this is why...

I get NO sewing done! LOL The laundry is never ending at my house.

I'm so thankful we have clothes to wear so I'm not complaining. ;-)

P.S. There is one more load in the dryer and one in the washer too!

i love my life

I say that with all sincerity. I love that I am able to stay home. My *job* is to care for my family and our home. There are many people who would rather have a career even after having children. I am not one of those. I always knew I wanted to be a wife and mommy. I am living MY dream and feel so blessed.

Once upon a time, I thought staying home would yield me some free time. Such *might* have been true after my daughter was born and I got over the sleep deprivation of having a newborn. Not so much at this stage of the game. The days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months... yadda yadda. I know things will be different when my youngest goes to Kindergarten next year and I remind myself of that when I want to have my *own* time. That is going to be a life changing event for me having all my children in school and one I don't really relish just yet quite frankly.

I really like sewing. I think and dream of sewing a lot. Lately, unfortunately, I don't actually sew a lot. That makes me sad, but I know this is a season. I miss sewing. I have done a little here and there, but mostly my life consists of anything other than sewing. :-(

Enough of whining, let me be the *glass is half full person that I am* and share what I have accomplished. First off I kept my end of the bargain with my MIL and made her three beautiful skirts for her Italy trip. Sorry no pictures of that project, but I can say with certainty that she absolutely loves all three of them. They were the only thing she packed to wear on her bottom half for the 10 day trip. I was so happy she loved them that much. :-)

I also made myself a top I hated (Vogue 2980). I had made this before and the fabric was too spandex-y (is that a word?). I knew the fabric was part of the problem, but I thought sizing up might help too as that pattern seemed to run pretty small. If you know me IRL, you'd know I'm pretty cheap frugal and spending $4 on a pattern I already had would be silly. So instead I'd use 1/4" SA's in the side and underarm seams and see if that gave me a better fit. Well I think the fit was fine, but the fabric was a bad choice. It's too clingy and I feel self-conscious wear it. Will I try it again? I'm not thinking so even tho I love the style.

I did make the marvelous Jalie jeans. That will have to be a whole different post, but I will say I LOVE them! I have worn them many times already and plan to make another pair again soon. I have some modifications I need to make, but I can't even begin to say how thrilled I am with them.

I think that is all in the sewing department. I did get a lovely souvenir from Italy tho...



It's so fun to look at foreign pattern magazines. I sure wish I could get my hands on them regularly at an affordable price. I also got a yummy bar of Swiss chocolate too. :-)

My immediate "to do" list item is a pair of overalls for Halloween. My oldest son is going to be Super Mario and I can't find a pair in any thrift store to save my life. I've been to 12 and overalls just ain't out there. They are not popular anymore and you can't even seem to buy them at a retail level. If I would have planned ahead better maybe I could have scored a pair on eBay, but I didn't so now I'm sewing a pair. Thank goodness I have Ottobres galore. I found a pair in one of the early non-English issues. They were a few sizes too small, but I sized them up and they look like they'll fit just fine so I'll be working on those this week. Have I mentioned that Halloween is really my least favorite holiday? I'd rather buy the kids each a bag of candy and do something fun (bowling, movies, etc). Such a party pooper huh?

Clutter

So I'm too lazy to go find my camera and upload a picture of my gigantic mess, but I want to know how you deal with clutter. I HATE clutter and I feel like I spend more time reorganizing my sewing room than I do actually sewing.

Quick frankly I'm feeling like I like the idea of "less is more". Clutter brings me down. I feel bad getting rid of stuff and think to myself "oh I should eBay some of this", but then that idea reminds me how labor intensive it is to do that. Pictures, listings, weighing for shipping, collecting money, going to the post office - that whole thing turns me off right now. I could just shove everything I don't want into a closet and deal with it later when the weather turns, but I'm sure that is the worst answer possible. I guess I need to have it in writing that it's okay to just get rid of stuff. One man's junk is another man's treasure, right? So I'm going to finish cleaning and then go through and see if anything is eBay worthy and the rest is going to the Senior Center where they can make quilts and other projects.

