Sew adorable

I got a sewing machine last year, on the logic "I'm out of needles for hand sewing Girl Scout patches and machines come with needles, so I should just buy a machine". Since I managed to slide that one by RF,  I decided I should probably actually learn to sew. I've gotten fairly decent at it, though by no  means any kind of professional. Several weeks ago, a friend mentioned that she wanted to convert her step son's baseball jersey into a dress for her preschooler's birthday. I told her it would be super easy and I see stuff on Pinterest like that all the time.  She decided that I should probably go ahead and handle that, so I did. She brought me the jersey and I made THE CUTEST DRESS EVER!

Step one: get a large shirt. Depending on the size of the child, you can use anything from a youth medium, up through adult sizes. Fit the shirt to make sure the neck line isn't too large.  If it is, you'll need to refit the neck, which will add a lot more fiddling to your project. Fortunately, I didn't need to, so I don't have a tutorial for it.




Step 2: get a shirt that currently fits the child. If you can get on with straight sleeves and sides, this is best. Ruffles will mess up your cutting and the shape the of the final product. Lay the larger shirt out smooth,ironing if needed with the smaller shirt on top. Match up the necklines and shoulder seams. Trace around the smaller shirt with your tailor's chalk or fabric marker, leaving about a half inch for seam allowances. (You notice in my pictures that I left more than that and that is because the template shirt I used was getting a little short and I wanted to lengthen it slightly).  



Step 3: take your rotary cutter and zip around the lines you just drew.






Step 4: toss the sleeves and the sides and set the bottom aside. Then turn the shirt inside out, so the right sides are together and sew from the bottom up, turning carefully and sewing along the bottom of the arm. If you are doing a short sleeve shirt, hem your sleeve, then turn your shirt and do the same on the other side.   If you are doing a long sleeved shirt, you might be able to preserve your cuffs and can avoid having to hem the sleeves. 



(I didn't get pictures of the next several steps, because I was busy sewing! :) )

Step 5: now is your chance to adjust the length of the skirt. If it too long, trim from the cut edge until it is the proper length. Leave the finished edge alone or you will have to re-hem it and no one wants that.  Once your skirt is the desired length, stitch all the way around the top of the skirt with a loose basting stitch. Don't back stitch on this step!

Step 6: once your skirt is basted, scrunch the fabric of the skirt until it is the same size as the bottom of the shirt. If you are making major size changes, it will be very scrunchy. Minor changes will produce less scrunches. 

Step 7: attach your skirt to your shirt. Start by turning the skirt inside out and the shirt right side out.  Put the shirt inside the skirt and match the seams.  Pin the skirt to the shirt and begin sewing.  You will want to sew over the scrunchies, to create a ruffled effect.  

Step 8: Trim excess fabric at seams and admire your cool new dress!



Step 9: Have the adorable birthday girl model her new present!

Low Key Christmas

Last year, we went completely over the top for Christmas. We bought tons of toys and then Santa brought them a Band Hero set, including the giant drum kit and the grandparents got them a bunch of stuff too. And they didn't use hardly any of it in the last year. In fact, they had the band kit less than 6 months before they had completely destroyed the drums.

This year, we scaled it way back. They bought each other a few small gifts (I actually picked them out and bought them because they decided they wanted to do it on Dec 23rd after 5pm and I so wasn't taking them to Target with all the other crazies. He got her snowman slippers and sparkly peppermint flavored lipgloss.



She got him a space themed game similar to Chutes and Ladders and a Mario Kart Drawing pad



Santa brought her some pink DJ headphones so she doesn't have to borrow her brother's anymore.



Santa brought him Stratego and he was super excited about it.




At this point, they gave up on the hold up and smile portion of the gift opening so you can't tell what any of the other presents are. :)

She got Just Dance 3 fo the Wii



And he got Lego Harry Potter years 5-7



They also each got a complete book set. Her's was the entire collection of Junie B. Jones



And he got the 39 Clues



And thanks to the Girl Scout magazine sale, both kids got a magazine subscription for the next year. He got Dig, a magazine about archeology, which was funny because I picked it out without his knowing, then he brought home a copy that he bought at the used book sale at school. So they would have more to unwrap, I took his copy and wrapped it and put it under the tree for him to open.



She got Jack and Jill, which I borrowed a copy of from the library and wrapped for her.



Besides the other stuff they got from Nonni on Christmas Eve she gave them snow boards with handles that they are just DYING to use. Unfortunately, no snow means no snow boards.





A little later in the day, two small gifts were "found" under the tree. They opened them and were a little confused, since it was just a page of pictures of a waterpark.



