Friday, January 30, 2009

Argh!!!

Argh! Sometimes I wonder...how can some people be so selfish, so inconsiderate, and so hurtful all at the same time?

Yesterday was one of those days where it seemed all I did, all day long...from sun-up to sun-down...was shake my head in disbelief due to stupid, stupid people. My kids went to school sad today, because of one grown-up's thoughtlessness/selfishness. I could deal with all of the other junk that happened yesterday, but I hate, hate, hate seeing my kids upset like this.

Honestly, some people need a good swift smack to the head.

Thank you for reading this far.

Have a good day lol.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Thursday.

Hmm...what have we been up to...

Cleaning. My in-laws are coming this weekend for a birthday dinner, and so I've been cleaning/shopping/making the menu/etc. Scott is helping by doing whatever I tell him...but I think I have been elected to be in charge of it all.

My niece has been visiting between my mom's house and mine. I see her coming up the walk with her bag of groceries (she's vegetarian now and comes equipped with her own stash lol) and just can't help seeing the 4 year old girl that used to spend the day with me doing crafts, before I had kids of my own. I lub her to pieces <3 . She wears this giant Ozzy Osbourne belt buckle with her skinny jeans, and knows every Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode, and she *only* listens to old rock...AC/DC, Guns 'n Roses and Ozzy. We had so much fun yesterday...we were at Home Depot looking for a few things, and I'm studying shelving units...then I hear behind me in this teeny, screechy voice:

"I like chocolate milk", a la Cheese ( Cheese on YouTube )

...and I nearly peed myself, laughing so hard. I couldn't read the labels on the shelves anymore because I had tears in my eyes lol.

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Kylie is done with her Coraline book report. This is the model of Coraline's flat that she came up with...it looks like a book, and when you open it up you get:

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The lower pic is the evil/alternate mom with her evil button eyes. It's hard to see, but under the table, on the floor, there is a mouse scurrying about with a magic marble on his head. Scary stuff. She used Polly Pocket furniture and raided Gramma's button collection for props.

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Kylie's book stash for the week. We went to a new library on Sunday, because our local library was closed, and Kylie was tickled to see that this library has a very extensive anime collection. Or is this manga? I don't know the difference, to tell you the truth. We also found this great felt craft book, and we have been making up little felt bunnies and lizards like crazy. I took some pics of the ones we made, but they are on my phone...and I can't figure out how to get them to my PC. Figures.

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And Sammy Sunshine figured out how to get her diaper/cover off. Lovely lol.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Oh, the beautiful-ness!

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Isn't it GORGEOUS??? Now what to do with it???

Sunday, January 25, 2009

My first tutorial (like I know what I'm talking about lol)

I thought I would post a tutorial to show what I do if my kids pants are too long, but fit elsewhere (bum, waist). It is particularly handy if you have a stack of hand-me-down pants or thrift store finds in, say, a size 3 when your baby is in need of a size 2. Do you need to run out and buy more pants? No! And don't get your panties in a knot thinking that I am expecting you to have any sewing experience.

But I digress...

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So first you start with a pair of pants. These pants are knit, but this method works with fleece or cotton pants as well.

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Find the inside seam, meaning the seam that leads up to the crotch. With some teeny, sharp scissors, make a small hole in the hem near the inside seam. It should be really teeny...just big enough to pass a tiny safety pin through. Make sure that you only pierce one layer of fabric and don't go all the way through!!!

Alternately, if your pants are a woven fabric, like cotton or twill...open up 3 or 4 stitches in the hem, near the inside seam. Unless you're dealing with super-crappy craftsmanship, the rest of the hem should not open up due to these few stitches being removed. This will be your entry point for the safety pin and elastic.

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You need the skinny elastic for this, measuring about 1/8" across. I buy it by the metre, but you can also get this in a ream at Wal Mart for about $1. Figure out how long you need to go around your child's ankle comfortably, and cut two pieces this length plus 1" for knotting. I'm not about to tell you what this measurement may be, because quite frankly I suck at estimating and always make it too long. But that's no biggy, as you can trim it later.