That is my vent for the day. So how do you deal with this? I feel so unproductive and I hate it. I'm sick of dealing with this. I like having a small stash of fabric, patterns, & notions, but they make more of all this every day. I feel like I'm hording and that makes me uneasy. I like the simple life I guess. Maybe I'll be brave and share pictures later, that is if I find my camera...

P.S. This all started because yesterday I realized my serger wasn't working properly. Upon closer inspection I see something is broken on the throat plate. Took it to the dealer and he said, "yep, you need a new throat plate, you must really use this machine a lot because I've only seen this one other time". Well duh, I bought it to use, not sit and collect dust. Thankfully the part is only about $30, but will not be in until next Thursday, hence the reason I'm cleaning and not sewing.

Goodies

It's *sew* fun getting goodies in the mail. I have gotten several things recently and wanted to share.


The top row of five fabrics is something I won in a giveaway from Yvonne at Color In Your Life (she owns a great online shop Bunte Fabrics that stocks lovely European and Japanese fabrics for children, Euro patterns, and lots more - plus she's in Washington State). I haven't ordered anything from her yet, but when the need arises, I will definitely buy from her. The fabrics she sent are gorgeous and while I'm not sure what I'm going to make with them yet, you can bet that it will be something adorable and probably for my second cousin's little sweetie who turns one next month.

Then I got a surprise package from an online friend who lives in Canada (hi Abi!). She sent me two magazines - a La Mia Boutique from Nov 2008 and then Patrones Ninos #277.

Lastly, I won Patrones Joven #279 that Marita of Paradise for Me was giving away in a drawing on her blog.

I've gotten to look at a few of the international magazines before, but to have some in my hands that are mine is soooo much fun! What eye candy. Yes the fact I can't read the directions is a bit scary, but it's not enough to sway me from trying. Thanks for the gifts ladies, know they will be loved and cherished by me. :-)

Then of course after getting my own personal Jalie fashion show and the ability to try on Emilie's clothing (thanks Emilie!!!), I had to buy three new Jalie patterns. Here is what I ordered:

I didn't try on the pants (#2909), but Emilie was wearing them and they are adorable! I think I will like them a lot, plus they are cut like the jeans which are amazing. I really liked the new crossover top too. I'm a fan of the old one, but the new one is a little longer and has a cute collar you can use. I was sold after I tried on Emilie's top (which is the green one shown on the pants pattern).

Terribly Neglected

I know I have a few readers, so I want to apologize for my absence. I'm alive and well, but it's been two months since my last post - sorry!

To bring anyone who cares up to speed, the lovely cold I got for my birthday turned into an ear infection with a nearly ruptured ear drum. That took to the end of March for me to feel well again - what a drag. Then that followed with my children having spring break. Shortly after they went back to school, we decided on a whim to go to Disneyland so I could meet my friend Yvonne and her hubby. (For those of you that are on PR, that would be Vonnevo from Australia.) She was just as lovely as I knew she'd be and our families hit it off well. We got to spent two days together, but that time went by WAY too fast. My kids adored them and the boys were constantly grabbing her hubby's hand wanting to hold it throughout the park. They were sad when it was time for them to leave and fly home. I'll post pictures of the trip later because they are still on my camera. We were gone for 10 days and drove home going up the coast of California spending some time in San Francisco and Sacramento as well. We just got home last Sunday the 3rd so while doing truckloads of laundry, I feverishly worked on the biography book and weekend agenda for the Portland Pattern Review weekend that is this coming weekend. Oh and my nephews are coming early Wednesday as my sister has to be away from home for her business (so 2 full days/1 night). I am seriously strung out in too many different directions and honestly can't wait until Friday. I think once I'm out the door to the PR weekend all my worries will be flushed away and I will be able to relax. I just feel like my life has been non-stop for quite some time and I like more of a relaxed life than I've been having.

