Sewing Machine Saga

Sew I have this friend who very generously gifted me her grandmother's sewing machine.
(I know, TOTALLY sweet).

 But it didn't work.
My other awesome friend, who sews for a living, offered to take it and make it work.
But she couldn't.
Sew then I took it to a place that repairs such things and they charged me $180 and I got back a working machine. That is, until I started to sew on it. Something was off. We packed up for Idaho and I took it to the sewing center here and they repaired it. I started sewing again, and it broke again. Back to the shop.  The one gear the original repair shop DIDN'T replace totally broke all to heck.
This is the part where I started to cry.
You see, I WANT to love sewing. My mama is SEW good at it, she made my wedding dress. I know. As I said, a totally awesome seamstress. And she likes it, to boot. Sewing that is. Probably she liked my dress, too.
Mama and I went to the repair guy, and he said my poor, poor machine had bit the dust but for $100 he could get it running again. However, there was no guarantee of how long the new gears would last.
There was some more crying in there somewhere.
My sweet wonderful mama offered to buy me a new machine that comes with lessons.
You see, she wants me to like sewing, too. Or at least to be proficient at it.
Husband and I talked it over that night and agreed we couldn't let her buy a machine, but that a new machine would be best.
So the next day mama and I headed back to the sewing machine store.
And we came home with this:


Which I totally didn't buy because I don't believe in committing violence against one's mama, and that's the only way I could have beat her to the cash register. I'm going to pay her back somehow. Probably not in home-sewn goods, since even with a decent machine it turns out my hems aren't all that straight. :)
Ah well. At least now I can practice without my machine falling all to pieces.

PS HOW did I live without the needle threading option? I have NO idea. It's amazing.

Confessions of a Caulkaholic

I have a confession: I like to caulk.
I don't mean, if there's caulking to be done I'd be happy to do it. I mean, I actively seek out caulking opportunities.
    example: "Hey look! The neighbors we don't know are getting new counter tops! I think I'll go over with my sparkley bedazzled caulking gun and see if the workmen need any help."


See? I need an intervention.

Today The Hubs was nagged to death decided to install our new bathroom sink. There is caulking involved. I did not know about the caulking until The Hubs emerged from the construction zone formerly known as the master bath, bedazzled gun in hand asking: "Do we have caulk?"

DO WE HAVE CAULK? 

Would you like clear or white? Paintable? The kind that causes cancer but works really well or the new all natural stuff they only sell in California because it's made from "renewable resources" like liberals and Charlie Sheen TV appearances? The Hubs had no idea half our life savings is sitting in the hall closet in the form of caulk.

Needless to say, when The Hubs mentioned he didn't really know how to use a caulking gun, I was happy to help him out.
I caulked the sink...and the back splash...and the shower...and the kitchen counters...and the other bath....what? Like I'm going to waste an entire tube of caulk? Seriously, people. I need help. Lots of padded room and white jacket help.

note: This has been a work of fiction, based loosely on fact. 

Master Bath Update

The Great Master Bath Gender Reassignment has been underway for at least a month now. I would like to say this is because we are doing things as we can pay cash for them, but that's really just a nice way of saying The Hubs and I suffer from cheapbastarditis. Also, we are lazy.

But not so lazy that we would, you know, actually hire a plumber to do the plumbing. See above medical condition.

Which brings me to my story for the day. Yesterday I bought new sink fixtures. They are pretty. I'm assuming they are functional, when installed by someone who knows what the heck plumbers tape is and where to find it in Home Depot.
At 10pm (our normal bedtime) I looked at The Hubs and said, "Hey! Lets go install one of those sinks so I can quit washing my hands in the bath tub. I'm too lazy to bend over any more to wash." I was joking, of course. Sort of.

This is the point at which The Hubs and I both forgot neither of us are plumbers. The Hubs "turned off the water" and proceeded to unscrew some stuff that looked important. At which point IT happened.

Have you ever been to Yellowstone?

We don't need to go again, because any time we want to re-experience the geysers, we can just try to plumb something.

An hour and a full closet of towels later, we still have two non-functional sinks, but one of them is MUCH prettier.

And I was SO proud of The Hubs for keeping his plumber's crack covered through the entire affair, but now that I think on it, maybe plumber's crack is what makes one a plumber.

Ah well. Now I'm off to Home Depot again for plumber's tape, and maybe I'll see if they have a deal on cracks and pick up a pair.

