Rockin' Like A Hermit Crab

A sheepish hello

2012-01-07T19:05:00.001-08:00

I am truly ashamed that it's been so long since I've blogged. I keep thinking "Yeah, I'll do it later (tomorrow, next week, whatever)..." Clearly, that hasn't happened.

I suppose I could go on about *why* I haven't been here, but I can pretty much boil it down to the fact that I've been less than healthy physically, and that has totally brought down my mental state. By the grace of God, I seem to be on track to getting back to health, and I couldn't be happier about it!!! I think I'll save that story for another day, though.

I don't make new year's resolutions. However, I do like to set goals for myself for the coming year. I'd love to share those goals with you!

1.)This year, I will get healthy! I will eat right, and I will lose weight. I may not lose all the weight that needs to come off, but I am more determined than ever to take care of my body the best way I can!

2.)This year I will take care of myself by putting others first. Not in an unhealthy way, but in a loving, giving way. As in, my husband is my leader, I love him, and I want to make him happy. Because a happy, loved husband will be happier at home, and the more of me I give to him, the stronger and better he will be. That, in turn, will make my life better. My children need me to take them places and do things with them. I've already been doing that, but my goal is to be more involved with the little things.

3.)I am returning to blogging. No big requirements on myself to make each post something important or significant, or even useful. I just want to share my life because, well, it's never boring! LOL! I figure maybe *somebody* can benefit from my escapades! My goal is 2-3 times a week, but I'll be content with weekly lol!

4.)Along the same lines, I'm re-opening my Etsy shop and am going to put some time into growing my business. I love making sweet little hats for people, and am so glad to be feeling well enough to get back at it!

5.)I will get my home organized. I know it's never going to be neat and clean at all times, and I'm good with that. I just want to have a place for everything and everything in its place.

6.)Which brings me to my next goal of getting back into my creative mode this year! Sewing, building, anything! I am committing to 2 hours a week of creative activity. Today, we bought all the lumber to build a farmhouse dining table and a matching bench. Other things on my list of "must builds" include a closet organization system, a farmhouse bed for our bedroom, matching nightstands, and a loft bed for the boys' room.

I think these goals are doable. PLEASE hold me accountable!!!

My Super Bulky Newborn Hat - Girlie Version

2010-09-22T20:24:00.001-07:00

I was making a few things for a friend, and wanted a girlie newborn hat pattern from a super bulky weight yarn. Um, yeah, couldn't find what I needed. Thankfully, it was really quick to make it over and over until I got the results I was looking for lol! It's not perfect, but it works for me.

So, have at it. I'm not making any promises or guarantees, but am sharing in the hopes that it may help someone else ;o)

Super Bulky Newborn Hat - Girlie Version

Small amount of Wool-Ease Thick and Quick or other super bulky yarn
N (10mm) Crochet hook

I used a magic loop to work my 1st round
Chain one, 5 sc in loop. Sl st in 1st ch to join
R2: ch 1, sc in same st *2 sc in each st* around, sl st to join
R3: ch 1 sc in same st * sc in next st, 2 sc in next* around, sl st to join
R4: ch 2, hdc in same st, *hdc in next 2 st, 2 hdc in in next* around, sl st to join
R5-7: ch 2, *hdc in each st* around, sl st to join
R8: ch 3, *sk 1 st, dc in next st, ch 1* around, sl st in 2nd chain to join.

Weave in ends, run ribbon through spaces between dc's, tie a fluffy little bow, and put it on a sweet little head!

Special thanks to Heather Pulse for the gorgeous photo!

Long time!

2010-09-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

This has been one crazy year. We are all doing well, just running around like a bunch of headless chickens ;o)

So, to recap, Adron hurt his back in January. Turns out he ruptured a disk and had to have surgery on in in January. Now, 8 months later, he is much better, but still in a good bit of pain. Poor guy - but he's tough!

Around the same time, I started having some random memory issues. Things like drawing a total blank on whatever was going on 2-3 times a week. I assumed this was due to being on an antidepressant (fairly high dose) for the past 10 years. Over the course of about 6-8 weeks, I weaned myself off of it, and expected to see a gradual improvement in my memory. No such luck. Finally, by about July or so, I was having episodes every day, usually 2-3x/day and they lasted about 30 seconds - 2 minutes. Bigger things, like driving down the road and realizing that the street names sounded vaguely familiar, but I had no idea where I was or where I was going. Or, I would look at my kids and *know* that they were my kids, but have no idea what their names were, how old they were, etc., etc. Colors looked more vivid, I could see so much beauty in people and things around me, but I felt totally confused and disoriented for the minute or two it was going on. My sisters were totally freaking out, and insisted that I go to the doctor, as they were suspecting severe blood sugar problems. LOL! If only! Well, the nurse practitioner checked my iron and sugar levels, as well as my white count, but found nothing abnormal. I was referred to a neurologist, but thought that was kinda silly, so I scheduled an appointment with a regular pcp doctor. Of course, since I've not seen her before, I had the pleasure of scheduling a complete physical, but the first available appointment wasn't for 2 months. I figured I may as well go see the neuro, *just in case* there was something like a tumor going on. Good thing I did - no tumor, but the doctor suspects that I'm having seizures! He started me on a medicine 2 weeks ago, but my symptoms haven't really improved until the past 3-4 days. I think we're on the right track!

Jonah, bless him, is just the sweetest little thing, unless he's teething lol! He is 17 months, and just as amazing and smart and charming a little guy as you could ever hope to meet <3 We had a therapist working with him twice a month, and a speech therapist twice a month, as well, because he wasn't eating or drinking anything that wasn't from the boob lol! He has improved SO much, and we've actually been able to cut down to quarterly on speech, and bimonthly on the other. We are so blessed to have been assigned such incredible ladies who have done so much for sweet Jojo! Right now, we still see some traits that tell us there's something there, but he is pretty much on par with his peers. His walking is still really unsteady, even after he's been walking for 7 months, so he's being referred to a physical therapist for an evaluation, but I'll be surprised if they feel there's much of an issue. Poor little guy constantly has gashes, scratches, and bruises all over!

Audrey is playing soccer now, and is happier than I've seen her in ages. That is such a great thing for a 15 year old girl! Madeline and Ellie are struggling with middle child syndrome, but are doing well in school. Maddie's Girl Scout troop has just started back up, and we're trying to get Ellie into a troop, too. Noah, well, is still 3. Trying me to my core! But he'll be 4 next month, and hopefully there will be an attitude change in the near future. Of course, he and Ellie have been super destructive, and I'm getting tired of having to replace things or deal without them. My recliner has been jumped on to the point where I can barely put up the foot rest, my laptop case is cracked from being stood on, and every can/bottle/jar of personal care products or cleaning products has been dumped out somewhere in the house. And pens/markers/crayons have been used on every surface imaginable! Ah well, while I sometimes feel like spending the next 10 years hiding in my sewing room, I honestly wouldn't give up these years for anything. It's frustrating, but those sweet little hugs, "I love you, Mommy"s, snuggles, and sticky smiles make it all worthwhile <3

I've not been able to do a whole lot of anything lately, particularly in my sewing room. The air conditioner up there just can't compensate for the horrifically hot weather we had this summer. I built a set of shelves with a 4'x6' top as a cutting table for my sewing room, but I still have to finish painting them lol! I have, however, done a fair amount of knitting, and started dabbling in a little digiscrapping again lololol! These seizure (or whatever they are) episodes seriously sap me of my creativity, so I'm hoping that the meds will help me get back on track.

I did open an etsy shop, but only have one thing listed right now. I need to get some more knitting done and to my photographers so I can get some stuff moving in there! If you wanna see the one little thing I've got, feel free to check it out here.

So that's been my year - how have my beautiful blog friends been???? I really have missed you all, and totally appreciate the sweet notes some of you have sent! It's so good to feel loved ;o) HUGS to all of you!!!!!

I plan to come back with a few pics for your viewing pleasure sometime in the very near future, but no promises lol! However, here's one that was taken back in June as a Fathers Day present for Adron:

Renewed appreciation

2010-02-21T21:22:00.000-08:00

It is so easy to take things for granted, even when you work really hard not to.

Poor Adron had back surgery last Tuesday, and, bless his heart, he is stuck at home and hurting. I *know* he does a lot to help me out, but I didn't realize just how much easier he makes my life! He normally does the daily grocery store trips, helps with running the kids around town, takes the garbage can up front for trash pickup, and about a bazillion other little things. Whew, let me tell you - I am WORN OUT!!! I am so stressed out and tired, but, ya know, it's kinda nice to have him here to hang out with ;o)

Last night, Jonah didn't sleep well. He normally wakes up just long enough to start nursing, and we all go back to sleep right away. There have only been a handful of nights where he's been restless and/or fussy. Last night was a restless night, so I woke up worn out. But I also woke up with a smile on my face - I have a new favorite saying:

It's far better to have a baby that wakes up when he's not supposed to, than to have a baby that doesn't wake up when he should.

Ahhhhhh, yes, life is GOOD! However much I prefer to have my sweet, snuggly, sleepy litte boy actually *sleeping* at night, I'm good with the nights that he's just a sweet boy lol!

In other Jonah news, the boy has started eating!!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I mean, really, really eating! Baby food, table food, finger food, bugs, leaves, you name it - he is eating it all! I am so incredibly grateful for the wonderful things going on in our lives! He was eating a cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookie this morning, and I was holding him on my left leg (with my left hand), so I could eat, too. I noticed he kept leaning down and pushing his mouth against my hand. I looked a little closer and noticed that he had crumbs on his lips, and was trying to wipe them off on the napkin in my hand. I love that!

Jonah's saying a few words, too. "Mama", "Dada", "nee" (nursies), "no", "neh" (yes), "nom nom" when he eats (this is his favorite video), "bah" (bye), and there are a couple others that I've heard him say, but I can't think of them right now. Not too bad for a 10 month old runt lol!

Ooooh - did you see the giveaway on Lila Tueller's blog??? I so wanna win this:

Is it wrong?

2010-02-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

Jonah fell asleep in my arms, and I needed to do something, so I laid him on the couch. 15 minutes later, he popped his sweet little head up, looked around, and whimpered until I picked him back up. Now he's asleep in my arms again, and I LOVE it!

Is it wrong to love that Jonah thinks my arms are the best place to sleep??? ::evil grin::

2010-02-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering what my issue is with blogging. I finally came to the conclusion that it makes me feel selfish. Yeah, I know. I only read about 50 blogs on a daily basis, and LOVE every minute of hearing about these people's lives! Do I think they are being selfish by blogging? Not a chance! So what's my problem???? I am going to work on getting over that - I do enjoy this outlet lol! I want to thank those of you who actually take the time to read what I have to say, as that really means the world to me =)

Ooooooh! I told you about the card swap - well, here's the DARLING card I got!!! It's so stinkin' CUTE!!!! I just love the FUN little cupcake!!!

Then, yesterday, I got an email saying that I'd won a giveaway!!! Holy cow! The giveaway was on MADE, and it was for this shirt from Small Threads!

In other news, we celebrated Madeline's birthday last week, and she requested a lemon raspberry cake. Sighhhhhhh.... I can make a mean cupcake, but cakes are just not my forte. So, here is the disaster I created lol!

Ah well, at least it was yummy, and Madeline was pleased ;o)

Here's the Valentine's card I did for Ellie - found the idea here (it was *originally* found here):

I've also been busy knitting hats, but don't have any photos of those right now lol!

Card swap, anyone???

2010-01-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, I just signed up for Melly's card swap - and I'm SOOOOOOO excited about it!!!! Any of you want to play along? (And check out her blog whether or not you wanna play - she's awesome!)

I'll come back soon with photos - the kids are growing like weeds, of course, and I've been crazy busy! I've sewn and knitted, and even picked up a little crocheting. I'm about to go upstairs and start getting my sewing room together so I can do some more sewing, too lol!

2010-01-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today, I received a call from a lovely woman with the early intervention program. She informed me that Jonah has been accepted into the program, and she will be his case manager! I was ecstatic - so happy that I nearly cried!!!

We had an intake person come out to evaluate Jonah a few weeks ago. She was nice, but didn't feel that he was a very good candidate, as he is incredibly sociable, and makes good eye contact. However, she was quite concerned by his refusal to eat solid foods at 8 months. Funny, because that wasn't even a concern, in my book lol! Turns out, that qualified him for further evaluation.

The next lady came out a week or so later, and evaluated him, looking at me like I had lost my mind. She couldn't get over how friendly and happy he was, how he made great eye contact, responded to different stimuli, etc. Yet again, she was concerned about his inability to eat. She said she really didn't think I had anything to worry about, and that she was going to run his information through the computer to see if he qualified. She was rather doubtful about it, though, saying that he might just be laid back and meeting milestones a little slower than average.

I wasn't thrilled about these responses, as I can see that something is certainly different with him. The past two nights, I've been trying to figure out what the next step was going to be. And the more I read the more I recognized traits in Jonah that seem very strong indicators of some form of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Flapping his arms when he's frustrated or excited, opening and closing his hands when he's hungry and upset, not reacting AT ALL when the pyro goes off at a football game, right beside us. Then, of course, his issues with food. It really appears to be a combination of a texture problem, and just not knowing how to move food from the front of his mouth to the back. He almost "nurses" his food, pressing it to the roof of his mouth with his tongue, neither swallowing it, nor spitting it out. So many little nuances that I just chalked up to him being HIM!

Now, if I could just get Adron to realize that this isn't a BAD thing, we'd be ok. I'm afraid he thinks I'm overreacting, or that having a form of autism is a horrible thing, not just something that makes Jonah, well, Jonah lol! While I want nothing more than for my children to have "normal" lives, I think there are many, many blessings to be gained by being gifted with a child with ~~special~~ different needs!

The oddest part, however, is the more I read, and the more videos I watch, the more I see of Ellie in them. Crazy - I honestly thought she was ADHD, but with the arm flapping she has been doing since she was 5 months old, the screaming that started 4 years ago (and hasn't stopped yet), and her funny aversions to touching things, I'm starting to wonder. That kid didn't eat much solid food until she was a year old, either...

My special little guy

2009-12-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here looking at my beautiful baby boy in a somewhat different way. It's a really great thing, but kind of strange.

One of my sisters is blessed by having a son with autism. He is quite high functioning, but still very much a challenge for her. Anyway, she came to visit us the other day, and brought both of her amazing children with her. We laughed and talked for hours, and it was so wonderful to catch up with her.

While we were talking, the subject of Asperger's came up, and she mentioned that it might be a good idea to have Jonah evaluated. I've often suspected that something was *different* with him, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

He's always been an exceptionally good baby, only crying when he truly needed something. Since he was a newborn, I've been able to stall him for an hour or even two when he's hungry. It's just been a matter of giving him his pacifier and hugging him. Not that I would do it normally, but, for example, I would know he was hungry during church, but I could put him off until the end, and even longer sometimes. Granted, he would make up for it by spending much of the rest of the day nursing, but still. That's NOT normal behavior for a newborn! Even at 3, Noah can't do that!

Another thing that has kind of concerned me is that he doesn't care a thing about playing peekaboo. He smiles because I'm talking to him, but doesn't look for me or get excited by the game. I call his name, and he doesn't turn around with recognition in his eyes. Oh, sure, he responds when I talk to him, but it's different. If I say anything in a sing-song manner, or in mommy-eese, he's going to look at me, smile, and usually try to crawl over to me. But, calling his name in a normal tone doesn't elicit any kind of response.

Granted, all of these could be completely unrelated, and maybe he's just a very laid back guy, and has a high tolerance for discomfort/hunger pains? However, if there is something there, and all it takes is a little effort on my part to make his life more "normal", I'd be foolish to ignore it.

None of this worries me or freaks me out, it just makes me realize that this little guy really IS special! I've known that he's incredibly smart, but now I know that he might have to work a little harder at being like the other kids. When I say "light", he starts opening and closing his hand in the ASL sign for the word. However, while he associates the sign with the word, he doesn't look up at the light. His first "word" was "I love you", otherwise pronounced "ah wub wub" followed by a huge kiss! Today, he started saying "ba ba" while waving. LOL the kid loves to go places! Not "mama" or "daddy", but "I love you" and "bye bye". How cool is that!!!!

One of those days.

2009-12-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have a day where nothing has really gone wrong, but you just kinda feel a little off?

Noah was supposed to be putting his shoes on, but misplaced one of them. I found it, and by that time, he had taken off the other shoe. Then, I told him to bring it to me and put them both on so we could pick up Amelia. While he was putting them on, I changed Jonah's diaper, found socks for him, put him in his carseat, and turned around to see Noah taking his shoes off AGAIN. Grrrrrr! So I yelled at Noah. That, of course, made matters worse. And on top of that, Noah had pooped in his diaper. He was in big boy undies all day yesterday, and only had a little accident late in the afternoon. Two steps forward, one step back, right?

I loaded the boys up into the van, with Noah wailing the whole time because I hadn't zipped up his jacket. After getting past that, everything was fine with Noah. Jonah, as usual, fussed almost the whole way home from getting Amelia. He did, however fall asleep right before we got home, so, as usual, I carried both babies in the house and left them in their seats. Gave Noah his antibiotic (ear infection), put Amelia's milk in the freezer, and by that point she was fussing.

Poor kid was starving, and it took forever to get her milk thawed. Bless her - sweet little thing was even willing to eat it cold! While the milk was thawing, she cried no matter what I did. Amazingly that didn't wake Jonah. But as soon as I got her fed, he woke up starving. Ok, no biggie. Changed his diaper first, only to discover that his bottom is still red.

Now, Jonah is quite a, well, regular kinda guy - fills his diaper around 5:30-6 every morning. No problem, but apparently he was running a little ahead of schedule last night. This is the kid that never gets rashes, so I figured the redness would go away by the next diaper change. It didn't - in fact, it was worse. Now he's in a disposable to see if that might help keep him a little drier.

That brings us to the clothing issue. Right now, I have 4 large totes worth of 0-12 month clothes IN MY ROOM. They are a huge mess, and are making me nuts! The problem is Memphis weather lol! Last week, we were wearing shorts every day. This week, it's chilly. Making matters worse, Noah was an October baby, Jonah was born in April, meaning that they are complete seasonal opposites! I have plenty of little bitty long pants, sweaters, and other cool weather clothes. And nearly all of the 6-12 month clothes are summer. Ugh! Of course, there are winter clothes in 12-18 month sizes, and I left out the smaller ones since it will still be cool by the time Jonah grows into them. However, the poor little runt is swimming in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, both of which have been cuffed so they are wearable lol! Unfortunately, the cloth diaper was really helping keep the jeans on Jonah's scrawny little behind, and how that he's wearing a paper diaper, he's crawling right out of his pants!

But I lost 1 lb this week LOLOLOL!!! That brings me to a total of 10 lbs even for the past 7 weeks. That makes me happy!

Here are a few LOs I've made recently. I'll post pics of some of my sewing projects later ;o) Click for credits:

This was yesterday - Jonah is rotten!

Ellie and Noah playing with my camera - there were oodles of hilarious photos:

Noah and a friend at the last Tigers home game:

I love that Jonah tries to play with the mobile on his swing!

Ellie, after a very long day lol:

Madeline in her Halloween costume:

Wow. I REALLY need to get some pictures of Audrey!!!

Grateful! (Warning: Photo Obese)

2009-11-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

So another month has gone by - and life is good! There are SO many things right now that make my heart happy!!! Amelia is getting so vocal, and Jonah loves her as much as ever! It makes me feel good to know that somebody else's baby loves me as much as Amelia does. My kids kinda have to love me, right? But she doesn't, and that makes it super special! I have succeeded in spoiling Jonah to the point where he won't sleep unless I'm holding him :o) Is it wrong to love that so much? I love that Noah is such a sweet big boy, and so desperately wants to help me out and make me happy! Ellie is learning to read, and it's blowing me away! I don't remember the big girls going though this age - but maybe it's because I was working when they were in kindergarten? Or because I hadn't had and lost Max yet, so I didn't appreciate them like I should. Madeline is my little song bird. She's in the choir at church, and was thrilled to be able to chose choir as her art elective this year. In fact, they performed tonight, and it was amazing! Audrey is the tough one. She's so gorgeous, smart, funny, and talented, but SUCH a teenager. We are very much alike, and butt heads regularly. That, for some funny reason, makes my heart sing, too. Not the fighting in and of itself, but the knowledge that I have a fabulous daughter who is growing into a strong woman!

Adron and I seem to be doing really well lol! For as crazy as he makes me, there is something completely breathtaking about knowing that he loves me so much! I can't imagine how anyone could love me so much, especially with all my multitude of flaws. I know I must make him even crazier than he makes me, poor guy!

I've been doing a lot of hugging babies, and not much of anything else. I've done a little sewing, a little scrapping, a little cooking, but not so much house cleaning. I've got a stack of sewing projects that need my attention, but I was able to put them off by trying quilting! Shocker, I know!!! I can not believe I am actually making a quilt!!!!

Here are a few pics of our life - I don't want to write a book tonight lol!

Skirt made using this tutorial, flowers with this one - birthday gift for a sweet friend of ours:

Tailgaiting before the Tigers' last home game - couldn't have been a prettier day! 70 degrees in the middle of November? Woohoo!

Noah has learned how to put his shoes on, but I still need to tie them ;o)

My sweet baby boy

And Halloween - totally forgot about these!

Here's Madeline, the dead bride:

And Ellie as Rosetta from the Tinkerbell movie:

Noah as Spiderman, his hero :o)

And here's all of them, plus my baby sister and David, a dear friend of ours:

Jonah was a vampire, but the pics are awful, so I'll dress him up tomorrow if he's feeling up to it lol!

Life

2009-10-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I'm a HORRIBLE blogger! Yes, I've been avoiding my blog, deliberately not posting updates - because I have been feeling a little overwhelmed by life in general, and an unhealthy desire to blog regularly. I totally admire the people who blog daily, or even several times a week, and I feel like I can't measure up to them, so I may as well not even bother.

Totally defeating the purpose of creating this blog in the first place, right??? LOL! I apologize again for being a total flake, and promise you that, while I may not post as frequently as I want or feel I should, I think about my friends here quite often, and when I'm not posting, I am living life as fully as I can!

I don't even know what all has gone on since the last time I posted, but I do know that I have been spending crazy amounts of time holding and snuggling this divine baby boy of mine :o) He is so sweet and yummy, and smells just delightful! I adore him, and love knowing that I hold him "more than I should". It's SO worth the sleep that I miss out on, and I know that if I don't hold him now, there will never be a time when I can go back and catch up ;o) Adron seems very serious about not having any more babies, and it's totally breaking my heart. I can't change it, so I'm going to squeeze every possible drop of preciousness out of my time with Jonah.

So, the girls are all settled in school. We got the 1st report cards today, and overall, I am fairly pleased with how they are doing. There are definitely some areas we need to work on, but that's life, right? I've gotten my new machines, and am LOVING them! I had no idea how nice it was to sew with premium machines lol! The mastery classes are awesome, and I'm learning so much! I've not done a ton of sewing, but what little bit I have has been delightful =)

I am keeping my sweet niece, Amelia, 3 days a week, and it's phenomenal. Jonah is a dream baby, and Amelia is even easier than he is. Jonah absolutely adores her, and it's really funny to watch him with her! I swear they are twins separated *before* birth lol!

Here are a few pictures that I love - they are mostly the past week, but a few are a little older:

Missing my friends :o)

2009-09-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Summer is crazy, it seems! I thought May was my busy month, but August was so nuts that I only managed to scrap one page!!! I keep meaning to post, and I've thought about it nearly every day, but something has always come up to prevent me from getting here. In fact, I went 3 whole weeks without visiting anyone else's blogs, too!!!

I'm hoping that I can get into a nice routine with my life, including keeping the house neat, sewing regularly, and blogging at least a couple times a week. ;o) If I don't do it, feel free to yell at me lol!

