Meet Belinda - The Gangstress of Crochet and Photography

I always hate filling in the “About Me” section of anything. I hate talking about myself. I rather hear about you! Anyways, here goes...

I’m a hard-working mama who loves to craft.  My little guy just turned 3 and has way more energy than I could muster up with 3 monsters and quad-shot latte. I’m currently working for the corporate offices of a bunch of retirement homes and crafting on the side. I’ve held quite a few different jobs in my life from Ballot counter at the Auditor’s office to being a Barista, Receptionist, Payroll lady and I was even a model at one point (although Bethany is getting me back into this and I am LOVING it!). I do have to say that my favorite job is being a mommy. The best feeling in the world is opening my front door and hearing "MOM!!" getting tackled with hug and a slobbery kiss. Best. Feeling. Ever.

Since I’m the one who works full-time, my husband stays home with our son to save us on childcare. It’s been enjoyable for both of them but I feel like I’m missing out sometimes. It does make every moment home with my family that much sweeter. Even though I’m tired at the end of the day, I seem to get a second wind when I walk through my front door. It’s always just enough energy to rough-house for a while, build a fort, feed the kitty (and sometimes the rest of the family), make it through bath time without getting too soaked, usher my little peanut off to dreamland before I collapse onto my own bed.

I am also a proud fur-mom of a beautiful orange kitty named George. When we got him and his sister, Alice, they were going to be barn cats to deal with the rodent problem in the barn on the property we were living at. Right after we got George neutered and Alice spayed, Alice disappeared and we were devastated so we decided that George would not be a barn kitty after all and stay inside with us. He seemed to be pretty OK with that and would stick very close to us when we were out on the property. We had a coyote problem so we think that is what got Alice and George probably saw since they were always together. When we moved into our apartment, George became a completely indoor kitty since he’s never been near cars before. (He’s a big scaredy cat anyways.) George is unlike any cat I have ever had in my life. He is loving and snuggly and craves attention. He’s become J’s little brother. We even tell him all the time that George is his brother. It’s funny because they play like siblings. One will walk past the other and swat at him or they’ll hide and jump out at each other. It’s really cute.

George is also special because he is my Emotional Support Animal. I was involved in a pretty bad car accident in June of 2012 and suffered severe depression, anxiety and PTSD. George always knows when I’m having a bad day and he knows how to make me feel better. It’s hard to stay in a funk when you’ve got a gigantic purring ball of orange fur in your lap. (Although it does make it tricky to craft)

I’ll bet you’re curious about my husband. He is a wonderful man. We first met at the mall with one of our mutual friends and I have to say right away that I was not super impressed. Yes, my husband is very good looking, but he used to drive this green riced-out Honda. It had gigantic rims, a loud ass exhaust and windows so dark that you couldn’t see a flashlight if you held it up against the glass. I did not want a boyfriend who was going to spend more time with the car than he would spend with me. Turns out my husband is irresistible. I don’t know when it happened but I fell in love with him. Instead of being ditched for the car, I spent time with him in the garage and learned SO much about cars.

Even though it’s not the fairytale that every little girl dreams about, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. We’re a very down-to-earth couple who doesn’t waste time on the frivolous and petty crap that seems to ruin marriages. I’ll be the first to admit that we fight, but we don’t let it affect our relationship. He's very supportive of my crafting/photography business and helps out however he can. His goal is to be able to help me quit my job and focus on BeeBee and Jack. We'll get there but it'll just take some time.

I think that coming home is my favorite part of the day. That moment where I’m getting my big squeeze and slobbery kiss from my little guy is pure bliss. He seems to always keep me laughing even when I know I really shouldn’t be. He’s started saying “shit” and I know I shouldn’t laugh when he says it but it’s so funny and cute that I can’t help it. It comes out “Oh. Ssit.” and he looks so disappointed when he’s saying it. I kinda feel bad for reprimanding him but his response to that is even cuter. I’ll say “Hey, you shouldn’t say that” and he’ll walk over and give me a hug and say “soowwy”. I don’t think that my in-laws or parents have picked up on his little swear word but I’m sure they’ll pick up on it soon enough.

Having a 3-year-old has definitely taught me patience. J likes to go open the fridge and survey everything in there before grabbing something he knows he can’t have and then when you tell him that he can’t have it and why, he has a nuclear meltdown like you just kicked his imaginary best friend. He likes to do this every time you tell him no as well. It doesn’t matter where he is, he will lay down in the middle of the store and flop around like a fish screaming. It’s totally awesome when you’ve got your arms full of groceries and your toddler sits down in the middle of the parking lot because you told him that he can’t go play on the playground right this minute because mommy’s hands are full. I’m sure I look so angry when I have to put all my groceries down, toss my kid over my shoulder and load up the groceries again while he’s flailing and trying to smack me in the face. Yesterday he did this and asked me “why” through his tears. “It makes mommy look bad if I leave you in the middle of the parking lot and I don’t want anyone to steal our milk while I’m making sure you’re safely inside since you decided that your legs don’t want to work anymore. Now we know why mommy’s back hurts.” He looked at me and put his little hand on my face and said “oh, soowwy” and gave me a big kiss. It didn’t make my load up the 2 flights of stairs any lighter, but it sure got rid of the anger and frustration.

Bethany explains in her post where the word Gangstress comes from but I want to tell you what it means to me. Being a Gangstress means you are held to high standards. You are expected to be truthful without the venom. Bethany and I always go to each other for feedback on projects we’re working on so being truthful is very important but you don’t want to be rude about it. It would suck to show her one of my new projects that I’m unsure of and have her come back with “Oh my God that is hideous” (which she would NEVER say in real life). Usually we’ll say something like “It’s cute, but” and try to advise on what you could do to make it better. I think that’s why our friendship works out so well. We try to help each other out in the most honest and nicest way possible and it’s been working for us for the last 10 years. Basically, being a Gangstress means not settling for mediocre in both personal and professional parts of your life and being so awesome that you sweat glitter.

You will get to meet quite a few Gangstresses on this blog who will help you be crafty and get tips and tricks for making your everyday life a little bit easier.

Thanks for reading!