Updates and stuff :)

Ok so Pinterest is killing me... like LITERALLY!!! I cannot stop going on it... I will be cooking and think oo I'll just look for a second... and 5 minutes later I'm burning my food b/c I didn't even realize I was staring at it for 5 minutes?! It is addicting... and awesome... and I just love it waaaaay too much. I haven't created my own account but I am thisclose to doing it!!! Be prepared to waste ALOT of time if you click on the link above... but I will note I got some great ideas for Bubba's Dino Party coming up from it... so yea... maybe I didn't waste all of my time on it :)

JDUB:
He is officially M.I.A. this week :( He left Sunday night for work down south (heeeeeey TX) and isn't returning until Friday late late (meaning after the kiddos are in bed). If he doesn't make it home before that its pretty much worthless.... and almost like he isn't really coming home until Saturday! Let's hope his flight isn't delayed like on his way down.

ME:
With JDub out its like I'm a single mom! YIKES!!! Holla to all you single mommies out there... I don't know how you do it... for realz.

But really I'm doing fine... the in-laws stopped over tonight and took the boys for a walk (yay!) I have small group with church tomorrow night (and the in-laws are taking Ceej while I go to that so I'll be down to one kiddo).... My grandmother is coming into town this week... so I'm not all on my own. I've been finding myself in a pretty decent mood, and I think most of it is b/c I have no one to complain to... Well I suppose I could complain to Mango.. but I don't think she really cares. I've been working on my dinos (I'm up to 4 now!) and watching ALOT of hoarders....... man there are some crazy people out there... they'd rather live with their 20 birds with heaps of trash everywhere instead of living with their own husband... what in the world?! Oooo and I got my new Glamour magazine too! Rihanna is just too gorgeous isn't she?!

Bubba:
Oh my goodness he is something else... I'm working on a post of all the funny things he says... I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do... he is too smart for his own good. I find myself constantly reminding myself he's only 2 (will be 3 next week!) He is getting very excited for his Dino birthday party. I'm so glad he's young and everything excites him so much!! I'm getting excited for it myself :) I made the mistake of trying to figure out what Ceej could be for Halloween... and I said an M&M so now Bubba wants to be one too........ I'm a lil bummed b/c I bought him this cute pirate costume on clearance last year... I guess I should let him be what he wants to be... not something I just picked out for him... I wanted to have a pirate party for his bday but he wanted Dinos... You know these things really are for the Mom right?! Not the child!!... haha I kid... I kid...

does anyone else find this photo disturbing?!

Ceej:
He has finally learned how to nod his head yes!!! All it use to be was "nuh uh" "nuh uh" in response to anything. Even when he actually did want something! So now he walks around nodding his little head when I ask him questions :) He's quite a smarty pants just like his big brother. Although he is still a stinker. I'll say "NO!" and he'll look at me with that little chubby face, smiling the biggest smile, laughing even sometimes, and he'll continue to do whatever it is that he was doing! This boy has NO FEAR. Don't they have shirts that say that? I should get him one... or make him one... He will climb ladders at the parks, slide down the biggest slides... fall flat on his face and get up running to go do it again! All while Bubba's being all cautious and asking for help.... He has gotten better at sleeping at night... Now when he wants to go to bed he just drags me to his room pointing! I have to say it is really awesome that he does that... but I'm pretty sure Bubba went through that stage too( when I would only let him have his precious pacifier in bed... he would go to bed no problem) and then he got over it.. so we will see...

Well that's about it on the home front... I'm working on some other fun crafts involving wine, spray paint, and glue!! haha... I need to drink some more wine before I'm done though (need more wine bottles :) )

Hope all is well, and have a blessed week :)

Tending to my garden

So I spent a good hour or so in my back yard "tending to my garden" yesterday....... This wasn't your fun picking out ripe tomatoes or cucumbers... no... this was picking weeds... I wish I would have taken a before picture... but instead I will show you the after... and the Yardie full of weeds.....



i know it still looks ugly... but you should have seen it with the weeds in there....