Right now, I'm finally getting used to having just the boys home during the day. I miss the girls like crazy, but I'm enjoying my time with the guys. Ellie started kindergarten, and Madeline started middle school this year. Audrey is now a high schooler, and is doing marching band. That means practice 3-4 times a week, with performances almost every Friday. Then, she and Ellie started cheering again last week. I am a little irked by Audrey's practice being moved from Monday to Wednesday, as Wednesday is the ONLY night I do something for *me*. I guess that isn't so important, really, but I'm struggling to be okay with it. I am incredibly angry about having to give up my study group, but I suppose it's part of being a mom. Add to that the fact that she hates me right now, and I'm just not a happy mama! Now my adult contact is pretty much limited to Sunday morning at church, and online... Sighhhhhh.... I dunno what to do about my attitude.

But, on the bright side, I was able to go buy myself some awesome new sewing stuff! Yesterday, I bought a brand new Bernina Aurora 430 sewing machine and embroidery arm, and a Bernina 1150MDA serger (at least I think that's the model# - the Bernina website isn't loading for me!). I also got a ruffler attachment, an extra bobbin case to use for elastic thread, and a few other little accessories. I am so excited!!! Of course, I have to wait until next week for them to be ready for pickup lol!

I also started building my sewing area =) I got several cabinets to use for my sewing table and for my cutting table. I still have to get tops for them, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I realized that the cabinets are going to be about 9" too short for my cutting table, so I may have to reprise the plans. I am also planning to buy an armoire-type cabinet to store my fabric. I am going with all white furniture, and am playing with ideas for decorating now lol! I am heavily leaning towards using Lila Tueller's Soiree line. I was thinking about using aqua with pink and maybe some yellow accents, and I think these are just perfect! There are just so many gorgeous fabrics out there, and it was so hard to narrow it down lol!

In order to create my sewing space, I had to go up to that insanely hot room and start digging through all the boxes that came back full of clothes and fabrics that had been cleaned to remove the smoke smell/soot. I got through the clothes pretty quickly, but there are just so many of them! I can't remember who blogged it, but I read the other day (in regards to stash reduction) that if you wouldn't buy it today, then you should just get rid of it. So, I'm trying to apply that same principle to the massive piles of kiddo clothing ;o) I have actually gone through all of the boxes of fabric, too, and started by sorting them into basic categories: diaper fabrics/pieces, woven solids, woven prints, woven checks/stripes & corduroy, specialty fabrics, fabrics with pile, knits, and scraps. Of course, there are more knits than anything else lol! That presents it's own problems with storage, but I think I can figure it out... Now I have to go through all the other boxes of non-fabric contents. Exciting, huh? And, for now, I'm not at all sure where I'm going to put things until I get storage areas set up. Of course, I can't set those up until the boxes are out of the way, so it's a vicious cycle lol!

I also found out that they decided to refinish my family furniture pieces!!! I am absolutely ecstatic about that - and can't wait to get them back!

Wow!

2009-07-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the folks that came up with the GroBaby diapers have absolutely lost their minds!!! They are doing another blog giveaway, but this time it is their brand-new Tiny Bubbles laundry detergent!

I have been wanting to try this since it came out, but, like most things these days, I hadn't made it that far. I've still got most of a bottle of sports wash sitting in my laundry room...

In other news, I am on Dani's team for DSA's Battle of the Creative Teams :o) Here's the LO I made for it for this week - I'm particularly happy with the way it turned out:

Last night, I played along in the ESS speed scrap and I really love the way this LO turned out!

And, to round out this post, I've been busy getting ready to sew lol! I've cut out a diaper bag, a purse, 4 jonjons, a slip for Jonah's daygown, a top for me, a skirt for me, and 2 card wallets (I'm working up a tutorial for those, if anyone is interested). The bags and card wallets are interfaced, pleats pinned, and I'm ready to sew. I'm doing shadowwork embroidery on the jonjons, so those will be a minute, and I've got to get the slip done today so Jonah can wear the gorgeous whale daygown that Christa made for him :o)

I'm gonna run - I've got to get Audrey some new shoes for band camp, need to pick up the fabric to make some a-line dresses for Meagan's girls, and I've promised Madeline a trip to the library.

CT Call!

2009-07-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

So if any of you are looking to work for one incredibly cool, super laid back designer, you should totally apply for this!!!! I absolutely LOVE working with Dani ;o) And her CT is a really great bunch of ladies, too. I might be a *little* biased, but I'm having a great time =)

Here are some LOs I've made with her kits:

Sale!

2009-07-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

Really quick post - I am LOVING this sale at Enchanted Studio Scraps!!!

While you're there, check out the challenges! I have so much fun playing there, and Danimoy is hosting the font challenge for the 1st half of July ;o)

Here are a few LO's I've done (click for credits):

Pics and more

2009-06-30T19:02:00.001-07:00

I have been suffering from a SEVERE case of cloth diaper lust lol! I am craving some fluffy mail, and have been trying to figure out what cd'ing system I want to use. Noah has been in disposables since he was 6 weeks old (moisture broke his little bottom out!), and Jonah is my hybrid baby. He's mostly in cloth, but we use disposables at night and whenever my wool isn't clean. All of the PUL covers I have are worn out and are no longer waterproof. So, I've decided that it's time to get things under control, put Noah back in cloth (hoping it will motivate him to potty train), and have some great diapers for Jonah, too. I am planning to use one size diapers. They will fit both boys now, and once Jonah outgrows his itty bitty dipes, and Noah is potty trained, I'm not going to have to buy or make any mid-size diapers lol!

I love the look/idea of the Gro Baby, of course, but I just spotted some the other day that are waaaay cute - and affordable! Check 'em out at the Smartipants site. And even better, they are doing a giveaway on the Monkeytoes blog! Check that out, too :o)

Now for those pictures I've been threatening lol! Here are some beaded pacifier holders I made for Jonah and Amelia:

And here are a few little things I made for Amelia (and Angela lol!). I made a nursing cover and burp cloths, two little dresses, an appliqued onesie, knit some wool shorties to go with the dresses, and made a few little snuggle socks that I forgot to take pictures of ;o) Here they are:

And here's a lo I did of my favorite baby girl :D

Got more pics to upload - I'll be back soon!

Dude, where's this month gone???

2009-06-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

I've been crazy busy! And I thought May was my busy month lol! I've had a lot of stuff going on, both good and bad, but most importantly, Angela, my bff, had her 1st baby Tuesday night!!! I am so in love with that precious little girl - and will upload pics asap!

I've been sick for the past week. Went to a Zumba class last Saturday, in an attempt to take charge of my body, and came home and slept the rest of the day. Turns out I had a very, very bad throat infection that is still making me uncomfortable after 5 days on antibiotics. Granted it's WAY better than it was, but still very tender.

Our a/c went out and it took a week to get it fixed. Thankfully, we were able to go get a couple of window unit a/c's to get us through. The big one will go upstairs in my sewing room (we were going to have to buy one, anyway), and the little one cost less than it would have been for us to spend one night in a hotel room :o) All in all, a good deal!

I've made a bunch of new wool covers, and a few things for my yummy little Amelia, which I will post pictures of soon.

On the subject of diapering, have you seen the new Gro Baby diapers??? I SOOOOOOOOOOO need some of these! I have been trying to decide which one size diaper system I want to use for the boys, and I really fell in love with the idea of these during the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt last month! I had thought about using pockets, but this makes so much more sense to me - you buy a few of the outer shells, and more of the inserts and you're set. Check 'em out: Gro Baby Cloth Diapering System (or if that didn't work, for some reason, http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/grobaby%E2...2-ic-11_16.html should).

Be back soon!

Happy 6th Birthday, Max.

2009-06-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty good day, all in all, but I've been on the edge of tears all day. It is SO much better than previous years, but maybe that's because Jonah is still so tiny and new, and it keeping me more distracted, and my craving for baby Max is somewhat eased. Either way, I really don't think it's fair that I'm sitting here missing him, or that last night was spent making a birthday layout for him, not a birthday cake. I don't know if the unfair part is that it had to happen, or if it's that I can't get past it.

I have the purest, most amazing piece of Heaven sleeping right beside me, but today I'm seeing how much he looks like Max did, and not Jonah himself. I feel a little guilty for not appreciating him more, and not responding to his needs with the right attitude all of the time. I *do* really enjoy him, and love that I can stay home with him and the others, but sometimes I get a bit frustrated by him. I feel so ungrateful when I let him cry for a few minutes so I can eat, or shower, or handle some other mundane task, and I feel like a horrible person for wanting to hand him off or put him down when he just wants to be held.

I really enjoy my sweet baby - those not so proud moments really aren't that frequent, and I do realize that I'm human, and sometimes I am tired, hungry, sad, or even hurting, and I have to take care of me to be able to care for my other children. But right now, I am so painfully aware of how brief life can be, and I wish, well, I don't know what I wish. It's just this little tugging feel inside that makes me think I don't deserve the life I have. As if I somehow deserved to lose Max? Totally irrational, I know, but it is what it is.

(Check out Angel's blog - she made this gorgeous template!)

Other than being a little sad this time of year, life is really, really good. The girls are out of school for the summer, and Audrey is here until next Saturday when she goes to her dad's for 2 weeks. I get her most of July, too, and I'm so happy about that! I am working on getting the house totally clean from top to bottom, and getting my inventory from the fire finished. I need my own sewing machines!!! I got quotes on replacements for the machines I lost, and the total on those is about 80% of what I need to buy Bernina machines instead of Brothers. I wasn't expecting them to be worth quite that much, and I am thrilled! I still have to find out how to value the furniture I lost, but once I do that, we can send everything in and I hope we get it all wrapped up soon! My living room is much more organized than it has been in months, and it makes me feel so much better! I still have to clean off the mantle and the tops of the entertainment centers, but everything else is done. My room is a different story - but it's not that bad, really. The girls have cleaned up their room, and have the littles' room almost done. My goal is to bring down one box of clothing (from the cleaners) every day and take care of everything in it. Doing just one a day, I'll have it done well before school starts back! That is a great feeling!

I've also been creating again! I finished Jonah's blessing gown in plenty of time for his 40 day blessing, I just have to hem his whale gown and sew the slip for it, and I've been sewing like crazy for a friend. I've made beaded pacifier holders, dyed a bunch of prefold diapers, handpainted some wool yarn, knitted diaper covers, and made bows. I am thrilled with how everything is turning out - I'll post pictures as soon as I can ;o)

I have had a severe headache for 17 days now, but started seeing a chiropractor last week. That has helped so much! I actually took Jonah in on Thursday for an adjustment, and his reflux is noticeably better. Now he spits up like a normal baby should, nothing excessive, really, and the discomfort he's been experiencing seems to be gone! I am so happy about this! And he's smiling and cooing now, too!

Noah has decided that he wants to nurse again, so I've been letting him. It seems to be about once a day, and for about 1-2 minutes at a time. He's been quite cranky lately, and I hope this will help a little. Ellie has learned how to lie :o( It's funny that she is so bad at it, and we can always tell when she's up to something, though lol! Madeline is excited to have the week off from chores - since Audrey will be gone for 2 weeks, I thought it would be fair for Madeline to have this week off. Of course, Audrey is none too pleased by this LOL! It's not ALL of the chores, just the nightly ones. They trade off, one cleaning the kitchen, and the other straightening up the living room. Now that the living room is clean, it's about a 5 minute job, including vacuuming. It's a pretty good system, for the most part. Requires us to stay on top of them, but they are learning how to take care of a home. Oh, they've also been making balloon animals, after I checked out a book on it from the library earlier this week ;o) I have pics of some of their creations, but there's not time to post them tonight. Besides, I think this post is another novel already lol!

I'll try to post again when I'm not quite so melancholy - I've got exciting news, loads of pictures and new layouts, and other randomness lololol!

Blog Train

2009-05-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

I am running so behind today! I am on Danimoy Designs CT and we're doing a fun brag book blog train this weekend. I am LOVING this kit!!! Here are my pages - click HERE to download.

Be sure to stop by the rest of the blogs - you don't want to miss any of these darling pages!!!

http://daniscrap.blogspot.com/ (danimoy designs)
http://deansmommy.blogspot.com/ (samantha)
http://loumarooscraps.blogspot.com/ (loumaroo)
http://creativescraptreasures.wordpress.com/ (shmooangel)
http://thislifeilove.blogspot.com/ (scrapmami)
http://dolbydawgs.blogspot.com/ (dolbydawgs)
http://livelifescrapoften.blogspot.com/ (mjtsmami)
http://grannynky.blogspot.com/ (grannynky)

Don't forget to stop by Dani's store to pick up the full kit - it's a STEAL at only $1.00!!!!

Can't sleep

2009-05-04T01:50:00.001-07:00

Seems that I'm sleeping much more lightly than ever before... But I still have the awful "deep sleeper" tendency to have trouble going back to sleep once I wake up. Grrrr! And having a sweet little nursling is a good way to ensure that I'm awake every few hours lol!

So, Saturday was {inter}National Scrapbooking Day (and Homebrew Day, as well), and I spent it running around like a crazy person! I was hoping to go visit a friend Saturday, but since Adron was out at Bosco's brewing with his friends, that kinda got bumped. I had to drop him off at 7:30, then had to have Audrey at cheerleading practice at 10. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to take all five kiddos with me, since Audrey and Adron are the only ones eligable to stay home without me lol! So, I took her to cheer and hung out there for 30 minutes or so, then headed to the church to drop off the other two girls for youth day. I got there about 15 minutes early, so we waited in the car for a bit, then they went in a little before 11. I headed from there back to the house, where I ran in, grabbed their Greek dance costumes, then headed back up to cheer practice to get Audrey. Sat in the van and nursed Jonah, who wasa starved nearly to death, picked Audrey up, and headed back to the church to drop her off for the rest of youth day. Poor Noah was exhausted and fell asleep in the car, despite promises of chicken nuggets. Headed back home, stopping by Burger King to pick up some lunch. Got home, woke Noah, persuaded him to come inside without my having to carry him, dragged Jonah in, and sat down to eat. Within 10 minutes, Adron was calling for me to come pick him up - I wasn't expecting him to be done for another hour! I told him he'd have to wait a few... I had spent the last 3 hours in the van, and Noah needed to eat his lunch. We went and picked him up, and came back home to wait for the girls to call us when dance practice was over. Around 4, I went to pick them up, and headed back home for the day.

Audrey wanted to know if I would take them to church Sunday, and either drop them off or wait in the parking lot until they were done, as they had Greek dance practice (again) after church. I told her I had driven enough for a whole week, and that was NOT going to happen lol! I wound up taking Jonah and the girls up to the church around noon yesterday, and they only danced for about 45 minutes, but they were looking GREAT! They practice again Wednesday and Thursday evening, and perform Friday night and twice on Saturday. Of course, Ellie has cheer Friday evening, and I should be getting the girls to church about 30 minutes before they have to dance - EEK! Audrey has cheer again on Saturday morning, so I guess I'm going to have to get Adron to drop her off and then bring her out to the church. Thankfully, the church is only 11 minutes west of our house! Unfortunately, cheer practice is about the same distance north east of us. Ah well, at least they are both pretty close!

This week is crazy busy, getting ready for the Greek Festival this weekend! I've only signed up to do a little bit, but I'm still going to be there an awful lot. In a few hours, I'm heading up there to help with festival stuff all morning. They are working again tomorrow morning, but I won't have anyone to watch Noah, so I prolly won't be able to help again. Wednesday, we are going up there as soon as the girls are home from school. We will be skewering meat, and the girls will be practicing in the midlle of all of that.

Friday is the carnival at Madeline's school, and since I'm on the PTA board, I REALLY need to be there. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to watch the kids then, either. Ellie will be fine - she's nearly kindergarten age already, and Jonah will be in a sling, hopefully sitting happily. Noah is just such a wild card! He's a sweet boy, but at 2 1/2, he really doesn't do well at staying put. Not sure what's going to happen there, but I'm willing to help as much as I can all morning. I will have to take off for the afternoon shift - babies will be in DIRE need of naps! Then, off to cheer practice and Greek fest.

Saturday, I'm working the festival all day, and thankfully there is a nursery so Ellie and Noah won't be bored and miserable the whole time. No way Noah will put up with me leaving him at home, and Ellie and Madeline have to be there so they can dance later. The bad part is that my best friend's baby shower is that afternoon, and with it being 45 minutes or so from the church, there is just no way I can sneak away to go :o( I am SOOOOOOOO upset about that! Any other weekend would have been doable! I can't begin to describe how heartbroken I am by this - we've been friends since I was 12 (and just before her 12th birthday), she's been there for the births of all 6 of my babies, she's always come to EVERYTHING we have going on, and she has always been there for me, no matter what! This is her 1st baby, and I am just giddy that I get a new little girl to love on!!!! I really need to get sewing for her lol! And making teeny tiny bows - how fun is that! Oooooh I just love baby shoes, particularly the litte girl ones!

Speaking of baby shoes, I can't find the ones I had set aside for Jonah. I had a pair of size 0 Keds - the cutest things EVER - and a pair of white leather look high top, lace up, crib shoes. All three girls and Noah have worn the crib shoes, and I am looking forward to putting them on Jonah, too. Oddly, all the newborn size socks have disappeared, too. I know for a fact I had them a couple days before Jonah arrived, but I have no earthly idea where I stashed them! Then, his whale t-shirt disappeared. I know I saw it last week, but can't find it now. Do we have gremlins or something? I guess that means I really need to do a thorough cleaning around here (yeah, my house is a mess), but I've really not had the energy to do much of that kind of thing. Drat it - I bet I'm not going to have time to do this until next week!

I'm going to try to get another 2 hours of sleep... Don't want Jonah to wake Adron, and I know it's about time to nurse him again :o)

Life is good

2009-04-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sooooooo enjoying this sweet little thing ;o) Jonah is just the best baby, and has been so easy so far! He's a good eater, sleeps very well, and just loves to be snuggled, but is generally quite content to be left alone, as well. He seems to particularly like being swaddled, so long as I don't fold his legs up lol! And he prefers to have his hands by his face, but is okay with them being by his sides. He's having some major issues with reflux, but the swaddling seems to help that a little. Not a lot, granted, but maybe his moving around makes the reflux worse? Poor little thing eats very well, but is loosing about half of each feeding, so we are spending a whole lot of time nursing. It could be SO much worse! I'm actually loving this, even if it means that I can't get *anything* done these days.

Poor little Noah is being really good with him, but I can tell he needs a litte extra attention. He's really not the jealous type, but he doesn't get why I'm not holding him so much. I think he kinda misses me, and is a little ticked about it. Instead of being a mommy's boy, whenever things aren't going his way, he starts yelling about wanting his daddy. Yeah, I feel bad about that...

Oh, at Jonah's 2 week checkup, he was up to 7 lbs, 4 oz! The doctor was quite happy with that - seems he was just wanting him to regain his birth weight by then, and Jonah surpassed it by 4 oz! Little piggy ;o) And he already has "man hands" lol! His fingers are long, like my other children, but his fingers are thick. I'm not sure what that's all about, but it's cute. And he just *loves* having his little head rubbed... He'll stop eating just for that lol! And his sweet little head feels like a peach, so soft and fuzzy <3

Ah, this little guy just melts my heart!

Oooooh! (My favorite of the faces he makes)

Ahhhhhh!

This is a wonderful swaddle wrap - it's just perfect for Jonah! He doesn't seem too impressed with snuggle socks, and he's too long for blankets. This is a nice happy medium, I just wish it wasn't brown... Shows every last bit of spit up that comes it's way.

I think I'm going to do some reverse engineering and make about 3 more of these. It would be so much easier to just buy them, and they aren't expensive at all ($12, I think), but I love variety, and have some cute knits that would be just perfect!

Jonah is 9 days old!

2009-04-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Do you know what that means??? It means he has outlived Max, and that's a load of stress off of me!!! Woohooo! Those small "victories" feel so wonderful ;o)

Jonah is such a sweet little guy, and is doing quite well. I feel slightly guilty about scheduling him to be born so early - he just seems a little "under done". I don't really know how to explain it, other than he just seems a bit younger than the rest of them did when they were first born. Not really in a bad way, just kind of interesting, I suppose. He is amazingly calm and snuggly, which is a refreshing change from the others, too lol!

I was commenting that I wasn't nearly as engorged as I had been with the other kids, and Adron started laughing and said it was because Jonah nurses all night long... I had no idea! He said that this morning he thought Jonah was snuggling just a bit too close, and he wanted to make sure he could breathe, so he moved him. Of course, he realized that there was quite a good reason for the closeness when he heard the slurping sound as Jonah was pulled off my breast lol! Had I been awake, I would have had a FIT! I'm sure it's the reason that nipple is tender today, too. LOL! Oh well, nothing better than a kid that knows how to keep himself happy and full, huh!

Yesterday, he found his thumb <3 It was just the sweetest thing - I've worked very hard to make sure none of my kids were thumb suckers, but it's still sweet to look at :o) I had tried giving hm Soothie pacifiers, but they were causing a problem with nursing. I think they are too hard, relative to my breasts, and caused nipple confusion. I pulled out the Mam they gave us at the hospital, and it seems to be ok. It's softer and flatter, more like the real thing, I guess. He doesn't like it as much as the Soothie, but I'm hoping that maybe next week, after nursing is better established, we can switch back. Anyway, here's a couple pictures I took last night:

Settling in.

2009-04-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

I got to go home Sunday afternoon. We stopped at our favorite local pizza joint on the way home, and my favorite server was there :o) I'm not really sure I'm really ready to be home yet, though... Sunday was ok, I was really tired, and didn't do a whole lot. Yesterday was hell, though.

I'm really trying not to be a spoiled brat, but it's so frustrating when I'm this tired and uncomfortable, and I can't get the help I need. I had asked Adron to heat up the oven so we could reheat our leftover pizza, and an hour later he was still sitting there. I finally got up and did it myself, and made pb&j sandwiches for Ellie and Noah. I had spent the entire morning trying to get Jonah to nurse, and it wasn't going very well at all. I finally pulled out some milk I had pumped and heated it up. I poured some in a little medicine cup, and slowly dumped it into Jonah's mouth. After about 1/2 oz., he finally decided to latch on! I was so relieved! Have I mentioned that Max never did nurse, and I always had to feed him with a little cup or a syringe? Yeah, I was a little freaked out about Jonah being the same way. I know he'd nursed fine before that, but still. I don't think the little man adapts well to change. Once the pump was primed, he hasn't had any more problems nursing, thank goodness.

I spent the majority of the day in my room crying for no good reason. Jonah slept most of the day, and barely woke up to eat (another Max flashback), so I hardly saw him. I don't think I've ever experienced such intense post partum depression this early on. Thankfully, my OB already had me on an antidepressant, knowing that I have issues with depression in the last 8 weeks of my pregnancies. I haven't been taking the full dose, as the lower dose was working just fine. Last night I upped my dose to the full level she had prescribed, and today is so much better. I'm still on the verge of tears, but it's not so bad.

Of course, I had to get up this morning and wash our sheets and blanket. The little prince has quite a knack for puking all over the place, so I slept in a puddle and woke up rather soggy this morning lol!

Today he's making up for all that sleeping yesterday - he was awake and alert for a whole hour this morning, and has nursed several times, staying awake between some feedings! That's exciting - Max never woke up to play. Of course, now that he's napping, I want to crawl back in bed, but my sheets and blanket are still in the washer lol!

Here is the little man just now - he wouldn't settle down until I tucked the blanket around him lol! Might wanna wear some shades to look at this picture ;o)

Enjoying a little quiet time :o)

2009-04-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I've ever spent this much time alone at the hospital... And, oddly, I've enjoyed it! I love it more when I have visitors, but being able to do nothing is kinda nifty, too ;o) Of course, I think that's largely because Jonah is such an easy baby so far, and I don't feel like I need a break lol! A couple of friends have said they were going to stop by today, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them! I got a whole lot more sleep last night than I had been getting, and was able to sleep late this morning. I think that's the best part about the 2nd night - the nurses aren't required to bug me as much lololol! I felt kinda bad, though - the audiologist came in to check Jonah's hearing, and I slept through the whole thing.

My milk has come in, and I've got plenty of it. I'm thinking about aksing for a pump, just to relieve a bit of the pressure. I know, I know. Pumping increases milk supply, compounding the problem, but in my experience, a little pumping prevents a lot of blocked ducts and/or infections. I've always joked that I have enough milk to feed quadruplets, but I don't really think that's an exaggeration lol! It's such a blessing to be able to nurse and not have to worry about having enough milk.