On the paper it said "how about we go here" and MT figured out what that meant first.



Nonni asked her went she would like to go and she said "tomorrow!" Nonni said "how about right now?" The reaction was understandably excited.



Everything was packed and in the car and ready to go, all they had to do was put on real clothes.





Before they could do that, MF started to cry because she was "so happy"



So that was our version of a low key Christmas, where before noon on Christmas day, the kids took off with my parents and we had the house to ourselves for 3 days. :)

Totally floored

With the bathroom remodel, we decided to replace the floor. Originally, we were going to get stick on vinyl squares, instead of ceramic. Ceramic is a pain to put in and cold. Unfortunately, after talking to some friends who know what they are doing, I figured out that vinyl wasn't really an option. Apparently, the black adhesive that used to be used on floors and the new adhesive are different chemical compounds and the new stuff basically eats the old stuff and causes it to seep through the vinyl. After I spent over an hour scraping to just get the backing from the old floor up, I decided I wanted nothing to do with scraping up that black stuff and the ceramic was on sale for the same price as the vinyl.

This is what the floor used to look like. Not terrible but nothing spectacular. Of course, when we pulled it up, it smelled like a combination of mold and pee so I was really glad to see it go

My Brother in law did their floors before they moved here so he said he would come and help us out, since he already knew what he was doing. They came over this morning and got started on it. It didn't take them long (something to be said for a small bathroom) to get all the tile in and set. Now, I'm just waiting for it to set. What I read online said a minimum of 48 hours, but the mortar was thick and gloppy, so we are thinking it might be done before that. The suggested cure time before grout is a minimum of 72 hours but since you have to stay off the floor for 24 hours after the grout, we are waiting until next weekend to grout, since the kids won't be home.

Here is what it looks like before the grout:

The big problem, as you might be able to see in the picture, is that the toilet is setting in my new bathtub for the next 24 hours. Fortunately, the kids are at my parents but we are finding alternate peeing locations for tonight and tomorrow morning :)

Tomorrow, we hang the top dry wall on the final wall, so I can finish taping and mudding and then start painting the ceiling. My father in law is coming over in the afternoon to help RF hook the toilet back up. During this week, they will hopefully get up the bottom sheet of drywall on the last wall and I can mud it and then start painting. I have to do the ceiling and the door first, because I'm doing them in white and then getting the rest of the paint tinted blue for the walls.

They're so fluffy, I'm gonna DYE!

Back in April, we dyed WF's hair blond. He really enjoyed having the blond mohawk last year and thought it would be fun to do the whole head.

He said he was going to grow it out, but every time it got in his eyes, he decided he wanted it cut. In May, I paid to have it cut and was irritated that I paid $12 to have him look like Spock, I said "never again". Yesterday, he asked to have it cut and I said I would do it at home. I did, it was a fail!

This doesn't show the back that was bi-level, two tone mess. The only way to fix it was to buzz it all off. He was sad about losing the blond but his hair was pretty trashed from having the blond and swimming and sun so it wasn't the worst thing to get rid of it in favor of the healthier, un-dyed hair that has grown in since April.

BUT! He didn't want boring brown hair so I agreed to help him dye it BLACK! It is sure black too.

Because it isn't cool for her brother to get something and her not to, I agreed to put the pink streaks she has been asking for for months in her hair. I chose not to bleach it, to start, because I don't want her to have blond streaks forever in that hair we are trying to grow out. So, they aren't terribly noticeable and even less in the picture but she has 2 cotton candy pink streaks on either side of her face! She is going to be the coolest Kindergartener ever! :)

Bloggers without makeup

Starting with The Bloggess and following up with Heathen Family Revival, I've been reading about a new thing going around the blog world about bloggers posting pictures of themselves without makeup. I haven't decided if it is fair for me to participate in this because 99% of my pictures are of me without makeup because I rarely wear makeup (although my newest FB profile picture is of meaning wearing makeup and I look freaking fantastic). I've never really cared that much about how I look. I'm all about comfort and ease of use.

Pre-kids, I told someone that if it takes you longer than 15 minutes from the moment you wake up to walking out the door, you take too much time. Of course, no matter how simple your life is, once you add kids to the mix, you should figure at least 15 minutes per person. I like to go places, like the water park and laugh at all the women wearing piles of makeup and with done hair. The first trip in the wave pool and you are going to look like a fool and you wasted all that time getting ready.