I couldn't help but think about how if I would have just checked on it periodically... instead of letting it get out of hand... how maybe it would not have taken so long to clean up. How I could have spent that time playing with my kids while they were "swimming" in the kiddie pool instead of pulling weeds... I mean if you can even call some of those weeds (they were like 4 foot tall in places!!)

It's weird how there are soo many different weeds too. Ones with little flowers, some are spiny and furry. Some are pretty easy to pull out by the root, while others take a lot of time and effort to get them out just right. Then I got to thinking about how I had my own little "weeds" growing in my life that I needed to nip in the butt. Little weeds called "laziness" "fatigue" "boredom" "selfishness"........ etc. You name it, they are there. Some days I get up and I'm motivated and I pull those "laziness" weeds right out!! I mop the floors, do some laundry, bake a cake.. ok maybe not that last one, but still. But then there are days that go by and I think oh I'll just take a nap.... oh kids let's just watch a little TV so I can just sit on my butt... and it gets harder and harder that weed growing taller and taller....

It got me thinking about why God even made weeds?! But then I thought everything needs a little "tending to". You can't just go through life easy peasey w/o a little TLC in areas. You can't claim to live a christian life if you're not going to stop and spend some time with Jesus. You can't expect just b/c its the backside of your house and you have a fenced in yard that its "out of sight and out of mind"....... it doesn't work that way. You'll eventually have to go back and check on it and tend to the garden... even if it is a rock garden...

It's like the Parable of the Sower in a way....... (The entire parable is at the bottom)....sometimes I feel like I'm one of the believers among the weeds...... Luke 8:14 "The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature."

This week I'm going to strive to keep on top of things and be a seed among the good soil :)
Luke 8:15 "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

The Parable of the Sower
Luke 8:4-15
4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
When he said this, he called out "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
9His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,

"'though seeing, they may not see;

though hearing, they may not understand.'

11"This is the meaning of the parable; The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Softball and sewing!

My church softball league has officially come to an end :( I had soo much fun on the team this year!! I played a couple years back right after Bubba was born... but I was pretty bad. I have to say this year, I was pretty good!! Sure I had my moments of being terrible... last night's game I didn't make it on base at all!! But I also had some great moments... A catch out in right field.... a few catches on 2nd base to get people out.... I even had some RBI's!!! Last night's final game was a doozy...

First off... we hadn't been able to play this team yet. We went in undefeated.... and this team was ranked 2nd. Every time we were suppose to play this team, it got rained out!! So we were ready to dominate. We were down to 9 players there for a minute... but our last guy came just in the nick of time!! We were up to bat first.. it remained a close game each inning. We'd have some good plays... and some bad ones... some good hits... or no hits (I struck out 3 times!!!) We got down to the last inning.... we were up to bat the score was 7-6 (we were ahead)... We knew we needed to get some runs... we ended up only getting 1 more.. but at least we were ahead. Since we were up to bat first, that meant the other team was up to bat last... so we had to keep them from getting any more runs.... 2 up to bat... and 2 outs!!! We were doing good... then they hit an infield fly to me!! I called it and........ CAUGHT IT!!! One of my great catches this year! And an awesome way to end the season too.

We almost made it through the year w/o any injuries... A gal took a softball to the shin on our team....

And I decided to stop a ball with my thumb instead of my glove!! It really isn't too bad... just a lil swollen and blue..

But all in all I have to say it was a great summer of softball!!

AND NOW TO THE SEWING....
I decided to do some altering and mending this week... I had some goucho pants that were a lil big... they were great when it came to using them as maternity pants.. but they were just soo comfy I wanted to be able to wear them whenever!!!

Before...slightly too large...

Eczema blows

Yep I said it... anyone with it is thinking that... and especially anyone who has kids with eczema will agree with me!!