Just like Ellie and Noah, Jonah seems to have issues with reflux already. Poor little guy started projectile vomiting last night, and it's getting worse. As long as he gains weight, I suppose it's fine, but it really seems to bother him. He doesn't complain much at all, even when I know he's starving, but I've noticed that he starts fussing a little in his sleep right before he spits up. I am not looking forward to having to give him meds for it in the coming months, but I'm sure that's what is coming. This is what he looks like when he's about to spit up:

Did I mention that he's the closest thing to a bald baby as I've ever had? I am so tickled lol! The other kids had a lot more hair than Jonah does, and his hair is much lighter than rest of 'em, too. It looks like it might be a light strawberry blonde - there is definitely a bit of red in it :o) And it's so fluffy! I beleive Ellie's hair was like that, too, so I hope that means he'll have curls... His eyes are a fairly dark blue, but they are VERY blue. Or so I thought - until I was looking at him today, and noticed that the ring around his pupils looks just a touch brown. That is exciting!

I'm feeling a little guilty right now - I usually don't need pain meds beyond what they use in my spinal block, but this c-section has been much more painful than the last ones. The dr that looked at my incision today said that it's looking a little red around the edges, so I'm on an antibiotic. An infection would certainly explain the extra tenderness and pain... Anyway, I still feel bad asking for pain meds at all, other than naproxen for the cramping. I know that whatever I put in my body affects Jonah, too, but I also realize that a mommy in pain won't heal nearly as quickly as a mommy that isn't hurting, so I have to justify the meds by thinking that I'll be much more able to take care of Jonah, as well as the rest of the family, if I allow myself to heal.

I have managed to get a little bit of embroidery done today - I'm working on a gown for Jonah's 40 day blessing. The majority of the embroidery was done before I had him, but there's still a lot left to do. I'm using 2 shades of blue for the knot work, and I've got a pretty green that I'm going to use to embroider vines just above the hem. I'm planning to put more trinity knots between the sections of the vine, too. I know the stitching isn't as neat as it should be, but this fairy batiste is so soft, and not at all tightly woven, so it's hard to make everything even. I'm going on the theory that no one is going to be looking at it that closely lol, and if they do, I really don't think it matters that much :op

And here's the little man on his daddy's lap:

He's here!

2009-04-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

I am just totally head over heels for this little guy, too!!! He is incredibly sweet, very laid back so far, and refuses to curl into a fetal position lol!

Introducing Jonah Mathias - 7 lbs even, 21" long :o)

And here's our obligatory family shot lol!

I love that this pic looks like a party ;o)

I'm enjoying this little man so very much - everything went so smoothly, anesthesia was the best I've experienced, and Jonah seems to be just perfection! He sleeps well, eats very well, doesn't cry much at all, and loves to be snuggled =) Can it get any better than that?

Oh, and I knew that *something* had to go wrong - and it did. I ended up having my IV put in 4 times before it was all said and done lol! I'll take it - everything can't be flawless, right? Plus a couple of major differences of opinion on the hospital's newer policies. All in all, just enough to make me feel like balance has been maintained, but nothing horrible at all!

I hope my nurse comes in soon so I can try to get some sleep tonight...!

It's the big day!

2009-04-09T04:28:00.000-07:00

So, I thought this was going to be a super happy, upbeat post, but things haven't gone according to plan...

Poor Adron is sick! We don't know if it's a stomach bug or mild food poisoning, but he feels horrid. Which, is the source of my own problems...

I didn't get to sleep last night. Well, I did, but just in 25 minute increments, because of Adron's tossing and turning. The house is trashed (baby clothes/diapers everywhere), I have a ton of stuff to do before going to the hospital this afternoon, and I am freaking exhausted! I went to bed around 11:30, I think, and woke up around 3:45. I stayed in bed until about 4:15 when I finally gave up and got in the shower. I've had a headache for 4 days now, largely due to tension and sinuses. So, I REALLY need to sleep. For goodness sake, I'm not gonna get any rest for the next 3 nights in the hospital!

The problem is that I can't sleep comfortably on the couch - puts a crick in neck every time. And I'm not at all good with sleeping in my chair. That puts my neck AND back out. So the only option is the bed, but since Adron feels icky, he's taken that over, and I'm screwed. I am so frustrated by this that I'm in tears. Why on earth can't HE sleep in HIS chair??? He has no problem doing that every evening while watching tv. And the ONLY place I am able to get any sleep right now is in the bed.

But I'm so excited about Jonah being born today! It's going to be fine, even if I *do* have a complete nervous breakdown due to lack of sleep...

It's kinda like a roller coaster ride...

2009-04-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are almost there! Right now I feel like I'mn on a roller coaster that is slowly going up to the top of the biggest hill, *just about* to head down the giddy, wonderful descent! There's no stopping now, no turning back,but I'm really not sure I'm ready lol!

Yeah, I know, it's a little late for that, but knowing that Jonah is scheduled to be here in 3 days is a little scary! Usually, I'm just fine going into the c-section. Nervous, sure, but not really worried about things. This time, however, I am totally freaked out and afraid that I'm not going to survive it. I know it's a totally (mostly) irrational fear, but it's still there. I know I have a great doctor, love her surgical tech, and the nurses at this hospital have been amazing for all three kiddos I've had there so far. I don't know if I'm just more aware of my own mortality, or if it's the gravity of knowing that I would be leaving behind FIVE motherless children. Then again, it could be something else entirely. I know that I've always had that tiny tinge of "what if", but nothing as strong as this. I know that there's always a chance something could happen to me, naturally or otherwise, but I just keep thinking of all the "routine surgeries" where the patient doesn't make it for one reason or another. Hmmmm... On 2nd thought, maybe it's stemming from watching an episode of Nip Tuck with Adron where the patient died as a result of the anesthesia interacting badly with her antidepressants. Granted, my OB is well aware of the meds I'm on, but maybe that is what's bothering me.

Whatever happens, I know it's in God's hands, and that I have zero control over it :o)

::Shaking that off::

On to happier things lol! I finally went shopping for Jonah!!! I didn't have a comeing home outfit or a hospital photos outfit for him yet. He is SUCH a 6th child lol! It's not for a lack of intention, but when I lost my ability to sew for him, it totally threw off my plans lol! So, Saturday, while Audrey was at cheerleading practice, I went to Gymboree and found some cuuuuuute little things for him! I'm not at all sure what he's going to wear for pics, or home, for that matter, but I've got something to choose from now lol! I managed to pick up 2 long sleeved rompers, a tee shirt, a polo, a pair of jeans, and a long sleeved onesie for less than $60! Everything I got was on sale - and I was delighted that there was a line with whales on it lol! Is that warped? Heehee! Then a friend of ours gave us a darling little outfit for Jonah that has planes on it :o) Love it!

I also ordered 3 Bravado nursing bras from Mothersville - they have them on sale for $22! Eek! What a deal! now I just pray that I like the way they fit.... I need to buy some prefold diapers and a couple of Imse Vimse wool covers, too, once I have some $$$ to do so. I really hope that I'll be able to use cloth on this little guy - Noah's bottom was more sensitive to the moisture from the cloth than to the chemicals in the disposable diapers, so I had to quit CDing when he was 6 weeks old. Talk about being bummed out! And I had sewn up a bunch of yummy sherpa dipes for him, too!

I loaned out the rest of my cloth dipes, but I don't think they are coming back due to an unfortunate incident (I promise I'm ok with it ;o) ), so I'm just going to wait and see if Jonah's little bottom can handle cloth before I go out and buy more.

In other family news, Noah is sick. Grrrrrrr. Last February, he wound up with a stomach bug that lasted the typical day or two, but threw up for another 2 weeks. Couldn't keep ANYTHING down, short of giving him Zofran. The pediatrician wasn't concerened, but I was freaked out! The poot kid went from 23 lbs to 18 lbs, about 20% of his body weight! That is a whole lot of weight for a tiny little guy to lose, and I was seriously concerened about it damaging his heart!!! I think he's got sinus drainage this time, as he's not actually heaving, just kinda "spitting up", and it's all clear. I gave him a slice of bread this morning, and he kept it down, but he couldn't keep down the powerade I gave him. Last night, he was so pitiful when we were eating dinner! I felt horrible for him, so I had Adron start the "Cars" movie for him to watch while we ate. He ended up coming in the kitchen, getting his plate off the counter, and begging for "back-boney and tees"! It was so sad!!! I am half tempted to give him a little bit today for lunch to see if it'll stay down, but I know that he'll prolly never eat it again if it doesn't. Last year, we thought he was over it, and fed him hotdogs, which promptly came back up. Now he won't eat them, and they used to be his favorite thing. I've been giving him Pepto to help coat his stomach, but I think he needs something to prevent the vomiting. And the darn pediatrician isn't going to agree. I know my child, I know that he hardly ever gets sick, and I know that when he does, it takes a very long time for his stomach lining to heal. I can't imagine having to clean up puke for the next 2 weeks, when I will hardly be able to take care of a healthy toddler on top of a newborn and a c-section recovery. Ugh! Anyone wanna come help??? LOL! I'm kidding - I wouldn't do that to any of my friends!

Guess it's lunch time - I am hoping to get back on here before I have Jonah. I've done a lot of scrapping in the past few days lol! I need to post some LOs!

Dealing with pg hormones and missing my stuff

2009-03-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

Sighhhhh.... I feel so incredibly out of touch right now! I'm in a total state of panic over the short amount of time left before Jonah is scheduled to arrive, I've been sitting here crying for the past hour or so because all 4 of my sewing machines were ruined, which is ok, but I have no way to get another one for a very long time. It really, really is freaking me out!

Backtracking first - gotta start with the good stuff, I suppose ;o) I went in for my checkup on Friday, and talked to my OB about scheduling my c-section, which the hospital only lets you do two weeks ahead of time. I totally had it in my head that we'd have him Monday, April 13, meaning that the office manager would put my name on her list, then call today. It turns out that my wonderful, amazing doctor isn't able to do it then because her kids are out of school, and the nanny has the day off. Well, sheesh! I'd feel awful for her to skip out on her kids just for my sake - she *has* done it before, and I felt bad, then, too. So we started talking about Friday (Good Friday for you Western church people), but she didn't think she was working that day. She decided that Thursday, April 9, would be the safest bet for Jonah and me, so I'm scheduled for a c-section at 4 pm CST next Thursday!!! ACK!

"Losing" those 4 days totally sent me into a tizzy - I thought I had the whole Easter weekend to prepare, but instead, I will be coming home from the hospital that Sunday, Lord willing!

That brings me to the next problem. We were able to move back home this weekend, but, of course, everything is still packed. Oh, and all of our laundry won't be delivered until Wednesday. So, I'm stressing over how much unpacking I have to do, and how messy my bedroom is. I can't stand the thought of coming home from the hospital to this mess, but there's no one able to help me clean it all up. And I have minimal energy at this point...

I've been begging Adron to let me go get a darn pedicure, as I honestly can not reach my toenails to trim them. Ok, so I can *reach* them, but the angle is really bad, and I can't do it at all while breathing lol! Making that a pretty bad idea ;o) Can't you just see me passing out while trying to cut my toenails? That would be classic! Anyway, I just want to go get a pedicure from a local nail salon, but we don't have the cash right now, and even if we did, I don't have anyone to watch the little ones while I go. Poor pitiful me, huh? LOL! I know I'm being a spoiled brat about this, but it's the one thing I have treated myself to right before having every one of my babies. Actually, I don't think I did before Madeline, but I know I have with the other 4. As a result, I feel pretty hurt and angry that my hubby doesn't think that I'm worth $35. Grrrrr. I'm sure that's not how he means it, but that's what it feels like.

I really feel like a bad mommy right now, too. For every one of my children, I oohed and ahhed over baby clothes for months, finding the *perfect* outfit for them to wear home from the hospital. For Audrey, it was the dress and jackey my mother wore as a baby, and she actually came home from the hospital on my mom's birthday =) For Madeline, I picked a sweet, gender neutral outfit from Baby Gap. It had a little quilted jacket with it, as she was born in February. For Max, we bought a Raiders onesie when we went to Oakland right after I got pg, and for his hospital pictures I made a smocked gown. For Ellie, it was a little romper/dress with Madiera applique chicks, that I sewed right after finding out that she was a girl, and her pictures were taken in a little dress by Carters. I made a soft sherpa outfit with an appliqued giraffe for Noah to wear home, and his pictures were in an outfit I bought from a mama online. Then there's poor Jonah. I haven't bought or made a thing for him to wear home or for his pictures. I realized that this morning, and totally started freaking out. I don't have time to go shopping, not wiht having all this unpacking to do, and I don't have any money, either. I'm soooooo frustrated! It's not that this wasn't important, it's just that I had planned to sew something, and when we had the fire, that ruined all those plans.

As for sewing, I was hoping that maybe they would bring back my machines, despite them being smoke damaged, and I could use the serger and mechanical machine, at the very least, to get a couple little things sewn. But, no. They didn't bring them back, making sure that wasn't even an option. So, now I'm stressed beyond belief. I need the creative release I get from sewing, especially with the stress I've been dealing with. But, goodness knows we don't have the money to replace them now. And probably won't until the insurace company gives us a check for the damaged goods. That could quite easily be 3-4 months from now, and I'm seriously sick over that! I just feel like it's all so unfair (I know, life isn't fair), and I'm mad at the world about it right now. I just want to throw a screaming temper tantrum like Noah and Ellie love to do! I want to cry and yell until I get my way! Why did all of this have to happen right now??? Ugh!

And I thought I'd been dealing pretty well. Guess not........

Going home soon!

2009-03-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!!!! They put in new carpet yesterday, and started moving all of our stuff back in today =) They also steam cleaned my living room carpet, and wiped everything down! Adron is installing blinds in every window in the house, and replacing the electrical receptacles in the 2 upstairs bedrooms. Talk about feeling like we've got a new house, without the inconvenience of house hunting lol! I am so thrilled!!!

Here's a few pics I took yesterday, before they brought our things back...

My shiny new sewing room:

The wall where my cutting table/fabric bolts were:

My gorgeously built window seat:

Wall where the fire was:

View from window seat into girls' room:

The girls' room - I'm totally loving how fresh and clean these colors are :o)

The window, where my old living room chair fits *perfectly*:

Looking into the hallway (you can see the color of the other bedroom):

Looking into the sewing room - notice that there is no sharpie on the walls WOOHOO!

My stairs - with new carpet and a fresh coat of semigloss paint (totally washable!):

My living room - I'm loving the green! I can't wait to see how it looks once everything is back in it:

I didn't take any pics of the other upstairs bedroom or the kitchen, since the paint colors are the same. I'll have to dig and see if I can find "before" pics to post at a later time - I'm quite thrilled with the way things look now :) And the new carpet is so yummy to dig my toes into!

On a slightly frustrating note, all of the furniture that was in the sewing room is pretty much ruined. They said they ozoned it for 3 days, and it still reeks of smoke. That means that the buffet and the china cabinet/hutch that belonged to my grandmother (and who knows how long they had been in the family before SHE got them) and considered unsalvageable. The chest of drawers (once belonged to my other grandmother) that held all my smaller pieces of knits and flannels is bad, too, along with a small bookshelf that held all my stamping stuff. There's no way I'm going to use those for fabric storage with the way they smell, so I guess that means I'll need to find some sort of replacements for them. The desks that my machines were on are toast, of course, and all 4 sewing machines have too much smoke damage to be able to consider them usable, from what I was told today.

Granted, this means I get to have new machines and new furniture, but it's a bit sad about the family pieces. Thankfully, they are just things, not people, right? And I suppose someone in the family may want to live with the smell...!

Back later with more pics - gotta watch the rest of the Memphis game. They aren't looking so great right now, but I'm crossing my fingers!

Waiting.

2009-03-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Royanna Fritschmann had the most AMAZING deal going!!! Holy cow, she was selling her entire, massively huge, store for only $29, and Adron let me buy it. I spent a few days downloading every moment I was at the house, then went without internet for 4 days. My download links expired on Tuesday, and I was quite short on getting all the DLs. Thankfully, being the wonderful person she is, Royanna graciously granted another week of access. I can't tell you how excited I am about this :oD Unfortunately for me, the internet access we have isn't high speed, so the DLing is taking forever. I have to start as many as I can before I leave the house or go to bed, and it's pretty funny lol! But sooooooooooooooo worth it! I'm really hoping that I'll be able to finish before they run out. If I don't it's not for a lack of trying. She just has so many goodies! I've already acquired 26+ Gigs and still have lots to go. I printed out the order receipt so I could have a checklist, and I'm working on page 22 of 27. When I left the house on Friday, I was on page 17. 17 pages in 3 1/2 (partial) days, now 4 1/2 pages in the next 3 1/2 (full) days. I'm really trying!

So, I'm sitting at the computer, pretty much bored, wanting to scrap, but I'm not inspired at the moment. I want to go out and do things, but I'm too tired. I've been taking nice long naps whenever I can, but I'm still worn out. I want to just surf the web, but can't figure out what to do. How did I while away so many hours online before? I mean, I've caught up on pretty much all the blog reading I like to do, but don't want to add more to my list right now since I know I'll be a little out of commission here in a few weeks ;o) I am really not involved in many forums these days, just one scrapbooking site, and I managed to post over 200 times (mostly gallery comments) in 2 short days. I'm not feeling overly chatty right now, not that you can tell from my posts lol! I just don't feel like I have much to say. I kinda want to cook, but all my baking supplies are at the house, and I don't want to go dragging them across town for a whim that I may or may not get around to lol... I haven't made it as far as getting the transparency so I can work on Jonah's gown, and for whatever reason, it hasn't occurred to me to start on the whale embroidery until just now lol! I would just LOVE to catch up with some of my friends - we keep talking about getting together, but it hasn't happened. I swear I am just turning into a hermit these days, and while I'd really like to see people, I'm having a tough time getting motivated to get out and do something. My responsibilities outside the house are killing me right now, and I need to cut back, but can't. Thankfully school is over soon, and there's no way I can do PTA board again next year with 2 little ones at home, and big ones at 3 different schools. I love being involved with the smocking guild, but I'm constantly going and now dread going to those meetings that I loved so much!

'Nuff whining! Sorry about that... I really forget that anyone ever reads this blog - I post here for myself, and it actually makes me laugh to think that anyone might be interested in what I have to say! It all started at the urging of a designer I used to CT for, and I eventually left that poor, neglected blog behind. I don't think I had ANY readers over there, so starting this one just seemed better somehow. I didn't want to focus on digiscrapping, as that is just one small aspect of ME, so the natural choice for me was to just have a personal blog that I could post whatever I wanted, from rants to gushing praise, sewing, scrapping, cooking, and anything else that happened in my life. I have thought about reposting some digital kits I had created in the past, but a.)I'm not sure anyone would actually want them, and b.)well, I don't know that I really care to generate that kind of traffic here. I feel like my readers here are my friends (even the quiet lurker types lol), and I am welcoming you into my house. The feeling I have when my few freebies have been listed on Digifree or whatever, is of hundreds of strangers tramping through my house and I have no idea what's going on. I guess I kinda feel invaded? Not that I truly mind, but that's never what I had envisioned for my little corner of the web... PLEASE don't think that I don't want people to come by!!! It makes my day when I see that someone has stopped by my blog! It's just the massive onslaught that kinda makes me nervous a bit. I mean, I'm just *me*, nothing more, nothing less!

I do get a chuckle out of the Feedjit thing, though - the way most people happen upon my blog is so funny! Usually it's some random search for information regarding hermit crabs (I'm totally useless there!), but some of the queries are so funny! Then, there are a few sad ones. One was some question about if this guy could get a fat girl pg EEK! Ummmm that's sooooooo not right! Sure, I've talked about being fat, and the other, but what a random search result! Sometimes the search terms include the names of different digiscrapping or sewing designers that I've mentioned. Cool, but I'm not at all sure I can be of any use in that way! However, the searches I love the most, and they truly do warm my heart, are the ones where people are looking for instructions on sewing jumpers. Woohoo! Not that my tute is the best, but it's really cool that people stop in for that reason! Every time I see that, I hope that they somehow were able to get a better understanding of the technique, whether from my account, or from someone else's. I also love when someone leaves my blog through a link I've posted. That's a cool feeling!

Anyway, I guess all this is just to say thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to come see what's going on in my world. I feel so blessed by my visitors here, and I want you to know that it really touches and honors me that you are my imaginary friends (dude, I can TOTALLY see that phrase bringing in some random searches now!) LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

Yeah, yeah...

2009-03-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

I am SO aware that I'm a horrible blogger (but doesn't that make me a wonderful slacker???), but it's not personal, I promise!

Needless to say, life has been nothing short of crazy lately. It's not a "bad" kind of crazy, really, just a CRAZY kind of crazy lol! For example, this week is busy as anything for me. Greek class on Monday, smocking guild on Tuesday, Lenten lecture series on Wednesday, Thursday is Audrey's FOURTEENTH birthday so we are going out for dinner, and Friday, Ellie has cheerleading and Audrey has a band concert. Well, Greek class got cancelled due to Fr. V getting sick (please send prayers his way), and the band concert on Friday has been cancelled. Not the first time this crazy band instructor has changed things at the last minute, and it makes me downright insane! Granted, it makes my life a little easier, but then again, that might depend on when the *new* date is. Grrr. And to make matters slightly more complicated, the kids and I are joining our church on Saturday afternoon, and Noah, Audrey, and I have nothing to wear.

I had planned to sew things for all of us, but when my sewing machines decided to sit in puddles of water for a few days, that kinda put a kink in my plans. SO, Ellie's godmother offered to buy her a dress (thank you so much, Brianna!!!), and we found a sweet little dress for Madeline at Target, on clearance, no less. So it looks like a trip to the mall for the others of us, which is a total nightmare, IMNSHO... It will all work out, I'm sure, but I'm not sure when I'm going to have a chance to shop.

Oh, I do have some wonderful news, though!!! No, we aren't back in our house (hmmm... that 3 weeks he promised on the front end is over on Thursday, and they are soooo not anywhere near done), but we ARE in a really nice 3 bedroom apartment. It's in a nice part of town, is quite spacious, and I really like it. As of now, I'm quite pleased with the way our insurance company is treating us, even if the restoration company is on my short list. I've finally got internet here, after going without it from Friday morning until Monday afternoon! Woohoo! I did get a bit of scrapping done in the down time, but I was having horrible withdrawls lol ;o)

As for the house, I'm totally ticked at the guy that we are dealing with. He is incredibly nice, but I keep catching him in the DUMBEST lies! I am soooooo not getting that! Not even good lies, but just these stupid ones about things that don't even matter (or makes sense). The guy painting our rooms was supposed to have worked all weekend, but he had a sick kid. No problem - he's working to support his family, I would assume, and NOT having a family to give him an excuse to work. That's cool. But he seems to work 5-6 hour days, and I'm not seeing a whole lot of progress each day. I don't know - maybe my expectations are too high or something, but I got the whole house painted in 2 weeks when I was 7 months pg with Max, and I'm far from being a professional painter. The paint job looks fabulous, where it is finished, but at the rate he's working, I'm looking at another week of just painting. Then there is the drywall. That our guy told me they were going to start hanging TODAY. Yeah, that didn't happen, either. But I DO have my carpet picked out, and only wish I could have it in my living room, too lol! LOVE it!!!

I was really unhappy about the number of days our house sat without anyone working on it, so I called our contractor and left a voice mail. He never called me back, so a day and a half later, Adron called the project manager, who finally got our dude to call Adron. More lies were told by my (formerly well liked) guy, but work started getting done. I guess I'm just really frustrated because it's getting so close to my due date? Whatever the reason, I'm starting to really freak out, and I just wanna go HOME!!!

I started making a "church dress" for Jonah - can't stand not being able to create! It a beautiful raglan sleeve daygown pattern by Jeannie Baumeister, and I'm making it out of white "Fairy Batiste". I have created a Celtic cross design to do in shadow work embroidery at the hem, and a trinity knot for the top, then a border consisting of "vines" and leaves between more trinity knots. I am planning to embroider most of it in a pale blue and a slightly darker blue, with the leaves and vines in pale green. I started tracing the design, only to discover that the fabric isn't stable enough to trace with just starching it. I'm going to get a transparency sheet and starch the fabric to it, THEN try tracing. I'm ready to start on it! I also got a pretty blue dobbie fabric (1st fabric on the page) and am making another gown with the whale design on it (pictured on the pattern).

