Successful sewing: Pillowcase Dresses

I have been winning the battle with my sewing machine today. I made 3 pillowcase dresses and my sewing skills and techniques got better with each one.



Dress #1: Made with some scrap material I had.



Once this one was successful, I hit the fabric stores with the girls.



Dress #2: Miss L's fabric choice, Strawberry Shortcake.



and my favorite



Dress #3: The best one so far. I did this one so that it ties in the back instead of on the shoulders. I think this will be easier to put on a wiggly toddler.



So what do you think? Do you think that these would be a good item at Once Upon A Dream?
I really hope my sewing machine continues to like me tomorrow.

I am so ticked at my sewing machine. I have given up for tonight, I have been fighting it since Sunday afternoon. I really wish that I knew how to sew and wasn't flying by the seat of my pants.

A Picky Eater

A little about Miss L's eating style. Miss L does not eat. She has never been a big eater, and I have noticed her eating habits are a lot like mine. She goes several days without eating much at all and eats non stop one day. I have always tried to offer her a wide variety of foods, and I am constantly asking her to try new things. This usually involves a lot of tear and screaming. I don't think that children should be forced to eat things they do not like, but they should be encouraged to try new things. She is not a big meal eater, but eats small snacks through the day. So I have tried to get creative in snacks that we offer. However, since she does not eat much at all, I do give in and give her foods that I know she will eat often. She has to eat something.

Here's a list of Miss L's favorite foods. It is mostly junk food, and I know not very healthy. But I try something new everyday in hopes that something will click, and we can add a new food to our list. Shredded cheese (weird), chez-its, pop tarts, chicken nuggets, spaghetti, pizza, mac and cheese, muffins, and apple sauce. Every once and awhile, I can get her to eat some apple slices, but no other fruits and vegetables. She has even been helping Mr. B in the garden all summer, but she won't even eat things from there.

I am often at a lost in getting her to eat. I thought it was something that I did wrong, but little s eats anything that you put in front of her.

So do any of you have a picky eater? Any ideas on how to get them to try new things (other than bribing, we already do that)?

I guess we won't be eating oranges for awhile.

In an attempt to get Miss L to eat something beside her basic three food groups of cheese (including chez-its), chicken nuggets, and cookies, I made her eat half of a small piece of Mandarin orange before she could have the pop tart she wanted instead. I could tell that she actually liked the taste despite her attempts at gagging and acting like she didn't like it. So I offered her another. As I was stabbing the fork into a new one, she projectile vomited the contents of her stomach at me. WTH? I guess this is the thanks I get for trying to get her to eat other foods.

Sorry if this is TMI. I could not help but laugh when it happened.

Boring,but Productive

A boring weekend, but lots of accomplishments. So just to prove here's a post with pictures.

Saturday:

I spent yesterday working on items for Once Upon A Dream. It has been awhile since I have devoted some time to my online store. I made 8 korker bows and also started working on initial bow holders.

Mr. B kept asking why these letters. They are just ones I have picked up at places on sale or clearance. I have been meaning to do these for awhile, but just haven't gotten a lot of time to work on them. These are for sale, but mostly just for examples.

I also made these for the girls door. I have had them for quite awhile, but haven't been able to decide what to do with them. The S actually has a pink dot pattern on it.

I made this korker for little s to match these onesies I got for her for winter. It is actually one of my favorites that I made yesterday.

Sunday:

Mr. B left for work this morning around 5:30 am and won't be home until at least 9 pm. He took my car since I didn't have any plans, and has to drive a pretty good distance. I think I remember him asking if I wanted him to take the car seats out of my car. I guess I told him no, so we definitely won't be going anywhere today.

I have spent most of the morning getting these listed on in my store. So to keep the girls entertained while I did this, I turned a movie on.

I am really not so sure what is so mesmerizing about this guy, but this is girls for at least 15 minutes this morning.

On the agenda for the afternoon is a nap for little s and playdoh time for Miss L. I am going to try and get some laundry done, pick up the house, and get the recyclables ready for pickup tomorrow. So see a pretty boring weekend, but I did get a lot accomplished.

