spring break

so mr. joseph had the week off of school last week. it was amazing. as a bonus, his boss had just gotten back from her second of three vacations in three months (jealous much? yes.) so she scheduled less hours for him than usual. what does that mean? well, it means that the booger and i had tons of time with kimbal ALL. WEEK. LONG. did i mention amazing? because it was.

we had planned to get a million things done but more than anything we just hung out. and napped. and rearranged the whole "great" room (which i've been dying to do basically since we moved in). the whole place feels like it has a ton more space. love it.

all you youngsters who went to wild parties or on vacation are jealous. admit it.

i might also need

these two patterns by my hero ashley over at make it and love it (easily one of my favorite blogs ever)...

love the lil' guy tie. love love love. must have one in every color for boog and my (soon to be) two nephews.

also needing these bradley booties. do you know how long logan was able to wear his first two pairs of shoes? probably about five times. total. lame sauce- the kid's feet are just too huge. with this i could make my own!

in desperate NEED

do you ever have days where you just NEED to make something? to make anything? today is one of those days for me. but every project i come up with i need something. something i don't have. something i can't afford. yikes. crafting is pricey. not the materials as much, but the tools. here's a few of the things i really want/need to own some of them are someday (as in if i win the lottery which would be cool since i don't enter the lottery) and some that i kinda need asap (as in preferably now)-

pinking shears. perhaps multiple pairs... i've seen some that are scallops that were so cute i nearly passed out. and of course i need the standard zig-zag-y kind.

a dress form. in my size but adjustable. because i'm adjustable too. have you seen how pricey these things are?! oh my.

a new sewing machine. i love mine and i'm SO grateful for it, but i want one that's a little nicer and that has more stitches.

a serger. yum.

rotary cuter and mat set. with a very BIG mat. thank you very much.

a large supply of... supplies. i'd love to have cute fabric and notions on hand so when days like today strike i can just go to work.

embroidery machine. yeah right... maybe when i'm 90 and can't even see what i've embroidered.

really, really good scissors. like my mom's scissors. she let me use them once. it was like butter. practically a spiritual experience.

lessons. because let's face it... i could use some work in the skills department. desire- check. inspiration- check. creativity- check. ability to read a pattern- um. no.

if you happen to know of anyone who's going to throw out/donate any of these things please let me know. we'll skip the middle man and they can donate them to me directly. please and thank you.

ok. now i'm going to get off my behind and hopefully i'll actually make something instead of just whining about how i want to. stay tuned and i'll tell you what i create!

i just might need this

what a fantastic pattern. too bad i don't actually know how to use a pattern that well. dang it.

today

was a rough day. overall. still tough. potentially getting tougher. pray for me. i just wanted to get on and record the highest point in my day because i'll probably need to come back and read it later.

today our maintenance guy had to come into our apartment because no one on our stairwell had had any hot water since yesterday evening. keep in mind this was at nine thirty in the morning. right in the middle of me nursing the boy. yikes. so i let him in. and our house is dirty. i mean really, really dirty. exacerbated by the fact that with no hot water i didn't wash any of yesterday or this morning's dishes. and i hadn't had a chance to take out the garbage yet. and i hadn't showered. and i was in my pjs. it was a lovely picture let me tell you. so the sweet guy comes in (after i threw on a sweatshirt to hide my nursing bra) and i'm apologizing profusely for the hazmat worthy state our living room is in and he turns to me with a big, warm smile and says "my mom used to always say if it wasn't a mess it wasn't a home." melted my heart a little. so thanks nameless-maintenance-guy for making me feel worthwhile even if my housekeeping skills aren't top-notch.

Nope, definitely not.

I will not be sleeping tonight. Mainly because it's not tonight anymore.

I have a million zillion dishes to do. Yes, that is the exact amount. Baby Boog is fussing (super) so I'll be dealing with him again soon even though he ate three whole times last night. I also need to finish cleaning my house (a hazmat suit might be necessary), do twenty loads of laundry, and reorganize Boog's closet since he's growing out of all his clothes. On top of that I really need to get a job. We just can't survive on one part-time job anymore.

Stress stress stress.

On that note- does anyone know of a nighttime gig that I'd be just perfect for?

Mmmkay thanks.

This might be my new favorite recipe

I've made a variation on this twice this week. It's insanely easy and SO good. Love love love.

http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=12406

Here's tonights version. Ground beef, prosciutto, diced tomatoes, mozzarella, and tomato sauce. Delicious!

martha stewart

i want to be as awesome as martha when i grow up. but maybe not so scary... (seriously, she gives me the heebie-jeebies sometimes). i'm currently embarking on a fairly ambitious list of projects to make our little place more livable and today i open up marthastewart.com and the first thing is see is "96 reasons to sew it yourself". rock on martha.

faves so far...

towels turned shower curtain-http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/sewing-projects-for-the-home

and of course the matching caddy- http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/easy-sewing-projects#slide_11

a very handy pincushion-http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/sewing-projects#slide_18

simple sewing machine cover-http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/sewing-projects#slide_27

this leaf table runner- http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/summer-sewing-projects#slide_20

and i might need to make these baby booties in about a million different colors and styles-http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/sewing-projects#slide_9

mom saved the day!

yet again my mom swooped in at the last minute to correct my mistake! thank heavens for mothers! you all remember that i spaced photographing my first big sewing project that was done all by myself. well mom saved my (not so) little booty and had my sis take some pictures of her cute apron! woohoo!

when mom was here in utah she mentioned that she kept messing up her clothes when she was cooking. she bemoaned the fact that she couldn't find an apron to fit her right. we're fairly... um... busty women and most standard aprons don't offer enough coverage for us. so after she left i got to work on a pattern (oh yes, i even made up the pattern) to protect her clothes. i also wanted to make a cute apron that would match her kitchen, be cute enough to wear if she's playing hostess, and have multiple looks so it wouldn't get boring. here's the result-

the dark red side. bring it on marinara.

i included two different flower pins and a headband so she can switch it up.

the long ties go into super cute bows to stay on trend and make her feel a little bit june cleaver.

reversible!

showing off the striped side! it took me forever to find fabric that would match her kitchen, but this one was perfect!

let me know what you think!!!

please... :D

i'm not the photographer for a reason.

so... i might have made another apron. and it might have been a little fabulous. and just maybe it made my dear leanna a little happy. but unfortunately i didn't take a picture of it. or at the party. or anything like that. bah freaking humbug. i really do make cute aprons i swear. next one.

on an only-slightly-related note... i'm officially frightened of quilting. seriously scared. i keep seeing adorable patterns and they make me want to cry. can't. handle. it.