I love Halloween

Dressing up has always been my thing. Ask anyone. I'm so good at costumes and can create a costume out of any household item. So of course my child is going to have a great costume for her first one. BUT due to one of my best friend's destination wedding Halloween weekend, I'm going to miss baby E's first Halloween!! She's staying with my mom so I've convinced mom to dress her up and take her trick or treating. I haven't quite gotten all of E's costume yet...but here are some pics of her trying on the best part...the hairy dress. HA! She's going to be Toto, mom's going to be Dorothy, Tweedy is the Tin man, my brother is the Scarecrow, Jayber is of course the Cowardly Lion and my dad is the Emerald City King or maybe the witch. HA! This idea stemmed from my mom's fierce desire since she was a child to be Dorothy. She loves that movie!





I knew I wanted to make E's costume...but didn't really want to find a pattern for a dog outfit. Instead, I used a simple A-line dress pattern. I think the hairy material is perfect and I laughed out loud when I found it at Hancocks. Any suggestions on how to do the ears? I'm not sure I can get a 9 month old to wear a headband. What if I knitted a brown hat and sewed the ears to it? Eureka!

Tweedy said she looked like a cavewoman. Once she gets the rest of her costume though: brown tights, brown shirt, ears and of course a painted nose...she'll look just like Toto! Pics of the finished product to come!

Our Porch Is Famous

I had to share this! We have a great screened-in porch on the back of our house that we spend a lot of time on watching football games, cooking out and just enjoying the Southern weather. A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine who works at Southern Living asked if they could come do a photo shoot using our porch as the background for one of their upcoming issues. We of course agreed and Tweedy and I spent a whole day getting ready. We cleaned, dusted, old englished the old church pew that's the focal point of the room and of course Tweedy put plants everywhere. The day finally came!! They got here with a moving crew and moved out every bit of our furniture. HA! Then they spent two days taking pictures and cooking tons of recipes all with these ingredients: corn, okra and tomatoes. (it comes out July 2010) Most of the shots are pretty tight on the food, but if you know what our porch looks like...you'd know it was shot on our porch....maybe. :)

I was just glad they let us have the leftovers!!

$2000 Parking Pass

I have a little brother who's a senior in college. He's always been a pretty bright and intelligent guy, studying all the time, getting his degree in civil engineering. So doing something like this is.....ugh, I don't know what it is. It's just plain dumb. So at this very very large university he attends, each year the students purchase parking passes to reserve their places while they're in class. Freshman of course have the worst spots but you get closer and closer to the buildings as you go up each year. Being a senior this year, he would have had prime parking. I mean right in the front, step out of your car and you're there. We called it "princess parking." I'm not sure what boys call it. Anyway...brother of mine forgot to order his $25 parking pass this year, and since the school is overcrowded, he couldn't get one once it was too late. He was told he'd have to park in the freshman lot about 3 miles from his classes. And he said...nope! "I think I'll go and buy a motorcycle off the internet and park right outside the building door." Ugh...I hate motorcycles and think they're so dangerous. But that's what he did and he's pretty pumped about it. It's a Harley...you can hear him coming from a mile away. He's the one in front, the one in the back is his best friend.

Yard Bandit

We have a new little friend in our backyard....Backstory - I've been noticing over the past couple of weeks that our little cat, Mia, has really been eating her food quickly! I'll fill her bowl at night and then the next morning it's gone! I also started noticing that she refuses to go into our screened in porch and backyard lately choosing to instead lounge around in our carport, by the back door or on our cars. Hmmmm this tipped me off b/c she loves the backyard. Second thing that tipped me off was when the cat food bag had been clawed to shreds and the bag emptied!! A dog, I thought?? Or a neighborhood cat maybe? No no no....a trip outside one day revealed a RACOON on our porch! Tweedy and I tried several different things to get rid of it:

1. Set up the baby video monitor outside in front of a bowl of catfood. After waiting and waiting we finally saw the little booger on the screen chowing down. So Tweedy grabs his pellet gun and sneaks out the front door to shoot him, but he ran away right as the door opened. Not gonna be that easy.

2. Called Animal Control. Where I was told that in order for them to come rid us of the racoon, they would put a trap in our yard for a week, come check it and take away the animal once they caught it. This would cost us $200. No thank you!