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Spear one piece of elastic with a teeny safety pin and thread it through the hole. Keep feeding the elastic through until the safety pin has gone all the way around and comes back out through the same hole it went in through.

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Grab both ends and twist into a knot (make sure the knot is tight). Stuff your baby's foot in the hole to see if it is a comfortable fit. If it's too big, knot it again, a little closer to the hole. You can trim the ends off when you're happy with the fit.

The knot will sneak back into the hole and you won't see it again. When the day comes that the pants are a good length and you no longer want the elastic, stretch out a paper clip or use some tweezers to fish the elastic through the hole (or a small-size crochet hook would be perfect). Snip the elastic and pull it out :D .

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Et voila! The finished product: size 3 pants on a size 2 body. In this case, the pants are some cute Gap flares from the VV Boutique, bought for $2 (as a matter of fact, Kylie wore these pants when she was Sam's age...they've been washed countless times and the teeny hole didn't rip or get bigger with age. If you're unsure of your fabric, throw some Fray-Stop on the hole for added assurance)

I've done this for all 3 kids as babies, and I still do it for the big kid's pants, like PJ pants or too-long track pants. To cover Sam's big cloth-diapered bum, she is wearing size 3 pants. This method ensures that she isn't tripping over her pant legs when she toddles off to find her dolly :) .

Happy elasticizing :D .

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thursday :)

Today is Thursday, meaning early dismissal for the big kids and a trip to the library. It is cold today and very windy...-16C but it feels like -30C with the wind.

This week, Sam and I have been working on cleaning a few neglected areas, like our basement storage, and also the last of the UFOs from my sewing desk. There are just a few more pieces that need mending, and then we're done! Um...well, except for the felt breakfast/lunch/fruits and veggies that we cut out over the weekend...yeesh, you think I would have learned my lesson...one project at a time, Susan!!!

I got the most beautiful fabric in the mail this week from California, how cool is that?? It came from Liane over at Spacestitch ... you can stop by and check out her projects. Now what to do with the fabric??? It has to be something that Kylie can see/touch every day, and I think she is leaning towards a book bag...but then it will get dirty! The horror...beautiful fabric getting filth on it...unfathomable lol. I will post pics of Kylie and fabulous fabric soon.

Kylie is working on a vest for her dear friend K, using our drafted pattern. I helped her to pin it, she cut it out and sewed the facings on before I threw it on the serger. Tonight we will put buttons on it. Kylie is also putting together a diorama book report for school, based on the book Coraline . She is doing up a big shoe box to look like a book, and when you open the cover you see Coraline's apartment, complete with twisted, alternate-universe, button-eyed parents lol. She is using my scrapbooking papers for wallpaper...as if I would have used it for scrapbooking anyway lol.

Have a good day, everyone :D .

Saturday, January 17, 2009

A post with WORDS and NO PICS!

Are you in shock? Can you hardly believe it LOL?

Scott and I just got back from our first date in a long while. One of the contractors that he works with gave him a $100 gift card for the Keg for Christmas, so we went out for steaks :) . But holy smokes, a 90 minute wait for a table, and we were there by 5, thinking that we were plenty early! So while we waited, we went to Sears to look at appliances. Yay lol.

The food was mediocre, the wait was ridiculous, but the company was fantastic :) . I lub my husband :) .

I have my sewing area mostly cleaned up, but there is just so much fabric...I think I like the fabric more than the sewing. I go through these sewing 'jags', where all I want to do is sew for a few weeks and then I don't touch it at all for months. I really should be working on prepping the kitchen for painting, but I can't seem to settle on a colour...there are just so many shades of lime green, who knew??? I've had paint chips taped to my walls for a couple of weeks now, just can't figure out which one to use.

Well, I'm off to bed now. Good night, all!

Another completed project.

So are you completely bored with all of my projects yet???

Well, so what...here's another one lol.