Gonna watch some tv with my hubby - we brought our DVR over here last night, so it's really starting to feel like home LOL! But, I'll leave you with a few LO's I've been working on :o) All credits can be found in my gallery at ESS.

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

Oooooh, I am SO addicted to this amazing blog! Everything she makes is just so sweet and yummy, and soooooo romantice! Add to that her amazing skill with the camera, and the fact that her whole family is just simply gorgeous, and I can't stop blog stalking lol!

One of the random things that didn't survive the fire experience is the pettiskirt I was making for Ellie. It was nearly done, too, and I was positively ill when I saw that the fabric was no longer a soft, sweet pink, but was a nasty, ugly dark grey. Ugh. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

So go check it out and enter to win this yummy confection for yourself!!!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

It's harder than I thought, in some ways...

2009-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

...but easier in other ways. Going through all the damaged stuff is pretty intense. I have the most amazing crew of 4 people helping me today, and I am STILL overwhelmed. They are all so wonderful to deal with, and are incredibly hard working and efficient, which is a total Godsend. Dragging this part of the process out would just drive me out of my mind!

I am truly not *terribly* attached to "things", but there are certainly some "things" that mean a good bit to me, and I don't want to have to let them go. My vintage sewing notions collection is nice, but I'm okay with not having it. My fabric, while wet, appears to be able to be saved, which is GREAT! But, other things are hurting my feelings... I have a beautiful porcelain doll that was made by an incredibly special lady in our smocking guild. Poor doll isn't burned, but she's covered with soot. I have no idea if she can be cleaned, but I would assume that it's not outside the realm of possibility. However, seeing that exquisite little face, delicate smocked dress, and soft fluffy hair all covered in black nearly made me cry. But the worst, so far, is that the one and only professional picture we have of Max is burnt to the point of no return. I have a wallet sized copy of that picture, but that was the only big one. Nearly in tears, again. Adding to that, the baby book that I started for Max is soaked, but they said it may be able to be cleaned. There are random other things that are striking a chord with me, but all in all, it's going to be just fine.

I suppose that I'm allowed to mourn the loss of these things, even though I realize that they, in the greater scheme of things, are truly insignificant. It's a struggle to be able to rationalize and accept while grieving slightly. I almost feel insulted by these feelings of loss, as I KNOW how wonderfully minor the fire was. I feel guilty, as if I'm not grateful for what I have, even though I know that isn't the case at all! Dang human emotions LOL!

Ah well, losses aside, I get a brand new sewing room, with fresh flooring, a pretty new coat of paint, new light fixture, and I can replace the desks with whatever I would like. And since I had already planned out what I wanted, it's that much easier! Not only that, but all the stuff that was previously thrown about the room will be returned to me, neatly packed in boxes. That thought alone makes me want to cry LOL! I am so thrilled that this nasty little rain cloud has such a huge silver lining ;o) Add to that the forced reduction in *stuff*, and my life is vastly improved by this inconvenient mishap. Of course, they told me today that my sewing machines were probably beyond saving, as they have been thoroughly doused with water. Hmmmmmm.... I like my machines just fine, but it's not going to kill me to be able to replace them. I'd been thinking along those lines for a while, wondering how much I would have to sew and sell to be able to afford to get what I wanted. Now, I suppose there is always the possibility that they will somehow manage to repair them, but that won't hurt my feelings, either. I KNOW how my machines work, and what they can and can't do, and not having to learn a new machine is nice in it's own way. Did I mention that I lost my embroidery machine software and card writer? Yet again, all replaceable :o)

Anyone know how to value an old computer and a desk that was a family heirloom????

I have taken some pictures, but am too tired to post them right now - and I'm betting my new friends will be back inside in a minute, ready for me to help them do their jobs lol!

Counting my blessings!

2009-02-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

You ever have those days where you just KNOW that you have Someone looking out for you? Wow, I can't tell you how blessed we are!

Last night, I was about to leave for my Wednesday night study group when I smelled something electrical. I assumed that it was one of the girls' flat irons, or something like that. I sent Audrey upstairs to look for the source of the smell and to fix it before I walked out the door. A second later, she shouted that it was coming from my sewing room. I was a little confused - I keep a keyed lock on the door so the little ones don't get in there and destroy all my stuff, and I hadn't been in there in a couple of days. She asked for the keys, so I went up there to see what was going on. I saw smoke seeping out from around the door, and there was soot streaked around the edges. I told her to stop - not to open the door, and to get the kids out of the house!!! I called 911, in a complete panic, and spent a full minute or so chasing the dogs around the house so I could get them out. I knew the cat was a lost cause - he just does his own thing, and certainly won't come if I call him lol! I finally got the dogs out, all the while the 911 operator is yelling at ME to get out. I'm not the hero type, and feel that human lives FAR outweigh those of the pets, but I knew where the fire was, that the door was shut, there wasn't any smoke downstairs, and hardly any upstairs. I am SO not gonna risk my life, but I felt like I could spare the 60 seconds. Whew! I was crying - I knew all the people were ok, but I was so freaked out!!! It took 15 minutes for the fire department to get here, making me totally insane while we waited. I sat there and watched the smoke start to fill up Madeline and Ellie's room, which you have to walk through to get to the sewing room. I didn't see any light coming from the sewing room window, which confused me. But whatever - it was obvious that there was a fire!

Now, to put this all in persepective, my sewing room is my all purpose crafts room. I have miles and miles of fabric, all of my rubber stamping/scrapbooking supplies, my 2 sewing machines, the serger, and the embroidery machine. It also happens to be my storage place for all things heirloom and important. So, all our printed pictures, from Audrey's birth on until we got a digital camera about7 years ago, were in there, as were all of our professional pics. And all of our christening gowns, antique clothing passed down from my grandparents, and all kinds of other such sentimental items. I learned a long time ago that "things" are replaceable, people aren't, and even if the "things" can't be replaced, they are really just STUFF! Gotta let it go! Doesn't make it any less sad to lose things that I have attachments to, but it does help me to keep things balanced, and focus on what really matters.

Anyway, when it was all said and done, one of the firefighters was telling us that they thought it was a lamp that was up there. He said they kicked in that door and the area around the lamp lit up. He also said that everything in the room was really hot, and probably within 5 minutes of combusting! Holy cow! After they cleared out, we went up there to see what the damage was and I was beyond stunned that the fire didn't seem to have touched anything on the floor! Looking at the items that they chunked out the window, there was my computer that I use only for my embroidery designs, the desk that was sitting next to it, and a pile of insulation. In the light today, I saw that the things on the desk, like my drawers of brads and other embellishments, were melted and out there, too, on top of some of my grandmother's baby clothes. However, the clothes don't appear to be at all damaged, just a bit damp! That, to me, is beyond priceless!!! Nearly all of my fabric was on the other side of the room, as are the christening gowns, and NONE of that was touched! Of course, there's soot on everything, but that is fixable, and I believe that the gowns are underneath other things, so they may not be harmed at all.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am??? I'm sure as I go through there in the days to come, I will discover things that are destroyed and it will make me cry, but one of the most amazing things I have pulled out of there already is the box of photos. The box was dripping, but not a drop had soaked through to harm the pictures! They threw my nice melty paper cutter on top of my sewing cutting table, and it's stuck to a piece of new fabric that I just got a week or two ago. Wow. I am honestly so stunned by all of this! So my paper is wet, and all my embellishments are kinda crispy, but that is so replaceable! And the best part of all of that, is that I had actually inventoried all of my Stampin' Up stuff a few months ago! I noticed today that my ink pads are all over the floor, some melted, the rest trampled, and the ink pad holder is destroyed. I haven't see the stamps, though, but I'm inclined to think they may be fine. And, of course, most importantly, all of my PEOPLE are fine!

They are telling me that it will probably be about a month before they are done cleaning, but thankfully, our homeowners insurance is providing housing, etc., for us, in addition to the clean up and restoration. The guys that have been out here so far have been just wonderful, and I don't think I could have asked for a nice group of people to be helping us out! Again, we are so blessed!!!

Adron is home with some dinner for me - I'll be back on to ramble whenever I get access to a computer again lol!

On a happier note...

2009-01-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

I've been scrapbooking again! WOOHOO! Jonah has totally taken away my creative mojo, but it seems that I've gotten a little of it back the past few days. I have scrapped my hiney off LOL! Here are a couple of the LOs I've done - if you want to see all of them, they are in my gallery at Enchanted Studio Scraps. They've got a really friendly forum, and great challenges! They're brand new - go check out the store, too! They've got some great stuff in there!

Credits for all the LOs are in my gallery.

I'm so frustrated.

2009-01-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

Not much has changed, but I've determined that I have to let this go and move on. No reason to have my frustrations sitting here looking at me every time I log on lol! *I* know what they are, my friends know what they are, and I appreciate all the love and support I've been given, not just in this one area.

It's time to grow up and be the better person - at least for now LOL! Taking a deep breath and accepting that everything is what it is, and there's not much sense in complaining about it ;o)

As promised, a few pictures.

2009-01-20T07:40:00.001-08:00

Not a whole lot going on here right now. I started Greek class last night, and am really excited to be learning another language! I've dabbled in Spanish, and played a little with ASL, but haven't had an actual language lesson since I quit school in '94. I'm hoping I'm not too old to "get it" LOL! The teacher is a retired Greek Orthodox priest, and is just amazing! He is so funny and sweet and lovable, and I think there couldn't be a better teacher for this kind of class. He said that he doesn't "teach" so much as he just shares what he's learned in his 83 years here :o) And his goal is to make the weekly lessons a relaxing and enjoyable hour. No pressure! Now, that is my kind of class!!!

It snowed a little this morning - a real treat for us southerners lol! Ellie was so excited and Noah caught the enthusiasm very quickly. It was actually snowing big, fat snowflakes when Ellie dragged me out of bed, but by the time we found a way to bundle the kids up a bit, the snow had all but stopped. Thankfully, the ground is cold enough that a light dusting stayed, and Ellie wanted to make snow angels ROFLOL! I told her that this wasn't good snow for that, so she resigned herself to making "snowballs". Noah, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with it. He finally got brave and leaned over to touch the snow, and freaked out about having "dirt" on his hands lol! I told him it was just ice, and he calmed down enough to start tramping through the yard. It was all fun and games till he splatted... I think we were outside for a grand total of 5 minutes, but it was enough to suit him lol! Ellie wasn't as amused about going in, but she's finally stopped buzzing around the house (thank goodness!), and is playing rather quietly with her dishes. I have discovered that the kids fight less and are generally quieter when they don't watch tv all day. It's been a nice couple of weeks since I figured that out lol! Anyway, here are a few snow pictures. Noah actually owns a coat, but we couldn't find it, and neither he nor Ellie has a hat. Ellie has gloves, but we couldn't find Noah's mittens. I felt like a horrible mom for sending them out like this, until they came back in so quickly lol!

It started off so well...

"Ummm... Not too sure about having this stuff on my hands mom...." He is trying to shake off the "dirt".

I finally explained that it wasn't dirt, it was ice. He decided to (gingerly) step out into it, while Ellie was making a "snowball" lol

He thought he'd try again - I mean, Ellie was having so much fun...

Yeah, he still didn't like it lol!

Poor Ellie - soooooo determined to make that snowball.

Ahhh... the play structure! That oughtta be fun!

Hmmm, nope, not gonna slide today. There is too much "dirt" here.

Uh oh. It was inevitable, but after about 5 minutes outside, Noah finally splatted.

Yeah. Shocker here, right? LOL! He was screaming that he wanted to call his daddy!

Oh, and here's the dress I wound up making for our friend's little girl :)

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-01-14T14:28:00.001-08:00

As usual, life's been a little crazy here lol! I can't imagine what it would be like if it wasn't. Actually, I've been contemplating life recently, and wondering what it would be like if we only had one, or even two, kids. Not that I WANT that, just trying to figure out what it's like in "normal" families lol! I can't imagine only have a couple of kids - that seems like crazy talk! Then again, having 5 kids prolly sounds like crazy talk to the majority of people I know. And, no, there's no way to imagine what a house FULL of kids is like if you only have one or two lololol! It's nothing like what you would think, I promise. 4 kids isn't twice as loud as 2, or 4 times louder than 1, for that matter! The dynamics are so different. There are such interesting relationships between each child and each of their siblings. For example, Audrey and Madeline bicker a lot, and Noah and Ellie nearly kill each other most days. But Audrey and Noah, or Audrey and Ellie tend to be really quiet when paired up. Madeline isn't quite as nurturing, I suppose, but she's great with the littles, and more playful than Audrey is. However, when the 2 big ones get along, it's LOUD! LOL! They play and have so much fun, and it's girl talk all the way. I love it! The littles go back and forth between hugging and fighting, so I don't usually let it bother me too much. It's great that when any of them aren't getting along, I can reassign their "buddy" and it nearly always fixes it ;o)

My brithday was last Friday, and I had the best birthday ever! I got so many texts, FB messages, and a handful of phone calls, all wishing me a happy birthday =D It was awesome! Then, that evening, Adron took us to the Carrabba's where I used to work, and I got to see some of my favorite people I used to work with, my baby sister who still works there, and some regulars that were in at just the right time for me lol! Our server is one of those people I fell in love with the moment I met her, and it was just the most wonderful thing to have her waiting on us! Several other servers that I'm friends with also stopped by to say hi, and then there were 3 different people that also used to work there, and were in eating at the same time we were. The funniest part is that I'm friends on Facebook with nearly all of these people, so they knew it was my birthday. Then, my sister told everyone else lol! So even my favorite regulars knew and wished me a happy birthday! I felt soooooo spoiled and LOVED! I know it's just words, but it's nice to feel important ;o)

I sewed myself a shirt to wear, and it's another from the Ottobre pattern I used for the shirt I made for New Years Eve. I really like this pattern! I'll have to get someone to take a picture of me wearing it. I'm not sure why I'd want that, but I think the shirt wouldn't have the same effect on a hanger ROFLOL! On the way to dinner, I noticed that the shirt was making me really itchy, and it hit me that somehow I must have missed prewashing the fabric lol! Ah well. It did shrink up some, but not enough to make it unwearable. And it's so soft now - I like it even more!

I had an OB appt. last Wednesday, and my fundal height was 31 cm. At 25 weeks, it should have been no more than 27 cm. or so, and I've NEVER measured more than 2-3 cm. over the number of weeks I am. So, my amazing doctor had me come back in this morning for another ultrasound, just to make sure everything was fine. The u/s tech we had today is so wonderful! I loved her with the last two, and was so glad I had her this morning! She really seems to enjoy her job, and was getting tickled by Jonah's behavior - and HUGE feet! It was so nice!!! He's quite a ham, it seems, and was just stretching his legs out straight, then curling up into a little ball, and every time he felt the u/s wand at the top of my belly, he would flip over and start kicking it! It was so cute, and seemed so playful :o) I really think he's going to be a funny little guy! He's weighing in at approximately 2 lbs now, and his feet measured TWO INCHES!!! Eeeeekkkkkkk! Ah well, all of my kiddos have had big feet when they were born, then, as the u/s tech said, they grew into them lol! They start off big, but by the time the kiddo is 1, they have tiny feet for their age. As soon as I get to a scanner, I'll post pics. She got some cute ones - far better than the last u/s I had with him.

We've got a birthday party for Noah's godsister on Saturday. I'm wanting to sew something for her, but I have no idea how she normally dresses. I'm guessing by the things her mom has bought for Ellie and Noah that her tastes are pretty cute and trendy, but I'm not sure if the little one wears dresses, and I'm fairly certain that her tastes aren't nearly as over the top as Ellie's are! I was kind of thinking about a Feliz, minus the ruffles on the shoulders and up the back, or maybe a Vida, but I don't know how something that busy would go over. Maybe I can do an Olivia underdress for her, with some leggings. I don't know! And if she doesn't like dresses, I guess I could do an Anna top and some ruffle bottom pants to match. ARGH! It's so much easier to sew for my own kids!!!

2009-01-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a "worry wart", nor am I an insomniac at all! But last night I couldn't sleep. We went to bed around 11, and my eyes were heavy, but I couldn't go to sleep. Then, I woke up sometime not too long after 3 a.m., and finally got out of bed around 5 since I just couldn't sleep. I was having horrible nightmares, and have been stressing out about my kids. It's insane!

Mostly I am worrying about Ellie. She has had a major fascination with death and dying for over a year now, maybe about 1 1/2 years. Anyway, she talks about max nearly every day, and it is ok with me, but hard to handle on occasional days. Now, for about the past week or 2, she has been flipping out every time I get onto her for something. She starts crying and saying that she doesn't like herself, and that she wants to die and go to heaven. Rationally thinking, I guess she just figures that in heaven, she won't get in trouble, but how rational can I be when I'm 25 weeks pregnant, have already lost a child, and now have one saying that she wishes she were dead??? I am totally freaked out, and she had me in tears over it the other day when she was saying it to one of her sisters. I don't know what to do. I've told her that it isn't her time to die, I've tried telling her that God wants her to be here with us, and that it probably doesn't make him happy that she's being so ugly. I have tried talking to her when she isn't upset, but none of it has made a difference. I think my next step is to call our priest, who she absolutely adores, and see if he can explain things to her in a better way than I can. I just don't know. The big girls never did this to me.

Adding to this is the belief that Ellie is probably ADHD - her behaviors are very similar to the way Audrey acted at this age, but worse, and much like my ADHD siblings. There's a definite family history of it (my grandfather used to tell stories about being chained to a tree in his yard, and the neighbors would walk by and say, "You must have been bad again, Frank!"), and when I started dealing with her that way, instead of thinking she was just being bratty, it made things a lot easier. I think her emotional development is about 2 years behind in many ways, so if I look at her fits as something Noah might do, it makes perfect sense. She's not a bad kid at all - in fact, she is one of the sweetest, most loving, generous little souls I have ever known! She is so curious about the world around her, she always wants to hug and kiss one of us, and she loves to ask questions and get to know the people she encounters. She has the most beautiful smile, and can be so sweet! But there is the flip side where she screams at least 4 hours a day (not all at the same time lol), she sleeps deeply, but doens't get nearly enough hours of sleep for her age, she loves to play with things, ending up with the total destruction of whatever it was, or the things around her. She has absolutely no attention span, forgets what I tell her to do, and has an unbelieveably low frustration level. I really struggle with this child. I love her so much, but I have no idea what to do with her! I can't imagine that her being in trouble all the time would be a good thing, but do I just let these horrid behaviors slide?

That poor baby - she's so excited about kindergarten, and for the first time ever, I am with her! I am ready to have a break from this. Madeline and Noah have never shown signs of this, not to say they don't aggrivate me, too lol! It's just a different mentality. I can see the differences as far back as when they were babies - I bought a sling because Audrey wanted to be held so much. Madeline never used it, and while she liked being held some, she wanted down when she was ready. I didn't hold her nearly as much as I would have liked. When Ellie was a baby, I learned all about different kinds of slings because I seriously spent all day nursing and holding her. It was exhausting! Noah, however, doesn't care a thing about slings, and I haven't used them on a regular basis with him since he was big enough to sit up on his own. He's the snuggliest little thing, though, and loves to sit beside me, or on top of me, but not being held exactly. I am praying that Jonah isn't as high maintenance as the 2 girls are - but if he is, then at least I have an idea of what to expect. And at least it has been every other one so far lol! I guess God knows that I needed a break from the chaos so I didn't snap ROFLOL!

I sewed!

2009-01-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

LOL Like that's something new.... But really, I feel like I've accomplished something. I smocked the little area on Noah's romper last night, and today I sewed myself a brand new pink tee shirt and a black floral knit maternity skirt. They *kinda* go together, but I am thinking this skirt needs a slightly more fitted top. Hmmmmm.... I wonder if I have any fabric that would work with it? I bought 1 1/2 yards each of black interlock and pink interlock, but after washing, they lost about 8". Ugh. Barely enough to get the pink tee and the neck binding! So, I determined that the black would be great for the maternity panel, and there's enough left over to make something for one of the little ones. Works for me ;o) The best part of buying the knit was finding out that it was 20% off the original $9/yd., and then it washed up nice and thick.

Unfortunately, I've not been feeling quite up to par, so I didn't get to bake any cookies that I need for gifts for tomorrow afternoon. I guess I'll hafta bust tail to get home after church so I can start cooking. I'm also making a Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole clone to take with me, per my baby sister's request. I went to the grocery store this afternoon, and spent forever walking around trying to find stuff. Peanut butter, for whatever inexplicable reason, is now on the cereal aisle. I couldn't find where they were hiding the beef broth or the seasoning mixes, either, and had to ask for help. Grrrrrr! I've shopped at this store plenty of times, but I guess it's been a couple of months since I was at this particular location. The signs don't clearly describe what is on each aisle, making it even more difficult. And to make a great trip better, they were out of hashbrowns!!! Ack! Ah well, I can run up to the grocery store that is closer to home anyway, and they should have hashbrowns - and I know where they are lol!

Ah - stupid comments time! So I was in line at Costco, just buying butter and pork tenderloin. Butter there is $7 for 4 lbs., but at the grocery store it is about $3-4 for 1 lb. Totally a rockin' deal at Costco! I usually don't go through a whole lot of butter. 1 lb. quite often will last for a couple of months. Anyway, there was an older guy in front of me who seemed to be quite a control freak. I was getting a giggle out of his refusal to put his (heavy?) rotisserie chicken on the belt, and then his insistance on rearranging the little divider bars to "make sure" he didn't get skipped over. The employees, unknowingly, kept undoing what he had done to make things more orderly. He was starting to turn a bit red, so I made a comment about how they must think he REALLY wanted to take home my tenderloin and butter lol! Jerk turns around, looks me up and down and says, "I'm not paying for YOUR butter." Okay then, whatever, that wasn't at all what I was implying. THEN he went on to say, "You must watch a lot of Paula Dean." I told him that clearly wasn't possible as I had no idea who she was (ooooh I so lied! But that woman totally disturbs me!!!). He just had this disgusted snarl on his face and made some comment about her using a lot of butter on everything. Uh, yeah. For whatever ungodly reason I don't know, I felt the need to explain that I was making shortbread cookies as gifts for my family Christmas celebration that is tomorrow. Sheesh - why did I even bother? Like I care what he thinks? Sure, I'm a big girl, and I am quite aware of that, but there's no reason to make judgements about people's purchases! For real, that is a 6 month supply of butter for us, barring any extreme baking. Some people!

Today's been good though, despite stupid people and rearranged grocery stores =D Audrey is home!!!!!! I hate it when she's gone - I miss her sooooo much!!! Yeah, sure, she can be difficult, but for the most part, we get along well. She's a great kid, and is so much fun to be around! I love her bright personality, that beautiful smile, her sparkling blue eyes, and that impish look she gets in them when she's up to something. I love talking to her, and hearing her views on life, as she's honestly a fairly mature 13 year old. Granted, she's had to learn a lot of things the hard way, but she seems to be a quick study and has a good measure of common sense when it comes to relationships. Yeah, I know, she's 13, and it might go away, but I'm enjoying it for now. I LOVE having a teenager, and am so blessed that she's such a great young woman! Sure, there are times that I'm ready to choke her, but if we got along all the time, something would be wrong lol! She really has a hard time when she spends more than a weekend at her dad's. It seems like she gets along with him fairly well, but not so much with her step mom. I really hate that for her! I know that she and her dad's wife could have a really special relationship, but it just isn't happening, and it's been 10 years. Audrey said she feels like an extra person, not a part of the family. I have to wonder why she feels that way. I know kids are good at manipulating, and that she very likely goes there with a bad attitude and is difficult to live with (nah, she wouldn't have EVER done that to us LOL!). It still makes me sad. I wish she liked her step mom better, but I can't make her, right? I know that there is a lot Audrey could learn from her, if Audrey didn't fight it so hard. Sighhhh.... I still just want to hug her when she tells me that she didn't enjoy her visit. Needless to say, I am thrilled she is back home!!!!

