Well it’s 10:32pm… I usually feel so sick at 10:30pm that I crawl gagging into bed and lay there feeling ill until I finally drift into a deep sleep. But I just ate a big bowl of itchy ban noodles so I’m feeling okay (for the moment). The rest of today was wonderful. After I finished blogging Orlund and I visited while the girls played about. Then we went for a walk over to Mac Park to the BG Urban Grill to try their smoothies ~ got a 2 for 1 coupon in the newspaper. YUMMY! And I checked out the rest of the menu as well, very reasonable prices.
After our smoothies and walk we had a quick lunch and then it was nap time. After naps we jumped in the car and headed to the fabric store. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let me return some things I’d purchased, however I got the threads I needed. Olivia stayed with me. Joy went with her Daddy to Princess Auto. Orlund was shocked when Olivia and I came to find him, he thought we’d be in the fabric store all day… nope I just put my head down, ignored the adorable materials screaming my name, and got just what I needed. *Yay Me*. We then decided since we were already in that part of town to go check out the Dodge Grand Caravan’s again. We had gone once before, but the sales guy seemed a bit ‘slimy’. I know, I know, a lot of them are, but this guy we didn’t care for. Luckily when we pulled up another guy came out. We liked him. He gave us some more options and pricing, the other guy we saw as we entered the new guys office. Gave a little smile and pretended we didn’t recognize him. We know who we will be dealing with now at least….now just to meet with our financial adviser. Then we will start the actual wheeling and dealing.. LOL.
Well Orlund is shutting down and it’s now 10:41pm, I’d better hit the sack before I hit the ill…..
Good night all

Oh and I also learned today (the hard way) that just because your first child never took their diaper off during nap time, doesn’t mean your second child wont….yuck!

Olivia is done her Antibiotics ~ YIPEE! Her poor bum rash is just about all better too (rash was in turn due to the Antibiotics), My mom told me an old remedy I would have never thought of ~ Corn starch. Olivia is feeling good and back to her old self.

Joy is fighting a cold. I tried to get her into the doctors today or tomorrow, however they are booked full. She has a real rattle when she coughs, but I think it’s loosening up.

I don’t know what days or times I work next week. I just know it’ll be a lot and I hope they call me so I can plan ahead. I like being organized and planned out. Orlund is working like crazy, lots of overtime and by the sounds of it he’ll be working every weekend for the rest of the month…guess I might get some stuff done on the weekends.

My mom and dad are flying back home tomorrow (as in Thailand home). Mom wont be back until around Christmas… I can’t think of it. I know tomorrow will be a long day.

I’m thinking of starting my own business…. It’s not one that would bring in tons of money (or I don’t think it would), but it’s a few crafty things I like to do, and figure why not sell them? I’m not going to reveal them just yet…I need my mom’s help with a little bit so we are doing that tomorrow (nothing like the last minute eh?). I enjoy making the crafts and look forward to experimenting and seeing what all I can create.

I have enough crafts on the go that I shouldn’t be doing this business yet. But then when wont I have crafts on the go? I’m sewing aprons (one for my niece’s birthday next month), still working on Joy’s scrapbook (ugh), Still working on my mom’s cross stitch, I have to start (and then finish) a scrapbook and a cross stitch for Olivia. But all I can think about is the business stuff. I really need to sit down and just get it all done.

My house needs a good cleaning. Mostly just the dusting, vacuuming and removing of fingerprints. But non the less it needs doing. And Orlund’s brother and sister-in-law are hoping to stop in tomorrow, so I really need to get my butt in gear! Wish me luck! I rather play than clean, but we all know ~ the sooner you clean and get it done the sooner you can play… My mom used to always use that line on us when we were kids, never figured it’d be true when you are an adult too!
God bless you all and hope you have a good night!

Hi. I have a new post…I’ve even started writing it…I want to post it…

However I have some Christmas shopping to do (Christmas in January with my family as Mom is home! YIPEE).
I still have to finish Olivia’s Christmas gift (just hand stitching)
And a house to get clean…………along with finishing Joy’s Scrapbook….

But I promise ~ I will post soon!

For now I leave you with a cute picture of my littlest squirt.

Well, it’s done good enough. My house is/was in shape enough to have someone just stop in and want to look through it. I say it WAS because, well it’s in need of some loving right now (mainly vacuum and kitchen).
Saturday night was spent with Joy vomiting. fun. poor girl. I think it’s awful watching your kids in such pain and you can’t do much of anything to help. So Saturday night was a bust, no work accomplished. I did get the house finished from what I’d listed last time (during the day). Except my dining room table.

Taken Saturday morning... just 'cause we're so cute!

