I am moving.

I have moved my blog to this new location.  Please make a note and come visit.

Could it be?

Could it be that Spring is right around the corner?  Well this daffodil and my allergies are telling me it is true.  The daffodil bloomed about two days ago, and I wanted to put it up, but I have just been too tired.   I am fighting a horrible cold/flu and my sinuses are killing me.  Yesterday I could barely get my head off the pillow, and after a morning workout outside, I had to come home and take a nap.  Then I woke up with Pink eye.  So I finally called my doctor and made an appointment.  Enough of this.  My ears have been clogged for two weeks, I cough at night, and when I bend over I feel as if my brain matter floats to the front of my head.    I  just want to remove my head and trade it in for another.

Needless to say, I have not gotten much done this week.  I am always so tired at night, and my eyes have had a hard time focusing.  Hopefully this will end soon.  We have had a few nice days, so I managed to put Olivia in the Easter Dress I just made, and take some picutres.  She does not like to be photographed anymore, so I have had a harder time doing it by myself.  Although, the pictures are not detailed of the dress, they are cute of her.

Fun in the Sun

 

I had a great day today.  It started a bit stressful, but it was full of events.  I invited a group of friends over to the house.  I am always a bit hesitant to invite people in the house, because I ……now I will have to word this correctly……well I have alot of nice things.  I don’t want anyone to think I am a snob or uppity by any means.  I just have a love for beautiful things.  I have travelled all over the world, and when I saw a bargain, I dove right in.  For example, all the Wedgewood and Villeroy & Boch stores in the military exchanges in Europe closed.  So I waited and waited, and when everything dropped in price, I bought.  Two china sets, several wine glass sets, and other goodies like Waterford lamps.  My whole life surrounded around my house, and making it look good.  I have alot of stuff.  Then in Turkey, I had alot of things built for me.  I would show them something in a Neiman catalogue and they would duplicate it.  My china cabinets, mirrors, sconces, etc…..I paid 1/4 of the price.  I was also lucky enough to be in Germany when the Berlin wall came down.  The east germans threw away alot of their furniture (antiques) as we know them, and the west germans (such as myself) bought them for less then you could only imagine.   I don’t go to restaurants, and I don’t own a cellphone, but I will buy for the house…….to make it a home.  I enjoy reading Southern Accents, Veranda and Better Homes and Garden.  I have monthly subscriptions to all three magazines.  I enjoy changing my rooms, both furniture and colors.  It is a passion of mine.  I have inherited this creativeness from my mom, who has always designed her interiors very nicely.   Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and my taste is not the same as everyone else’s.  My point is that I had no children and did not expect to have any, so my money, my passion, and my love was completely dedicated to building a wonderful home for me and my husband.   I have glass tables with sharp edges, thank goodness, leather sofas, and lots of china.  Lots of little goodies that children love to break.  Lots of little goodies that I would never recommend anyone buy if they had kids.  I was able to teach my children at a very young age to not touch, and thank goodness nothing has been broken, but that could always change, and I expect it will.  Although my first love is no longer my home, every piece I own reminds me of a special memory, a special trip, and a different life.

So my friends walked in, and I immediately had to explain that noone has to take their shoes off, and yes we do touch everything.  I am trying to sound humbled, because it is a compliment when people appreciate my work.  I paint, I sew and buy things at yard sales (like my kitchen table – $10 solid oak and Made in Germany).  Most importantly, I never judge anyone by the house they live in, or whether there are curtains on the wall, or furniture in the rooms, so I hope the same holds true for me.

Louisiana

 

Mirror, Chair, Chest of Drawers - Made in Turkey

Well, once the girls looked at the house, we sat down and enjoyed a delicious strawberry shortcake, and I think everyone had a really nice time.   Afterwards, we took the children to a park, enjoyed pizza for lunch and sat in the sun and had fun.  Talking, laughing and telling stories like we always do.  It was a great day.  They are a special group of girls, and we all have alot in common.  We laugh alot together and I think that is great.  It has taken me a long time to find friends like this, and now that they are here, I am sure glad I found them.