Here are some photos of what my more little guy has do deal with (pretty much on a daily basis.... this is a particularly bad flare up) These pictures really don't do it justice... its really bad :(

And that isn't even the worst of it... for some reason he also gets it on his poor little bottom! He's been itching it like crazy lately too. One day I went in his room after his nap and he was crying, with his little fingernails caked with blood, scratching. I said enough was enough!! And made an appointment at a dermatologist. Dr. Wollner in Cedar Rapids is great :) Here's the regimen he gave me for Bubba:


1. Only bathe every 2-3 days
2. Use Cetaphil as body wash
3. Rub prescription hydrocortisone butyrate .1% on affected area 2 times a day (especially after bath)
4. Coat in lotion (I use Eucerin)
Now this regimen does seem to help. But the problem is its summer! My boys are playing in the sand/dirt/grass. They're getting sweaty b/c it has been so unbelievably hot around here! And they're getting coated in sunscreen every day, a few times a day too! Ceej has eczema as well, but thank goodness its not as bad as Bubba's. I just use the over the counter hydrocortisone cream you can find at any drugstore. It's .05% I believe? Its suppose to help with the itchiness factor. If any of you are friends of mine on facebook you've seen how Ceej eats!! He can't go 3 days in between baths all the time?! Winter time is fine, but its a lot harder in the summer.

I even asked the doctor... "What am I suppose to do when they're teenage boys?! They can't not bathe?!" Which he replied "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it!" So who knows what will happen then.

Another thing the Dr. said you can do instead of giving them a full bath, is to just rub the cetaphil directly onto their skin and then get a wet washcloth and clean it off! I call it a sponge bath. Bubba doesn't care for it that much... but what can you do....

They say the thing about eczema is that its not all the same.... While bathing every 3 days along with the cremes and lotions seems to help Bubba, other people need to bathe every day!

Here's a website that the Dr. gave me as well... http://www.nationaleczema.org/living/all_about_atopic_dermatits.php

Towels this way and that way...

So when JDub and I first got married we kind of shared the duties of laundry... then he dried a few things he shouldn't have... put a red shirt in with some white ones... and I shortly took over most of laundry duty. (I'm pretty sure he sabotaged the whole thing... just so he wouldn't have to wash my things! I keep my own separate basket for things I don't want him to touch!)

I kind of like doing laundry when it comes to towels... there's really no fuss about it. You throw all of them in together.... you dry them... and then comes the fun part. Folding! I'm not sure where I learned to fold towels... somehow I'm thinking its from my dad. He's not the cleanest man in the world (no offense!!)... but I remember growing up he was meticulous when it came to folding laundry. Poor guy raising 3 girls he was outnumbered! But he would still fold everything neat and tidy, even the little panties!! HAHA.

And this brings me to today... I'm putting my towels away to find that yet again JDub has folded the towels wrong.... YES there IS a wrong way to fold towels. They just don't lay right otherwise!!!

Here's JDub's way........

And here's my way! (the right way :) )

So come on now... how do you fold your towels?!

Bendometer

I know... that's not a word... or an acutal thing.... but I really think they should make one... kinda like a Pedometer... you know those little things you clip on and it keeps track of all your steps? Only this one would keep track of how many times I bend... Remember when that was the rage?! I think I got a pedometer in a happy-meal once?! All I feel like I'm doing all day long is bending over...... bending over to pick up a toy... or food Ceej has thrown on the floor... a child... putting laundry in, taking laundry out... etc etc. I swear I bend over 300 times a day. And you might think I'm exaggerating... but I'm not... unless its a day I'm being particularly lazy and not picking up that is... somedays there are toys/food/shoes all over the place and I just let them stay for the day....

Here's the thing too... You're suppose to "bend at the knees" right? Not at the waist. It's better for your back or whatever. So whenever I do try to bend at the knees..... MY KIDS ATTACK ME! They literally jump on my back, throw their arms around my neck and choke me! Sometimes I'm able to regain my balance w/o fallin on my rear, but most of the time I fall back onto them! Then they get all mad at me like its my fault I fell over on them... I blame JDub for this! He's the one always on the ground wrestling... What is it with boys and their wrestling and tackling? I don't get it!

But I'm starting to wonder if bending over constantly can be some form of exercise.... Remember back in the day at school when you'd do those one workouts... oh crap what are they called?! Where you bend over and put your hands on the ground... shift your weight and throw your legs back, then bring you legs back in and then to a bend and stand up again! Are they burpies?! Is that what they were called? That's what is coming to mind to me right now anyway. But they were a legit exercise right? I'm sure I have to suck in my gut while I'm bending over to really get something out of it. Maybe I'll try that for now.........