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I have had it *up to here* with stupid Big 3 Pattern Company patterns. They never fit, always look wonky and I have to do so much adjusting that I might as well make my own pattern. Kylie wanted a vest, and I wasn't about to pay $20 for something that she might wear twice until the fad is gone, so I traced a ready-made vest and found some stretch twill in my stash. Just had to buy buttons and bias tape for the armholes. Now she won't take it off lol...wore it to school, wore it to bed, wore it to go shopping with Gramma today lol...

Oh, and this is her "I'm mad because mom made me stand for another dumb picture" face lol.

Cleaning up my sewing corner, and I found...

...the felt food collection that I started this summer and didn't finish. I have a habit of doing this...starting something, getting caught up in something else and forgetting about the first project. So I decided before I start another project, I would finish with these. I still want to make Sam a bunch of other foods, but she's still too young to play with them anyway, so that can wait. Umm...I think I have a bit of a dessert fetish lol.



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Kylie had made fortunes, written on pieces of fun foam to put in these...I just hadn't gotten around to it by the time I took the picture.



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I know you've seen the pizza before, but I figured since I was posting everything else I might as well show you the pizza again. Plus Jake was yelling over my shoulder, "where's my pizza??? Mom, where is it??? Are you putting it up??? How about now, are you putting it up now???" .

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Doll slings and matching dolly diaper bags done

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Those chairs are pretty dark, so I hope you can make out what exactly is going on lol...doll slings from Jan Andrea and matching dolly diaper bags, made with a free pattern for a bag called The Lindie Bag (I just modified the pocket a little and put it on the outside, instead of on the inside like the tute says). The picture of Sam with her eyes closed was the best one that I could get. Kylie was out with Scott and I tried getting Jacob to model, but to no avail lol.

Darnit, I hope Sam plays with dolls so I can sew more fun stuff like this!!!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Pics

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Is it a boat? A Plane? No, it's a baking pan on my kitchen floor. But Sam thinks it's a boat...or a plane...or something lol...


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The view from my front door this morning...pretty, yet hell-ish, all at the same time. Soon after I took the picture, the wind came up and it became freakishly cold out there...good thing I had my sewing machine to keep me company today :) .

Saturday, January 10, 2009

2 Things Done

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Sam's booties, made from a coat that someone gave Kylie that doesn't fit anymore. And they stay on -- unkickable! Yay! I should really make a second pair, though, because she wears them inside the house and outside as boots...and that light colour really shows everything. Yup, I'll get right on that lol.

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PJs for Kylie. The top is a store-bought t-shirt, bought last summer to wear this summer...but it's already too small. So I cut out the side seam and inserted a panel to match the pants. I also appliqued a heart on the front, but I'm not happy with that. I need to work on my applique-ing skills. I've had that fabric in my stash forever, so I'm happy that it was finally put to good use.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Friday! Holy smokes!

Well, it's Friday, and I've been busy. Just like any January, I've spent time cleaning all those areas that got neglected in the month of December...boot area, pantry, freezers, etc. Can't anyone in this house put something away in the same place they found it??? How hard is that, anyway???

I have a large wipe-off board in my kitchen with my TO DO list, and it includes things like:

  • nag Scott to call the accountant in re: to our taxes
  • wash walls/ceiling in kitchen in preparation for painting
  • organize hot dog lunch at school. New people=new ideas=more work...why can't things just be left as is???

I've been shopping for staples that we ran out of with the Christmas season, and making soup to fill the freezer. Roasted the last half-turkey that was in the freezer, bought when turkey was cheaper than ground beef last month. Score.

I have to tell you, I am cutting back on my blog posts...some things that have happened lately that have me sort of jaded with the whole world, and I'm just not into it like I was. I still read blogs daily, I just don't feel like blogging on my own. I will force myself to make entries at least once per week, as at the end of the year I print a copy of my blog to share with my kids when they get older. I like that they can look back and see all of the projects that we worked on, and see how hard Mama worked to keep this house running. I didn't sit on the couch and eat bonbons all day long while they were at school lol.