I spent my evening helping another friend/neighbor decorate her bathroom.  It is fun.  She has a different taste then me, but I love to decorate, so thumbing through paint samples, mirrors and curtains is alot of fun.  I think her bathroom is going to look great when it is finished, and I cannot wait  for her to start.   I want to paint it myself.  

I am hoping to get some more sewing done tomorrow when I drop Olivia off at daycare again.  I am so looking forward to my next project.

ruffled skirt in farmer’s market

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ruffled skirt in farmer’s market, originally uploaded by i have to say….

What an adorable picture, skirt and fabric combination. I added this to my faves.

Oliver & S Kimono Set for Two.

I finally finished Nicolas’ PJ set.  I just love this pattern.  I finished it in less then 2 hours.  It is amazing how fast and how much better I sew during the day, when the kids are not around.  I dropped Olivia off today at daycare and decided that I deserve some sewing time.  I completed the pants, and almost finished the top before the 2.5 hours were over.  The fabric is so nice to work with, and such an excellent quality flannel.  Seriously, when you see some Flannel sheets on sale at Target, grab them.  You can make at least six pairs of pajamas out of a Queen size set.  Here are some more pictures, and before I forget to mention it, Nicolas was hit by a swing this weekend.  It gave him  several bloody noses and a very fat lip.  The poor baby.  It could have been so much worse, but that explains his face in these pictures.  By the way, Olivia is feeling better.  I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why she has been so cranky, and has had a runny nose for the last two months.  I finally decided Friday morning that I was not going to feed her anymore Zyrtec.  She had nine ear infections last year, so we have kept her on the Zyrtec to protect her from ear infections.  Well believe it or not, she is a completely different child.  I replaced the Zyrtec with Benadryl, and she has been so happy, and so loveable, that we can hardly believe it.  Even my friends are just in awe at this 180 degree turn she took.  I hope it was not a coincidence.  I hope we solved our little problem of crankiness, clinginess and whininess.  Her nose stopped running on Saturday afternoon.  Coincidence.  Whatever.  I will take it.

I wish I had more to show you, but all I keep reading in all these lovely blogs is that nothing is going on.  I guess we are all “inbetween seasons”.  It is really hard to sew summer things, when the temperature is still around the freezing mark.  It just has to warm up soon.

Anybody want some?

During the month of March, on Friday, Saturday and Sundays a local farmer sells strawberries on the side of the road.  Yes, they are delicious and home grown.  I have gotten in the habit of buying some every weekend.  Last week I served them as dessert with blueberries, and cooked the leftovers for a topping on ice cream.  This week I made a cake.  Hopefully my friends will be able to visit with me on Wednesday, and we will enjoy what is left of these delicious goodies.

The weekend just passed us by (vroom).

When they say “Time Flies the older you get” well it is true.  I was thinking today about the nice relaxing weekends I used to have before the kids were born.  I would clean the house in about 3-4 hours, relax outside in the afternoon, have tea and cake, and dinner by 7:00.  Just in time to enjoy a movie.  Now it is get up at 6am, feed the kids, check my email, and out the door by 7:30-8:00am.   Not seeing my house again until the afternoon.  

Normally, I spend at least one day at home relaxing, while my husband chauffeurs the kids around from park to park, but this weekend was different.  I decided that mommy was going to go too! Yippee.  It started on Saturday with T-Ball practice for 4 and 5 year olds.  My goodness, I almost could not believe my eyes at how many people were there.  I swear there were at least 300 kids there.  I knew the moment I saw all the cars that we were in trouble. 

Nicolas has a social shyness which has plagued us (the parents) for about 2 1/2 years.  Whenever we go somewhere or have to try something new, our son develops an “ATTITUDE”.  He just refuses to try something or do anything.  He is scared, worried, frightened.  God only knows.  It started when we moved here.  We went to the beach.  The moment we stepped on the boardwalk, he froze and would not move another inch.  He screamed and cried.  Finally my husband threw him over his shoulder, kicking and screaming and dragged him down to the shoreline.   At first we thought it was the water that scared him, even though he has always loved to swim at home in the pool or in the bathtub.  Finally, after a few years we realized that it was not the beach or the water, but the amount of people that scared him.  So T-Ball is sort something we enrolled him in not because he wants to play, but something we as parents just have to do to help him overcome his lack of self-confidence.  Even though, his teachers all say he does not lack self-confidence, he lacks curiousity and courage.