So that is my ramble. Hopefully I'll have some lovely sewn things to show off soon. I did make a great Jalie hoodie right before our Disneyland trip that I'm totally lovin' as well as a few other goodies for myself and the kids. Next week I'll also share my PR weekend fun and some pics from our Disneyland trip so you can all see the beautiful Yvonne.

I hope all you moms had a very Happy Mother's Day. I did and my youngest even remembered it was Mother's Day. I saw he was awake in his room and he looked up from his pillow at me and said "Happy Mother's Day Mommy". Talk about melt my heart that a 4.5 year old remembered it was Mother's Day - what a sweetie. I got lovely handmade gifts and cards the kids made at school, what could be better?

P.S. I can't forget we also celebrated two of my boys turning one year older too. This year's cakes weren't as exciting as last years, but they were just as yummy. Happy Birthday Jack & Will, how can you already be another year older???

The Good, Bad, & Ugly (and a long)

That pretty much sums up my life for the past few weeks.

First the good. I met a fellow PR member at the Puyallup Sewing Expo! Her name is Michelle. She told me she recognized me from my reviews, but said she hardly has time to post reviews and such because she's really busy with her job (she's a teacher). We chatted for about 10 minutes in front of the Simplicity booth and I told her she must email me so we can stay in touch. It's so great to meet other sewing fanatics - you know, someone who's eyes don't glaze over the minute you start talking about sewing. ;-) If you're reading this, "Hi Michelle"!!!!! :-)

I had an okay time at the expo. It was a bummer that my good friend and I didn't get to go together. Her boy is stilling nursing so she can't leave him all day and it's an all day event when you have to travel 2 hours to get there. I did run into a gal I met in my Palmer/Pletsch fitting class so we hung out for a few hours and looked around - that was fun. Also, maybe it's just me, but it seems like it's the same old stuff every year. I'm tired of the same old thing and wish they'd mix it up a bit. I would also love it if they'd organize the event so all the garment booths were together, quilting together, embroidery together, etc. It would make it so much easier and maybe the traffic would flow a little better.

I didn't come away empty handed, tho I only spent $14 (yep, I'm a cheap date!). I got striped knit that reminded me of an Ottobre shirt for my youngest son. I'm not sure if it's too pastel-ish now that I have it home, maybe it is, we'll see once I get around to making the shirt. The red is supplex for swimming trunks (a $2 remnant), and then the black is a poly knit to make myself another New Look twist dress.

Another "good" is that Lori nominated me for Sisterhood Award - thank you Lori, I appreciate it so much!!!! I know I'm supposed to nominate others for this, but I'm bowing out on that part because the "bad & ugly" part of my post and I honestly can't think right now (sorry Lori, please forgive me! lol).

So now the bad, I just learned today my mail was stolen on Monday. Apparently it happened to the whole block of mailboxes in my neighborhood, but still, don't people have anything better to do than cause trouble? In the mail was my new Driver's License that I just went to get last week (I went on a "good hair day" in hopes it would be a decent picture - yes I know it's not "Glamour Shots" - right Leslie?? - but still I have to look at the picture for 5 years). Also taken was something I ordered for my friend, my phone bill, and most likely my BWOF mag since I haven't gotten the March issue still. Tomorrow I'm off to Home Depot for a locking box. I feel so violated and I'm angry about this. So I've spent the entire day worrying about this and cleaning up the mess. Needless to say I have gotten nothing done. :-(

And now the ugly, my kids seem like they've been sick more than they have been well. Two are on their second round of antibiotics for ear infections and one is on his first round for an ear infection. They all have colds that won't cease. Hubby is now sick with some sort of cold/flu thing. My youngest ran a fever all day Wednesday and threw up all over his bedroom right at bedtime (thankfully it appears to be an isolated incident, tho I'm still being very cautious). I'm saying my prayer I will get me through without any of this nasty crud. I hope this is the end because I've shelled out $400 in doctor's office copays, rx's, and OTC meds since January 1st.