3. Bought my own *#&% racoon trap for $50. The first couple of nights it didn't work. One night something even ate all the food, took a poop in the trap and somehow escaped with the door down. But then...BINGO! We caught not one, but TWO stinkers! The original plan was for Tweedy to shoot them once we caught them, but since he was unable to do that, he decided to let them go on his way to work in the "woods," which since we live in the city, consisted of a pack of trees somewhere downtown. But Problem Solved!!

Note To Self:

Anybody remember the basket weave baby hat?? AKA...my favorite baby shower present...well it doesn't fit 6 month olds...baaahahahaha



Anybody remember the pope hat?? The one that definitely would not have fit my 25 year old friend it was made for...it does fit 6 month olds. Lesson learned - The GAUGE is there for a REASON. USE IT!!!



Disclaimer: Don't judge her outfits (lack of). My child spits up a lot. You would think that moving up to solid foods would help, but it just makes it color coated and stains all of her cute outfits. Oxy clean is my new best friend. I've learned not to put anything cute on her unless we're going out.

Redneck Tank Top

Now as you all know I'm pretty thrifty and take pride in my roadside treasures. Just last week we found a porch umbrella, a wooden trellis, wicker chair with nice cushion and a round black iron side table to match our outside chairs and table that people were going to throw away! I also enjoy finding good deals,using coupons and sewing usable things out of old clothes/tee shirts. But I ask you... Who stands and looks at a pair of men's briefs and says hmmmm...I can make me a nice summer top from these!! On the other hand...$6 for a three pack is a good price!! But what if they weren't bought new? That's redneck recycling at its best. Ladies...Don't throw out yer feller's drawers when they don't fit no more... Just cut the crotch out and wear 'em!! Hahaha!

Summer is for sewing

Ugh I'm the worst blogger I know! Lately my updates have been few and far between due to my little 3 month old priss. I have finally gotten her on a schedule with about a 2 hour nap in the morning, a 3 hour one in the afternoon and to bed by 6:30 with lots of play time and eating in between. Which leaves me plenty of time for work...I mean sewing! I've been working from home lately which I love but it's so hard to choose work over sewing!! You just can't knit in the summer in Alabama...I need instant wearing gratification so baby sewing it is. Usually I remember that I get paid to work and not to sew and end up choosing work but here's what happens when I choose the other:





Bubbles are so great for babies this age. And they're quick and easy to make. The one shown is the "Taylor bubble." Looks great with an applique. Lately I've been obsessed with smocked dresses with angel sleeves like the pink one. They're just so stinking cute! Another obsession (no picture of it yet) are the really short dresses and matching bloomers underneath that show a little. So cute. I'm making two of them right now and then the worst thing happened...my sewing machine broke!! ERRRRRRR. Cuss word! Tweedy tried to take a look at it but he kept slamming down the presser foot, wasting tons of thread and was starting to unscrew the face when I was like ughhhh hold up. I'll take it to the shop. So I took it today but the service fee is $99.95. Cuss word again! Why not just say $100? Why $99.95? Just to bust my chops even more?!? It's going to take a week and a half to fix but at least I already seamed two of the bishops so I can be smocking them while I'm waiting on it.

Baby update for my momma friends: Does your baby make a very high pitched squeal/scream all the day long? Mine does. Cute at first...ear piercing now. She's happy while she does it and is smiling and thinks it's hilarious but everywhere we go people turn to stare and say things like "WOAH she's gonna be a talker!" It's really impressive how long she can hold that high note.....I could count to 10 during it! Her face is hysterical while she's doing it...wide eyed like "is that me?" and red from the strain of holding it. I think she's going to be a singer but her practicing makes poor Jayber so nervous. He looks at me like...please make it stop. HA! If I figure out how to post a video I'll show you. But don't be jealous that my child is a singing prodigy at 3 months old.