Just for fun, I thought I would take a new picture with photo booth. It was surprisingly difficult to get a decent picture out of it. And I don't even mean a decent picture of me. I mean a decent picture at all. :(



For contrast, here is my user picture, where I'm rocking the makeup and I have good lighting with a professional photographer. See the difference? :) Don't get used to the second one, you won't see it very often :)

Party Time! Excellent!

Today was Magnificent Freak's birthday party. I know her birthday isn't for two more weeks but we had her party today because, as I may have mentioned, my friend Fearless Phantom, is a freaking genius! We had talked about having MF's party at the movie theater but back in March, I had no idea what was coming out when and I wanted to get it planned. I had pretty much scrapped the idea (as well as FCC since apparently, you have to book it 3-5 months in advance for parties) when FP suggested trying to have the party at the free matinee. I called them and they said not only, "no problem, why can do that" but also said "plus with that amount of people, you'll get a discount on concessions"! Score! Genius, I tell you! So we booked the theater and sent out the invitations and Quigs emailed this idea for a cake. Again, Genius!

It was super easy to make, even for me, and tasted pretty decent. In that email, she also told me that they had movie themed stuff at Michael's in the dollar section. Who even knew that Michael's had a dollar section? Again I must say "Score"! So I got some need popcorn boxes and filled them with tiny cans of pop, microwave popcorn and candy. Goodie bags, done.

We invited 10 kids and their families and ended up with 37 people, 19 of them kids! I got to the theater at 9:30 to be sure that I got enough seats. I took crepe paper and reserved signed and taped off several rows of seats so we could all sit together. My parents came out with the kids at 10:30 and helped save seats so I could wait for the kids in the lobby. As they came in, each kid ordered their drink for their munchie box and FP helped usher them all to their seats. They all did a great job hanging out and watching the movie. While the kids were watching the movie, my parents decorated the party "room".

When the movie was over, the kids all came out to the party room and had cake.



Quigs and Loosey showed up, all sweaty from running a FREAKING MARATHON! The kids got their cool goodie boxes and headed for home (or to run their part of the marathon, in some cases). MF was super excited to get home and open her presents. I was amused that Quigs and Loosey got her the same card. It seems that great minds either think alike or go shopping together LOL

New hair taming method

Liz got her hair tamed at kalahari.

How I used some of my parent blogger swag

If anyone knows my kid, they know she LOVES stickers. She was absolutely beside herself when I told her that I had huge stickers, they were PINK and we could PUT THEM ON THE WALL! The kid couldn't have been happier if Spongebob himself had walked in with the whole crew from Bikini Bottom and offered to cook her a crabby patty.

This is the first bit of swag I've had a chance to use since I went on vacation (Dells, Kalahari, fantastic time, pictures maybe, if I get unlazy LOL) 3 days after the event, but I'm sure you will hear about more of it as I dig through my "big bag of cool stuff" :)

Hair

when we actually do hair, it can be cute!

The latest injury

I started my yearly purge this week. In purging stuff from my bedroom, I managed to severely stub my toe. Today, 24 hour later, it looks like this.

This picture so does not do justice to the bruising and swelling that this injury involves. I'm fairly certain it is broken, although it doesn't hurt much anymore so I could be wrong. Either way, bruised and swollen and cut open and ugly looking. See what I get for cleaning the house! :)

Boot Scootin'

see my new toy!

Monster muddin'

My dad got a wild hair a few weeks ago and bought the kids a new play structure. In addition to buying and building the structure, my dad bought the water slide attachment for the slide, then he rigged up a shower head attachment that we hook the hose up to and it sprays water on the slide, the attachment and the whole yard around the slide. We had some people over tonight and since it was stupid hot, we set up the water slide. The kids were a little tentative at first, because the water was awfully cold. Once they got over that, they LOVED it like a fat kid loves cake!

X-man and MT had optimum density and were able to shoot off the extension, way out into the mud.





Lightening McColin was a little lighter weight and didn't quite make it to the mud





X-man had some issue staying straight on the slide



Fortunately, Loosey wasn't horrified by the mess on her child



Bubba wasn't impressed with the cold of the water at first, but he got over that shortly





PG liked it until she had a crash





Quigs kisses the boo-boo away



Curious J went down once, then did his own thing for awhile. Bubba joined him to warm up a bit



Thunder McGavin so wanted to be with the big kids but the water was just too cold for his little body



Loosey, MacTroll and RF watch the fun



Quigs was appalled and horrified by the mud and the mess her kids were getting in to



RF and MacTroll act as "life guards" to the water play



Curious J rocked the sand box



Quigs may not have liked it but how can you say no to this much excitement?!