Now on to sewing. In an effort to reduce some knit scraps, I made my youngest a few pairs of undies. The picture is missing one pair - they had M&M's on them, but I managed to get the rest in a quick snap-shot. I made them using a great undie pattern you can get here ~ ThatDarnKat Etsy store. My son loves his new undies and it makes me feel good to use up my knit scraps and that they are made in the USA.

Two of my boys were invited to birthday parties (one was actually yesterday). I'm sick of buying cheap crap at the store and really most of the time I have no idea what the child even likes anyway. I'm also sick of everything being made in China, so I decided to get the boys some "Made in the USA" gifts. I inquired with the older of the two party goers to find out if said birthday boy likes to cook with his mom in the kitchen and maybe an apron with his name on it would be cool. My son didn't know, but informed me he really likes football. I thought a personalized pillow case might be cool and my son really liked that idea too. When I picked him up at the party yesterday the mom and a few other moms were so impressed with the gift and couldn't believe I could "just whip this up". It actually was pretty quick to make. The embroidery puckered a little on the football one, but the second one I used three layers of stabilizer and it looked perfect. The other recipient likes Curious George so I hope it's a hit with him too. My youngest wants one for himself and keeps pulling out fabric for me to make him one. I think I shall do that project right away for him. It's a good way to reduce stash and use up smaller pieces. Here is a little tutorial I found to follow. Sorry the picture is going the wrong way, dang Blogger (guess you get what you pay for).


Also I made a super hero cap for my youngest for tomorrow's birthday party. I have yet to take a picture of it, but will for my next post. It's from Ottobre 4/2004.

Okay, whining is over, I'm off to make dinner. :-)

Widening Blog Columns

It appears that I've inspired a few of you to give your own blog a face lift, so I wanted to share one more thing that I thought might be helpful. You might not have encountered this, but I have been annoyed on countless occasions of my main column being too narrow. I have typically noticed this with pictures were getting cut off on the sides. I could never figure out how to make it wider, however I knew it must have been fairly simple because I've seen others blogger blogs have wider columns. Well I finally found a helpful post after doing a little Google search. So if you'd like wider columns, visit this helpful blog post by John Deere Mom.

Now I'm off to have myself a little snack and go visit my friend who just had her seventh baby this morning! I can hardly wait to meet Miss Lucie Lynn and hope it doesn't make my uterus ache too bad for another one. I embroidered a few special things for her.

One more thing while I'm on the subject of babies. In one of the blogs I follow, I read this past week about a family who just had a baby that could use your prayers. Click on the link below to learn about this sweet baby. She's improving, but every prayer helps.

Have a great Sunday!

Face Lift (again)

Thank you for the feedback. I know I only posted a short bit ago, but I was worried it was too bright with the pinks & greens, so I changed it to a b&w theme. I hadn't thought of it clashing with pictures I might post, duh!

Not sure I'll keep my header, but for now it works. I need to get something productive done besides playing on the computer. If you see anything that looks funny, please let me know.

Face Lift

I have hated the look of my blog for a long time. I see so many other pretty blogs and feel like mine is "ho hum".

I went surfing around the net and found a site with lots of free backgrounds to choose from ~ The Cutest Blog on the Block. There are lots of cute ones and so I played around with it until I came up with something that I liked fairly well.

Now I need some honest feedback. Looking at it on my laptop it looks good, but when I look at it on our desktop it doesn't look quite as good. I think my laptop colors are off so I need to know what you all see. Does it match or clash? Please tell me, I swear it won't hurt my feelings. I know it's pretty girly girl, but I am after all, a girly girl so pink and such suits me quite well. So pretty please, tell me if it clashes or not. *smooch*

P.S. Thank you for all the sweet comments about my daughter - she really can't wipe the smile off her face. :-)

All smiles (or what $5000 will buy you)

Today was an exciting day at our house that has been nearly 2 years in the making. Our beautiful daughter got her braces off!!!!

And thank you Dr. *C* for your wonderful work. Unfortunately (for our checkbook anyway), I think we'll have at least one more kiddo in braces - ugg!

