Happy Birthday Baby #3

We've been blessed with another grandbaby.

Meet Bree Jay born 2/5/13 at 3:13 am, 7 lbs 14 oz, 20-1/2 inches long.

We can't wait to see her in person.

Days 6, 7 & 8

On day 6 I finished up a promise to my mom and then spent the rest of the day chasing a nearly 4-year-old. We went to a horse sale and didn't get home until 1 am. I'm too old for that nonsense.

On day 7 we recovered from the 4-year-old and I finished up the paper flowers for day 8.

Day 8 gave me a completed project, finally.  I took a dusty grapevine wreath and partially covered it in paper flowers and added a printable clock face. I think it's cute and it's certainly not like anything else I have around here. I may do more of these later with some different stuff on them.

Check out the 31 days tab for pictures and info.

Joy

Wacky Wednesday

Sorry that Retail Tuesday didn't happen. We got a very exciting phone call and were thrown into a tail-spin.

Here's the story. This boy and girl met just over a year ago and started dating.They decided to go on vacation to San Antonio and while there visited the Tower of the Americas.While standing on the observation deck he asked her a question and she said...













YES!
We're beyond thrilled and so excited for them. DH is over the moon about his new son-in-law. I'm excited about the prospect of grandbabies in the future. We couldn't ask for a better kid to marry our girl.

We've known for two weeks he was going to propose because he asked DH for her hand. Still, it was wonderful to hear the excitement in her voice when she called.

I'm just tickled pink.

Divide and conquer

DH and I had my sister's kids on Saturday.

DH took the nephew fishing. He caught a 4 pound large-mouth bass and a few sand bass. They both had a good time and enjoyed each other's company.

We girls went downstairs and made a little quilt from fabric in the scrap basket. Notice the concentration. She has the attention span of a gnat and a heavy hand.

Here's her finished project. Yes, it's crooked, but it's her first and hopefully not her last.
Just the right size for a baby doll.

Discipline...Grandpa style

Growing up I had my share of spankings and such. I grew up okay and don't seem to be damaged. That said, my grandpa had his very own way of getting us kids to behave.

Grandpa was a tolerant kind of man. He put up with kids jumping all over the place and hanging on him when he was outside working. He put up with us playing in the well-house, rearranging his boxes and jars of nails and other Grandpa stuff.

He refereed boxing matches, turned fist fights, between the kids making sure nobody really got hurt. He was really pretty easy-going until Saturday night wrestling was on and then, well, we'd better behave.

He would finally get fed up with the bickering or what ever nonsense us kids were up to at the time and then he'd holler at us. That was our one and only chance to knock it off. After that, he'd thump the floor.

His chair sat almost in the corner of the living room. On the right side of his chair was an end table and on the left, his spittoon.

After our one and only chance, those of us foolish enough to continue acting like apes, were summoned to the living room where Grandpa would thump the hardwood floor with his knuckle and tell us to sit down.

Being the oldest, wisest and fastest, I always got the spot between the end table and his chair, leaving the less desirable spittoon side to another sibling. Nobody wanted to sit on that side of the chair and I mean absolutely nobody.

I would sit on my side of his chair with the Reader's Digest I'd stuck under the end table and giggle at the gagging sounds coming from the other side. As a rotten kid I took great pleasure in the misery of my unlucky siblings.

Yesterday, the kids were cranky and constantly at each other. I found myself doling out discipline like my grandpa did.

I needed to get some fabric ready to wash and was serging the cut ends. I could hear the kids over the clacking of the serger and so I hollered at them. Into the third end of fabric the noise level had risen considerably so I summoned them both.

I put one in front of the door and the other in front of the dresser and told them to sit and be quiet. Nothing makes a kid more miserable than to be required to sit and not talk while under the watchful eye of an adult. They just can't help but squirm due to the discomfort. The pain of it is intolerable, to a child.

They dont' know how lucky they are I didn't have a stinky spittoon.

Did a little sewing

After my Friday posting binge, I got busy sewing on Saturday.

I finished my sister's, the chef-to-be, apron. It turned out pretty cute.

I'm worried it's not going to be enough coverage. This particular pattern is reported to fit size 4-24. I don't believe it. I'm tempted to get more of these fabrics and go with the Qwik Sew pattern that I know would cover well.

Anyway. Here's the recipe side.

















and the olive side.

















I started on the flannel sleep pants for the kids. If I had known how ridiculously easy this pattern was (Simplicity 3669), I would have cut out all four pairs at once. As it is, I only cut out one. These little britches were 35 minutes from the time I cut them out to hemming the last leg. It doesn't go much faster than that.



















I've decided I'm sizing impaired. I got both kids and measured them and came up with all kinds of odd stuff.

Caitlyn's size according to measurements: Height (size 6), waist (size 10), hips (size 7).

Sam's size according to measurements: Height (size 8), waist (size size 12), hips (size 7).

My scientific way of sizing was to take the three sizes and average them. I came out with a 10 for Sam and an 8 for Cait.

I had both kids try on the purple pants and they fit both in the waist and hips. The length was good for Sam, but Miss Shorty Britches needs about 4 inches cut off.

That doesn't look like much for all of the effort I put into yesterday.

Unfortunately, it's cold and the kids can't go out so they have cabin fever. I don't need them any sicker than they already are or I'd poke them out the door and wave as they headed for the treehouse. I broke up fights and separated kids most of the day. Definitely not how I like to spend my time.

What a day

Sam had a doctor's appointment in OKC today so we spent most of the day running around up there.

Let me just say, if the road crews are working on a road and have it closed, I would dearly appreciate them putting the 'Road Closed' sign further out so I don't drive down the said closed road and have to figure out how to get turned around. Boy did I feel stupid and I wasn't even in OKC yet. LOL!

Construction was just crazy all over town and I don't do crazy.

The good news, he doesn't have to go back to the doctor unless something comes up later on with his ADHD. She's very impressed that he's being homeschooled and doing so well. We are blessed!

I had the opportunity to do a little bit of shopping so I took it. I wouldn't drive 75 miles to shop any other time so I thought I was doing a good thing.

I got this fabric to make my chef-to-be sister an apron. It just screamed her name. I found the recipe print at Hobby Lobby. and the olive print I found at Hancock Fabrics as a remnant.













Sam, being a 9 year old little boy, found the only glass shelf with a corner broken off in the whole store and cut his arm as he walked by. Hobby Lobby will be receiving a box of Band-Aids for Christmas. I couldn't believe no one had a bandaid of any kind. Of course I also couldn't believe they had a broken piece of glass being used as a shelf either. He's fine and Hobby Lobby changed out the shelf. Now Sam doesn't want to look at anything in that store again. Poor kid.

I normally don't fall for fat quarters due to the ridiculous price, but one of my current projects is fat quarter friendly and I can get two or so items out of one so it makes it not quite so cost prohibitive, plus these were on sale at Hancock Fabrics. There are some yard+ length remnants under the fats.















Now I'm tired and my head hurts from clenching my teeth most of the day.

Oh, I also picked up a bag making book. I'm having fits with my wool bag and I need help!

Kids in aprons

I made the kids each an apron out of some fabric that my baby sister used in Home-Ec class back in junior high. She's 22 now so that lets you know how old the fabric is.

Ignore their goofy expressions. I called them in from playing and they're paying me back.