Sunny Days

I took the girls to Sesame Street Live on Sunday. It was very last minute. Meaning, I was reading the paper online at 12:30 and saw the show started at 1:30. We didn't have anything to do, and that sounded like fun. No one had eaten lunch yet, so we filled up on a gigantic bucket of popcorn at the show. It was the only thing I could carry along with little s and hold Miss L's hand. Not too many pics since little s figured out how to scream at the top of her lungs last week, so she decided to test it out and see if Elmo could hear here. Miss L was really only interested in Abby, we aren't big Sesame watchers.

A little funk

I have not been blogging my heart out lately for a few reasons.

• Mr. B has been reading my blog for the last few weeks. So now I have nowhere to rant about him. He always takes offense to things I say because he takes them the wrong way.
• I can think of great things to blog about while I am in the shower, and it sounds perfect in there. Sort of like my singing. But once that water is off, the thoughts completely escape my brain. I need a voice recorder in there.
• little s now refuses to go to sleep before 10:30 or 11 every night. There goes my blog time.
• Mr. B was on vacay all last week. He thought I should be his entertainment committee. Everyday he asked me what are we going to do today. "Umm. I don't know what you are going to do, but I am going to clean your mess from yesterday."
• I guess I am just in some kind of PMS funk right now. And for your sanity, I will not make you listen my rants and whining. You probably wouldn't come back.

So I hope to get back on track this week. Maybe even a post with some substance, but I wouldn't risk any money on it. Hope your week is going great so far.

So, what is it?

These are green beans from Mr. B's garden. They are laying on a regular sized placemat. I don't thing I even have a plate large enough to serve them on. Since we bought our house, Mr. B has turned our backyard into a garden. I am pretty sure he would use the entire yard if he could. When going to find seeds this year, he came across "yard long green beans" and this is the result. I guess we have some pretty good soil out back because he usually have some large and unusually shaped veggies. Gardening is 100% Mr. B's thing.

Leftovers

It looked much better last night when it was nicely displayed on that platter with fish painted on it. But I couldn't eat it then since I had to take a toddler who couldn't behave in a crowded restaurant on a Friday night to the car. And of course she didn't make a peep once we got to the car. So I had my soggy leftovers for lunch today. I am not sure why we bother to even try and go out to eat. Oh yeah, I don't cook.

Naps are for Sissies

Why is it that my perfect little napper little s goes down without a fight everyday after lunch, but I fight with Miss L the entire time to just lay down. But then about 5 minutes prior to little s waking up, Miss L gives it up and actually goes to sleep. And why, when I reached a point in my life where I want to take a nap will my children not allow me to? Is this mom ever going to get a nap?

Any Ideas What These Are?

Take a guess, leave a comment, I am sure there will be a prize involved for the correct answer. Submit your answer by Saturday, 8-16-08 at midnight.

Giveaway Winner

Congrats Scott at Our Life.... Of the three numbers Miss L picked #1. She selected this korker.

If you didn't win, you can order bows from Once Upon A Dream. Stay tuned for future giveaways.

I'm too tired to think

I am so sorry that I haven't posted a winner to my giveaway. I will be on that first thing tomorrow. My lazy day was yesterday since Mr. B and I were both off work. We ended up going swimming, and if you have ever taken a 3YO and 15 MO swimming, there is no lazy about it. Today we went to the city so Mr. B could play in a poker tournament. I took the girls to a mall with lots of kiddie stuff today. Miss L peed on a mini-merry go round, and I had to go and buy her a new outfit and underwear. Wait you say, don't you carry extras in your diaper bag. Yup, I sure do. This was the second accident of the day. My arms and legs ache from pushing around 50+#'s of kids and stroller, and my head is fuzzy from trying to keep two kids from whining all day. So I promise first thing tomorrow, the three of you who entered, Miss L will draw a number from a hat, and we will have a winner.

Don't forget to enter....

Just a friendly reminder that you only have until tomorrow at noon to enter my korker giveaway! Good Luck!

Is it to be, or not to be?

I have that nagging feeling again. It's a inner war going on between my head and my heart. Let me give you a little insight.

