGAIN.

I haven't been up to a WHOLE lot. Biggest thing happening is that me and the hubs are in the process of buying a house outside of town. We are still waiting on the appraiser so we hope to hear back on that soon. I'm so ready to leave this shady ass apartment with it's loud whiny fucking neighbors.
Summer time was filled with unavoidable sounds from other residences screaming or blasting music. We would like to be out of here before then.

I treated myself to a few things. I don't buy stuff for myself often.
I ordered a couple of pusheen items from hot topic. A backpack and another plush :3

I also got a couple of cd's from amazon. I know, I know. Who the fuck still buys cds right?
This old bitch, that's who.
I got Miss Fortune and the cd in the photo by Jinn.
Holy fuck best choices. If you've never listened to Jinn I suggest you do now. They're my favorite J-Rock band. They did one of the intro songs to Blood + (probably the best openers to the show but I could be biased XD )

Xmas was slightly uneventful. Didn't do too much besides hang around at home. Hubs surprised me with the most awesome of gifts.

Yes, those are two separate sized dress forms.
"See what had happen was" he got me the larger model in the back of the photo and I realized the measurements were bigger than what I needed in comparison to my size. I sheepishly asked if we could return it but he was nice enough to just get me a smaller one since the shipping alone wouldn't be worth it.
But now I'm hella set for whenever I start to make clothes! Especially if I sell. I could do most measurements across the board. Except for the moderately obese. These can only expand so far lololol

I got him a multitude of anime type items that he requested from amazon. I think the enjoyed them well enough. Can't go wrong there.

New years was okay. Just hung out with the friends again at their place.

Found it a good time to sport my new bemo cardigan.
CUTE AF

There's been a couple of birthdays!
I have to make the dessert of course.
HAVE TO.

First was Johnny's.
This fine gentleman here.

He's a cool dude.
Loves unicorns.
...For some reason.
But to each their own.

But this was a golden opportunity to make a unicorn cheesecake!
This shit was so fucking easy. And pretty! Glad I have such a large collection of sprinkles.
I got the idea from this recipe. To be frank I like the way mine looks better. I like purple but I am partial to green. He loved it though. That's what matters right.

Next birthday was the new bestie Julia's!
Went to benihana to celebrate it.

Benihana is overrated. I'd rather go to a local chain. It's good but it became VERY apparent that it's a birthday restaurant. We heard the birthday song sung like three times simultaneously. One of those wasn't even for the birthday girl we were with.
So...there you have it lol.

Had to make her cake too! Funny that they were both cheesecakes lol.
I had made this from just some bullshit in my head last year and she couldn't get enough. I was kind enough to add more diabetes in the form of reeses this time.
I like to personalize birthday desserts. Duh.
I put the fairy tail insignia on the top in melted white chocolate. My handwriting is still so shit but I think this is the best job so far lol.

Work has been the same old. I got employee of the month which was nice. But I don't expect more than necessary for coming to work and doing my job you know? Yet I understand the need to reward those who actually know what the fuck to do at their job.

We had this sick froggy living in the back for like forever and a half. A coworker finally took it home which was nice of them. She's the second cunt I know to just be so bleeding heart about animals. SAME NAME TOO HOW EVEN.
Must be something about it.

MOVING ON.

This snek was so gorgeous. Got sick and died though. Just wasn't able to digest properly. Poor thing. We usually just get bananas so it was nice to have a different morph.

We get in the tiniest guinea pigs. I don't particularly love guinea pigs but they're too damn cute when they're that smoll.
Like look at this girl. Her whole body fits in my hand. HOW CUTE IS THAT.
They always look scared shitless too lol. So funny.

Oh, before I forget. I was like mauled by a panicked cat like a month ago.

I'm usually careful about new kitties when they come in. Most are frightened and don't want to be touched. I have no clue what was up with this cat but I open the habitat and that shit flies out screaming. It's crying and climbing on everything and running around. Me, being so smart, grabs this furry fuck with my arm and it immediately latches and scratches the shit out of me then takes off again. I had to wrangle it with a towel.
The scar on my wrist is pretty apparent.

I've been sewing things!
I'm always SO late with gifts. Sigh. I need to get better at that.

I made this calcifer for Julia. It came out so awesome! I was proud lol. The applique on this took FOREVER. (Like always right). But there's like three layers on the front and two on the back so sewing all that took a bit.