Kreativ Blogger

The ever sweet and talented Jeannine of Sew Pink nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you Jeannine! If you haven't visited Jeannine's blog, you must! She makes the most beautiful children's clothing and always posts lots of inspirational pictures to get your creative juices flowing.

Here are the rules of the award~ 1. Copy the award to your site - 2. Link to the person from whom you received the award - 3. Nominate 7 other bloggers - 4. Link to those on your blog - 5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

So I'd like to nominate (ABC order of course):

Angie at Quality Time

Birgitte at Bubblegum 4 Breakfast

Dawn at Two On Two Off

Lori at Girls in the Garden

Jacqui at Sweet Notions

Ruth at Sew Chic

Stacy at Stacy Sews

The rule was to pick 7, but like Jeannine, it was hard to narrow it down.

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In my previous post about my embroidered patches, I was asked which embroidery machine I have. About 4 years ago I purchased a Babylock Ellure-ESL (click to see larger pic). I think it's the prior model to the Ellure that is current available, but maybe a few have been released since I purchased mine.

It is a combo sewing and embroidery machine, I use it for embroidery only tho. I embroiders up to a 5x7 size and I find it perfect for my needs. I really thought I'd get into embroidery more, but I really haven't. I also use it to embroider the bloomers I sell (P.S. these make a great gift!).

I was also asked if I hoop or stick down the jeans and applique the patch directly on the the jeans or embroider the patch and sew it on the regular way. This probably makes the professional embroider cringe, but what I usually do is use spray adhesive and pins to hoop my item. In this case, I used two layers of cut away stabilizer in my hoop, ironed a fusible stabilizer to the back side of the knee area, sprayed some spray adhesive on the hooped stabilizer, and stuck the pant leg to that. Then for extra security I pinned it down to make sure it didn't move. Since the designs I used were more dense, I used multiple layers of stabilizer to help keep the design from distorting. I hope that makes sense. Everything was done on the embroidery machine with the exception of sewing the leg closed.

Thank you all for your positive feedback about my fix. It works for now and they love what I did, so that is a good thing in my book. :-)

Selling Hand Crafted Goods

Times are tight and we're all feeling the pinch. Do you sell your hand crafted items or crafting supplies on Etsy or FeeBay (um, I mean eBay)? Then you must check out this new site where it's absolutely free to sell things! It's called Art Fire. Listing up to 10 things per month is free (no listing or closing fees) and if you list more than 10 items, it's a flat $7/month. Sounds great doesn't it? Let's help them take off by supporting this new business. If you sign up, I'd love for you to use me as a referral, here is my link if you're so inclined (my user name is poshpunkins if you need that too)~

Register on ArtFire.com

Not much else going on. I've lost a little sewing mojo and am looking everywhere for it. I'm confident it will return soon. Instead I've been working on the painting and just doing the norm around my house. I still have to paint the stair well, maybe this week.

I did manage to machine embroider a quilt block for the official Pattern Review quilt. Here is what I am sending. Not too exciting, but hey it's something.

Hopefully I can find my sewing mojo somewhere around here....

Falling out of love

It happens to all of us right? We truly love something and then our feelings change. This feeling has been coming on for a while for me. I'm falling out of love with my house.

When we first moved in, I honestly couldn't think anything in the world could be finer. It was a dream come true for us. We were able to get a building loan and built a house just for us. At the time we'd have loved to gone a little fancier, but like most young families, we had a beer budget and were just thankful we had the opportunity to build something to call our own.

Now we're approaching our 8th anniversary of living here and our taste definitely leans towards champagne. Hubby and I have all sorts of ideas of things we'd like to do go give our home a face lift, but like always, there is an order of operations and money must be saved to do the enhancements. It sounds so wonderful to just run down to the bank and borrow money, but after paying off our debts in 2007, we don't want to go back there. It's super hard to save money for something, but I think we end up appreciating it more than we would otherwise.

So while we're planning our remodeling projects, what's a girl to do in the mean time to soothe her love loss? Paint of course!