Acting Out

So now that our sweet little baby is 2 months old, Tweedy and I finally seem to be settling in to our new schedule and the demands of our little one. I spend most of my days singing Twinkle Twinkle on repeat, rocking, diaper changing, cleaning up spit up, bathing and of course feeding our little one. This leaves me very little time for most of the hobby things I love to do and little time to spend with our first child, Jayber...who also requires feeding, bathing, watering, walking and of course love and attention. Lately poor J doesn't get taken outside until around 11am, hardly ever goes on walks (which i'll explain later) and gets his dinner late after baby goes to sleep. In spite of all this, he's doing great with the changes and periodically creeps into the nursery to peep into the bassinet while she's sleeping and always licks her toes anytime he walks by. During those late night feedings, while Tweedy is snoozing away and doesn't even notice she's woken up, Jayber always sleepily gets up, walks into the nursery with me and lays in front of the rocker while I feed her. But about the walking....I did try to take both of them a couple of times. But it's a little difficult to control a stroller not on a sidewalk and an 80 lb golden retriever on a leash who's mission in life is to chase all squirrels back into their trees. And after the near tip over the stroller and baby fall out incident...Jayber stays home during our strolls, unless a friend comes along.

I tell you all of this along with three pieces of evidence of his boredom (and Tweedy's frustration after fixing this three times)

1.

2.


3.


But perk up Jayber....this will only get easier for you and all of us as our little one gets older. Soon she'll be tossing you food over the side of her high chair and following you all over the house. And of course it could be worse....you could be our cat, Mia, who hasn't stepped foot in the house in 8 weeks.

RIP Creative Needle

Everyone's talking about the recession and as we've been paying close attention and expecting to get hit with something....it hasn't really effected us that much - until now. For Christmas my mom gave me a subscription to Creative Needle magazine that I was so pumped about. I love how it always has great free smocking plates, tips, new ideas and free patterns stuffed in it. There are 6 issues a year and I waited and waited on mine to start coming....so it's April now and I'm still waiting. I decided to give them a call and a piece of my mind but when I went to their website this is what I saw:

Dear Readers,

We regret to inform you that Creative Needle ceased publication with the Nov/Dec 2008 issue. I personally filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in February 2009. The decision to close our doors after 24 years was difficult and painful....etc etc.

BOOOOO! If anyone knows of any other good sewing mags that are not cheesy that I'm not aware of please let me know. Poor mom's out $50 for year subscription that I won't get! I wish they could send me 6 past issues to make up for it.

DIY Bottle Cozy

Here's a creative little knitting project for all you mommas. A fellow do it yourselfer and one of my good friends sent this to me and I had to share. I haven't tried it myself and not sure if I will but thought it was funny.

Anybody out there burn your hands on glass bottles? I hope not since that would be one way you would know that the milk inside was way too hot for your little one. But this cozy would be a great way to tell your bottles from other babies if your child goes to day care or something.



Click here for the pattern compliments of A Merry Mishap.

Little Baby Sweater

I finished a project!! Finally!! And it was my first sweater. This really took no time at all. It's so tiny and I thought I would never figure out how to seam it all together but it really wasn't that bad. The pattern is from Debbie Bliss' book "Special Knits - 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies and Toddlers" and there's really some good stuff in there. For the yarn I used two strands of Dale Baby Ull which is 100% Merino Wool. So soft. Now I need to find 6 buttons to go on it. I'm thinking pearly.

I think Baby Girl will wear this home from the hospital over the little blue smocked dress I did as long as the sweater doesn't swallow her. Now I need to do a hat to match it. Gah! Then I will need booties to match that and some little mittens to match those...haha j/k. I hope it fits her..my mom wanted me to send her a picture of it on something um...."Like on what mom...the cat?" and she said "No..how about on a teddy bear." lol..that explains the weird pic below.

I saw this little 4 year old boy the other day in a completely knitted outfit...pants, sweater with a dog on it and hat. Tweedy could not stop laughing. It was pretty tacky. I'll try not to get too crazy with knitting clothes for her but it's fun and fast!! Quick knitting gratification.

Coupon Craze

So with the new baby only 4 weeks away, the economy being in the pits and me not getting paid through my 3 month maternity leave my latest thing has been.....COUPONS! One of my friends from work was telling me that she gets upset if she goes to Publix and doesn't save at leave $40. I was like WHAT?!? How the heckoo do you save $40 at Publix? And then I was introduced into the world of coupons...now I'm obsessed. Here are some of the things I've learned:

1. Did you know that you can print off a coupon for pretty much anything just by searching the Internet? These great websites like coupons.com, coolsavings.com or the manufacturers websites all have tons of them...for Free!!

