$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.