This past week I got a few gallons of paint, the same colors we currently have, and am in the process of repaint our main level walls and trim. While the walls were starting to look a little tired, the trim was KILLING ME! It was so banged up from Tonka trucks ramming into it and I just cringed anytime we were having company. After two days of painting, I feel like I'm getting somewhere and it's looks soooo much better! I feel like I *like* my home again. I would say *love*, but I'm reserving that for when we have new hardwood floors and lots of beautiful crown moulding, hopefully it will be sooner than later.

I still have some painting to do over the next few days. I am really not that fond of painting, but the end result makes me so much happier and is a great way to start out the new year.

Happy 2009!

I haven't done any sewing this past week. With Christmas and my hubby home, it's hard to get much done besides playing "maid" around the house cleaning up after everyone. I did get a few goodies in the mail tho which is always so very fun.


I had planned to do a post on my sewing of 2008, but I need hubby's help to make a graph. I will still try to do that in the next few days. If I can't get the graph, I'll at least share what I've sewn. I've enjoyed reading what other bloggers have accomplished during the year. My list actually surprised me and is quite long, but many were TNT patterns and things for my kids so those are less time consuming than starting from scratch.

Be safe if you're going out tonight and may 2009 be a year filled with wonderful things.

Old Man Winter Has Arrived...

with full force in the Pacific NW. Just a few photos I took around our house over the past few days. I have no idea how much snow we have. It just keeps on snowing here tho. Yesterday from the time we woke up until nearly 10pm it snowed nonstop. Today it's been on and off and it just makes me giddy!

I've been sewing some, but my seam ripper and I are becoming BFFs. Maybe I should walk away for a bit, but I want to get the top I'm working on done. They are dumb mistakes too considering I've made the top twice already. Tis life.

Yummy Mail!

Who doesn't love a good mail day? My mail lady has been good to me the past few days - check out the goodies I found in my mailbox!

I got my latest issue of Threads magazine. It was fun to cozy up with this new issue. Inside was a fantastic article on fabric shopping in Portland, OR - coincidentally that is where the Pattern Review Weekend will be. The date is TBA, but will be sometime in May 2009!

I also got my latest issue of Ottobre Design and like usual this didn't disappoint. Well it is disappointing I don't have a little baby girl to sew for, but nonetheless there were some great garments I will be able to sew for my kids and maybe even myself. Yes, you read that right, sew for myself from an Ottobre kids issue. I actually fit into the size range of the tween/teen girls and I've seen many designs that I like in the past, but haven't pursued sewing anything for me yet.

Then the new Burda World of Fashion showed up! Even if I don't get around to sewing something right away from my BWOF, I still enjoy getting it every month. There are always at least a few garments I can see myself wearing, but it's so fun to look at. The November issue didn't fail me either, I see many things to my liking. I also love it that when I need a pattern, I can go back through my notebook and look for something that fits the bill. I am getting quite the collection tho, I have five full years now. I honestly have no reason to even buy a pattern at the store!

Lastly, but definitely not least, I got the BEST surprise from a sewing buddy - the famous Vilene Bias Tape which BWOF recommends sewers use to stabilize fabrics!!! I have wanted to try this product for so long, but anyone who sews BWOF knows, it's not available in the US. Well my dear sewing friend went to visit her family in the UK and brought some back for herself and decided to share with me. If you're reading this Abi, thank you again - you hit the nail right on the head! I'll post once I try it and let you all know how it works out, it's sure it's fantastic!

Totally OT...Accutane

This is totally off the topic, but I am interested to know if anyone has used Accutane for their acne? And if you have, what was your personal experience with it? What was it like during the cycle, did your acne get way worse before it got better? How long until your skin cleared up? Has it lasted for you or did you have to repeat your treatment? What other side effects did you have? After you were off the medicine, did the side effects go away?

I ask this because I saw a dermatologist a few weeks ago about my acne (which is mild). I requested Accutane since my sister just finished a four month cycle of it and now has gorgeously flawless skin. We both have similar skin, so her acne was mild as well, but my skin is definitely oilier than hers.

