Bag Lady

That's me!

Here's what I've been up to.

(don't ask why this is underlined, I can't figure out how to get rid of it)

The one on the right is a hobo style bag. The one on the left is Ruth's bag. You can't really tell in the picture but the bottom of her bag is this awesome black and grey swirl print.

Did I mention both of these are reversible?

Small purse or camera bag.

Interior shot.

Japanese print beige and orange drawstring purse. Yes, I know. I still have threads to cut. This is my favorite, not just because its of my own design either. Its big enough to hold diapers and all the mommy crap that must be on person at all times but its small enough not to be cumbersome.

Sweat shop worker

That's what I feel like today. I finished two bags today. I'm tempted to go finish up another but I know that when I'm tired my love of sewing turns into a love of the idea of pitching the machine through a window. And yes, pictures will be coming.
I also blogged about a freezer meal I made the other day over at http://frigidare-pair.com/
Robin also posted a recipe for Calzones that I'm going to have to try. Check it.
The pin pricks in my finger tips are starting to hurt from typing so...
Later.

Check us out!

Have you ever wanted to read the culinary adventures of two harried homemakers? Did you ever want to know how to stock your freezer with all sorts of yummy food that is made with ingredients you can pronounce? Have you ever wanted to know how to cook using seasonal, locally grown ingredients?
No? Tough! Go to http://frigidare-pair.com/ anyway.
This is where my friend Robin and I discuss our kitchen lives. Its going to be chocked full of recipes, pictures, cooking stories and sordid tales of culinary meanderings.

My son the circus freak

Potty training is not my forte. I just don't have the patience it requires, but I fake it because diapers are expensive and I don't want my kid to have to wear Pull-Ups to college. We decided that with all the food issues Mike and I have that food would not be given as a reward in our house. So instead of using an M & M to bribe our kid to use the potty we use temporary tattoos. Since Mike has several real ones and Gryffin wants to be just like dear old dad, its been working pretty well. Of course now Gryffin has tattoos up and down his forearms like a drunken sailor. At least he stuck with a pirate theme when choosing them. By the end of the week I expect we will be able to book him in a sideshow as 'The Tattooed Toddler'.
I would love to include a picture of his ink but he has refused to wear clothes lately and I just don't need those kind of pictures surfacing later in life when he is leader of the world.

I can't go into any details, I'm just going to say- Stress sucks. All it makes we want to do is eat very unhealthy things in large quantities.

The Wall

We all hit a wall last night. Hard. By 5 pm we were all asleep, Gryffin and I on the couch, Mike in the bed. We slept right through dinner time. I was bad mom and wife and gave Gryffin a PBJ & Cheetos for dinner while Mike and I had 'skips' around 6. I was up long enough to watch some Dirty Jobs and tuck Gryffin in to bed.
I don't know what it was but it was weird.

Saturday night we celebrated Beqi's birthday with good food, karaoke and dancing. Sunday I crashed, not because I was befallen with a hangover like most in attendance. I was just exhausted. I'm too old to come home at 2 in the morning. I was designated driver, thanks to current medication to kill this bug that has made my sinuses home all winter. I was glad to not drink, it made walking in my chosen foot wear much easier.
While I was out partying Mike, Gryffin, Brian and Clara went out for wings, then came back to our house to color eggs. I was bummed that I missed out on coloring eggs with Gryffin but he still had fun.
Easter morning we woke up to big, fat snowflakes falling and an awesome breakfast prepared by Mike. He distracted Gryffin while I played Easter Bunny and the fun ensued. It was over pretty quickly but that was Ok with all of us.

Uncle Sam wants to give me money!

It might pay to not do our taxes this year. I do our taxes every year, then Mike usually redoes them. This year I took them to a CPA who promptly informed me that there are a lot of things I could write off that I had no idea about. Like:

• Hearing Aides, its been exactly a year since I got them and boy, what a year!
• New appliances, we replaced the water heater, furnace, AC, stove, microwave and refrigerator when we moved in here.
• Prescriptions, we had an ungodly amount

Now if I could just figure out how to write off my yarn and fabric addiction for this year we would rich! OK, maybe not rich, but less poor.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to my Mom. Mom Sherry is one of my most admired people. She is smart, funny, loving, generous and wise beyond her years. She has the wonder of a child and the smile of an angel. I want to be just like her.

Easter Egg & Beer Hunt!

Tonight is an Easter Egg/Beer Hunt at our house. Eggs for the kiddos and beer for the ones who only act like kids. It has been raining for (it seems) 40 days and 40 nights. I'm putting pontoons on the Jeep and loading it with two of everything. It is so muddy outside that if we put eggs on the ground they would sink and in a few weeks Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bushes would be sprouting. Hey wait, I might have to try that!
We are having the MMP and assorted other guests over to wreak havoc on our home and dog, tear the joint up and get cranked on sugar. Woo hooo!

I bucked up and took Gryffin to the zoo. The fresh air and exercise did us both a world of good.

By the time we got home we were both exhausted, but that didn't stop him from waiting up for me to get home from a knitting group at 9pm. I was glad, being able to tuck him in at night makes me able to go to bed with a smile on my face.