Some random observations and a commentary on friends :o)

2009-01-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever felt so incredibly loved and accepted that you just wanted to cry? I mean, not by your "significant other" or anything, but by someone who totally doesn't *have to* love you? I can't explain the feeling, but there is the most amazing family at my church, and they have totally taken us in and treat us like long time friends, or even family! I don't know why, I have no clue where this all came from, but I do know it is completely providential. I met this couple the first time I went to this church, back at the beginning of July. They were walking in at the same time we were so, I asked where to go and they told us to follow them :o) Nothing major, but really sweet! I followed them in, then slipped into the back pew totally unsure of what I was supposed to be doing, but knowing that was where I was supposed to be. Not the back pew in particular, silly, the church lol! Anyway, from that point on, every time I saw them, they were so friendly! We totally don't blend in at all there - most everyone has dark hair, and we are pale redheads lol! I knew it would be a pretty closed group, but quickly discovered that this is the warmest, most accepting bunch of people I've ever met. I was so happy to be wrong!

A couple months later, I was at a festival, and this same couple's GORGEOUS 20-something daughter came up and introduced herself to us! What??? I mean, really? I was totally floored that she took the time to come over to where I was (the festival was at another church entirely), and then go out of her way to make us feel welcome =D I dunno. I've never seen anything like this before! As the weeks have gone by, we've gotten to know them better, and I think I'm starting to forget what life was like before we met them LOL! Noah fell in love with the gentleman, and whenever he sees him, he goes running and squealing "My Bob!" Not that his name is Bob, but whatever, right? Their daughter has taken Audrey out, just to let Audrey have a break from normal life. Ellie is in love with her and they have (almost) matching hair - they both have gorgeous curls :o) Madeline started sitting in the choir with Noah's Bob, and is having a great time. Ellie and I have moved from the back of the church to sit with his amazing, beautiful, and sweet wife. I've never felt like I belonged somewhere like I do here! This precious couple has even agreed to be Jonah's godparents - what a blessing! Last night, we were over at their house just hanging out for a while, and on the way home, I was totally overwhelmed by the amount of love they have shown us. Granted, I'm more emotional when I'm pregnant, but I think I'd be just as touched even if I wasn't pg lol!

I've always felt like an outsider, the odd one out, the black sheep, or even invisible. It's something I've grown used to, and had accepted as my place in life. I stopped fighting it years ago, and had resigned myself to sitting in corners, being by myself, and the inevitable hurt it would bring when I ran into someone I'd talked to for hours at some function, only to discover later that they had no idea who I was and didn't remember the conversation. Sighhhh.... This has only been going on since I was 16, or at least that's when I became aware of it. That's not to say I don't have plenty of amazing friends, just that strangers don't usually notice me. Heck, for that matter, I'm utterly amazed that ANYONE ever reads this blog LOL! Even my own husband doesn't. As far as I know, he's been here once? I'm really ok with that lol - I don't think I put anything here that I wouldn't tell him in the first place, right?

So, I saw a girl in the grocery store parking lot a couple of weeks ago, and I loved the carrier she was using for her little one. I asked about it, and she said it was a Babyhawk. Sweet - I checked it out, and MAN! I'm totally in love with their designs, and hope to be able to save up the money to get one someday. They are freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!! Go check 'em out - they have a fabulous collection of fabrics to choose from, making it really tough for me to decide what I actually want. I *want* about 10 different fabrics, or 5 reversible carriers ;o) I have determined that until I can save up that money, I'm going to make another mei tai style carrier to tide me over. I ordered fabrics from this amazing shop on etsy, and am going to make myself a reversible carrier. Granted, it won't be any Babyhawk lol, but if it's comfy and I LOVE the fabrics, that should work for now. I bought some of the Alexander Henry Calaveras fabric, which I've been wanting for AGES, and I also got some of his Bascha Spice fabric that I had seen on the Babyhawk site. I'm hoping they go together, colorwise anyway, not that it matters - they aren't going to be seen together lol! I figured that as much as I love the calaveras, it probably wouldn't quite be appropriate for wearing to church, so I have to do something "presentable", too. I could make 2 carriers, I suppose, but when I have 7 different slings in the car, Adron starts to get a little upset. Not that there are carriers in there, but that the van is messy, so bless him, he takes it upon himself to clean it out. Unfortunately, about half the time, he brings all the slings and such inside, and I don't realize it till I'm out somewhere and need one. So, I'm thinking that one carrier that can pull double duty might be a good idea... LOL I am just picturing me showing up with 5 kids, Ellie in some smocked dress, Noah in a jonjon and knee socks, the baby in a daygown, and me wearing a carrier with brightly colored skulls on it. Talk about rocking the boat! Somehow it just seems WRONG! ROFLOL! Not that I'm ashamed of my affinity for all things punk, just that there's a time and place for it, and I don't think Sunday morning at our church is it! The nosering, however, has never come out for church - only for work.

Oooooooh! Just got some yummy mail! My fabrics came in and are perfect together! Oh wow!!!! I just ordered them on Monday and they are here already. I totally recommend Lucky Kareu's shop!!!!! And she's got a ton of fabulous Japanese import fabrics that are screaming my name!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

So far, so good, here :o) We kept the kids out late last night, and they, for once, slept in this morning. I got up and managed to get a bit of sewing done, and have just been chilling out ever since.

I put together and pleated a bishop dress for Ellie, and a Jordan's Romper for Noah. I can't find the pique I bought for the collar for Noah's, and Ellie wanted a bishop, not the yoke dress I had been planning lol! That was fine - less work on the construction, and more actual smocking =D I used a gorgeous deep green and navy blue checked flannel that I picked up on clearance at a local heirloom fabric store quite a few years back. I had intended to make dresses for Audrey and Madeline, but that (obviously lol) never happened. So, since Noah and Ellie need church clothes, I thought this was the perfect time to use it. So now I have 2 projects ready to work on, and they should be relatively quick, as I'm just smocking a geometric design on both.

I have realized that my whiny temper tantrum about how I spent my Christmas money is a little silly. I'm OBVIOUSLY lacking whatever gene it is that makes me think shopping is fun lol! I realzied that I'm incredibly blessed to have been given moeny that I could spend however I wanted, and now have the opportunity to replace my well-worn maternity jeans. I really wasn't trying to be a spoiled brat - I just really, really hate spending money on clothes, and more than that, shopping for them. I went back to Motherhood yesterday and picked up one of the pairs of jeans I had tried on the day before, and was very happy to wear them last night! They are too cute, really, and other than being a little too big (they didn't have a smaller size...), they were on sale for $25! Now THAT totally rocked! I also cut up my tee shirt and lounge pants and traced them into patterns. I've made a tee that just needs neck binding and hems to be complete, but it fits perfectly. I lengthened it by a couple of inches, and that seems to be the right amount. I haven't made up any lounge pants yet, but plan to in the next week or so. I also cut out a nursing cami, as well as a maternity skirt, but haven't sewn them yet. I discovered that I didn't have as much black knit as I needed for the maternity panel on the skirt, so it's going to have to wait on a trip to Hancocks. Oh, and I made a really cute maternity top from one of the Ottobres - I think it's the only one that they did in my size, which is just fine as I like it, it's easy, and has lots of room for versatility. I added 3" to the length of it, too, and was slightly surprised when I tried it on and it was 3" too long LOL! I guess I'm built like a fat European? Sweet! 'Splains why American patterns have never fit right ;o)

I also have determined that my sewing machine, the ruffler, and that darn pettiskirt fabric are destined to NOT work together. I got my machine home yesterday, and started working on the pettiskirt, and broke 3 more needles. It started off just fine, but I guess it's just the fabric. Thankfully, I can ruffle cottons just fine (so far), so it's quite a useful tool, but not for the purpose I had intended. I don't know what I'm gonna do with all that chiffon that I've got cut into strips. I really want a pettiskirt for Ellie, but since I can get one for a very reasonable price if I'm willing to wait 4-5 months on delivery, then it's not too big of a deal.

Off to help Noah - he woke up cranky and needs some hugs. And the angelfood cake I baked seems to be burnt, at least on the top. I'm hoping that a.) it will come out of the pan, and b.) it won't be burnt lol!

Yes, designers, fat chicks DO get pregnant.

2008-12-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

WARNING: WHINY PREGNANT RANT AHEAD!

It's been a really long day so far - and it's not even 4:00 yet. I have determined that shopping is the prefect way to ruin a gorgeous day for me.

It all started innocently enough. I woke up this morning to no screaming, and no one telling me I needed to get up for whatever reason. Sweet! Adron was (is) brewing beer today, so I got dressed then sat down to check emails/Facebook. Had a few graham crackers for breakfast, then printed off the mail-in form for my prescription meds. I had Madeline put Noah down for a nap, and I grabbed both of my sewing machines and left the house.

It was absolutely glorious outside! Sun out, 60 degrees, and a very light wind, not even enough to make it chilly in my jeans and tee shirt. I drove over to my favorite sewing machine repair shop - and they weren't there. Not the employees, the whole store! Gone! Ack! So, I drove about half a mile or so down the street to the other sewing machine place. It's more expensive, and in the past, they weren't terribly friendly, something I've come to expect living in the southern US. Sighhhh... Well, I went in, and was immediately greeted by a cute guy back in the repair area, then by an older gentleman who was walking from the back to help me. He came outside to carry my machines in for me, an incredibly generous touch that none of the other repair shops in the Memphis area have ever done. We discussed the possible problems with my machines, and the quote to work on the cheapie machine was nearly as much as I paid for the darn thing to start with. So I laughed and told him not to bother with that one. My good machine, however, was quoted as a $90-150 repair, if it was just something small. Great. Last time my machine was tuned up, I paid about $75, plus a bit more to cover the repair of a couple other things I had managed to throw out of whack. Ah well, it is what it is, I suppose, and they were phenomenally nice to me, so I said okay and left in a great mood.

Next stop was the mall. My wonderful ILs gave me cash for Christmas, and I've been trying to decide what to spend it on. Adron fussed about the cost of the machine repair, and I tearfully said I'd use my Christmas money on it. He said that was silly, and not to worry about it. I told him I needed to go to the mall to look for some maternity clothes. Poor Adron - his company has severly messed with payroll, and in the process of changing from paying him every other week to paying twice a month (on the 6th and 21st, no less :o/ ), his last check this month was about half its normal amount, compromising our ability to buy anything not strictly in the budget and still being able to pay the house note. I told him again that I would spend my Christmas money on the clothes, as I totally understand the timing of this isn't good. By this point I was in tears because I was really, really hoping to buy something fun for myself, not something strictly utilitarian. Anyway, I went in with high hopes of being able to find a few maternity clothes for myself. Yeah, right.

Ok, so when I had Audrey, almost 14 years ago, there was no such thing as maternity clothes that were cute, stylish, and for tall girls. Plus size wasn't really that much of a problem at that point, which was a good thing, as that wouldn't have even been an option. With Madeline, 3 years later, similar problem, PLUS the additional complaint of no plus clothes. 6 years later, with Max, there were a few plus sized clothes, but not many, and nearly ALL the jeans barely skimmed my ankles. I did manage to find some that fit well, and I bought 3 pairs. I've worn those 3 pairs of jeans with Max, Ellie, Noah, and now Jonah. By the time I had Ellie, I'd bought about as many maternity clothes as I would need. Since she was a summer baby, I didn't need a whole lot of winter clothes, so I just bought a couple of tees, 2-3 pairs of capris, and the one pair of shorts I had found that fit me. Noah wasn't a problem - I made a few maternity tops that were short sleeved and sleeveless. I also bought a couple more pairs of jeans shorts. The weather here isn't even THINKING about getting cold in October, so Noah was basically another summer baby. Sweet! Well, Jonah is due in April - with our only hope of real cold weather starting in mid January, and running through the end of March. April is usually chilly by my standards - most days are in the 50's and cloudy, so not exactly shorts weather for me. By the way, I'm normally "hot natured", happily wearing shorts year around, but being pregnant really messes me up and I'm cold almost all of the time. I'm fine with short sleeved tops - I only wear long sleeves when it's in the 30's or so. A tee shirt and light jacket or hoodie is perfect, IMO, for most of the "winter" here. Leaving me with a need for jeans. These poor jeans I bought 4 kids ago have just about had it! I've repaired holes in the knit maternity panels, and had to restitch the waistbands countless times lol! They were obviously made very well, and I'm truly grateful for that! However, I really do need another couple of pairs of jeans, both to update the slightly dated jeans I'm wearing now, as well as to replace them when they finally wear out. Then there is the shirt issue. I don't really like sewing with knis as they always wind up stretched out and wonky (yes, I've tried all the tricks - ballpoint needles, walking foot, stabilizer, etc), and I have never found maternity patterns that actually fit me. I do have quite a few maternity tees, but they aren't long enough to cover the maternity panel on my jeans. I won't wear them out of the house like that, since I percieve it to be sloppy, even for my laid back tastes. I have 2 tees, 2 long sleeved tops, and one nicer black top that are all barely long enough, plus a couple of non maternity tees that are long enough, but nearly too small around lol!

My *favorite* maternity tee is a pale pink, and has been worn so much (bought when pg with Ellie) that it is stained, has a few tiny holes beginning, and is discolored from all the washings. I've determined that I'm going to have to cut it apart to create a pattern for more tees that fit right. I am going to lengthen the pattern by about 1 1/2" to give me a little better coverage, too. I've found that my torso is about 3" longer than the average that pattern designers use. That would certainly explain why I've never been happy with clothes I sewed for myself, huh? I've known this for a few years now, but hated sewing mama clothes so much that I've not taken the time to make the simple modifications so the patterns would fit. Well, I'm desperate now! I have Ottobre's women's magazines, some of which do have maternity patterns in them. However, those patterns stop about 2-3 sizes too small for me. I guess that fat is so repulsive to Europeans that they don't assume that us fat Americans might have a need for plus sized maternity clothes? Ah well, I'm not patient enough, or at all inspired to create anything right now, so there's no way I am redrafting those patterns to fit. Now that I've got a plan for the tee shirt pattern, I think I'll be fine lol!

I ordered two patterns from Blessed Designs - I highly recommend her! I haven't managed to sew them up yet, but they look great, and her shipping was so fast! I bought the Florinda skirt pattern to make up some clothes for church, and I bought her lingerie pattern so I can make my own nursing bras. I have exclusively worn "sleep bras" to nurse the last 2, and they were all made with the same surplice styling she has used in her pattern. Adding to that, she gives pattern pieces to modify the bra into a camisole or a nightgown/slip, and additional instructions for a tummy cover :o) Let me tell you - I'm *all about* not showing my belly when I have a hungry baby LOL! And I am totally looking forward to making comfy pajamas that will hold my nursing pads in place, and be able to be worn afterwards. I don't do those typical nursing pajamas or nightgowns, I usually just sleep in a nursing bra and panties. After disecting my shirt, I think I'm going to so the same to my favorite pair of lounge pants - as all of those are about 6" too short, and it would be great to have some that fit right lol! I think my fave pair is worn out enough that I can justify the sacrifice right now. I'd better cut fast before I rethink it LOLOLOL!

Anyway, back to my day. I left the mall in tears after going to Motherhood maternity, JC Penney, and Sears. JC Penney and Sears were a total bust, and Motherhood only had a few things. However, they do have a v-neck version (in a slightly brighter pink) of my favorite pink tee, which I may have to buy, depending on how my pattern turns out. I tried on some dressier pants outfits that looked horrible, as well as a couple of pairs of jeans. I love them! They fit great, maybe even a little loose, meaning I get to try on the 1X's next time I go in. However, the problem I'm having with them is that they are almost $40/pair, and Adron is insisting that this is our last kid. The thought of not having more is depressing me pretty badly, and I am struggling to justify spending more than $80 for 2 pairs of jeans that I will wear for 3 months and then that's it. Yes, I can pass them on to friends, but my best friend is about 5'2" and I'm 5'9", so our ideas of "perfect jeans" don't quite mesh LOL! IF it's long enough for me, it's going to be way too long for her. Yes, I guess it just comes down to me being cheap and feeling like buying something that is only useful for the next 3 1/2 months of my life is a waste. Maybe it's that I feel like I'm not worth it? I dunno....

Ok, so I went by Starbucks and spent Fourbucks (actually almost 5) on a venti caramel frappucino. Yummy! I totally needed something horrible for me to make me feel a little better lol! Therefore, I ordered it regular instead of light, like I would normally do on the rare occasions I am willing to spend that kind of money on a coffee drink. Headed to the grocery store after that, nothing momentus happened there, unless, of course, you feel like I do about the way groceries get bagged. I only had a few things, but the girl bagged ALL the frozen stuff TOGETHER! And then put my meat in its VERY OWN BAG! And, to top it off, she put the bread on top of the rest of the stuff =D I was nearly giddy about that! I am so sick of having my ready to eat foods put in a bag with raw meats (strawberries with a touch of salmonella, anyone?), and having bread thrown in with canned goods, or frozen and refrigerated foods just mixed together in bags with shelf stable foods. It is a huge pet peeve of mine, btw ;o)

Drove home, walked in the house, turned the oven on to warm up, then sat at the computer. Wrenching my back and straining my abs in the process. My dadgum yoga ball was waayyyy underinflated, and when I sat down, I dropped much lower than I expected. Whatever. After the oven was hot, I put pizzas in, and walked back into the living room. And promptly stepped on a needle - that went right through the sole of my tennis shoes and into the bottom of my foot! I started crying, took the shoe off, and had to get Adron to pull out the needle with pliers. I sat back down on my pitifully small ball, and realized that it must have a hole in it. I'm assuming from the same needle that poked a hole through my shoe. Now, not only do I not have a comfy chair to sit in and relax, I don't even have a chair for the computer. I am currently sitting on the floor with my keyboard on top of one of Noah's toys to make it semi-comfortable to type... Ughhhhhhhh.

Add to that, all the kids are being difficult. Madeline is refusing to do anything we've asked - mainly cleaning her room. Ellie thinks that she's too good to help Madeline, and Noah is just getting into stuff, and dragging toys all over the living room. I normally love having the Christmas tree up and don't take it down until the Epiphany (Jan 6th), but this year I'm struggling to leave it up until New Years. Adron cleaned out the garage yesterday, and had me go thrugh about8 large totes of toys. I filled up 2 lawn and leaf bags, plus a few other things that were contained well enough that we didn't bag them, and Adron took it all to Goodwill last night. We still have way too many toys, but now it's so much better. One tote with blocks and legos to rotate with the cardboard blocks we have in here now. One tote with "Little People" stuff, divided up and contained in 3 gallon ziploc bags so that we can fairly easily rotate those without bringing ALL of them out at once. Plus the tote that isn't full-full of toys I couldn't get rid of (yet). We are left with a laundry basket full of toys they play with, plus a tote holding the cardboard blocks. Oh, and Ellie's play kitchen, and Noah's play work bench. Much better!!!

I guess I've got to quit whining and help Noah - he keeps coming over saying "Help me", and "'Pider Man wikes batteries", which is just pitiful lol! I sure hope we have some batteries to make Spiderman happy LMBO!!!!!!!

Grown Up Mac & Cheese

2008-12-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

I made this for dinner tonight, and it was waaaaaaay yummy! A couple of my friends on Facebook wanted the recipe, so I figured I'd make a card to share ;o) I used the kit I made for the Faith Sisters Birthday Bash, plus a ribbon from Ashalee Wall. Enjoy - it's really quick and easy, and we had it as a main dish, but would be a great side dish, too. And for the non meat eaters, just leave out the bacon, duh lol!

Click here to download

A Belated Merry Christmas

2008-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was wonderful! It was crazy busy, hectic as anything, but the kids had a fabulous time, and we all got to enjoy time with family and friends.

I was hoping to make a pettiskirt for Ellie's Christmas present, but my machine and ruffler decided not to cooperate, so I now have miles of chiffon cut into strips, just waiting on me to find a way to ruffle it lol! Unfortunately, that left us shopping last second. Which, actually, wasn't so bad. I knew Ellie had been wanting a Disney Princess Talking Kitchen, and we found them in huge supply, on sale, and with an offer for an additional free Disney Princess Makeup Kit with the purchase =D Talk about a great deal! All the rest of the the kiddos' gifts were already bought, and I was just waiting on gifts for the grandparents to be delivered.

We did a ton of baking - I made a triple batch of cheese straws, which wasn't a bad idea in itself, but the idea to use a cookie press handed down from my great uncle probably wasn't a great choice. Man, those things are hard to use! Not *too* bad for making actual cookies, but for extruding long strips of cheese straw dough, it was HARD!!! Ouch - Audrey and I had blisters from it! Thankfully, Adron bailed us out for the last 2 sheets lol! Then, I made a batch of Millionaire cookies from a recipe I'd never used before. I wasn't thinking about the amounts used in the original recipe, and opted to double it. Yeah, that was silly! I think the original recipe was about a quadruple batch to start with!!! EEEEKKKKKK! We made 16 dozen cookies - and, man, were they good! Then, we were going to make gingerbread houses. However, I couldn't find my icing bag. I went to Hobby Lobby the morning of the 23rd, and got everything I needed, with the minor exception of boxes to wrap gifts. No problem. Came home and heated up some leftovers, and when I pulled out a plate to put them on, it dropped. I, brilliantly, tried to catch it, but it shattered when it hit the counter. That never happens! It would have been fine, except for the piece that hit my hand and left a cut that was about 1/2" long, and to the bone. Right on top of the bottom knuckle of my pinkie finger. No chance of that cut staying together and healing right. So, we were off to the Urgent Care center for a little dermabond. No biggie, but quite painful! I tried making graham cracker houses, but the graham crackers I had picked up were squares, not the double sheets I needed. Arggh! I gave up on those, and I think I might try to make them with the kids in the next few days.

Despite slicing my hand open, Tuesday was a fabulous day! My oldest sister came up to visit with her two gorgeous little ones, and my baby sister took me with her to see the Transiberian Orchestra! It was a fabulous show, and our seats were amazing! I had a great time, and think that we're going to try to go again next year lol! We wrapped presents after I got home, and went to bed a little late...

Wendesday was a bit hectic - spent most of the day at Mimi and PopPops doing the family Christmas thing, then we went home so I could get a nap before church. That was wonderful! After church, we came home, put the kiddos to bed, and got to kick back and relax! We're always up really late on Christmas Eve, putting together any gifts that need assembly and wrapping presents. Since that had all been done the night before, we got to just hang out and enjoy the evening :o)

We got up Christmas morning, and Deb came over to open presents with us and eat breakfast. After we ate, Deb and I fell asleep while Adron and the kids played Mario Cart lol! Then we headed out to Adron's parents' house. That was fun, too, and they spoiled all of us so much! After that was dinner at his aunt's house, then back home. I was so worn out that I slept the whole way home! Audrey loaned me her Twilight books, and I managed to read the 1st one before bedtime on Christmas day.

Yesterday, I read New Moon, and all but the last 100 pages of Eclipse. Audrey took Breaking Dawn with her, so I have to wait till she gets home to read it lol! I am really tempted to read the 1st 3 books again, too. I *never* re-read books, but these are just so good! I can't believe I sat there and cried most of the way through New Moon!!! Ah well, it was good, and I didn't have any mascara on, and no one but Adron and the kids to see me crying lol!

Today has been extraordinarily lazy, and nice lol! I've not done a thing, and Adron is even cooking dinner again! I'm sure tomorrow will be busier, as, at the very least, I have church in the morning.

I'll be back to post Christmas pictures once I have a chance to do a little editing (red eye removal, mostly...) and resizing for the web.... Might be next week before I make it that far, but I've got some uploaded to my Flickr and Facebook right now. Feel free to friend request me on Facebook - I update that much more frequently than I ever blog!

Muno 'targ Hero (Guitar Hero)

2008-12-27T16:12:00.001-08:00

Kids!

2008-12-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

It seems that Ellie has learned a new trick... She has discovered that when someone compliments her on her dress and she simply says, "Thank you", the conversation is over. However, if she says, "Thank you! My mommy made it!" she gets a whole lot more oohing and ahhing out of them lol! At first I was a little flattered that she was bragging on me, but I knew something had to be up. That's just not like her ;o) Then it hit me - after she tells them that I made it, they have all kinds of comments and she can engage them in an all out conversation. What a little ham!

