Pizza Crust recipe and a bit of rambling...

You know, I'm pretty hard to offend, but right now, I am seriously struggling with potential offensive comments. See, I found out last Monday that I'm pregnant, due in April. I am totally thrilled by this, and would LOVE to share my news, but I know for a fact that more than half the people I tell will have the same "congratulatory" comment for me. I HATE it! It makes my skin crawl, makes me want to scream, and I honestly haven't decided how I want to answer what I consider to be the rudest question possible - "You know what causes that, don't you?" Nearly always followed by some stupid yucking laughter, or grumbling about how it's better me than them. Yeah, you're right. I am absolutely delighted that it is me - and if it were them, I would be rather sad that they had such a dismal attitude towards their own innocent baby. For that matter, I'm sad that they have that dismal attitued about *my* baby. Sheesh - nothing like living in an anti-life culture. I veiw each of my children as a blessing. That doesn't mean I don't struggle with parenting them, it just means that I am glad I have the opportunity. I really don't know what to say when people make these comments. I'm rather non-confrontational and prefer for everyone to get along, but I'm so tempted to either ask the moronic fool to explain it to me (in front of my other children, no less), or to tell them happily just how sexy (and well endowed) my wonderful hubby is. Not that it's any of their business, but a little TMI might make them think twice before making another stupid comment? Nah, not likely. A lady I met at the park today had a fabulous answer - "Yes, it's called good planning." I love that! I think I may actually use it. She was one of 10 children and said that that same question made her mother furious. Wow. People were this rude that many years ago? Not that this lady was old by any stretch of the imagination, but she was there with her darling grandson, so I'm going to guess she is at least 10 years older than me, probably more like 15-20. I am so grateful for her great response, but I know I still don't have it in me to answer that question 5-10 times a day once I start showing. So why does something that I am so excited about have to cause me so much pain, too?

I guess the moral to this story is please, if the thought has ever crossed your mind to say somthing like that, please, please don't say it! The correct response to someone being pregnant is "Congratulations!" No matter if it is their 1st, 5th, or even 20th. Even if they are 13, or if they are 50. A baby is a blessing, a precious life to be valued, and no matter what you personal opinion is of the situaton, I can guarantee you that the mother really needs supportive comments, even from complete strangers. No one wants to be ridiculed for the way they live their life, whether they are happy with their situation or not. I just hope that my rant here helps someone to be more sympathetic towards other people, pregnant or otherwise.

Heehee - you're still reading? Wow! I figured everyone would see the novel and move on ;o) I'm having more nausea with this one than any of the others, and so far, it's from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. I am so sleepy all the time, and can't get anything done. But it is all SOOOO worth it! I'm 6 weeks today, and I know that I should be over the rough part in another 2 months, at most. Then I'll get to enjoy the rest of it lol! I have a ton of projects that I started for Noah and Ellie, but never finished. So, if I start now, I'll have quite a few sweet little mommy-made goodies to dress this sweet little thing in. I have told Adron that I want to wait till the end to find out what we are having (my other "favorite" question - "Do you know what you are having?" Yeah, gerbils. Duh!) Waiting to find out will let me make all my UFOs and set them aside instead of not sewing until I'm halfway through the pregnancy. I want to start a grandmother's hope chest, so whatever this one doesn't get to use can be put away. I am truly praying that Adron will soften about this being our last, but if not, I can get ready for my babies to grow up and have their own children.

On a totally different subject, well kinda, I've got another recipe card for you. I made pizzas tonight - something I haven't done since I started doing the Core plan. I'm totally going to enjoy being able to eat what I want ;o) I do plan to eat well most of the time, so I'll be in much better shape at the end, and it will be easier to go back to eating right once the little one is here. This recipe is for a no-yeast pizza crust. I've experimented with it a bit, but totally have no idea what the results were. I think it needs a little more cooking than it gets when I top it without prebaking it, but it doesn't need so much more that the crust gets hard. Anyway, you try it and I'd love to hear what works! As usual, just click on the preview to be taken to 4shared to download.

Another contest!

So, one wasn't enough.... I saw that Faith Sisters was having a designer call for their birthday bash. While I'm terribly new at designing, I love their store, and just couldn't pass up the opportunity :o) I am pretty happy with how this little kit turned out - but I know I've still got a long way to go to get to where I would like to be. If you wanna go check it out, you can click on the preview to go to the gallery for the link. And if you wanted to vote for me, I would really appreciate it lol! Oh, and while you're there, be sure to check out all the awesome kits in the gallery lol!



Have a great day - I'm planning to post again tomorrow... The past couple of weeks have been nuts with all the school stuff we've had going on! I doubt if the coming weeks will be much better, but I'm getting a litte better grasp on managing my time ;o)

Final round of Teachers Pet

So, despite being eliminated in round 1, the fabulous ladies over at Funky Playground Designs let me stick around and learn from them. The last challenge was to do a collab kit, and they assigned me an incredibly fun and cool partner. Lynn and I have put together this kit for you - click on the preview to be taken to the gallery :o)



I also made an alpha to put in, and figured I'd go ahead and make the lower case letters, the symbols, and the numbers, too. The uppercase is in the kit, but you can get the rest by clicking on the alpha preview.



Sorry about the super dorky preview on the alpha - I thought it might help if you could see it LOL! Then again, the way that preview looks, I'm not sure if anyone would *want* to download it lol!