Oh and I totally just googled "burpie" and came up with "burpee" (thus the picture above). See he's bending at the knees like a good boy... I remember doing them touching my toes......... maybe they had to "upgrade" the burpee for those with bad backs?!

ON ANOTHER NOTE:
I did wear my new dress to that wedding this weekend!! It was a hit :) I'm glad I made it short cause WHOOO BUDDY it was a HOTT one!! (the AC broke at the reception... I think it was up to 90 degrees in there!!)

Thanks to all of you who came up to me and mentioned you read my blog :) It's fun to see/hear who's reading and that you like what you read. :)

bridesmaid dress re-make

So I've had this dress for 4 years now!!! I was a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding (I've only ever been a bridesmaid for my sisters.... and my sister in law... I've kinda always wondered why none of my friends ever asked me to be a bridesmaid... does that mean I'm not a good friend? I keep holding out that maybe one of my single friends will get hitched and I'll get picked... but I kinda doubt it... I don't know what's worse... NEVER getting picked or ALWAYS getting picked, JDub has been a bestman/groomsman about a dozen times.......)

Ok sorry for that random tangent... back on task!!

I really do love the color of this dress! At first I thought it was chiffon but then looking at the tag it's polyester! While I was at my sewing class I asked for some advice as to what type of thread and needle I might need to work with. Initially I just wanted to cut it short and hem it... They all looked at me like I was crazy!? Which yea maybe I am a little bit. But I haven't worn this thing since that wedding, so I figured what the hey.... I'll try my best :)

Then I saw this picture!!!

I mean how chic does little "Harry Potter" girl look?! Honestly I never got into the whole Harry Potter ordeal...... but Emma is super cute and poise! And it reminded me of the shirring I did on my LBD. So I went for it :) Not to mention no having to worry about it being straight with this look!!

First instead of leaving all that length I decided to cut some off. This dress has 3 layers... I figured I didn't want any bulk going on underneath like there was last time! I cut the 2 outer layers the same length, and kept them a little longer, right at the knee. Then I cut the 3rd and closest layer to my body a couple inches shorter.



the dress is inside out so you can see the difference :)



I had to re-hem all the pieces by kind of rolling the material over a few times... it was pretty wobbly but I figured it would get covered up anyway so no biggie.



new hem rolled and pinned



new hem complete, each layer looked like this



Then I sewed the outer 2 layers together and sewed that to the inner layer! (Are you confused?... its kind of hard to explain on here...) I left the 2 flaps on the front free... not knowing how they might look at first.



sewing 2 outer layers together



sewing all three together!





I like the short-ness of this "inspiration" dress. It's been so unbelievably hot this summer I couldn't think of anything else I'd want to wear to a summer wedding than a light-weight short number. But once I got going I went a bit too short!! JDub didn't approve so I had to take it out a couple times and redo the shirring :)

I did my same shirring technique from LBD.... hand-wound my bobbin in white elastic thread. Threaded my machine with the polyester blend, coral thread, and even changed the needle on my sewing machine to a "sharp" one... (Who knew you were suppose to change your sewing machine needle with every project you start? And that there are specific needles for specific types of thread/fabric?) That was a little something I learned from my sewing class :) Then set my machine to the longest stitch and highest thread tension! I shirred on the right side of the fabric, that's why I bought matching thread.

Boo Netflix... I'm mad at you :(

I know most people don't like change.... I usually don't mind a little bit of it myself... but Netflix... you're killin' me! Why do you have to change a good thing? Ok, maybe I should take that back, you're not necessarily "changing" the plans... you're just jacking up the price for what I already have :(

When I first joined Netflix it was great! You could get unlimited DVD's out (one at a time, or 2 or even 3 if you wanted to pay more) every month. They had some stuff you could view online, on your computer, but it was pretty limited. Then came the instant viewing on your XBox. And that was great. I was liking the changes Netflix was doing. Now I could watch shows and certain movies on my big TV as well! And then it went downhill from there...