A few photos

2008-12-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday morning to the kids fighting and tattling - and realized that I actually have a "large" family LOL! Not "large" as in having a wonderfully enormous amount of kids, but "large" as in having more than a couple of kids making annoying sounds all at once lol! Noah was screaming "Madeline bein' WUDE", Ellie was yelling about Madeline not making the cookie oatmeal that she wanted, Madeline was griping about Noah not sitting in his seat, and Audrey was screaming about missing the bus because her clothes were still wet and that she didn't have time for something. Sure, I had a headache within 5 minutes of waking up, but somehow it was a really nice sound lol! I LOVE having kids, well, at least *most* of the time, and I always wanted a bunch. I haven't ever felt like I had anything more than a rather small family until I realized that I had 4 that were big enough to fight - and tattle! LOL! Granted, I certainly don't see 4 as a particularly big family, but it's far larger than just having 2 that are fighting...! I would so love to have 8, 10, or even more, but I have a feeling that isn't in The Plan. After all, this will be my 5th c-section, and I don't know how safe it will be to have another baby after this. My OB told me after Noah that I looked fine, but I know good and well that it is just a matter of time before the tissue around the incision site becomes too thin for me to safely carry another baby. On top of that, Adron says he doesn't want any more, and has been saying this since we were pg with Max. Thankfully, he hasn't gone through with his threats of surgical sterilization, but I'm just not sure that he isn't serious about it this time. I pray that God will soften his heart, and that this won't be a decision that we have to make - rather, one that He will make for us. I do feel blessed that I have been given all of these precious children, and I am trying very hard not to take any of them for granted.

Ok, 'nuff rambling - now for some pics! First up, I've got pics of some of the 130+ bows I made for cheer competiton.

Marabou clippies for the Level 1 girls:

Cheetah inspired bows for Level 2:

Huge bows with names embroidered for Level 3:

And last, but not least, the spooky zombie cheerleader pigtails for Level 4:

And, my favorite, here are some of the Christmas outfits I made for the littles. I am LOVING the Feliz pattern! Now that I've made it once, I am sure it will go together much more quickly.

After finishing about 12 yards of ruffles for the dress, Ellie came in and informed me that she didn't want "too many" ruffles on the dress. Sighhhhhhhh.... So, I did what any good mama would do, and I reassured her that there weren't too many at all! Just one around the bottom, one on each arm, and five up the back ;o) Her response? "Oh, that sounds PERFECT!" ROFLOL! Yeah, not too many at all! I guess she just wanted some input?

I'm really loving this jonjon for Noah (is it still a jonjon if it's long pants?), as the plaid gives it a totally 70's vibe! He's so cute in it, and just loves the Santa on it. I got that Santa applique file from www.designsbyjuju.com - she's got a KILLER special going on right now, too! Buy one set, get 3 free! So for $20, I got 4 darling sets! WOOHOO! Oh, I snagged the fabric from my stash. It's not nearly as busy as I was afraid it would be lol! The lining was some fabric I picked up the other night in hopes of making a peasant top for under Ellie's Feliz. However, with not so much of the underdress fabric showing, I thought the green made it a bit dark, and just went with a white tee shirt until I can get something else. That is, if I even bother... At this point, I'm good with the tee, and she loves that Noah's outfit "matches" hers. Sure, whatever floats her boat!

I'm so sorry!

2008-12-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

I totally spaced on posting here last week!!! ACK! I *did* post to my Facebook, but that sure doesn't help here lol! Anyway, I had a great doctor's visit, and got to peek at the little one =D That was so exciting! And it looks like we are having another BOY!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! Noah gets a brother, and he looks just like Ellie! I will post u/s pics as soon as I get access to a scanner. I'm technologically impaired these days, ever since the last scanner died. Shoot, I just got a new printer after having the last one die several months ago lol!

Other than that, life has been pretty bland. I'm enjoying it, for sure though! I've got a Christmas party tonight, and I think I am going to make a Cream Puff Cake, but modify it to become an Eclair Cake lol! I suppose that means I should get the babies dressed and head to the store. I also need to get some fabric to line some new winter church clothes for Noah and Ellie. I've got a navy plaid corduroy long jonjon cut out for him, but nothing to line it with. I've also got the sweetest, softest navy/dark green fabric that I believe is a brushed twill or a very lightly napped flannel. I'm planning a yoke dress for Ellie, and wanting to find a long sleeved romper pattern for Noah. I'm also nearly done with Ellie's Christmas dress. It's a Feliz, and I am LOVING it! I finally put the ruffler attachment on my machine and last week I turned out about 12 yards of ruffles for this one dress! Of course, as I'm pressing the last ruffle, Ellie informs me that she doesn't want her Christmas dress to be "too ruffly". Arrrrggggggghhhhhh! I think she'll survive, and I'm not going to cut down on the amount of ruffles I have planned for this dress. I'm using 4 different Christmas prints, and am thrilled with the way it's looking.

Noah is torturing Ellie - I've gotta run!

I must really enjoy that burning sensation.

2008-12-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

We went to Angela's parents' house to celebrate Thanksgiving Wednesday night, then to Adrons parents' on Thursday. I had fully intended to cook a huge turkey dinner here on Friday, but it seems that it was not meant to be. First, my sister, Rebekah, had to cancel, which meant that she and my 2 youngest brothers weren't going to be able to make it. So I put off cooking the pumpkin pies. No biggie, I just thought I might skip that part and do the rest Friday morning. Well, I woke up Friday feeling quite ill. I decided to postpone the turkey dinner until Sunday so I could get some rest. By the time the girls were getting ready for the parade, I knew I was sick and couldn't make it. Thankfully, Adron took them, so I could stay home and puke. Fun stuff, huh?

I was feeling enough better on Saturday that I went ahead and went to the last Tiger football game of the year. Ugh. I felt so weak, but it was manageable as long as I was sitting down. Sunday, I woke up feeling much better, but still a bit weak, and I prepped the turkey for roasting. I headed out to church and gave Adron instructions for putting it in, and I would handle the rest when I got home. All went really well, and I put the rest of dinner together while it was cooking. I made homemade mashed potatoes, dressing, sweet potato casserole (with a YUMMY praline topping instead of the marshmallows!), gravy, and warmed some brown and serve rolls. Holy cow, that was the best darn turkey I have EVER made! I used Sandra Lee's garlic & herb butter turkey recipe from the Food Network site, and that was the moistest turkey I've ever eaten!

However, in the process of making dinner, I managed to burn myself 4 times - in 4 *different* ways! Ouch! First, I splashed a little boiling water all over both hands when I was working on the potatoes. Next, I brushed the back of my hand up against the heavy-duty aluminum foil that was covering the top of the turkey to keep it from over-browning. Yeah, I learned that unlike regular foil that doesn't hold heat worth ANYTHING, the heavy duty stuff hangs onto that heat and is more than happy to share lol! After that, I (for some unknown reason) left the thermometer *in* the turkey when I checked it for the last time, and let it cook for another 30 minutes. Lemme tell you - that was HOT when I tried to pull it out! Blisters on 3 fingertips right then and there. After that, I was putting the rolls in the oven, and pushed the side of my right index finger right against the oven rack, thinking it was the edge of the cookie sheet. I feel like a complete genius right now, but at least I came up with a variety of ways to abuse myself ROFLOL!

I've not really been feeling like myself for several days now, and all that unusual clumsiness in the kitchen makes me think that I may be having a harder time recovering from that stomach bug than I had thought. I'm drained today, and have just wanted to sleep all day - not that the kids let me lol!

I'm outta here for now - my big ultrasound is on Wednesday and I am totally looking forward to seeing the baby!!!

Yeah, I really should be doing other things right now...

2008-11-18T05:55:00.001-08:00

But a girl's gotta eat breakfast, right? I'm still half asleep, my eyes aren't quite focusing yet, and I'm working on my 2nd bowl of "cookie cereal". Hey, it's not 8 yet and I'm awake, which is a huge deal these days! My parents and 2 baby brothers are coming up to visit today, and my house is such a mess! I honestly think it takes something like this to spur me into action. We really should have people over more often - not just people who know me and understand my limitations, but people who will judge me for the way I do things. Thankfully, the big girls helped last night before they went to bed, so I've got a running start :o) I have to finish straightening up the living room and vacuum, then I need to sweep the entryway and kitchen. After that, I'm vacuuming the stairs and cleaning my bathroom. I HATE living in a messy house, but once it builds up, it's so hard to get everything back to where it should be. Anyway...

Yesterday was a rough one. It started off just fine, but as the day went on, it got insane. I started by making a massive batch of granola. The kids go through about $10 in cereal ever week or so, and it's making me crazy! On top of that, they won't eat the "good for you" stuff, so it just sits here and eventually finds its way into the garbage after Noah dumps it all over the kitchen, or the bag gets thrown on the floor, and dirty laundry gets put on top of it. I know, this is me not being on top of things, but I can only do so much. I made the granola in the hopes that the girls might eat it, keeping them from whining about having to make cream of wheat, grits, or oatmeal every morning. So far, it seems to be a hit! Noah is calling it "cookie cereal", and is eating his 3rd serving (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup each)! Ellie ate it and says she likes it, Audrey wanted it for a snack when she got home yesterday, and Madeline is okay with eating it, despite the nuts. Sounds like we have a winner!

Sometime during the granola making process, Audrey called wanting me to bring her dress and tights for Latin dance club, as they were supposed to be taking pictures yesterday. Around 2:15, she called again, totally freaked that I hadn't made it up there yet. It's hard enough to get the kids out of the house in the 1st place, but anything before 1 is really pushing it for us! On top of that, Ellie, for whatever reason, decided to take a nap yesterday! She takes about 2 naps a month, so I try really, really hard not to wake her up when she does. I did finally have to wake her around 3 so we could pick Audrey up from dance. I'm pretty sure that Audrey has been mad at me for a couple of weeks now, but whatever. It's my job to parent, not to please. And right now, my parenting skills are being stretched very thin as all the kids seem to be in a very needy state.

After we got home from picking Audrey up, I had her start thawing some chicken breasts for dinner, and I took about a 30 minute nap. I made homemade chicken pot pie, but I was out of all-purpose flour, and the crust turned out to be more biscuit like. That was fine, it tasted great, but while I was making it, the big girls started fighting. Being stressed beyond belief, I told them to go fight somewhere else where I didn't have to hear it. Audrey started arguing with me, and I totally flipped out. Lovely. We wound up eating dinner about an hour later than I planned b/c it took so long to deal with the girls. Grrrrrrrr! So much for getting Christmas shopping done last night. I tried telling Adron that I'm losing my mind, that I just need to get out of the house and relax, and I need some adult conversation. So, being the helpful husband he can be, he picked up his guitar hero game and went back to playing it for the next hour, without a word to me. Sighhhhhh.... What do I have to do to get a break!!! Tonight is a PTA meeting - not a break, Saturday we went shopping - not a break, last Tuesday was my smocking guild meeting - still not really a break. I want some down time. AWAY from the kiddos. I really do enjoy them, and love being a full-time mom, but everyone has to have some time away from their job, right? I don't know what to do. I think I'm a better mom when I get some real "me" time, and get to go out with friends. I honestly don't know when I last went out with a friend and no kids. Adron throws a fit when I want to leave in the evening, but I really can only handle so much guitar hero, and listening to the kids fight.

Ellie is another story alltogether. Honestly, there is some type of noise (talking, humming, screaming, etc) coming out of her mouth approximately 50 minutes out of every hour during the day. I don't think Adron believes me. She has an attention span that is about 3 minutes long, she's constantly moving, messing with Noah, yelling about things not going her way, or just talking my head off. It's stressful. I enjoy her, but there's a limit to what I can take. Is it wrong to be looking forward to putting her in kindergarten next fall??? She is moodier than Audrey, and it's making me crazy! We really have to walk on eggshells around her so we don't set her off. When she has a meltdown, about 3-5 of them on normal days, it lasts a very long time, and there is no reasoning with her. She will sit upstairs and howl for an hour straight.

Noah is a snuggle bug. He's not challenging, just needy. Not a bad thing, really - at least someone around here likes me LOL! But it is still very physically and emotionally demanding. Good stress is still stress. I do love that when I tell him I need to go to the bathroom, he immediately gets off of me so I can go, and doesn't pitch a fit about it like he does when I leave the room for any other reason ;o)

It's been a quiet morning so far. The tv isn't on yet, and I'm liking that! Ellie is upstairs in her room talking to goodness only knows who/what, Noah is now on his 5th bowl of granola, and I haven't accomplished a thing. Unless, of course, you count this as "doing something" lol!

Back to work - I started a little bit of digital scrapbooking last night, but I don't know if I like it. My mojo is sooooo gone. Ah well, I'll post it later and let you be the judge :)

As promised :o)

2008-11-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the outfit I made for Darby - I know her mommy said *she* liked it, but I'm hoping that Darby does, too... The fur cuffs were a total PITA! But not so bad that I wouldn't make 'em again lol!

I finally finished up Noah's monogrammed jonjon, too! I didn't have a chance to make the shirt to go underneath it, so I just used a polo shirt. Not sure I'm liking it, but I'd rather him wear it that for it to sit in the sewing room waiting on a shirt until he outgrows it. I suppose that is the problem with monogrammed clothing, huh! LOL! I don't know why I don't do more monogrammed things - not like jonjons and jumpers are hard to make, or take much fabric. I suppose I like to pass things down, and I can't if it has a name/monogram on it. Then I wonder why I care? Ah well, we all have our quirks ;o) Please ignore the bedhead - I always have the girls brush his hair in the car on the way to church, plus it was really windy Sunday! It was really cute - we were about to leave and I told Noah that he looked very handsome, and he ran to the door, squealing "Pictures! Pictures!" ROFLOL! Boy, does he know me well!

I am soooooooooooo craving Mexican food! Particularly enchiladas from Jaliscos, a local taqueria with the most amazing food, and the family that owns it is wonderful! Vanessa, the manager, is so incredibly friendly and funny, and her mother owns it. They have an all you can eat menu where they cook everything to order. It is so delicious! The babies and I went yesterday, and I had a beef taco, a chicken taquito, and 3 beef enchiladas. YUM!!!! That gravy they make is totally TDF!!! I sat there and thought about it all afternoon yesterday, and woke up thinking about it today. I'm not sure that's a good thing lol! I'm thinking it's time to make up a big pot of jambalaya and see if Vanessa *really* wants to swap food =D I mean, she said she likes Cajun and would be willing to trade. I wonder how many enchiladas (or how much of the gravy lol!) I could get for a pot of jambalaya...

Back again

2008-11-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, this week hasn't been quite what I was hoping it would be, but it's been fun lol! I haven't had a chance to clean anything in the sewing room since last Thursday, but it's so much more bearable now. I am starting to suspect that the next chance I have to work on it will be the week of Thanksgiving, when Adron has his next week of vacation. If I can only work on it when he's off, then I should be able to have it done by New Years =D That is really exciting to me!

Tonight and tomorrow, I have a retreat at church. I am really excited about it! Adron has to take Audrey to her dad tomorrow, so I will take the babies to church with me so he can take the little car and save a ton on gas. I'm so glad they have babysitting available! The retreat is over at 2, with Q&A until 4, so I'm thinking I'll get a chance to sew for a second tomorrow evening. We are going to a birthday party Sunday afternoon, and I'm making a spinny skirt and fur-cuffed appliqued tee for the princess. I made a skort and tee for her sister's birthday this summer, and I thought this would be a good follow-up lol! I'm in love with the fabrics I picked - I was going for a Christmasey theme, but didn't want it to be red and green, so I went with pink, lime, and black, and it's perfect! I went out on a limb and am using a black tee to go with it and I can't wait to see how it turns out! I promise I'll take pictures and share 'em lol!

Halloween was a blast! Audrey is taking Latin dance classes at school, so she wore her performance outfit. She looked absolutely beautiful, but I really didn't get a picture of her in all her glory :o( Madeline was a "Goth Vampiress" (ummmm.... isn't that kind of a redundant title???), and her costume was a real, honest to goodness, store-bought costume. Easy peasy! Ellie wanted to be an Indian Princess (not the kind with feathers, though, mommy), and we had a really pretty Indian top here already. I made a scarf to drape over her shoulder, and created my own pants pattern to go under the top. I found some cute curly-toe shoes at Dollar Tree, and she wore them over her tennis shoes. Noah was a magician - black tee, black sweats, black Converse high tops, top hat, gloves, and a cape. I made the cape, and he hated it! I had to sew it to the shirt for the evening so he wouldn't keep pulling it off lol! He refused to wear the hat and gloves for any length of time, but being the ham that he is, he let me take pictures of him in his full garb.... Boys! Do you know that it is nearly impossible to find a plain ol' magician's wand without going to a magic store? Yeah, I learned the hard way lol! Why do I always pick costumes that don't really exist?

Anyway, here are some pictures from Halloween - we went to curch for a party, and had a fabulous time! Micah, the pastoral assistant/youth leader, set up a fabulous scavenger hunt that the kids loved! He had coloring pages, saints stories, bobbing for apples, face painting, and some other games. The babies were so worn out, but no one wanted to leave!

I forgot to mention that we got a new computer! Ours totally died last Wednesday, so Friday night, Adron got us a new one :o) It's awesome to be back to normal lol! Unfortunately, I am having to take everything of the 750G external drive that appears to be defunct. Grrrrrrrrrr!

Sewing Room, Day 4

2008-10-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Anne - honey, you can come shopping in my sewing room any time you'd like! LOL! I would be more than happy to have you over! Too bad it would be an impossible drive :p ROFLOL! How 'bout a transcontinental ferry???

I had study group at church last night, and left a bit early so I could swing by Hancocks. I salvaged about 10-15 more bolts, and bought some fabric. I know, I know - it's for Ellie's Halloween costume, though, and I'm going to have to get to my cutting table AND sewing machine today! EEK! It's not that bad, though ;o) LOL! I found a gorgeous embroidered taffeta Indian top, and she needs some pants to go with it. Oh, and a scarf - I promise I'll take pictures lol!

Today, I started on the big pile of misc. stuff. OMGoodness! It is a huge tangle of fabric, elastic, ribbon, thread, pattern pieces, half-done projects, and assorted notions. I managed to fill a giant lawn and leaf bag before the garbage truck came WOOHOO!!! Now my pile of fabric has grown again, and I'm slightly overwhelmed lol! I've got tons of scraps, perfect for quilting (which I don't do), or applique, and I'm gonna have to go through them all. Some are destined for the trash, some for Stacey who requested them ;o), some for me, and the rest, I suppose will be up for grabs... I have a distinct feeling that there is going to be a good bit of stuff I'm getting rid of lol! I still have 3 totes of fabric, but I'm pretty sure that they are fairly small pieces, too. Ugh. I really don't want to deal with them! Maybe if I bag 'em and bring them downstairs to work on while Noah is destroying the house, it won't be so bad. Did I mention that I found more big pieces of fabric, so I still need even more bolts than I did yesterday afternoon? Sheesh! This is ridiculous! I've got to get this fabric addiction under control! I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of it is due to my disorganiziation. I tend to buy things over and over when I can't find what I already have. Usually, if it's consumable in some way, that's not too big of a deal. But when you have more than 3 of the same size pintuck presser feet, there's a problem...

On happier things, I've been plotting what I'm going to do once I get it all cleaned up ;o) So far, I am planning to get 2 of the 8 foot plastic tables from Costco. One will be for my machines (and I may get a 4 ft. one to make an L-shaped work area, if there's room), and the other will get a plywood top to make my cutting table/ironing board. I'm planning to add 1x2s around the underneath edges of the plywood to keep it from sliding around on the table. Then I would like to cover it with a layer of low-loft batting (and/or Thinsulate), a layer of felt, and finally, stretch canvas over it and use a laundry marker to draw on a grid. That will eliminate the need for a seperate ironing board, but I will still need a sleeve board to get small areas. That presents the issue of what to do with my iron when it's not in use, as I'm planning to put the cutting table in the middle of the room so I can walk around it. I'm also planning to use bed risers, or something like that, to make it the right height for me. I would like to build some narrow shelves on the sides of my "window seat" area, and I can get cloth bins to store my patterns and put them there. I would also like to make a cushion for the seat part, just 'cause I can lol! The two tables will allow me to eliminate the ironing board,
my grandmother's ginormous buffet that is currently my cutting table, the desk that my sewing machine and embroidery machine are on, and the sewing table that the serger is on. It will also allow me to set up my "cheapie" machine as a full-time ruffler!

I had Adron pick up a couple boxes of gallon zipper bags to store incomplete projects. My goal is going to be to complete 5 a month until they are done. Right now, I have no idea how many there are, but I would have to say it's upwards of 50!!! That's crazy!!!!!!! Hmmmmmm.... maybe I'll give away UFOs here, along with scraps LOL!

Note: I typed this yesterday, then went back upstairs to work a bit more before I actually published this post. Wellllllll...... I *did* get a lot accomplished, but while I was upstairs, our computer died. I don't mean crashed, burped, or whatever. No, it is DEAD! I don't think the HD was affected, so I should be able to retrieve everything we had on there, even though it was backed up through Mozy. That might explain why it thought all my digiscrapping files on the external HD were gone. I'm crossing my fingers that this was the case!!!

On sewing room news, I managed to go through the entire pile of misc junk, and threw away one kitchen bag, and 3 large Hancock's bags full of garbage! I haven't even started on the mountain of fabric that is taking up a huge chunk of floor space LOL! There is also still a ton of stuff over in the paper crafting area, most of it belongs to that craft, but I know there is sewing stuff mixed in, as well. Then, I went through ALL of my ribbon, and wound 120 clothes pins, and Audrey was helping wind larger yardages onto empty ribbon spools. I don't have more than 5 yards of anything, I don't think, so storage is relatively easy. Right now, the spools take up 3 of my korker dowels, which are about 18" long, and I've got about 200 total clothespins wound with ribbon that are all in a box now, until I can get storage jars for them. Did I mention that the Linens-N-Things down the street is going out of business? Maybe I should go check that out!

I have a gallon ziplock stuffed with narrower satin ribbons (from 1/16" to 3/8"), and I know I'm never going to use them, so if there is anyone out there that wants them, let me know, and they are yours for shipping :o)

In addition to the ribbon taming, I also started bagging and tagging my UFOs. As of now, I have 34 bags with projects in them, for a total of 40 projects. There are some projects sitting on my cutting table, a few are mixed in with the fabric, and a few more are in bags with the pattern I was using on them. I'm hoping that there aren't more than about 10 UFOs left to bag! On the bright side, a lot of them are nearly done, just need buttons or neck binding =)

Today's mission is to clear off that cutting table so I can make Ellie's Halloween costume - sewing time on that should be less than an hour from cut to press ;o)

I'm not sure how long it will be before we have a computer again, or how often I can borrow this one, but I'll check back as often as possible - keep your fingers crossed that we can find an awesome new machine for an awesome price!

Day 3 of Sewing Room Clean-up

2008-10-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm tired - not much of a post now, but here's what I've accomplished since the last post. I emptied out the china cabinet and put my diaper sewing supplies in it. Here is the china cabinet in all its glory.

I salvaged some more bolts from Hancocks (they really look at me funny when I go in asking for the empty bolts. "You mean the cardboards? How many? Really??? Well, you can sure have them - we just throw them away." Every time.), wrapped up more fabric, but still need about another 30-40 more. Sheesh! Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, I find more fabric lol! On the left, I have the purple french terry I mentioned yesterday, a couple of misc fabrics, suedecloth, minkee, fleece, sherpa, my amazing vintage floral, a sheer, some corduroy, a lovely navy and tan plaid silk suiting, and a cotton print.

I also piled some more on top - minkee and fleece, plus some knits and wovens in the back, then more knits up front. Yesterday, Ellie went "shopping" in my sewing room and was pointing out all the fabrics she loves lol! Thankfully, it is most of them ;o) You see the white velour with the pink floral print? That is another PRR that I'm really thinking about using to make a hooded cape for Ellie - but I'm not sure there's enough. The white with red hearts is destined to be another Olivia with short sleeves, black long sleeves, hood, and pocket. Cute with black leggings ;o)

I also wrapped smaller pieces on the comic book boards, and here's what I've got so far.