Wow, I am SO tired!

I am really fortunate to be a member the wonderful Memphis chapter of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). This week, Claudia Newton came and spent 3 days sharing her vast wealth of knowledge with us! Wow is all I can say! She is absolutely amazing, sweet, and is an incredible teacher :o) I can't find a webpage for her, but her work is simply gorgeous! Thursday night, our class was on Italian hemstitching, Friday we worked on a whitework sampler, and yesterday we did a notebook class on making scalloped edges. Holy cow! Talk about intense lol! Thursday was 6-10, Friday was 10-5 and dinner afterwards, and Saturday was 9-4. I actually broke down and cried when I got home Friday, just from sheer exhaustion. By yesterday morning, my brain had turned to mush, and my stitching looked horrible. I gave up, and figured I can work on the projects another time... I worked the whitework sampler on a sample piece of fabric, and feel like I am comfortable enough to move on to the piece of linen that will be the actual finished piece. I absolutely love Claudia's teaching style - she had everything in powerpoint and showed it on a large projector screen as she described what each figure represented. Then, she sat down and demonstrated for us. After that she would walk around the room and help each of us individually as needed. I'm such a visual learner, and when someone just *tells* me what to do, I'm lost. I really feel like I got more out of these classes than I have from any of the other wonderful teachers we've had in the past. The moral to this story? If you are interested in creating beautiful hand embroidery and have a chance to go to a Claudia Newton class, by all means JUMP ON IT!!! On top of it all, she is incredibly sweet!

Other than that, I've been busy with the kids and their schools. Audrey needed to be in band, so I went up to the school Tuesday to get her schedule switched around. I entered about 250 new PTA members into the computer for Madeline's school, and then I had my class. I BARELY had time to complete my round 3 submission for Funky Playground's Teacher's Pet program. I didn't have time to make an add-on for it, but if you would like to get it, you can check it out here.



I've got to get to church - have a wonderful Sunday!

A little bit of playing catch-up

So, in addition to making digiscrapping stuff, I've been sewing. Like a maniac. I've only got pictures of a couple of things, and have several more things that are almost done, but I thought I would go ahead and post what I've got =D

First up is a dress I made for Ellie. She had a complete meltdown after I bought school supplies and uniforms for the big girls. I sent her to bed and after a couple of minutes, she started screaming. So, I asked Madeline what was wrong.

Madeline: "She thinks you don't love her because you didn't buy her anything."
Me: "ELLIE!!! Come here!!!"
Ellie: "Why don't you love me!?!?!?"
Me: "What? Well, you know, no one *ever* buys you anything, I *never* sew things for you, I *never* take you anywhere, and you are just *totally* neglected."
Ellie: "I knew it was true!!!" insert more screaming here...

She then ran upstairs, threw herself on her bed and sobbed. Ugh. Sarcasm is TOTALLY wasted on a 4 year old. So, Madeline goes to the rescue, and goes up after her to see how to fix this situation. A minute later, I get this.

Madeline "She says she wants some new clothes."
Me: "Ok, see if she is okay with me sewing her a new dress."
Madeline (after talking to Ellie): "A spinny one?"
Me: "Sure. A spinny one."
Madeline (after more conferring with Ellie): "She wants to pick the fabric."
Me: "Ok, whatever. That's fine."

Madeline trots back upstairs to report that I've agreed to Ellie's negotiations, and I hear Ellie say "Yea!" Then not another sound until the next morning.

So who actually won that one? Hmmmmmmmm..... I wound up making a dress from the 03/07 Ottobre, and I used a vintage duckie fabric I acquired some time back, and scraps of red gingham that was in my stash. I am really happy with how it turned out - I opted to add a placket instead of inserting a zipper, and love the results. If I make this dress again, I will do it a little differently, as the placket turned out very bulky.




Then there is Noah's gnomes outfit. I bought a couple yards of Heather Ross Gnomes on blue, then managed to find the coordinating stripe last year. I had kind of tentatively been planning to make it with these patterns from the 03/06 Ottobre. I opted to leave the flaps off the shirt pockets, omitted the tabs on the sleeves, and shortened the sleeves some (not enough, IMO). I figured that if I left off those things, I could dress it up a bit, as there was plenty of the gnomes left to make a jonjon. Haven't finished that yet, but I'm almost there. I'm really pleased with how the patterns fit, except for the one problem I always have with Ottobre. The pants are pretty short in the rise, and we are all long in the rise around here. No biggie - just adding an inch to the kids stuff works great. However, since I hadn't made pants for Noah before, I thought I would go with the pattern as it was written, and I could modify future projects. I'm totally thrilled with how this outfit turned out!!!

Oh my, he really wanted to sit down, but it had been raining! Ack! And we were on our way to church!


Pocket detail:


Pants back detail:




And I got a smile out of him!!!! That made my day!


And there you have it - my excitement for the day ;o) I'm off to sew some more!

Quickie post!

Super quick post for now - Adron and the big girls are wanting to watch a movie, but I thought I'd upload these papers to go with my element pack in the gallery at Funky Playground Designs.

Click on preview to download the paper pack - I hope you enjoy it!

A litte freebie for you

So, I figured I could give away a little add-on to my Teachers Pet submission :) I've had way too much fun designing this and want to try another kit - with a totally different style. Stay tuned to see what I come up with next LOL!



Link expired.

The sweet vintage photos are not included in kit.

Enjoy!