Yesterday was spent on the phone, the gas company, the Realtor, the repairman, my MIL, the accountant. It didn't feel like I got anything done, but I did. I averted danger by getting a gas leak fixed next door. Unfortunately it came to my knowledge through the Realtor who said other people looking at the house had noticed a gas smell. Our heating and AC guy came right over and fixed it, he's awesome.
Today I woke up feeling like doop. My head is so full of goop I think my eyes are going to pop out. Its supposed to be absolutely beautiful today and we are missing out on a zoo expedition with Beqi and the Eddies because if I have to move my head will detach and float away in a cloud of snot.

Today's agenda:
Put our crap away
Dust & vacuum
Have friends over for a Rock Band session

Yeah, I've got a rough life.

My new creation

This is the purse I finished yesterday.
I luuuuuuv it. Its the perfect size, about 9x13 and the fabric is so awesome. Not bad for an investment of $10, most of which was the handles.








This is a shot of the inside and matching wallet (open) and coin purse. The pocket is divided into three compartments and holds the wallet, a cell phone and keys.


I think I may have to make more of these since I have about tons of the fabric left. At $2 a yard who could pass it up!

Snowed in

Yesterday Day Out was closed due to the weather. Gryffin and I got out early and picked up 101 Dalmatians along with some black thread I needed to finish a bag. I hate it when I run out of thread with only an inch left to sew, it seems to happen a lot. Anyway, by the time we got back the snow was starting to come down pretty good. It was so serene and calming. Gryffin watched (sort of) the movie while I finished up the bag along with a matching wallet and coin purse. It turned out awesome, pics to follow soon. I also got some much needed knitting done.
I've promised many hand made projects and feel bad that I haven't worked on any of them lately. I decided that after I finished the bag yesterday, I would concentrate on all the promises I made, several pairs of fingerless gloves, a scull scarf, a diaper bag and an adult size cape for my friend Mia- don't ask. I already have all the materials needed for these projects so there is no excuse. The gloves I can do in a weekend, if I stay up a little late and my arthritis cooperates, the scarf will take a little longer but its easy knitting, the cape will be the most difficult because the material is a knit, which I've never worked with and I will have to modify the pattern I made since its in a child's size. The diaper bag I need to do first though, since its for someone whose birthday is tomorrow. I found a great pattern for a diaper bag online, which I won't use for anything but inspiration and measurements. I follow patterns about as well as I follow recipes, in my opinion they are just guidelines. I can do it all though, just not all this week.
After I fulfill my commitments I am going to concentrate on making bags. I really enjoy this, everything from choosing the fabric to the engineering and sewing. Sometimes it gets a little frustrating but usually by that time I'm almost done and can't bring myself to chuck it out a window. It makes me concentrate on solving the problem and hey, if it doesn't look quite good enough to give someone, I get a new purse! The one I finished yesterday though isn't just good enough to give, its good enough to sell. Don't know that I'll do that though.
OK, I've rambled enough. Have a great day!

Won't you be glad when I don't bitch anymore?

Yesterday was awesome! The weather was perfect, the boys got to play at the park, I got the garage cleaned out, on-and-on-and-on.
I just hope that today I can get the little stuff like pictures, books and decorative items moved next door before the snow sets in. Beqi is coming today to watch Gryffin while I work next door. The pictures for the online virtual tour are being taken tomorrow so everything has to look just so by then. We did a little work over there last night with Gryffin running around in his Spiderman slippers and jammies, but the kitchen is a disaster. Not with food or dishes mind you, with wood filler, paint trays and rollers, tools and cleaning supplies.
Won't you be glad when the house is done and sold so you won't have to read about it anymore?

On to another matter: the Albatross called repeatedly this weekend. In her fake sweet voice she requested that I call her back. Not going to happen. I am however in process of writing a letter to let her know that I no longer wish to have contact with her. I'm trying not to make it too harsh and tell her that she was a crap parent and caused emotional scaring that I'm still trying to overcome at 35. I refuse to rehash every episode that causes me pain to this day. The purpose of this letter is not berate her but to let her know that her recent lies about me are unacceptable and that I refuse to open myself up to another occurrence. In a way, I'm trying to be nice about it but it's hard- very hard.
Won't you be glad when its done and gone so you won't have to read about it anymore?

Lower 70's today, ice/sleet/snow by Tuesday. Mother Nature can be cruel.
Today after Mike visits Pa he is planning on taking Gryffin to the park. I don't know where he is going to come up with the energy for it since he was working next door until the wee hours of the morning- again. After talking with our realtor we decided that the 'repair' the contractor-from-hell did needed to be stained and all the hardwood floors polyurethaned. This morning when I went to change Gryffin's diaper I walked by the guestroom where Mike crashed and could smell the chemical fumes that had permeated his clothes. My poor Monkey. I think he may be looking forward to going to work on Monday so that he can get some rest.
My plans for today are to find places for all the stuff packing our garage. Its our dumping ground for everything that should have been moved from the other house a long time ago, but you know how that is. I don't know that I will be able to get the Jeep in there before the cold hits but I'm sure going to try.