2. Publix and CVS are two of the best places to use your coupons. First, Publix will accept ANYTHING coupon wise...whether they're from Rite Aid, Wal-Mart the manufacturer or whoever, it doesn't matter. Also, they double all coupons up to $1.00. So if you have one for 50 cents...then they make it a dollar. AND my favorite thing to do there is cut out the 1 cent surprise coupon, (in their circular from the Sunday paper) take it up there Sunday or Monday, hand it to the cashier and they give you the 1 cent product of the week for only a penny! It's always Publix brand stuff but it's pretty good...so far I've gotten - a box of hot chocolate mix, a huge can of chopped pineapples and blue cheese dressing. HA! Isn't that great? We don't really eat blue cheese dressing...but it was only 1 cent and it's fun to see what the surprise is. Love it.
Next...CVS is super great. All you have to do is sign up (for free) for their CVS Extra Bucks Reward card, look through the circular every week and see what you need that will get you Extra Care bucks and buy it from there. I was a little confused about this at first and it can get pretty tricky..but for example, if they have Dove shampoo for sale for $4.00 and you get $2.00 extra care bucks for buying it, then it's like you only paid $2.00 for the shampoo AND if you come prepared with your $2.00 off Dove coupon...then you got it for FREE!! They give you a receipt for your $2.00 extra care bucks and you can bring it in next time to use for anything in the store!! (except alcohol) Pretty cool huh!?!

3. Get the Sunday paper. It has tons of great coupons in it. I get it at work on Monday for free because our receptionist said nobody ever wants the coupons and she usually throws them AWAY! That sounds really cheap of me I know...but it works and I hate to think of them being wasted like that. It usually takes me about 30 minutes with my scissors, recycle box and little baggies with "Snacks" "Dinner" or "Bathroom Products" labeled on there to go through and figure out what we like to eat/buy that there are coupons for and organize them. This is also when you would look through the circulars and find out what the Buy One Get One Free deals are at Publix and how to get Extra Care bucks. Then I make my grocery list. It makes me feel so organized...I'm sure this practice will suffer when Baby girl gets here, but hopefully not.

4. Check out the Coupon blogs!! There are all these great blogs that tell you where the good deals are, how to get them and how much you can save!! These ladies go to a lot of trouble to share this info. My favorite so far is Fiddledeedee. I love her organic Fridays where she posts printable coupons for organic products and lists places to get them on sale. Yesterday she had a great post about baby products with tons of great coupons for Huggies, Johnson and Johnson and other good stuff. Here are some links:

http://fiddledeedeeblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.couponcravings.com/
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/
http://www.becentsable.net/
http://iheartcvs.com/

5. Sign up for coupon booklets and free clubs. While looking through the blogs listed above they'll have links to sign up for a coupon booklet or email newsletter with promotions and coupons for some of my favorite products. I have a second email address that I use for junk stuff so I just give that email and then it doesn't flood my main one. A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for one with P&G and got a booklet in the mail with $30 worth of savings in it. Racked up on the coupons! And most of them don't expire until March! Woohoo! I also joined the Publix Baby Club, which was free, and received a great book about babies, a booklet of baby product coupons and coupons for FREE products from Publix like baby wash, diapers, lotions and hand sanitizer just for joining. They are going to send baby coupons to me in the mail every month! So these are really great, but you do have to be careful that you're not signing up for "special promotions" that end up sending you one million junk mail.

Don't worry...I will not turn my crafting blog into a blog about coupons and great deals. But I just had to share this info. I'm so obsessed with it that I get super annoyed if I have to run to the store to get something and don't have a coupon for it. HA! And Tweedy is so proud of me and has gotten into it too. Before I was a clipper, I would go to the store and spend over $100 every time for all of our food for the week but now I haven't spent over $70 a single time and I'm still getting the same stuff!! The most I've saved is $30 at Publix, and I was just a grinning when I pushed my cart out into the parking lot. It's very rewarding. I just feel sorry for the person in line behind me who has to wait for the cashier to scan my 50 coupons that I hand over proudly when I check out. And for some reason I am always scared the cashier will press the total button before she remembers that I have coupons...so I annoyingly tell her a couple of times "I have coupons! Don't forget...I have coupons!" while she's scanning.

Ok I'm done...The next post will be about knitting or sewing I swear.