A few months ago they increased their rates... not only to new customers, but existing ones. They claimed they were offering more movies instantly and needed more cash for that... or whatever... I don't even think they claimed anything they were just like here starting next month your price will be this______! I wasn't that upset b/c it was only a couple of dollars a month. We could handle that.

JDub and I even bought each other a Roku for our anniversary so we could watch shows and movies on our TV upstairs too!

And then came the big blow....... Not only are they increasing their rates AGAIN, but they're splitting up their plans... While before I could get 1 DVD out a month (unlimited meaning as many times as I can watch it and get it back out in the mail to get a new one) and instant streaming to certain devices, now I can either stream... or get a DVD in the mail... not both. Oh well wait I could get both... for double the price...

So that leaves me here... wondering what to do..... I use the streaming more frequently and easily than the DVD's.... but not all movies are available instantly... I might just have to cut it down to streaming only...... and resort to REDBOX.... I just loved having them delivered to my house and not having to wait in line :(

Look what I can make!?!

Ok so thanks to my mom.......... I officially took my first sewing class?! They have a nice sewing center (Pine Needles Sewing) on the NE side of Cedar Rapids. My mom got me a gift certificate to take a class. I did the beginner class b/c the things I have been doing are just things I've taught myself... I don't know if there's really a "right" Or "wrong" way to sew... but I figured it wouldn't hurt to see how it would go!

Overall I'd say the class was good.... I did learn a few things... and look at this fabulous bag I made!!!!

My only complaint is it was the lady's first time teaching the class.... so that was a bit of a bummer. I mean the first time you do something is never the best time you do something. She was fine really, and very nice,, I shouldn't complain. There was one other lady in the class too. She brought her own machine... I just opted to use theirs b/c I figured it would be nicer than mine and OMG let me tell you it WAS nice... a little too nice after I found out the price tag (over $3000! can you believe?!). It was a Bernina... oh man in my dreams..... if I ever win the lottery or something (can't really do that when I never play.....) But yea it was beyond nice... it was incredible. It could do so many more cool things than mine... but then again I do have a sewing machine... it works perfectly fine. and well my sis isn't acting like she needs it back anytime soon so I'll keep using it!

I asked the lady if I could make the bag have a pocket before sewing it all together... and she looked at her watch and said ya... I don't think so... so that was a bit of a bummer too. I mean I can always add one later.. which I intend on doing. I just didn't want to have the seams on there! Oh well. It was still fun that's for sure. They have another class for making aprons and a zip-n-go tote! I might have to try those at some point too!

So on another note........ Bubba's 3rd birthday is quickly approaching! When I asked him if he wanted pirates or dinosaurs he said dino's! So I started researching and looking online for fun dinosaur stuff. I came across this fun blog with tutorials and all! And I made this with my scrap material from the bag!

Isn't he cute?! Here's the link to the tutorial that had the pattern for this cute dino :) Plush Dino

I'm really bummed out that I can't find these eyes anywhere else?! I got the last pair at Hancock fabrics today... Does anyone know where to find safety eyes?! Michael's didn't carry them either... I'm planning on making them as party favors... but that task might be a bit much!! His party is only weeks away?!

Bribing and Threatening... works on kids AND adults!?

So some might think I'm a terrible mother for saying that bribery and threatening are some parenting techniques that I use... They might seem extreme, but I tell you they get results!

ME: If you finish all your peas and watermelon you can have pudding!!
Bubba: I can?
ME: Yessiree! Look your brother is already eating his pudding because he finished all of his...
Bubba: I don't want my peas... can I have pudding? Ceej is done with his pudding.... he doesn't want it can I have it?
ME: You can have it when you finish your peas and watermelon........
Bubba: But Ceej doesn't want it can I have it please?
ME: If you don't finish your peas and watermelon in 10 minutes I am going to eat the pudding.....
Bubba: (scarfing down his peas and watermelon......) Can I have the pudding now?

I guess you could call it motivation too... it works for nap-time and bedtime too...

ME: It's time for bed!
Bubba: But I don't want to go to bed?! (whimpering and crying....)
ME: You can either go straight to bed... or we can read stories! Which one would you prefer:
Bubba: Reading stories....

