Water Bottle Carrier

I have been walking with a friend, and I decided I needed something to carry my bottle and my cell phone.

I really just winged this pattern. I measured around my bottle and the height and i cut the pieces and sewed them together. The pocket was a bitch because canvas doesn't stretch much at all. Eventually I got it as close to good as I could and I called it quits. I already had the fabric and webbing, so it was a free project!

Operation New Board

My ironing board has given me a mission.

The mission is called Operation New Board.  Operation New Board consists of ironing board makeover a la Vain and Vapid.

The old board is icky. That hole has gotten huge and raggedy during the last 6 months.  The ironing board is crying out for a successful completion of this mission.

Your task is to help me pick the fabric to cover my ironing board.  All of this fabric is in my closet and begging to be chosen for this mission.

 
 Carebears










 Green






 Cream with Red flowers

 Blue with flowers

Toile with Revolutionary war scenes - cream with dk blue

American Flag (doy)

Camo in browns






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Summer Dresses

Summer Dress time!

I made a pillow case dress. I hate making these. Pain in the ass. I hated doing those rolled hems.










Next I made some shirred dresses. These were so freaking easy that I made 10. I started out with this pattern, But it just wasn't really super understandable. Then I made one of these dresses (the first one, but I did a different fabric on top.) It wasn't quite right either. So.... I ended up with my own style of fun.

Basically I took a rectangle of fabric. I used the full width of fabric, and measured out the length i wanted, based upon where i wanted the dress to fall on Lucy. Sometimes I used a complementary color on top, or I used a color on top, a diff for the skirt, and then a strip of the top color at the hem.

I prepared the straps as in the SewMamaSew pattern. And then I attached the straps as in the pattern also, but I did not leave a casing for the elastic.

Next, I shirred the top, about 16-20 rows. I just used the pressure foot to measure the distance from the previous row. I did not sew especially straight, but you can't tell in the end.

Okay, after the shirring, I used the iron on a steam setting to shrink up the shirring. It still seems super big though.

Next, sew up the sides to make a tube with the shirring going around the top. Then hem the bottom.

The end.

Oh, to make this fit, wash and dry on high. It shrinks up super well.

my babies aren't really babies anymore

I am going to miss how my babies talk.  I should have written these things down as they happened but I never seem to do that.  When Alex was 2, everytime we went for a walk he would "ssssmell ssssumsing."  It was always BBQ or dog poop.  When CSI first started, AJ was 3.  He would sing the theme song, "ooooo, ah deee, oo-oo, oo-oo" Today, Lucy told me that she "earned a bruise."

Back in the day...

I have a uni-brow. I always have. In high school, I tweezed.  It hurt. I made a promise to myself that once I was on my own I would never pluck again. I had dreams of lying in a salon chair, wearing a fluffy robe, while my eyebrows were masterfully sculpted by a stylist.


I found out that there are no fluffy robes and the chairs are uncomfortable and waxing HURTS.  But the pain is quick and I can bear the 6 hours of swollen red eyebrow.  So I wax, and I am very happy with letting someone else rip off my uni-brow.

Some where along the way, I forgot about tweezers.  We have made a plan to get out of debt and that includes cutting out frivolities.  I tried to explain that my self-esteem would plummet if I had a uni-brow and mustache but Adan did not understand.  No more salon. Boo.

Then I remembered!  I used to do something before salons.  It took me a while to remember, but finally I remembered this tweezer thing.  I remembered how I marked with a pencil how far to tweeze, and voila! no more uni-brow.  Doin' it old school.

Yesterday, Alex and I were making waffles.  I had to melt some butter, so I popped it in a measuring cup and threw it in the microwave.  Alex said he loved the microwave, and could not imagine living with out one.  So I told him that I was about 11 when we got our first microwave. He looked horrified and told me that he could not live with out PS2 or PS3 or PSP.  I let him know we did not have one of those or a DVD player.  I thought he was going to fall out.

Juice Feasting

I love raw food.  I got away from it this winter and am ready to renew my commitments!  So, I started a juice feast.  4-5 quarts of yummy healthy juice every day for 90 days.  Yes, 90.

So yesterday I started with 2 quarts.  I had lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, cilantro, lemon, apple and beet juice.  I drank that in the AM and had a regular dinner.

Today I wanted to do my whole day juicy, but, alas, I watched my extra kiddos today.  I was slightly stressed about having 6 kids inside on a rainy icky day, and a puppy that doesn't understand not to jump and chew and pee on the floor.  Then it took like 2 hours to juice all my stuff for the day. Fast forward to lunch time and I was all tense with a facial tic.

My juice today: 48 ounces of orange, pineapple, strawberry juice.  Berry berry good.
96 ounces of romaine, spinach, carrots, cucumber, cilantro, celery, apple, lemon.

I drank all the fruit juice first, and was full FOREVER, so I did not have any more until about 5.  I drank the remaining quart from yesterday and another quart from today, so total intake was 102 ounces of juice. Then I was craving french fries, pasta, anything!  I know it has to do with an addiction to crappy food so I tried to resist but I lost.  I had a bowl of pasta salad we made for dinner.  It was a fairly healthy meal though.  rotini noodles, broccoli, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, whole olives, cheddar cheese chunks in a zesty italian dressing. Yum! I only had a small bowl and now I feel super full.

I can tell I am detoxing right now.. should be a scary week or so.  I have had no soda in over 24 hours.. this is a big accomplishment for me!  I feel light headed and fuzzy and TIRED.  I know that in a couple days I will feel better, but it's a bitch in the meantime. Before anyone freaks out, I had the same symptoms when i moved to raw food from standard american diet last time.  Only this time I am not chewing. :)

I need to get some cute straws.  Maybe glass ones. I have been eyeballing them.I think maybe I should vlog these things.  Maybe.