The derm I saw wasn't too gung ho on prescribing Accutane, but since I requested it he said he would prescribe it. He said he's rather try other alternatives first such as antibiotics and topical medicines. I went in with the mindset that I wanted Accutane. I have tried all other methods without success and after 20+ years of dealing with acne I want to put an end to it. Well now I'm getting cold feet about taking it.

As a female, you have to wait 30 days before you can start it to make sure you're not pregnant so I'm in my 30 day waiting period. While taking the course, you must use two forms of birth control because it causes very severe birth defects. The birth defects aren't the part that scares it me, it's the other stuff such as the potential to have depression, bad headache, blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, seizures, stroke, hearing problems, vision problems, lipid problems, well the list goes on. Then at the end it says, the common, less serious side effects are dry skin, chapped lips, dry eyes, and dry nose. I can deal with the common side effects, I'm just paranoid about the others. I realize if we all had to read a thick book about each and every medication we took that it probably wouldn't be so scary to me. My sister experienced the common side effects as well as had some joint pain that was minimized taking Advil daily. I had another friend who had the same complaints while she took it. I just don't know anyone else who has taken it and want some feed back.

If you'd rather not post a common, please do email me - noboty at kalama.com

Thanks for any insight. I'm still deciding on what to do.

I don't mean to *Gush*...

but my hubby totally rocks! Actually I do mean to *gush*; we're back in business and it's all because of his handy work. Sure we could have hired someone, but no worker would care about our family's needs as much as he does. He pays such careful attention to detail and truly, without him, the cost would have been significantly higher. As it was, a new pump and all the paraphernalia we needed was over $1200 - ouch!

So now we have an abundance of water - hallelujah!!!! At about 8:15 last night when the water came back on, I was singing his praises! I immediately started the dishwasher, started laundry, flushed toilets, and brushed my teeth! Yes, I did brush my teeth that morning with a Dixie cup full of water. It reminded me of camping when I was a kid. Thankfully I could at least brush them, but brushing with fresh sink water is so much better!

Once the pump was pulled up nearly 200 feet, Mr. Fix-It could see the malfunction occurred because the connection between the pump and the motor became striped out. Thankfully all is *well* (yes, pun intended) now and we have a nice gushing supply to fill our needs. Thank you all for your concerns via comments, email, & phone - you're all so sweet to me.

So to make up for lost time, this morning thus far I've washed & folded five loads of laundry, made Chocolate Chip cookies, hard boiled (and deyolked) two dozen eggs for hubby's lunches the rest of the week, made two batches of Strawberry freezer jam, made one batch of applesauce (the chunky kind, my personal fav), and even loaded and unloaded the dishwasher twice...and it's not even 11am yet!

Now I must get my patterns traced off and prepped for my class. Still not 100% sure which ones I'm tracing, ack!

Life's gone to hell in a handbasket...

isn't that how the saying goes? Life has been nothing but boring around here for the past week. I, on the other hand, like boring. I like thinks to stay the same. No news is good news, right?

Well all the fun started last Thursday night when I was draining the kitchen sink...it didn't drain. I've had this happen before and just used a plunger to dislodge whatever the problem is. Well the plunger just didn't give way to whatever the clog was. Long story short, a bottle of Drain-O, a "snake" tool, and climbing up on the roof to check to see if the vent was clogged did nothing. More drastic measures had to be taken, so in the dark my hubby was on a very tall ladder cutting a hole in the sofit area of the house so he could get to the water pipe that was clogged (of course it couldn't be something easy to get at under the sink). Ultimately he had to cut the pipe open (which resulted in Drain-O gushing everywhere) so he could snake the clog (which was further down the drain) and then flush it with the house. Time taken, 3.5 hours (plus an hour of cleanup on the weekend) and $40 spend.

Well fast forward to this morning at 6am. My alarm goes off and I cheerfully (NOT) get up to take my shower. I just start to put shampoo in my hair and the water stops. I turned off the shower and turned it back on, it starts and immediately stops. I try the other nozzle in the shower, nothing. Okay, out of the shower with shampoo still in my hair I frantically call my hubby at work. I couldn't believe he answered the phone, I didn't expect him to be in his office because they have a huge maintenance day scheduled on Thursday and he was having to prep a bunch of stuff.