The Question Is...

How many projects can I have going at one time, and NOT be one of those people who starts everything and finishes nothing?

Currently I still have an unfinished train table in the garage awaiting leather accents to the insets and a good re-sanding/gel stain to the lid. I haven't worked on it because I get paralyzed with fear every time I think of cutting the leather. It was really expensive and I can't eat that kind of mistake right now!
Then there's my bathroom mirror frame that's stuck until I make it out my brother-in-law's house and his super spiffy saw that can cut a groove for the mirror channel  in the back of the molding (it sounds more complicated than it is).
But what I REALLY want to be working on is refinishing my super ugly bedroom furniture. It won't take long. I promise. Just a little steel wool and some spray paint. I need to do it before it gets brutally hot. Maybe YOU can convince The Hubs...
Really, I just need to be doing SOMETHING to keep my mind off the moms I'm working with who are about ready to birth. I'm so excited I wake up multiple times in the night to check my phone. Just in case.

How many projects do you have going? How many is too many?

Travel Plans and Life Plans

We have tentative plans for our move back to Arizona. Finals are the week of the 12th. My last final is the 16th. This is also (crazily) the day we've planned to toss all our worldly possessions into the car, top with children, and drive to St. George.
The next day we will repeat the above scenario, minus the final, and sub the destination with Gilbert, AZ.
I'm hoping to spend a few hours with family in St. George on Friday. Especially my grandpa.
The Boy is a champion traveler, but Zsa Zsa....well not so much. Two straight days in the car with her will require heavy medication (I don't care who gets it, me or her) or a long rest for the kids Friday before we get back in the car.
 I have SO many plans for when we get back home!
High on the list are:
potty training (Zsa Zsa, not me. I've got that one down, thankfully)
ditching the ever-present binkie (again, Zsa Zsa)
starting a preschool in my front room, because teaching in Idaho has been SO much fun!
taking another math class, so I can get done with math and never have to take it again
build a toy kitchen for my kiddos out of re-purposed materials
build a set of beds from www.ana-white.com


or maybe this

Felt Food

I've been obsessed with felt food of late. For Christmas the kiddos are going to get a play kitchen from Santa. Shhhh! Don't tell!

Mom and Dad are giving them the felt food and probably some metal pots and pans. Again, it's for Christmas so Shhh!!!

Why don't I just buy them a set of plastic food, you ask? Have you ever stopped to think about how many of your children's toys are plastic? I did, and I was sickened. How boring and uninteresting. 

Probably you are all better parents than I and your children have lots of imaginative play toys. My kids do not.  I want my kids to experience texture and expand their imaginations. Also, have you noticed most plastic toys DO something?

I hate that.

Isn't the point of play for the children to do something? 

Imagine! Create! 

Get messy! Make Mistakes! (I love Ms. Frizzle)

So I'm making felt food. Because it's expensive to buy and because it's fun to make and because I'm just weird that way. 

Anyway, the point of this was to explain why I've been such a bad blogger recently. I'm busy doing something else that's MUCH more entertaining...for now. :) 

When I've actually made something worth taking a picture of, I will. And of course I'll post it. Because that's the kind of gal I am.

When Is a Preschooler Like A Superhero?

When he has a cape!

The Boy is SUPER into super heroes. The Hubs has even given him his own super hero name: Repetitive Man Repetitive Man (there may be more on this later).
Since I'm between semesters and casting about for something to do, I decided to make a couple of double-sided capes for the kids.

The Super Side of Life

(Note: my baby does actually have two legs, even though that doesn't appear to be the case in this picture)

Since these pictures were taken during what should have been The Baby's nap time, cooperation wasn't high on her list of priorities. You'll have to take my word for it that the jeweled crown on the back of this cape is spectacular.

Here's a picture to give you an idea of what the front of the cape looks like. It's a Velcro closure.
In the interest of full disclosure, I did not come up with this idea out of thin air, I saw it on http://pukingpastilles.com/?p=57, but I made my own pattern. Truthfully, her pattern is better. This was my first attempt at pattern making.

Who thinks it's time for another Blog Giveaway? 

I DO!!!!

Here's the plan, leave a comment for one entry. Invite someone to join my blog for two entries, and leave a comment about it. Contest ends August 25th. Winner gets a cape, either the pink/purple or the red/black.
Ready, set COMMENT!