Well Sunday we decided to stay home from Church and just take it easy. Joy watched lots of tv and kept asking to go to Church. Poor girl. She would have had so much fun watching the kids put on the Christmas production. Sunday night Joy got sick once more (oops gave her milk!). Monday I had the boys. I tried and tried to call their home to inform them that Joy was still a bit sick…but I couldn’t get through. They arrived I informed them she was sick, and then after 5 minutes they came back and picked the boys up to go play at a friends house. It was a good thing they did. Orlund came home sick. And I started to feel sick as well. Monday night, I was vomiting. Not cool. Orlund was trying to put the kids to bed, and I was nursing Olivia between my visits to the bathroom. So he took his mom up on her offer to come and help out for the night.
I have to say, due to me doing this ‘operation party’ my house was in a good state (especially since I was sick). I was almost tempted to tell Hazel to look in my linen closets. LOL. They are so clean! But at least I wasn’t worrying, on top of being sick, about what my house looked like. She spent the night, and it was awesome that she did. Olivia got up at 4:30am to play…. So Grandma played with her in the living room while I finally got some much needed rest!  up until that point I’d spent the night in the bathroom getting sick, or trying not to, nursing Olivia, or sitting in bed trying not to get sick… it wasn’t a fun night, however once Olivia was with Grandma I finally zonked out and slept good.
Tuesday was spent napping, bathing and relaxing for me. Orlund and his mom did up some dishes and kept the girls busy. Joy was still recovering and Orlund was doing much much better.
I took today off work so I could just ensure I’m rested up enough before taking the boys on again. I don’t want to exert to much energy before I’m completely better or it’ll just set me back some. I have tomorrow off then the boys on Friday.

Today I plan to catch up on the  sewing I’ve fallen behind on. What was I thinking sewing Christmas gifts? lol. I have A LOT to do and I’m running out of time!  I will also decorate our tree. tomorrow I’ll spend time cleaning up etc. For today it’s catch up on the other stuff

(on a side note; This sewing, I’m sewing 3 projects. two are the same just for different kids, and the other project is an ‘easy’ weekend job. So to sew the kids projects I figured I’d need to sew 2-3 ‘sections of directions’ every day. that would take me 5 days to do each. and spend the last weekend before Christmas sewing the other project. Due to being sick I’ve missed out on 2 days already.. and then I found out next week I work EVERY day except Christmas Eve! Guess I know what I’ll be doing in the evenings!)

Here they are! The finished products!

Lilly's dress

Lilly's reverse hat

Ava's Dress

Ava reverse hat

Lesson #1 ~ It’s harder than you think to photograph and blog every step of a project!

Lesson #2 ~ Take your time and do it right the first time, because undoing is time consuming!

Lesson #3 ~ If you have a ‘model’ use them. (such as a daughter the same size)

Lesson #4 ~ When measuring your child, measure not only their height, but shoulder width, waist, bust,etc. Because after you sew a dress you don’t want to re-sew an entire new one!

Lesson #5 ~ Button holes are frustrating and even more so when you undo them!

Lesson #6 ~ When attaching Pockets, ensure they are on the right side of the dress!

Lesson #7 ~ Take pictures for your blog before gift wrapping them, because then you notice you sewed those pockets on the wrong side before giving them to the person as a gift! (Luckily this is the step I just did!).

Lesson #8 ~ Practice does make perfect.

Lesson #9 ~ It’s easier to do everything right when you don’t have distractions (such as kids around).

Lesson # 10 ~ Just Sigh. Shrug it off and keep trying

Ps~ as soon as I unattach and reattach the pockets I will upload pictures.

I apparently work rather slow when it comes to sewing! I think I’m scared to make a mistake, however the only part you can’t ‘fix’ if you do screw up is the cutting. And I’ve had the material cut for a week already! I have finished two hats, one for Ava and one for Lilly. The hats are completely reversible. The jean material is what the dresses are made out of, and the other color I will use as an accent on the dress (little pocket or something, haven’t decided yet).

The hats were easy to do, however I did have to google how to do one of the seams. Once I figured that out I was good to go! What do you think?

Ava's hat & Lilly's hat

Inside Ava & Lilly's hats

I have been working diligently on the little dresses for the 4 girls. Well okay on Ava and Lilly’s. I discovered that apparently I don’t know how to read the back of the pattern for how much material is needed. I was able to cut out both Ava and Lilly’s dress and Ava’s hat, and still have HALF the fabric I bought left, out of the amount of fabric I thought I needed for Ava’s dress and hat! I guess I need lessons on how much fabric to buy (now I have lots and lots).

I have sewn the sides on the dresses and sewn the hat together (the two parts just not joined them). Here are a few pictures I’ve taken so far.

Laying out the pattern.

the two dresses pinned. They are pretty BIG for these girls...

No. I’m not very good at sewing. Actually if I actually do try it, I’m usually not to bad. However I sew things that people don’t wear. I don’t sew clothes. I sewed a skirt in high school and after that I didn’t want to try it again. A few (like 4) years ago I bought a bunch of material from a store that was closing out. Great deals. Great fabric. Still not sewn (is that spelled right?). Well I just purchased a bunch more fabric. To try and sew some little girl dresses, for my kids and my nieces. With matching sun hats too. So, would you like to join me on this crazy expedition? I will more than likely enlist my mom’s help (all the way from Thailand), however I plan to take pictures of all the steps as I go. So wish me luck. Tonight after the girls are in bed I will lay out the fabric, pattern and start cutting! YIKES!

ps~ don’t tell my Sister/brother in law as the dresses (if they work) will be gifts (they don’t have internet so won’t see this).