Our conversation:

Me: "I'm so glad you're there. We have a huge problem. I was in the shower and all of a sudden the water stops. I tried turning it off and on and nothing."

Him: "Can this wait until tonight?"

Me: "No, we have NO water, do you not understand I have shampoo in my hair, there is NO water".

Him: "Okay, go out to the pump house (we have a nearly 200 foot well that supplies our water that was drilled 8 years ago) and check to hear if the pump is running and see what the pressure gauge says."

So on the phone I go to the pump house in the pitch dark making sure I don't trip of Tonka trucks or the like. In the pump house I find the pressure gauge at 0% and the pump sounding like it's trying to pump water, but nothing happening. So the not-so-happy hubby says he'll be home shortly.

Fast forward to now (6 hours later) and little progress has been made. We had our well driller come out for some guidance, but it looks like something is wrong with the pump (thankfully just the pump and we're not out of water). So my hubby is working to pull up nearly 200 feet of 1.5" pipe out of the ground so he can get to the pump and diagnose the problem. A new pump is about $800, however the wire could get damaged as well during the pump removal process so who knows how much the final bill is going to total. Not to mention $70 call fee for the driller to come provide advice. And to make matters worse, a piece at the top of the well head fell into the hole and is causing trouble, so my hubby and his wonderful father are working to get that free so the pump will pull up. Now I just wait as I live without water and still have dried shampoo in my hair.

But hey, it could be worse - it could always be worse. So I'm optimistic that this will be fixed relatively soon and that I will be able to take a shower and actually rinse my hair clean. Never a dull moment.

On a bright note, I signed up for a fitting class taught by Marta Alto of Palmer/Pletsch. Last week was my first class. We discussed fitting and each member of the class tried on fitting shells (bodice and skirt) to determine the correct pattern size. Marta is super sweet and I think I'm going to learn a lot. I'm looking forward to my next class, but need to figure out what patterns I'm going to take to alter. I do feel like I knew most of what she said because I read her book Fit For Real People, but I appreciate that hands on approach and her help to make sure I'm doing the correct alterations for my body. I'll post how the class goes after this week's session. I feel so fortunate to have such excellent fitting experts so close to home.

Lastly, the voting for the Sewing for Babies/Kids contest is going on at PR right now (through Saturday the 11th), so don't forget to vote. I will warn you tho, you'll have lots of trouble deciding on a favorite as there are so many adorable entries! Here is the direct link to the gallery where you vote.

I'd like to thank the academy...

or at least sweet Birgitte who nominated me for several blog awards. I'm flattered that anyone wants to read what I type. As I've mentioned prior, I started this blog as a way to record my sewing accomplishments as well as other little musings of my life.

The awards I received are the 1) Excellent Blog Award, 2) Brilliante Weblog Premio 2008, and 3) Premio al Esfuerzo Personal Award. Each award comes with different requirements to pass them on, but atlas I'm a party pooper because I have a hard time choosing and hate to hurt any one's feelings by them not being chosen. There are so many excellent blogs that I regularly read and enjoy. I appreciate the efforts my fellow bloggers put forth because I'm truly inspired and encouraged by what I read. Thank you for the awards Birgitte! :-)




No sewing going on here. For my youngest nephew, the term "party in my crib" is his motto at my house! Good grief that little boy was wired when it was time for bed last night. He was the last to sleep and the first one up (before 6am - hello little boy, my alarm doesn't even go off until 6am). He's napping as I type and will hopefully continue for at least another hour or better. I'm already exhausted and it's only 1pm my time.

My plan now is to relax while the littlest naps and the two older boys are outside playing. I am going to grab a stack of BWOFs, sit outside so I can supervise the mischief makers, and do a little window shopping for upcoming fall projects using stashed fabrics. As a bonus it would be great if they fit into the PR pattern stash contest too. :-)