On the "looking for a job front"...I've had 2 job offers within the last week, one was a cleaning job (which I am so over doing for other people) and the other was an office job where Sam would have to be in care for a few hours a week. That's not going to happen, so I'm still looking for evening/weekend work, preferrably in my field. Both jobs were offered by friends, I didn't go looking for either...and frankly, I don't think there's much support here for me going out to work. When the right thing comes along, I guess I'll know. No rush.

Lots of sewing on the go right now, the baby booties are done and were a succes, and I'll post pics of that soon. My mom says I'm stingy when it comes to posting pictures, so I'll leave you with this for now:

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My wipe-off board in the kitchen. Note how ugly and smeary it is right now. It's normally not like that, as I clean it regularly with alcohol to keep it white and bright, but there have been so many additions/deletions from the TO DO list that I can't keep up with it. And the kids aren't normally allowed to write on it, but Jacob wanted to leave me a note before he went to bed last night. Nice lol.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Sunday.

Well, all the junk that hubby has eaten over the last two weeks has caught up with him...and his IBS is in full swing! Poor guy can't even stand up straight. He's on call this week and is taking calls all day and all night (averaging about every 2 hours this weekend) because there are frozen pipes all over the province! Doesn't really surprise me...after all, it's something like -40C first thing in the morning!!! Ugh, enough already!!!

I finished one pair of booties for Sam, cut out another, but I don't like the fabric: it's pleather, and sticks like crazy to the throat plate of my sewing machine. I may just file those booties straight in the trash. I just need to figure out how to embellish the pair of booties that did work out. Now Kylie is bugging me for a bean bag chair for her bedroom, and of course if I make one for her, I have to make one for Jake...

This weekend was fun, we were invited to a get-together at a friend's house and had a great time. We were home by 930 though, LOL. *Sigh*...I remember the days when house parties started around that time and we didn't roll in the door until well after 3am. I am getting far too old for that LOL.

Tomorrow I need to go grocery shopping, and then tomorrow night I'm off to work. The kids are back to school tomorrow, but I don't need to bake cookies for their lunches...because Scott baked today! Oatmeal raisin cookies. Don't I have a great hubby?

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Evil, evil booties.

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You. You...bootie, you. Sitting there, all smug because you don't fit my beautiful daughter's foot anymore. In the middle of winter, the cold, horrible winter when we needed you the most...you had the nerve to become to small for her foot.

At one time, I loved you. I loved how you kept her little toes warm at night, how she couldn't kick you off no matter how hard she tried...how cute you looked with her little blue jeans. But that love is gone...replaced with a need...a hunger for bigger booties.

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So in a moment of anger, I cut you. I cut you bad. Then I made a pattern out of you, for sewing bigger, better booties. You will never hurt us again.

As if I need another sewing project lol. This is today's project...and probably tomorrow's, too.

Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone...*sigh*...why does time have to pass so quickly when you're a grown-up? I don't remember time slipping through my fingers so quickly when I was a kid.

No resolutions this year, but lots of plans:

1. Inventory the freezer and pantry, and come up with meals using up what I have. I know there are things buried in there that I have forgotten about...like that great deal on canned tuna last month...guess tuna cakes are on the menu this month.

2. Clean up my sewing area! It's a freakin' disaster!

3. Get a job. Yeesh...do I really want to? I'm going to be super picky, though, and hope that I can keep my present 3-hour-per-week job at the same time.

4. Paint the kitchen. I'm been meaning to do this since we moved in 3.5 years ago, but there were other, more pressing jobs to be done. And it's going to be the most wicked shade of lime green. Cool.

5. Make the basement more live-able. Sometimes I wish that it was unfinished when we moved in, so that we could finish it the way we wanted...but I guess I should be grateful that it was reasonably ready for the big kids to sleep down there.

6. Work on the backyard once the snow melts. Sam will be able to play in the sand or on the enclosed trampoline while I dig. Things really need to get done back there, the raspberries are out of control!

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure there is more, but I don't want to overwhelm myself lol.