New Grosgrain Giveaway!

2008-10-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

You have totally got to see this one, too! 3 darling reversible skirts, 3 adorable reversible shirts - and they are all just too cute for words!!!

In addition, she is opening a store in the very near future - I can't wait!

Sewing room cleaning, days 1 & 2

2008-10-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics for you! First up, we have part of the stuff I threw out yesterday. More went, but it was taken outside before I got a picture ;o)

Next up are pics from today. I spent a couple of hours putting fabric on bolts or comic book boards. Here are the tall bolts - the 1st layer... On the left, I have twill and denim, assorted stuff in the middle, and knits on the right - from the solid grey fabric on. Right next to the grey is one of my favorite fabrics ever! It is a white on white dyeable stripe. I used it to mkae an outfit for Noah when he was a newborn :o)

Striped Ottobre zipper. Lesson learned while making this one - NEVER put an invisible zipper in something that is made of a striped knit... I honestly spent 3-4 hours on that darn zipper! This one little unsuspecting outfit is truly my sewing masterpiece - the stripes match at every seam with the exception of the crotch gusset which is really pretty unmatchable lol!

But I digress lol! Here is the 2nd layer of bolts. There is some upholstrey weight on the left, then some corduroy and terry cloth, then baby fabrics, blue, red, and purple gingham sheer (voile maybe?), cotton prints, and the last 7 bolts on the left are flannel. The 1st flannel, the turquoise print, has tinkerbell on it, and it's another of my absolute favorite fabrics! I am planning to line a pink velour jacket with it for Ellie =D

I ran out of bolts to roll my fabric on, but I still had a mountain of stuff staring at me! So, I rolled up the knits until I can get by Hancock's. This pile starts with french terry at the bottom - I bought it natural for $1/yd at Walmart, and felt the extreme urge to dye it! I dyed some pink, some blue, and there is a bolt that has about 8 yards of purple on it, but it's on the other side of the room right now. On top of that, I have my solid knits, then my prints. I adore the PRR citrus print with the coordinate stripe - I'll have to see if I can find a pic of Ellie in the outfit I made from it several years ago. Then random knits lol!

Last, but not least, you have the back stack containing some baby sherpa, my chenille, and yet another favorite fabric. The blue and green floral print came from my great aunt and is only about 32" wide. I am in love with it, but knowing that it's vintage makes me hesitant to cut into it! Maybe a sling for the new baby?

And I guess that's it for now. Audrey and I made meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes for dinner and I am STARVING!!!!!

Spring, errr, FALL Cleaning!

2008-10-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

I went upstairs this morning to sew. I, as usual, unlocked the door and was completely overwhelmed by how messy my craft room is! There are just paths from the door to the sewing machine, and from the sewing machine to the ironing board. There is so much stuff on the floor that I have to kick things out of my way just to iron! I can't even get to my paper crafting area at all! It's a horrific mess, and I can't stand it!!!!! I learned a while back that all that mess totally saps my creativity, and I've made a couple of valiant attempts at cleaning it up. Then, after an afternoon or two devoted totally to the sewing room, I give up and put it off again. Now that I'm feeling the 2nd trimester, I am bound and determined to clean it up, once and for all. This is where you, my wonderful blog friends, come in :o) I need you to hold me accountable for making steady progress on the room. I have already committed to not sewing anything until I get it under control, but that plan has (clearly) failed me in the past LOL!

So far today, I have managed to throw out a large box of random pattern pieces, a kitchen garbage bag of scraps (the unusable kind), pattern tracings, and other assorted junk, along with a broken baby gate and another small (grocery) bag of junk. Hmmmm - I really should take a picture of what I'm throwing out, just to document my progress! I have pics of the mess from the past, but I'm not posting those! I am not one to be embarrassed, but this mess is so out of control that I can't bring myself to show it. Hmmmm - maybe I will post before and after pictures when I'm done? That might be entertaining...

Right now, I have a bunch of great ideas for organizing the room on a budget, but I'm really hurting for storage space. I've got a good sized china cabinet that I need to empty out and that might be usable. It's a really old one, and has no glass - just wood doors. I think I like that! Right now, it is full of cheap picture frames, some glassware, my grandmother's journals, and other random junk. I know that I haven't used anything in it at least since we moved here, if not before. We bought this house in March '03 - if I haven't touched it in 5 years, something needs to be done with it! I'm really not sure it would be a good place to store my fabric, as the wood would probably damage it, but I think I can make it work for my notions, patterns, yarn, and who knows what else! I have a bunch of empty bolts that I've gotten from the fabric store, and I've worked on putting my large pieces of fabric on them. Right now, there are quite a few done and standing neatly against the wall in 2 different places, but there is a ton of fabric that still needs to be done. I've been putting the smaller (less than 2 yds.) pieces on comic book boards, and that is really nice. I started that a couple years ago, but am still a long way from done. On a side note, while trying to find the link showing how to fold the fabric, I ran across this link on sewing room organiziation! Holy cow! I am a fan!!! Not that I am really going to follow all the suggestions there, but it's great inspiration!

My chicken pot pies are done, and I'm going to get back to organizing after I eat :o) Did you know that 1 Banquet chicken pot pie contains 850 mg sodium - 35% of your USRDA!!! Ack!!!!!!

Can't sleep...

2008-10-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

I wish I knew what was wrong with me, but I have no idea lol! I've been icky (think flu-like) for the past 4-5 days, but that's not it. Noah has been running a fever of 104 since last night - thankfully, Motrin is helping. I am so tired, but my mind is just whirring.

While trying to get to sleep, I started thinking about old friends. I tried in vain to find them on Facebook, but I just keep hoping that someday soon they will reappear out of the blue :) I'm totally missing the two Gingers that I got to know in 2001 when we were planning our weddings. The three of us met online at Wedding Channel, and got married over 3 weekends. I actually got to meet one of them around the time I had Max! Maybe it was that fall? I just can't remember right now. Then there is an old friend that I haven't talked to since Ellie was born. I think. He's a local radio guy, and he and his wife are just amazing! I really want to find him, too!!! Another one is a wonderful, wonderful woman I met on Ovusoft, right around the time we got pregnant with Max. She always remembered his birthday, but we lost touch a couple years ago. At one point, for his birthday, she sent me the most gorgeous bracelet with his name on it. Rivka, if you read this, I want you to know that I love you and miss you dearly, and that bracelet is probably my most prized possession!

In the past, I might have wondered what it was about being pg that makes me so sentimental. Now, I know that I associate all of these amazing people with the part of my life that included Max. I feel so blessed to have recently found several other friends that I had been missing, who I also got to know during that time. But that in itself is almost bittersweet... I'm SO glad to see them again, and am LOVING getting to catch up, but it just keeps bringing back memories that I kinda like to shelve while I'm pg. Oh, heck with that - I always like to shelve them, but when I'm pg, I'm just more emotional when they surface. Needless to say, the past several days have had me in tears about Max more times than I can remember. I haven't missed him this deeply since we had Ellie and she kind of helped fill that Max-shaped hole in my heart. Or maybe even since his 2nd birthday, when he was all but forgotten by so many people. Not the ones that matter, just the ones who were on the outskirts of my life.

I had such a wonderful pregnancy with Max! I was part of a fabulous online group, and several of us had babies around the same time. We used to chat almost every day, and it was so much fun! I was so full of joy and hope for the sweet baby I was carrying, and so full of plans for his future. I wondered what he would look like, what color hair he would have, if any, and I even prayed that he would have beautiful brown eyes, just like his daddy. Everything was so perfect then! We bought our house when I was 7 months pg, and I painted nearly the entire insides of the house in the 2 weeks between closing and moving in. I set up a beautiful nursery for him, and my MIL bought him a gorgeous crib. I found the sweetest Noah's Ark bedding, and sewed a coordinating extra long dust ruffle that touched the ground when the mattress was at it's highest level. I also made a crib organizer, a memo board, and pads for my rocking chair. I smocked a sweet daygown for him, we shopped for baby Raiders things when we got to go to Oakland the fall I got pg with him. I bought a moses basket and made a liner for it - with little cars and trucks all over it. I sewed cloth diapers for him, that he actually got to wear a few times. I dreamed about him, thought about him during the day, and thought it was downright hillarious that his 3rd birthday was 6-6-06!

Then he was born, and before we knew what happened, he left us. Oh, the memories of that day! I can't stand to think about it right now! It is all way too vivid! The worst part was having to tell everyone. All my online friends found out either in chat or by email, or from the journal I was posting in back then. When I got pg with Ellie, I still visited my Chatties some, but it was so tough. Not long after I had her, I totally stopped chatting with my friends. You know, the people who had been there and had shown us so much love throughout all of this. Rivka sent things several times over the next few years, and each time I wrote a tear-stained thank you note that never made it to the mail. I know I was a pretty bad friend, but as I'm finding each of these amazing ladies, they have acted like it was nothing.

Noah isn't sleeping well tonight, either. I hear him upstairs in his room, moving around, occasionaly calling for Mama, or for one of his sisters, and knocking on the door. I just want to go up there and grab him and hug him tightly. I hate knowing that he's sick, and seeing those little red cheeks just makes me melt! I want to go upstairs and kiss all my babies, but I know that would just wake up Madeline, and would keep Noah from going back to sleep. They are my light sleepers. Ellie and Audrey would have no clue that I had even come up there lol! Now Adron is awake, wondering where I am, and I really should go back to bed. But my brain is running a mile a minute. I can't lie down and be still. My eyes refuse to close. My pillow is worthless. I want a mattress that isn't so old and worn out. I have stuff to do tomorrow. I need to find a way to get rid of the kids for a day so I can fulfill an obligation to recruit 40+ judges for a project at Madeline's school. Just people in the community, businesses, etc., but I have no idea how to get that many people. So I probably should send out an email to our awesome PTA board and see if any of them can help. I need to type up the minutes from tonight's meeting. I can't make it to the membership function we are having tomorrow, and I'm the membership chair. I am sure that someone I really like really hates me right now, and I don't know how to fix it. Nor do I know if I really care. Well, I do, but enough to worry about it? Obviously so. I have a meeting with Audrey's teachers on Thursday morning, and I need someone to watch the babies so Adron can be there to back me up. I'm totally stressed about the meeting, and I really hate that school. I don't want to send Madeline there next year. For that matter, I don't know where Audrey is going to go next year, as the high school we are zoned for is horrible!!! Saturday is the Tiger's homecoming, and not only did our mascot die last week, but we are also playing a pretty good team. That stinks. My computer seems to think that my 750 gig external HD is empty. All my digital scrapbooking stuff is on there. I have no idea what do to fix the situation. And about 52 other things running through my brain along with all of these.

And I wonder why I can't sleep...

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

Holy cow!!! Have you been over to see this FABULOUS gown being given away? It is breathtaking! Go check it out - NOW!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Be back soon with more sewing *I* have accomplished =D

Kitty Olivia

2008-10-19T19:49:00.001-07:00

Not much of a post here, but I finally finished the Olivia I had cut out weeks ago, and here it is! We were actually on our way to go buy her some leggings to go under it - it's kinda naked-ey looking without them lol! I came to the conclusion that it is not worth my time and energy (and fabric costs!) to sew basic leggings - only if they are a coordinating fabric that I can't just buy off some rack somewhere =D Oh, and I modified the hood to make it a spiral instead of knotted. I found the instructions on www.sewingmamas.com - Oceanna was the creator!

Wow! 2 days in a row!!!

2008-10-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't have much time last night, so I just posted that qute (before I lost it lol). But I have pics from Noah's birthday party, as well as a few other random things :o) So here I am again!

Noah says the cutest things - right now, he's always saying "Hey Eh-nor!" and "Hey! Where's my wubbie? Oh! Dear it is!" and "Awwww maaaaaan! Noah wanna watch Gabba!" He has started singing all kinds of songs, and yesterday, he was trying to tell knock knock jokes! I just want to squish him - he's sooooo stinkin' cute! What am I talking about - I DO squish him all day long, and I love every second of it ;o)

Ok, now for his birthday lol!

I always make Ellie a dress or an outfit for her birthday. I made 2 outfits for Noah's birthday last year, but I hadn't made him anything this year. While sewing the other day, I ran across a piece of knit with cars on it, and thought it was perfect! So, Tuesday morning, I took it downstairs to show to Noah, and he snatched it right out of my hands. I knew we had a winner! I decided to make a curved raglan from Ottobre 3/2006, but the smallest size they had was a 104, or about a 5T. Not gonna happen - Noah is about an 86, but I tend to make 92s for grow room now. Well, I decided that by not adding seam allowances, that 104 would size down perfectly to a 92. And it did! Here is the result:

Sorry - he was being so *boy* that I had to show more than one picture lol!

Anyway, we took him to Chili's for dinner, which was a blast. I have issues with their call ahead system, though - I called, told them I had a party of 14, and requested Jay as our server. They told me that in order to have a specific server, I had to show up 20-30 minutes early. Ok, I can do that, with the added bonus of them listening to my kids scream for the entire wait. Whatever. When we got there, the restaurant was nearly empty, so they set our tables up right away and seated us. Aweseome! Unfortunately, Boots and Greg were both working, and they were running a little late getting there. So, Noah started getting cranky (and he won't eat tortilla chips, the little heathen!), so Greg and Angela gave him one of his presents to open early. His face was so precious! He was squealing about it being "Yea-go!" (Diego), and happily played with the toys until Deb and Boots got there a few minutes later. Sweet. Then we ordered, but being a large order, it took a little bit for it to come out. Everything was good, but Noah just picked at his burger. Ah well, not like the kid needs "real" food anyway, right? LOL!

Then we had Jay bring out the cake. I made an ice cream cake - it was more of a Picasso than a Rembrandt, but it tasted great! I used rocky road ice cream, which Noah loved! I tried to light the candles, and Noah was blowing them out faster than I could work lol! I finally gave the lighting job to Adron so I could take pics ;o)

After we finally got him to quit blowing, he opted to stick his fingers in the flame. Thankfully it wasn't for long, and he just pouted for few minutes.

Here's the cake:

Before the cake came out, Noah got to start opening the rest of his presents. First up was Thomas from Mimi and PopPop. Oh, wow! It was a hit! He wouldn't take his had off of it for anything, either!

Then, Greg and Angela gave Noah a brand new lovie :o) We laughed so hard at him - he started to open the package, saw the satin edge, and promptly pushed the package away while trying to tape it back up!!! I think he knew that if he pulled that lovie out, it would wind up right up his nose, and his eyes would start to get heavy lol! So, we set it aside and let him finish opening his gifts. Once he was done, I pulled out his old lovie while trying to find his baby wipes, and he pushed the old one away and asked for the new one. It was so sweet! He hugged it right to himself, laid his head down on the table and closed his eyes. For exactly .53 seconds lol! Then he just held onto it and went right back to playing lol!

Ellie didn't make it as far as the cake - poor kid crashed after she ate her corn dog...

And on a random note, I had extra cake batter after baking the cake layer for the ice cream cake. I figured cupcakes would be a perfect use for this =D Noah had picked out the cupcake papers and the sprinkles when we went to the store that morning. Not like you can really tell, but the purple ones are Eeyore, orange is Tigger, yellow is Pooh, and the pink ones are Piglet.

I think that is enough for now - I will try to get back in the next couple of days with other pictures :o)

Found it!!!

2008-10-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, *I* didn't actually find it, but our amazing pastoral assistant had another copy left over from last week, and he let me have it =D So, without further adieu, here is the quote that has totally impacted my life for the past week!

I am fairly certain that this is St. Maximos the Confessor.

He who loves God, lives an Angel's life on earth, fasting, and being vigilant, praising God and praying, having kind thoughts about every human being.

He who loves God does not inflict grief on anyone, and he himself doesn't feel aggrieved over temporary things. He inflicts grief and is aggrieved only with that redeeming sorrow about which the Apostle Paul wrote and who aggrieved the Corinthians, being aggrieved himself (2 Cor. 2:4).

He that loves something, will attemt to secure it in every way possible, setting aside anything that impedes its possession. Likewise, a person that loves God is concerned about having pure prayers, and banishes every passion that is an impediment to him.

If you hate some people, treat some indifferently and greatly love the others, then you should conclude from this how distant you are from complete love, which induces a person to love everyone equally.

Absolute love does not differentiate between even one personal characteristic in human beings but loves all people equally. It treats kind people as friends, and the unkind, as enemies (in accordance with the commandments), doing good to them and patiently enduring everything that is inflicted by them - not only refraining from responding with evil for evil, but through necessity, suffering for them so that as far as possible, to make them your friends. Likewise, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, revealing His love toward us, suffered for the whole humanity and gave all of us the one hope of resurrection. Incidentally, every person makes himself worthy of either glory or sufferings of hell.

He who is inquisitive about other people's sins, or through suspicions judges his brother, has not laid even the beginnings of repentance and is not attempting to recognize his personal sins, which are truly heavier than a massive lead weight. He doesn't know why a person should "love worthlessness and seek falsehood?" (Psalms 4:2-3). That is why, having forgotten about his personal sins, he wanders in the darkness like a senseless individual, concerned about others' real or imaginary ones.

I'm a genius...!

2008-10-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

So I totally forgot to post pics of my finished gnomes jonjon! I took pics of Noah in it 2 weeks ago, but forgot to upload the pics until today! I really like how it turned out - I still need to finish the one that I was talking about being nearly done - A MONTH AGO!!! Argh! I'm such a bum these days! Noah is so proud of being able to wink, but I was having a hard time snapping a pic as fast as he did it. The little scrunchy faces he was making are just so sweet though :o)

Strange - these pics are pretty blurry/grainy, too. I'm so gonna have to figure out what I'm doing wrong! Maybe I'm just trying to take pics too early in the day - ya know, before I am really awake lol...

Hooray!

2008-10-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

I've finally gotten something finished! I completed Ellie's Anna dress - and we love it! I am having a lot of issues with it slipping around on her, though. I think the corduroy doesn't have enoug friction with the lining fabric, and it made me nutty all day. I have, however, devised a solution. As I made this one to be worn only one way, I am going to add snaps to the sides. If I wanted it to be able to be worn both ways, this wouldn't be as practical, but it'll work on this one. It's really making me rethink my plans for more corduroy Annas for this fall :o( I also have been having issues with getting a good picture of it - has being pregnant made me forget how to get clear pics? Or is it just that the lighting outside today was wrong? I took some more pics tonight, but had to retake them several times just to get a non-fuzzy shot of the front of the dress...

I've really been going back and forth as to what type of content I want to put in this blog. My faith is incredibly important to me, but I know that I have stopped reading some blogs when the owner went bananas and was talking WAY too much about religion. Then again, those were supposed to be "crafting" blogs of different sorts, and the religion being touted was not even close to mine. One, actually, I stopped reading because they were bashing several religions, and different Christian denominations, which is absolutely uncalled for, in my opinion. I also take issue with people spouting political stuff that doesn't really fit in with the rest of the blog. However, as this is my personal blog, not intended to be professional in any way, I think the rules are a little different. I'm still not going to post political views, as I feel that is a very foolish reason to run people off, and I like my friends here in blog land ;o) Since faith is such an integral part of my life, I feel I would be doing *myself* a disservice by not talking about it when it applies to what's going on in my life. I will say that I am in no way judging people whose beliefs are different from mine, and that I'm very happy to know what my friends believe! I think that sharing only strengthens everyone, and allows ME to be educated on things I know very little about.

So, anyway, I've been going to a study group at my church and it has really challenged and inspired me! Most of it is WAAAAAYYYYYY over my head, but this past week we were studying St. Maximos the Confessor, and there was a quote on the sheet that really struck me. Unfortunately, I can't find the handout from that night, and I can't seem to find the quote online, either. I guess I'm left with the option to summarize what impressed me so much. I doubt if it will come across as intensely as it struck me, but here goes.

Basically, St. Maximos said that if your *truly* love God, you won't worry about what other people are doing, you will focus on Him alone, and not be involved in anyone's business. No judging others, no worrying about what they do. That really, really hit me because I always get so caught up in what everone else has going on. Worrying about how other people are harming themselves, but refusing to work on what I should be doing. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized that I obviously do not love God the way I thought. I feel like such a foolish child, and am determined to work on this. I want to be one of those people that has nothing unkind to say about anyone. I want to let go of the foolishness that I've been involved in and embrace this new way of looking at things.

I had an opportunity to do something like that this week, and I was so comforted when I was able to give my worries over to God. Without going into it, there was a major mishap, and I no longer have any newborn girl clothes, so if this is a girl, I could be in a bind. Then it hit me that God has provided for every one of my children so far, and how dare I assume that He won't be able to do so for this one! While I'm a little sad that there may have been some "special" clothes in there, I am totally in awe of how He turned my attitude around and allowed me to be thankful for the opportunity. If you never give Him a chance to show what He can do, then it's easy to be haughty and arrogant, thinking you can take care of yourself! I am so blessed that I've had these clothes to use for my girls, and I know that I will have exactly what I need for this sweet little blessing. I had way too many clothes, anyway - more than enough for 3-4 children to use at the same time! Thousands of dollars of high-end clothes, nearly all of them hand me downs or gifts, and a few that I've made. It is actually a relief, in a way, to know that I don't have to find room to store so many clothes. Besides, this may not be a girl, anyway ;o) Don't get me wrong - I was incredibly sad at first, but as I prayed, I was given a beautiful peace that can not have been from anything I did. Funny how one teeny tiny baby step in the right direction feels like such a milestone!

Reflecting

2008-10-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, we all went to the visitation for Adron's grandfather. Ellie and I talked about it all day, and at some point this conversation occurred.

Ellie: "I love funerals!!!"
Me: "What?"
Ellie: "I really LOVE funerals - I am excited that we're going to one tonight!"
Me: "Errrmmmm.... Okay... But the funeral is tomorrow... And why do you like them anyway? I mean, it's sad when someone we love dies."
Ellie: "No it's not! That means they get to go to Heaven, and that's a REALLY GOOD thing!"

Wow. What a profound observation! She went on to talk about how Max is in Heaven, and when she dies, she will get to see him again. She is totally obsessed with death these days, and I'm sure it's normal for the age, but not something I really care to focus on at this point in my life lol! I think she still believes that I'm immortal, but she's recently realized that her daddy will die at some point, and whenever she mentions that, she always says "But hopefully not soon, right?" Sighhhhhhhh...... I don't know what to say other than, "No, baby, we hope it's not for a very, VERY long time, but you never know what God has planned for us."

On a slightly different note, although on the same subject, I think I honestly have the most warped memory ever. Going through the loss of a child is so intense that it makes everything around it feel washed out and faded. I have such muddled memories of his funeral, but a few vivid memories do stand out. The first is that Max didn't look right. Then I remember one of my very dear friends just sobbing her heart out - to this day, the memory of that brings tears to my eyes. Then I remember that I started bleeding so heavily that I nearly passed out. And the oddest memory of all is hearing Adron's grandfather say, "Well, at least you weren't too attached to the little critter yet." Oh, I so just wanted to scream at him! I know he was trying to be comforting, but that is quite honestly the most horrid thing anyone has ever said about Max's death. What do you mean not attached? I'm in love from the moment I see that 2nd pink line lol! I felt this baby growing inside of me - I knew his personality! I looked into his beautiful dark blue eyes and saw a precious little soul there! How on earth could I be "not attached" yet!!! I feel bad that this is really one of the biggest memories of my entire life. It's not his fault that he wanted to make me feel better and the wrong words came out. I know that he was a really good man, gruff and loving all at the same time. I know that he brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, and the only thing that stands out is something really dumb. Ack! I would HATE to be remembered like that!!! I'm sure someone will recall the horrible things I've said and done over the years, and that thought makes me so sad.

Ok - enough funeral/death for one morning LOL! We are leaving in about 20 minutes, and it's raining cats and dogs. Of all things, I have Noah dressed in a pale yellow jonjon and white shoes and knee socks. Great for playing in the mud, right? LOL! Ah well. That's life with a little boy ;o) Here's a picture of him on his birthday last year wearing the same outfit:

I'll try to get a picture of him in it this year - it was so big last year, and *just* fits him now. I can't believe how much my little man has grown! He'll be 2 in a week! I've got more pics to post shortly, but Adron is telling me it's time to go. Be back later!