When I was pregnant with Miss L, I swore she was going to be an only child. Pregnancy and I are not friends. I am the extremely grouchy pregnant lady no one wants to be around. Three months after having her, I was still semi-breastfeeding and not on any type of birth control. At that time I opted for the shot. So I called my Dr's office to get the script, and I also requested to have a blood pregnancy test just to be safe before starting the shot. I went, had the test and called to get the results. "Positive." I flipped out and was hysterically crying on the phone. The receptionist transferred me to the nurse. I had started spotting that afternoon, and this baby, who was not even a twinkle in my eye, was now in danger. Or so I thought. Two weeks later, I went in for my first appointment. The sweet nurse who I talked to earlier, took me into a room and explained that some how the results got mixed up and I was not pregnant. For two weeks I had been on an emotional roller coaster. I completely weaned my daughter and tried to fathom having a 13 month old and a newborn. I did not want to know what people would think of me. I mean how stupid could I be. I spent two weeks getting excited about having another baby, because really what else could I do. So when the nurse gave me this news, I felt relief. I also called Mr. B at work. He told me he was disappointed, and I knew exactly what he meant. I did not want to admit it to myself until he said it, I was disappointed too. We decided it was not a good time for another baby, and I began an assortment of birth controls that threw my body way out of wack. Apparently things don't work the same after you have a baby.

Miss L's first birthday rolled around, and it was as if I switch flipped in me. I was yearning for another baby. I don't know what it is about first birthdays, they are so bitter sweet for me. I am not sure that we decided to have another baby at this time. But we did take the same approach as we did when I got pregnant with Miss L, "If it happens, it happens." Not so much trying, but not preventing. By the end of July, I was pregnant with little s.

I was back to being the grouchy pregnant lady swearing never again. But guess what little s turned 1 in April. I began to have the exact same feelings, but with a little twist. My heart is yearning, but my head is yelling, "Are you crazy?" I have kept this feeling so bottled up for a couple of moths since she turned 1. But lately, I keep dropping subtle and not so subtle hits to Mr. B. He is the one who truly needs the convincing.

There are other issues that would have to be working out if we had another. Issues I do not even want to deal with like we will need a bigger car, bigger house, and is it even possible for me to continue working. Right now, none of this even seems important when your heart is wanting another baby.

For now, we are waiting. I think we have agreed to wait until October, and then revisit the issue. But that seems years away. I know that what is meant to be will happen, and I must leave it at that. So for now, we will continue to prevent, and hopefully by October Mr. B will be on the same page as me. At least that is what I am praying for.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. It's better than keeping it all bottled up.

Kissing Butt

Miss L is at the age where every bump, poke or anything less than a soft landing deserves a kiss. I guess I am lucky that a kiss on the affected sight instantly stops the crying, but I find myself not wanting to kiss certain areas. I can't tell you how many times this child has asked me to kiss her butt lately. I love the child and everything, but I must draw the line somewhere. I caught myself kissing my finger tips and then touching her toes this morning after she ran into to who knows what. It seemed to have the same effect, so lucky me I guess I caught a break. No more butt kissing for me.


Don't forget about the giveaway!

Korker Giveaway

So, I am finally ready. I had some difficulty getting new korker bows uploaded to my ecrater store. And in the meantime, Mr. B bought me a new computer. Of course I had to get it setup along with wireless internet. So, here goes. Are you ready for another giveaway?

The Details:
1. Head over to Once Upon A Dream. Check out the new korker bows and select your favorite one. (Select korker bow in the bottom right corner)
2. Come back here to this post, leave a comment and let me know which one you like the best.
3. On Friday at noon, a winner will be selected at random from the comments. And they will win the bow they selected as their fav!

Good Luck!

ETA: Make sure and leave your email address if you do not have a blogger account.

Cookie Decorating 101

One of the activities my mom used to keep L busy while she was at her house was decorating cookies. She sent the undecorated cookies home as well as icing and sprinkles. We didn't have time to do those before I went to work the day after she got home, but I told the babysitter that she could if she wanted to. I just loaded the pictures from my camera, and being the wonderful babysitter that she is, she took pictures. Looks like little s reaped the benefits of L's new favorite activity. Looks like I know what we will be doing at Christmas time.

Whoop you like a pinata

This morning Miss L told Mr. B, "I'm gonna whoop you like a pinata!" I couldn't help but laugh, but of course I got in trouble because, "I was not helping the situation any." I questioned her later where she heard that, and her response was the Disney Channel. Seriously, is there not anything safe for kids to watch anymore?