I had another friend ask if I could make a sloth plush for her boo.
This face was as far as I got. I did have every other piece cut out but the pieces just did not fit together at the seams. I had to adjust the size with every part. I finally just gave up. What was the most frustrating was the fact that the pattern said you needed a fabric with no stretch, like felt. She should have mentioned the face needs to stretch. The fact that the face couldn't stretch ruined the whole project.
I might give it a try again at a later time. But I don't like working with flawed instructions.

Luckily for me she requested one of these too. First time making one of these with a mustache. It was so easy! The bow tie I had some trouble with because it was ribbon.

I liked how it turned out so much that I made one for myself! A special friend for my other bunny plush. She looks a bit impartial to her gentleman suitor. But oh well.
I did the bow in cotton for this one. MUCH easier. I'll actually be putting this one up in my shop. I needed some more semi-originals.

I finished the gunkan sushis! These were fun. When I read the instructions on how to sew these up there was a part that was SO confusing. After actually doing it everything clicked and went pretty smooth. I love how adorable they are.

I don't know if I've mentioned but I have GERD issues. Most likely silent reflux. I've been taking ppi's but I want to get off the medication. The best way to resolve GERD is to lose weight. I hate to diet but I remember Paleo giving me good results. There's also another diet called Keto which is basically low carb but you can have traditional dairy. I've been doing a mix of both. Weight loss has been slow but I've dropped about 8 to 9 pounds since I started.
I haven't been super strict with it but eliminating most of the bread I was eating in the day helps.

So what does that mean?
It means I've been making Paleo dishes instead!
To be honest they're much better than I remember the first time making stuff like it.

First up, pork chops! These were easy and pretty tasty. I paired them with some creamed spinach made with coconut milk and some mashed potatoes/turnips. Turnips are awesome as a potato replacer. I'll have to try rutabagas soon. I hear they're just as yum.

I've been making hella casseroles on this diet. Mostly ones with a lot of eggs and some type of meat.
This one was a breakfast casserole with sausage and (sweet potato) hash browns. This was so good! I really don't enjoy sweet potato as a savory food. Surprisingly, the ones I've been getting here have white flesh and aren't as sweet. I've been enjoying it more than I thought I would.

This meatloaf was the shiiiiit. It was stuffed full of mushrooms and spinach. Not to mention it's topped with bacon. Would definitely make again.

Another egg dish! This one was a quiche that used spaghetti squash as a crust. It came out gorgeous and delish. Not to mention incredibly healthy for you.

Paleo uses hella cauliflower. Mostly as a rice substitute. Trust me when I say it's nowhere near as good as rice but you can make it tolerable. I paired some with some curry chicken and we found it to be passable. Real rice is always incredible though. Too bad it's too many carbs ;-;

Soups are easy of course. This butternut squash and beef stew was the shit. Easy to make and very filling.

This wasn't any particular recipe but I just wanted to show how great these zucchini noodles look. I finally got a spiralizer and it's the best. I legit haven't had pasta since like late December. I've had rice but no pasta. It's pretty incredible lol. Veggie noodles are so good too! That's something coming from a die hard carbohydrate fan like myself.

On to desserts!
Of course I have to do desserts guy.
I'll also eat shitty food on occassion. Working on that moderation people.

Coconut flour is so weird to me. I made this dense fucking loaf of coconut bread. How could something be moist and dry at the same time? To me coconut flour is like filling your mouth with wet sawdust. The texture isn't the most delectable thing.
I'm still working on finding stuff that pleases my palate. I made these chocolate coconut banana muffins and I was PLEASANTLY surprised at how good they were. The texture is still kind of there but nowhere near as bad. I would throw these into some breakfast smoothies and holy shit it was like drinking a banana flavored brownie shake. YUM YUM.

This was FOREVER AGO but I worked xmas eve so I was nice enough to bring in some desserts for my coworkers. I made kris kringle cookies and gingerbread cupcakes. There were a bit leftover but everyone who had some really liked it. Both recipes were great too. Definitely keepers.

This isn't a dessert but I forgot to mention what happens when you use a spiralizer with a zucchini. You get this veggie dangle at the end. I'm not sure what to do with them so I throw them away. I should really save them to make stock or something.

So I did a thing!
I've been meaning to cut my hair for a LONG time. I was waiting for a friend to do it but she was always busy or sick so I just said fuck it this is too much.

Look at how long that shit is. Can't really tell but it was past my boobs.

ALL GONE AGAIN!
Jesus christ it felt SO GOOD. I was just losing so much hair whenever I brushed. Keeping it that long was doing more damage than good. I debated pretty hard on how short I wanted to go but I think I found a good length. It'll grow out soon enough.