I really find that giving kids 2 choices that still result in what you need... seems to work!
Example:
1.You can either go potty by yourself... or 2. Mommy will come in there and sit you on the potty... Either way they're still going to the potty whether you have to help... or on their own. And most of the time around here my almost 3 year old wants to do it himself!

It kind of reminds me of a show I've been watching lately too.... CLEAN HOUSE! OMG its sooo awesome. We have it on our instant netflix (there will be another post soon about netflix... I'm not too happy at the moment...) and I've been watching it during the boys nap times :) Basically its like hoarders meets HGTV!



baker's rack a few years ago



baker's rack now





















Here's my baker's rack... JDub LOATHES this thing still... I've tried to clear out the clutter but it just keeps coming back! I think if I could get some cute containers it could look really good......

Back to Clean House! These people have waaay too much "clutter" as they like to call it on the show. They come in.... make them have a huge yard sale, the proceeds they make from the sale go toward the renovating and decorating of the rooms that had all the clutter! They usually pick around 3 rooms in each house. But it is so funny the stuff these people want to hold on to. I mean I am a clothes horse, I totally admit it. I have way more clothes than JDub. I have maternity clothes... my in-between clothes (before and after baby when I hadn't shed all the "baby weight") I have my lounge wear, work-out wear, dressy clothes (from when I worked at an office) dresses for weddings... its alot. And now that I've started my re-fashioning I want to hold onto things even more! But some of these people still have tags on stuff.... they've been buried under piles of stuff for years and yet they want to hold on to it! If they would clean up my house and make it all nice and new I'd be piling up all sorts of stuff to get rid of! JDub said there's no way I could sign us up for one of those shows though..... he's such a party-pooper!

What the show ends up doing it bribing them!! They say "OK!.... if you get rid of 2 pieces of clothing for every 1 that you keep.......... we'll gift you new bedroom furniture?!" Most of these people haven't slept in their own bed for years b/c of all the clutter..... or their spouse is sleeping in a different room cause there is no room for them! You'd think it would be a no-brainer but they fight it til the end. They finally give in though. Its always worth it too.

Now while I don't think I have that much clutter...... I know there's plenty I could get rid of. So that's what I've been doing?! I've cleaned out the office a little bit, and some random clothes I have stuffed in closets around the house (yes my clothes are in not only in my room but also the boys' rooms, the hall closet, and in storage!?) and some old books... So far here's my nice stash going to goodwill at some point!

Now if only I had some sort of reward for my efforts.... j/k! Donating to Goodwill is a good cause :) After all most of this stuff has been sitting around for years.... Hopefully someone will put it to good use.

baseball t-shirt

I love men's baseball t-shirts. JDub has one and he looks too cute in it! That's why when I saw the cute "Little cyclone" one at a garage sale a couple years back I just had to buy it! You'll see along with that shirt I have a couple other t-shirts in the background...

Well these shirts are shirts I don't really wear anymore. The cute puppy one has yucky pit-stains... and the red one is too large.. So I thought I'd try to make my own baseball t-shirt for the boys to wear!

First thing was seam-ripping the collar off the red shirt...

Then I set the "little cyclone" shirt on top of the dog shirt, lined up the writing as best I could, and traced and cut it out. I did both the front and the back at the same time :)



Then it came time for the sleeves. First I again laid the "little cyclone" shirt on top of the red one. I don't like having to do hems... I have issues, so instead of having to do more sewing than necessary, I laid it along the side of the shirt and had the bottom hem turn into the ends of the sleeves... after I traced the one I flipped it and did it along the other side of the red shirt too.

Waking to the sounds of.... everything?

I sleep with a white noise machine every night. I am quite possibly the lightest sleeper in the world. I wake up to the slightest noise. Whether its Mango jumping over our child-gate in the kitchen.... a motorcycle driving by outside... or children crying in the night... (or a beeping smoke detector!!) So when I woke up to the sounds of... well everything yesterday morning I was a bit disoriented.

The power was out.