Oh goodness...

2008-09-16T19:17:00.001-07:00

Wow, I'm like the worst blogger! I have totally slacked on this poor blog!!! Granted, I've got a stack of excuses, all of them good ones, but fact remains that my pitiful little blog has been woefully unattended for nearly a month!

Being pregnant is just so much fun. Sighhhh.... Like a party every day. Or maybe, just like a hangover AFTER the party lol! I've been so pukey and had horrid headaches nearly every day so far. My 1st OB appt. was last Wednesday, and she gave me meds for both issues. Thank goodness they are helping! Now if there was just a magic pill that would make me not so tired I would be set! I've been highly motivated to sew, but not had the energy to do it. I've managed to finish a jonjon for Noah to wear to church, make another one that just need buttons and snaps - and a shirt to go underneath it, and cut out a dress for Ellie. I traced a couple of paterns, bought fabric for 2 new dresses for Ellie, and have actually prewashed it. I am starting early, but I want to make an amazing Christmas dress for that girl. We'll see how awesome it turns out, but it's looking great in my head LOL! I'm going to make a bunch of knit hoodie dresses and leggings for her fall wardrobe, and I think I'm going to just scrap the rest of what she has. I am thinking that she has prolly outgrown most of last year's clothes, though, and I'll keep her jeans and a couple of shirts for outside playclothes. I have no idea on what Noah's got though. I think he's ok - all of his pants were big on him last year, and so far they seem to fit. I'm pretty sure he is way good on shirts - just short on church clothes. Then there are the big girls. I have no idea what to do with them!

Did I mention that I'm involved with the PTAs on both of the big girls' schools? Man, I am loving being a part of their schools, but I'm so tired! Between the 2 schools, church, Tiger football games, and daily life at home, I am feeling a little overextended. Not bad, and it'll get better in a few weeks - assuming I get my energy back!

Well, Adron is ready for bed, so I'm outta here! I miss all of my wonderful friends out there in blogland and I plan to start checking in on you soon!!!!

Pizza Crust recipe and a bit of rambling...

2008-08-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

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!

I Can Not Believe It!

2008-07-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

I totally just entered a design contest - and am so very nervous! I like the kit I made, but it is so different from all the others. The theme was "trendy", and I seriously feel like I was in a totally different Trendville from all the other contestants! Not that I don't like what I came up with, just that mine was inspired somewhat by altered art, and, well, theirs weren't. Ah well, it is what it is, and if you want my kit - or any of the others - check 'em out here! You do need to sign up for the newsletter to get the password to unzip the files, and you can do that here. There are tons of gorgeous kits, and some from some very well known designers, too! My kit is here - I would love some feedback on it :)

Gotta run for now - here's a quick couple of pictures of the outfit I made for Noah last week! He was mad that I was trying to take his picture, but once I showed him how silly he looked, he started smiling for me ;o) I appliqued a square of clear vinyl on the front, and put the plastic lizard in just before the last stitches were sewn.

Back from Nationals

2008-07-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

That was one whirlwind trip! We left here at 6 am on Friday, and got to the St. Louis Science Center around 11. It was so crowded! There were some neat exhibits there, but the way the museum was laid out, it was really hard to get to them. We had a great time there, but poor Noah was just not having it. We left and drove to the hotel where the girls were tomeet up with their coach,then went to Qdoba for lunch. YUM!!! After meeting with Coach Kim, we went back to our room, and wound up making a run to Panera Bread and ate dinner in the room.

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to the arena. I got some pictures of the girls hanging out outside, but the competition pictures were so severely blurry that I didn't keep them, with the exception of one. Our girls did a good job, but we didn't place this time. I think the judges did a very good job, and the places were awarded very fairly. I wasn't nearly as happy with the judges at our regional and state competitons, and Adron insisted that it's because I am biased. I knew that wasn't the case lol! After watching all the teams do their routines this weekend, I think that the winners *were* truly the best. I'm afraid our girls somehow thought they could just kick back and relax this summer and they would be fine at nationals. Ah well, one of those life lessons we all have to learn at some point!

Madeline looking cute - I made the "mickey ears" that she is wearing lol!

After the competition, we headed back home. We stopped at Lambert's for dinner, which was fabulous, but certainly not Core! Then we went home, 38 hours after we left. I hate short trips like that when there is really no time for fun. I was hoping to go to Six Flags, but that didn't happen :o( Maybe we'll get to go one day soon...

I'll be back later with pictures of an outfit I made for Noah last week - I've got to get lunch for the kiddos and head to the grocery store!

Finally, some pictures!

2008-07-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, Ellie was none too pleased with me for "making" her pose for pictures. No, she wasn't mad about me taking pictures of her, she was furious because I wouldn't let her get the mail! That is why she is giving me a frumpy look in the first picture - the 2nd was after we said hi to the mailman. I don't know what is going on with my camera,but the pics are looking really grainy and the color is off. I need to check the settings, preferrably *before* we go to the cheer competition this weekend!

Monday, Bootz came over and gave Noah a haircut. I felt so bad for him Saturday night at the football game. Within 5 minutes of being out there, his hair was wet! I almost feel like he's a shaggy dog lol! We gave him another mohawk - but this one actually qualifies as a mohawk, IMHO ;o) We LOVE it! Thank you, Stephanie!!!

Love the punk "snarl" he's got going on here!

Check out the curls! Aren't they sweet? LOL! I will be using a different product on his 'hawk - this was our first attempt and I used what had been working on his fauxhawk. Obviously, not the right choice...

I'm sewing today! Well, at least I think I am. I'm hoping to get the bows for nationals finished tonight. I only have to make 11, so it's not too bad at all. I can't wait to see 'em done - they are gonna be HUGE! LOL! If pompoms on pigtails and bad socks helped one team win, then I don't think big ol' sequin bows should hurt a thing! Don't get me wrong - the other team wasn't bad, I just don't like their choice of accessories ;o) Betcha they don't like ours, either!

It's been a couple of days

2008-07-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

I figured after 4 days in a row, I had to take a little time off so I could look like a self-respecting slacker ROFLOL!

I finally finished Ellie's birthday dress!!!! Woohoo! She wore it to church yesterday, but I totally spaced on taking pictures. Meant to do that today, but it was too hot to do anything. I mean, at 10 am, it was over 100 degrees! Eek! That is just silly! Maybe I will get motivated to go out and do something fun with the kiddos tomorrow, as most everything is free on Tuesday afternoons. If so, I can dress her up and snap a couple pictures to share here.

On a cooking note - I made a few recipes this week that have been amazing! I have done up a couple of recipe cards for a chili recipe I made yesterday, and the Core-n Bread recipe I made to go with it. The chili was super easy to make, and everyone liked it! I got the chili going before I made the corn bread, as I figured that the extra cooking time would make the chili even better. I also used a little browning sauce on the turkey, and I managed to make myself think it tasted pretty beefy LOL! Here are the cards - I used Krystal Hartley's "True to Yourself" kit for both of these cards. Let me know if you try the recipes and like them - I modified the core-n bread recipe slightly. To see the original, click here.

Click on previews to download.

Just call me "Butter"...

2008-07-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Four days in a row! Wow, this is a total record for me lol! Of course, today is Angel's fault - she tagged me ;o) Thanks, girlie, you made my day!

So, here are 6 unimportant things about me...

1.) I love punk! I started listening to skater music when I was 13 (Suicidal Tendencies and Exploited), and now listen to all kinds of stuff, but punk is still my favorite. Blink 182 is one of my all-time favorite bands.

2.) Along the same lines, I love the rockabilly, psychopunk style, although I just can't figure out how to pull that look off. I am, however, plotting something along those lines to wear in the very near future....

3.) I am addicted to a few things. Gum, fabric, and digital scrapbooking. Not necessarily in that order though ;o)

4.) I am the VP of Membership for Madeline's school PTA, but I have only ever been to *2* PTA meetings my whole life! I went once when Audrey was in kindergarten or 1st grade, and then again the last meeting of this past school year. Mostly, I wasn't able to go because I was working evenings, and when I wasn't working, I homeschooled. This is my 1st year on the board.

5.) I totally hate having blue eyes! I have bought several different brands of brown contact lenses only to discover that my eyes are shaped oddly, and it looks really creepy with the color floating over part of my pupil...

6.) I'm not really a redhead. I swear I must have a dominant red hair gene (that just didn't show up), but my hair is naturally blonde. But since my skin is pasty white, and three of my four kids have red hair, everone assumes it's my natural color! LOL!

So there you have it. 6 totally insignificant things about me, yet they are so much of who I am! And in return, I am tagging

Stephanie (Bootz)
Tammy
Chris

I'm working on a couple more recipe cards right now, and have a few of my favorite LOs that I am thinking about posting. Aw, shoot, I'll just go ahead and show you a couple of them! They aren't all brand new, but they are some of my very favorite LOs ever. Click on the LO to be taken to the credits.

I took this one of Ellie looking all grown up at the Children's Museum.

Noah sure does love his sister! Actually, he likes to lie on all of us, and it cracks me up. He's a sweet little guy.

I'm particularly poroud of this one - I took this picture in my front yard this spring!

I just love this picture of Noah. I took it when he was pretty sick, and had lost 25% of his weight, which is why he looks so gaunt and has dark circles under his eyes. He looked so sweet and sad!

Audrey and Madeline were blowing bubbles, and they just seemed like they needed wings lol!

Did this one for a challenge, but I'm not sure if I like it or not...

I did this one for the same challenge as the one above - I like it better lol!

And here is a card I made for Adron for Valentine's Day :o)

That's enough for one day, I guess lol! I have a few more that I love and will put up eventually...

2008-07-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'm being such a good little blogger this week lol!

I've retired my computer chair. I've decided that I don't get nearly enough exercise, so in order to make sitting more productive, less inviting, and more fun, I replaced my chair with a fitness ball! Adron was laughing at me last night for sitting here bouncing all night lol, but I was, pardon the pun, having a ball!

I made a Core chocolate cake last night, and it was divine! Not a light, fluffy cake, but it had a more muffin-like texture. I can totally see this made with all kinds of variations. Of course, since it's a keeper, I had to make a recipe card for it. I used pieces from DSO's Scrap Journal kit. Pink paper by Mel C, brown paper by Trivettes Designs, cream paper by Livia Y, ribbon by Mel C, book by Nikki Fabulous Designs, alpha by Livia Y, and the font is Tracy. I'm not sure who made the stitching, as the file was named "stitching.png" and had no TOU with it :( I hate it when that happens! Anyway, without further adieu, here it is!

Click on image to download

You know, I'm looking at the cards I've shared here, and it hit me that they all look about alike! Not that it is the end of the world, I suppose, but I'm going to have to look into a different layout for the next one lol! Ah well, at least I have changed up the colors and all LOL!

It's getting late, so I'm off to bed - I hope someone out there can benefit from this recipe!

Poor 'Wuh! (And a sewing tutorial, too)

2008-07-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

I had the funniest realization the other day... I was trying to get Noah to say his name, and he just kept saying "Wuh", not "Noah". It finally hit me - poor little guy must think we are always fussing at him!!! "Hey, no Wuh!" "Come here no wuh" "Whatcha doing, no Wuh?" "Don't throw things, no Wuh." I bet he thinks that Ellie *never* gets into trouble! In retrospect, no matter how nice I think the name Noah is, it may not have been the best choice... LOL!

I thought I would post a tutorial for making a lined a-line jumper. I did this a while back, and it was on a sewing message board, but I figure someone might benefit from it being on my blog, too. I have it in PDF format, if anyone wants it - just let me know.

The pattern I’ve used for this is “Frannie” by Children’s Corner. This can also be applied to sheath-type dresses or a-line jumpers that do not fasten at the shoulders.

I was taught this method by Lezette Thomason of Children’s Corner in a class she held for my local chapter of SAGA (the Smocking Arts Guild of America). The pattern itself provides fairly good instructions for doing this, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it until Lezette showed it to me. I hope this helps someone – I wish you could all be as lucky as I am and live within a couple hundred miles of this amazing woman!!! Since I know that isn’t possible, I have done my best to try to lay it out clearly. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Cut out pattern and trace all markings onto fabric. Sew shoulder seams of outer fabric and lining. Matching shoulder seams, and centers, pin lining to fabric, right sides together.

Sew around neckline, making sure shoulder seams on lining are even with the shoulder seams on the dress. This particular pattern has a back opening, as the neckline isn’t deep enough to go over the child’s head without it.

Trim and clip seam allowance, being sure to clip the curves so fabric will lay smoothly when turned right side out.

Turn dress right side out and press neckline well.

With dress lying flat in front of you, and right side of outer fabric facing up, bring left side of outer fabric over towards center. Then, take left side of lining fabric and bring it under, towards center. You will pull both the outer layer and the lining all the way across, sandwiching the right shoulder area between them.

This is what it should look like from the side:

Pin together, making sure that the shoulder seams match, and the other parts of the dress aren’t caught.

Being careful not to catch any extra fabric, sew the left side together, starting at one side, and continuing the length of the armhole.

Here it is, sewn from one edge to the shoulder seam. Here you can see the rest of the dress, bunched up in the tube being created by sewing the left armhole.

After sewing the left armhole, this is what you will have.

Clip the curves so seam allowances will lay flat when turned right side out, and press well.

To turn right side out, simply pull the fabric through the left shoulder. The entire dress will come through, and it will look something like this while you are doing it:

Repeat with right side, and press both armholes well. Cool, huh!

Now, you will press open the underarm seams, and matching front to back, sew the outer dress and the lining. You will do this on both sides, leaving an opening on one side large enough to comfortably accommodate your hand (6” is recommended by the instructions given by Children’s Corner).

The easiest way I have found to make this opening is to stitch up to the beginning of the opening, then backstitch to secure your stitches. Change to a long stitch length, and sew to the end of opening area. Switch back to regular stitch length, and backstitch to secure before finishing the seam. This enables you to press the entire seam open neatly and evenly, making it easier to sew closed when you are done.

Once you have sewn these seams and pressed them open, remove the basting threads from the opening.

Smooth the lining over the dress, with the opening facing you.

Reach through the opening, matching side seams, and pin lining to outer fabric at the hem, right sides together.

At this point, I like to stitch a few inches at one of the side seams so I don’t lose my bearings. Continue to pull the whole dress through the opening, and sew around the entire hemline, matching centers and seams.

It will look like a very confused fabric tunnel when you get done with this part! You will now press the hemline that you have just sewn.

The last step is to pull the dress back through the opening, and press again, making sure the fabric is even and there are no areas that are bunched up. Viola!

You now have a fully lined and/or reversible jumper that just needs a few stitches to close up the opening you used for turning the dress. Add a button and a loop to the back opening, and you are done!

Notes:

If you are using the Frannie pattern, and putting the drawstrings in the sides, be sure to add buttonholes as called for by the pattern.

When using this method for a narrower (sheath) style, or a regular a-line jumper, you won’t have to worry about the casings and elastic or drawstrings. The Frannie pattern has a lot of extra fullness built into the sides and uses these to pull it in.

I personally find the ties to be quite a nuisance with toddlers and preschoolers, so I sew the casings as directed after finishing the hem, and insert elastic, sewing securely at front and back ends of the casing. I use approximately 4 ½” of 3/8” elastic on each side to give it a close, fairly stretchy fit. After inserting the elastic, I hand stitch the inner opening closed, and tack ribbon or a bias tube to the side seams over the casing to give it the look of a drawstring without the hassle.

I have used narrower elastic (1/4”, as called for by the pattern), and found that Ellie really likes to pull her arms into her dress and see how far she can stretch it! 3/8” - 1/2" elastic is much firmer, and has less give, so it’s not as tempting (or fun LOL!).

With the real drawstrings, the gathers weren’t nearly as nice and even, and Ellie would untie them and pull the sides out all the way, causing her to look like she was wearing a tent…!

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

2008-07-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I don't have her dress done, nor have I managed to take a really nice birthday picture of her, but she has made it to 4!

Today, she was being her usual cranky self, so I told her to take a nap. She totally freaked on me! I asked what her problem was, and you know what the answer was? Yep - "But I don't wanna miss my birthday!!!" ROFLMBO! She is too much! A little later, Adron was trying to talk her into taking a nap, and told her that she wouldn't miss her birthday. Her answer to that was "Well, I won't miss it if I don't take a nap." Oh yes, she is GOOD! The best part - guess where she is right now? ::evil grin::

I can't tell you how excited I am about the Core plan! This week, I was down 3.8 lbs.!!! Lemme tell you, it was so hard this week, too! When we went to my IL's on Friday, I took some Core coleslaw and some 1 point Whitewheat buns. I did eat some of the pork shoulder, but I only had one sandwich, and a very small serving of macaroni and cheese. The desserts just about killed me though! There was a homemade chocolate cake - I had a *tiny* little sliver of it. There was the Butterscotch 4-Layer Dessert (if you aren't familiar with that one, Google it! It is amazing!), and I only had a tiny sliver of that. Then there was the homemade strawberry cake. Oh wow! I can't begin to describe just how yummy and scrumptious that is!!! I had the same tiny sliver of that one, then I finished the rest of Ellie's, and what Noah didn't eat... Granted, it was more than I should have eaten, but all-in-all, I doubt if it was more than about a whole piece anyway. It was totally worth it, too! Then we went to Corky's for Ellie's birthday on Sunday. I was totally good and got the baked potato with shredded chicken. I didn't tell them to hold the butter or cheese, but I opted not to put the sour cream on. Adron and I were sharing the potato and an order of tamales, so I only had half of the potato, and 2 bites of a tamale. Plus their heavenly rolls (I didn't add butter to mine), and a piece of birthday cake. I wasn't perfect, but I did so much better than I've ever done before! It's all about baby steps, and I took a bunch this weekend!

Oh, my goal is to lose 50 lbs. before my brother's wedding, which looks like it will probably be around March of 2009. I know I can do it! I have to average about 1.5 lbs. a week, and this week was a great start. In the 2 weeks I've been doing the Core plan, I have lost 6.4 lbs. Not bad, huh! I'm not worried about being skinny for the wedding, I just know that I work better when I have a deadline.

I've just discovered the world of ATCs, and here is my 1st (digital) attempt. I am totally in love with the whole altered art style, but I have a hard time working that way. I'm not sure at all what my style is, but I don't think it's altered art at all, but I sure wish it was LOL! Later, I'll have to post a couple of LOs I have done in that style... I am trying to figure out where to get collage sheets so I can make some real ATCs, not just the digital variety. If anyone has any good links, please let me know!!!

Hey there!

2008-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

We had a really great holiday weekend!

Friday, Ellie and Madeline were in a 4th of July parade, then we went to Adron's parent's house and spent the afternoon with them. We had a great time - the kids swam, and we sat around talking lol! The parade was the 1st one Ellie has been in, and she was stinkin' cute! I was so proud of her - she was the tiniest one out there, and one of her coaches had to carry her for about 5 minutes, but she did a great job. It seems that somewhere around the parade route, she started missing her mommy! Poor little thing! Here's a LO I did of the one picture I got - there were so many parents walking with the kids that I couldn't get any pictures. I lucked out on this one, but it's pretty grainy. Grrrrrr! Ah well...

{Click picture for credits}

Saturday, we piddled around the house, and Adron started brewing some beer. Sunday, I went to church, then had to go get the littles from Adron, who was finishing up his beer brewing with some friends. We went over to my brother's house for a cookout celebrating his engagement to my awesome friend Boots, then we went out for Ellie's birthday dinner. Quite a busy weekend, to be sure, but it was so much fun!

I can't believe my little Ellie will be FOUR tomorrow! Ack! I guess I had better get upstairs and finish the dress I've been working on for a couple of months now lol!

Oh, I do have a recipe card, too! I nearly forgot lol! I have started doing Weight Watcher's Core plan, and am really liking it so far. I am determined to get this excess weight off for good! I want to be healthy so I can enjoy my kiddos ;o) Anyway, this one is for Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. Not completely Core, but the Points are minimal, and they are SOOOOOOOO yummy! Oh, credits are here.

Download HERE

Enjoy!

Slowing down

2008-06-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, this has been a whirlwind of a summer!

Last week, we had VBS. I got the coolest job ever - I was the assistant in the science lab! Monica is a member of our church, and since we were doing Group Publishing's "Power Lab", there couldn't have been a better fit! Monday she did experiments with dry ice, Tuesday was the Tesla coil, and Wednesday was the Van de Graaff generator. Oh my, we had such a great time!!! The kids had a ball, *I* had a ball, and was very sad that Monica's schedule didn't permit her to be there the rest of the week. I wound up hanging out with the incredibly cool Sarah, who is the youth pastor's wife. Lemme tell ya - that woman is AMAZING! She has 3 boys, the youngest is about 6 weeks older than Noah, then one that is 3, and the oldest is 5 or 6 (sheesh! I feel bad for not knowing that!). She homeschools them, and when I met her, the boys were little bitty babies, and we were both nursing them and their next older sibling at the same time. Ha - I thought I was the only "freak" around LOL! Anyway, she also leads Weight Watchers meetings. Her meeting on Wednesday is the "Mommy and Me" meeting, so when I don't have someone to watch the littles on Tuesdays, I think I'm going to be attending her meeting. Oh - sorry, I forgot why I was talking about Sarah! Well, she led the kids through the stations of the Cross, as well as a little time in Mary's grotto, and I got to tag along. It was really neat to hear her teaching the kids about the power of prayer, as well as WHY we should pray.

As if that wasn't enough for one week, I spent my weekend in San Diego at the National PTA Convention! We flew out Friday morning, and arrived in San Diego at 10:30 their time. We tried to check into our hotel, but the room wasn't available until 3. Not cool. So, we checked our luggage, walked across the street to the trolley line, and took the trolley to Old Town. We were SO hungry! We ate lunch at a very mediocre Mexican restaurant, but we were so starving that it didn't matter lol! We got back on the trolley - going the wrong way, per my misguided map skills, and got off *before* we wound up at the Mexican border...! The rest of the weekend was full of workshops and meetings, which were great! I met some amazing people there, and am totally hyped about my position as the VP of Membership at Madeline's school! I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm hoping that at the July board meeting, it'll all be made clear. Anyway, while we were there, we walked around Fashion Valley, which is a beautiful mall, wandered around Seaport Village, ate some fabulous seafood, and thoroughly enjoyed San Diego's great public transportation system and beautiful weather. Of course, they were having a heat wave while we were there, but that was still not nearly as hot as I am used to! Monday, we got to the airport 4 hours before our flight, assuming it was like the Memphis airport. You know, check in, get through security, find some breakfast, and do a little shopping while we waited. Yeah, no. It seems that in San Diego, there are about 2 restaurans, and just a couple of shops in the secure area... Ah well, I was able to get breakfast, lunch, and gifties for my kiddos while we waited. Funny thing is that I looked at t-shirts all over the place, and they were all really high. The ones I got at the airport were about half the price of everywhere else! I still spent way too much money, but the kids really seem to like their shirts :) I also came home with a boatload of stuf from the vendors at the conference. Wendy, our PTA president told me to pack an extra bag, and it's a good thing I did! We totally needed it! A lot of the stuff is just brochures and other reading materials, but there were quite a few goodies there, too. Since Audrey is at her dad's this week, I figured I would wait to give out that stuff until she gets home. The other three have no idea what I brought home for them hee hee hee!!!

Well, I need to finish cooking lunch - cheese grits, Weight Watcher's Core plan style! I'm having a bit of a time knowing what to eat, but I think once I get the hang of it, it's going to be fabulous! Since only fat-free dairy is permitted, I made some more yogurt this morning. I bought a gallon of skim milk, which I really don't like, and used half of it for yogurt, which I really DO like. I was going to buy a half-gallon, but realized that it was only about 45 cents more to buy a gallon. Hmmmmmm.... If I make yogurt with half of it, then I still come out waaaay ahead! Plain, fat-free yogurt is around $2.50 for a quart, 1/2 gallon skim milk is $2.19. I got a gallon of skim milk at Costco for around $2.65, so I guess I saved almost $4 doing it that way!

I'll be back in the next day or so with some pictures from my trip =D