We were sent to various different stations where he had to throw a ball, bat a ball and catch a ball.  Thank goodness, friends of ours were there, and we hooked up with them, so the kids could play.  He did ok.  When the coach threw him the ball, he just let the ball roll right by him.  He did not even make an effort to go get it, until I told him to drop his attitude.  I apologized to the coach.  He was very nice.  His reply was “Don’t worry, we will get rid of that Attitude by the time he is done here.” LOL.  Good.   I was just as nervous as he was.  Not a big fan of crowds myself, but I know what to do when I have to do something.  I guess that is something I have to teach him.  I hope this sport will teach him that being a team player is a good thing.  We will have to wait and see.  

Right after that, we headed to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, where we stayed for four hours.  It was soooooooooooooo crowded.  The kids had a great time, and Olivia did great without her nap.  When the tantrums came on, we knew it was time to say goodbye and get her in the car.  Two minutes later, she was out like a light.  We made it home by 4:00pm.  A long day.

Today, I got up feeling tired and looking at my house got me even more exhausted.  We had another birthday party to go to, and a dinner invitation from our neighbors.  We could not back out of anything, so I sit her guilty, because I sent my husband to the party alone with the kids.  I wanted to clean the house, blog and relax a bit before dinner tonight.  I have been cleaning since 10:00am determined to really clean the house from top to bottom.  I have made it halfway through, and will most likely quit in a moment.  I am pooped.

I did manage to get Olivia’s PJ set finished, and I really do love it.  I am hoping to finish Nicolas’ PJ set by tomorrow.  I have to because I have orders to fill for my shop.  My Easter dress is finally selling.  I am sure the closer we get to Easter, the more business I will get.  At least I hope so.

Oliver & S Kimono Pajama Set

Another beautiful pattern by Oliver & S.  Very detailed, very easy and very nice.  What I am really excited about is the flannel I used for this pattern.  It was a sheet set I found at Target.  After I washed it, I could not believe how good the quality was.   No pilling whatsoever, and it was even softer then when I first purchased it.  I am working on another pair of pj’s for Nicolas.

Next time I make this pattern, I will probably eliminate the ties and just add snaps, or sew the pieces together as one, because the neck opening is big enough.   Great pattern, and I highly recommend it.

Children say the darndest things….

Olivia was in a great mood, as we entered Wal-Mart.  She could not help

waving at everyone and saying hello.  Very much aware of her new haircut, she seemed quite

sassy.  Everyone was waving back and speaking to her, when all of a sudden she said

“Mama, Mama!” quite loudly, and pointed to an elderly gentleman who was walking by.

“Mama” she said again pointing

“HoHoHo!”

No Olivia that is not Santa Claus.  The man smiled as he passed.  I could not help laughing.

Olivia’s new doo!

I finally convinced my husband that fooling with Olivia’s hair on a daily basis was just too much, and a shorter hairstyle would actually compliment her personality better.  I am so happy I did it.  She looks cute, just like a 2 year old should.  No more fussing with barrettes and ponytails.  I felt sort of sorry for her.  Whenever I put her hair up, she would cry.  Then when we got into the carseat, she had a hard time leaning her head back.  So, this is perfect.  Perfect for my sassy little girl.

Oh, and today my son decided that his playroom was a Barber Shop, so everyone beware and expect a haircut if you come to our house.

Here are a few new designs from Tati and the Stickbaer.

I usually post about Kids stuff to sew, but this time I wanted to remember this pattern, so I am going to post about Lori’s blog.  She always makes the most beautiful things for herself (reminds me of me before the kids were born).  This is a picture of the most recent T-Shirt she made and I love it.  The fabric is absolutely perfect, and it is just my taste.  The pattern is  Jalie 2806.