Gotta love waking up bright and early and realizing you have no power. JDub was in the shower... I could hear the water running... Ceej was beginning to wake in his room as well. Bubba, who is also a light sleeper, always has a fan running in his room at night to drown out the noise... but of course his fan wasn't on either. So there it was, Monday morning, no power, 6:30 am, and I have to deal with it. We get in a routine around this house... Wake up, preferably at 7:00........ get Bubba his milk, turn on the TV and watch cartoons for 30-45 minutes... This time is really for me to wake up, start my day. But that didn't happen yesterday...... no power = no TV. Having a power outage is really hard for an almost 3 year old to understand. "Can we watch TV Mommy?" I heard that too many times to count yesterday. We couldn't even go downstairs to cool off b/c its soo dark down there w/o lights.

We managed though... It was kind of nice in a way. Back to the basics for play! I did however have to call in reinforcements from my friendly neighbor across the street. Oh yes... they had power over there! I called around 9:30 and said "I am in desperate need... do you have any coffee?!" Thank goodness she did.. she even made me my own special pot! I really do need to send her a thank you... I was dragging bad and needed it :)

JDub brought us lunch... mainly b/c I had already opened the fridge a few times to get milk/juice for the boys and didnt' want to ruin the $100 I just dropped at the store! Then around 2:30 we all took naps...even Mommy! The power finally returned around 4:30 pm...  Last night I even started my new sewing project!! Recycling at its best. I have to finish up a little more sewing and then I should be able to post about it later today.

All in all my Monday was off to a rough start... but it turned out ok by the end!!

Old navy tank--Take 2!

I am soo pumped about this refashion! I got to use that awesome shirring technique again :)

As you might recall I had 3 old navy tank tops... well honestly I have waaay more than 3..... but in this case I am referring to 3 identical tanks and my gray one was already re-done. So I could have sworn I took a before photo.... but I cannot find it!! And I'm getting sleepy so here it is in gray... just pretend its blue please!

First I turned the shirt inside out, cut the straps, criss-crossed them, pinned and sewed!

Then I turned my shirt right-side-out and used some chalk to make some lines. I just drew 2 lines, an inch apart.

Then got my handy elastic thread, hand-wound it onto the bobbin and put it into the machine. Then I threaded the machine with navy blue thread and set the tension to the highest setting (a 9 on my machine), and to the longest stitch as well...

Then I got to sewing! I did the line closest to the edge of the shirt first, and make sure you have the shirt turned the right side out... you want the blue thread to be on the outside and the elastic thread to be on the inside of the shirt. Once that row was complete, I did another row in the middle of my 2 chalk lines... and then a third row on the other chalk line! The shirt starts to bunch up a little, but you can just stretch it out while sewing so you don't have any lumps.

Here's the fun part about this shirt.......... you can wear it 2 different ways?! Here's the first.......

Pepsi plaque

So I am not the biggest fan of Pepsi... I actually prefer Coke myself! But JDub loves the stuff. I'm pretty sure if he could setup an IV drip of Pepsi he would! I don't remember where I acquired this sweatshirt, but it has seen better days. Here she is before....

As you can see the ends are fraying and getting all holey! I have quite a few sweatshirts anyway... so I figured I could lose this one! I took an old frame I had laying around... I'm pretty sure I've had this one for 5 years....

I took the glass and laid it on top of the sweatshirt and traced around the edges with one of those fabric markers that disappear after a while....... I also had to rip out the seams of the pocket on the front to make enough room. And I also cut a little bit off the line so make sure there was enough fabric.

Made in the 80's

So I don't remember exactly where I got this shirt... I do believe it was back in high school. Of course I love the 80's.... I mean that's when I was born, making the world a better place for all. Ha! J/k!!! But yea here's the before shot, it was a little on the tight and short-side. I for one have loved this new trend of long and lean shirts... the longer... THE BETTER. I can't stand wearing shirts that graze my waistline. I much prefer having that tum and a little of the rear-end covered :)

I had this black tank top in the "goodwill" pile b/c it was also on the short side... I don't need any cami's just grazing my waistline either! But then I thought I could use the material to make this shirt longer....