Wordless Wednesday: My sister's baby.

Crafts in progress.

I thought maybe I would do a post about some yarn and embroidery crafts I am working on.  I think I have posted before about the bags my folks and I are making for the pregnancy center at Christmas time, but if not here is a re-cap.  We are putting together some small diaper-like bags for under-privileged new mothers at Christmas time.  My job is to get the 10 bags (5 girl, 5 boy) and make baby hats.  As well as some monetary contributions for clothes.  My mom is getting the clothes (about 2 sets for each bag) some small size baby toiletry items, a toy and a few diapers.  We also want to put a little something in there for the moms, but are still working on that idea.

I wanted to start working on my embroidery so I decided to jazz up the canvas bags.  I decided to do a small design as well as the word baby in blue and pink.  Be kind, as this is my first real needlepoint project.

I got the designs from a small starter packet I bought at a cute craft store in NE Portland.  They are created by Tigerpup Embroidery which is a business located here in Portland.  It comes with the designs on large sheets of paper you can cut out as well as a large sheet of carbon paper.  It costs about $4.50 and the designs were super cute.  I had intended to get some Jenny Hart "Sublime Stitching" patterns as I saw her on She's Crafty and fell in love, but I thought Tigerpup designs were way cuter and were actually a little cheaper.

I think my favorite so far is the rocket and I will probably end up doing another one of those.  I have to admit, the boy designs I got are a little bit cuter than the girl ones.  I have some cute girl ones, but they are either really large or really detailed and I don't know if I can pull that off.

I am also still working on those apple hats.  I actually decided to make red apples for the girls and green apples for the boys.

As you can see I haven't quite finished any of the boys hats yet.  But I am working on them!!  I'm making slow progress, but progress none the less.  I think I am going to take a couple days off from work in October to finish up this project and also finish the kids Halloween costumes.  They want to go as Garfield and Odie this year and I'm a little afraid I'm going to have the some problem as last year with keeping the ears standing straight up.

We ended up using skewers and that worked pretty well.  And I'm a little worried about how we are going to keep Garfield's tail standing up.  Something to ponder.  All I have is the yarn right now which I just bought yesterday.

The lady at Joann's asked if I had a coupon and I told her I forgot them and she said she would throw a couple extra in my bag.  I just went through my bag to take this photo and boy howdy.  She sure did throw in a couple extra.

If anybody needs some coupons for next weekend, I'm your girl!

Labor Day Weekend.

We had a big family BBQ on Sunday.  I can't remember the last time all twelve us were together and it was really nice.  Although I had to eat too much and then hole up in Mikey's room reading a book, but that is just a normal holiday for me.

Oh that would be funny if it weren't so darn true.  I don't know how many Thanksgivings I have ended up in the back bedroom taking a nap.  I have no self-control.  I'm already stuffed to the gills on snacks before we even sit down to dinner.  It really is a nightmare.  But really, I can't wait until Thanksgiving.

I am gonna pig out!!

Wait.  One celebration at a time!!  We had a BBQ.  I didn't get any photos of the food because... well... I seem to have lots of photos of food.  And I don't want to be one of those people.  Well I guess I already am one of those people, but I don't really want other people to know I am one of those people.

I was going to post some photos of food I had, but as I was scrolling through my archives I came across this photo I took of my belly a while ago.  I took this photo with my belly completely sticking out (no sucking in!!) as some sort of motivational tool to lose weight.  Now every time I see it, it just makes me sad.  I remember this one time my friend Forrest said that every time we wanted to eat we should just go look at ourselves in the mirror naked.  Theoretically that sounds good, but put into practice it is just a giant hassle.  Who wants to take their pants off every time they want a sandwich?

BBQ, right... It was fun.

We played some Wii:

Took a family photo:

I wasn't actually going to post this photo because I took it so I had to run over and crouch down in what little room was available so I didn't have time to make myself thin (yes, it can be done, look how thin Christy looks, hiding completely behind Mikey.)  But I emailed the photo to the family and Katie posted it on facebook, so I figure the jig is up.  Is it jig or gig?  Well, whatever.

I made the kids take photos with me.  Mikey couldn't stop looking at the game being played on the tv screen.

Anyway, you remember when I was telling you I ended up in Mikey's bedroom reading a book.  I didn't actually bring a book because I like to pretend I'm not the person who goes and hides out at a family function, so I ended up having to find something in Jasmine's room to read.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is surprisingly delightful.  And it is a super quick read.  I'm half way through the second book.  I'm just waiting for the next family function to finish it.

Wordless Wednesday: Luna

All is Vanity. And the winner is finally announced...

I should probably announce the winner of my giveaway.  Whoops!  In my defense, I did let the winner know she won two weeks ago.  Patti was the winner!!  Yay!!  Patti and I used to work at the newspaper together.  And then she got smart and moved away.  And then I got smart and moved away.  Congratulations Patti!  You'll be receiving your major award shortly.

Now onto other news.  I went garage saling at the coast a few weeks ago and found this vanity for ten bucks.  I have been looking for a vanity ever since I moved into my new place in March.

Years ago when I was living in a studio apartment, my mom was giving away her vanity.  It was kind of large, solid wood and beautiful.  She asked me if I wanted it and I said no, that I didn't have the room for it.  I've been thinking about that vanity a lot lately.

Here are the before shots.  You can't really tell from this picture, but the fabric covering the stool was stained.

 And here is the finished project, all clean and reupholstered:

 It doesn't really look right though, much too neat and tidy.  This is better:

Wordless Wednesday: Niece.

Oregonian Gurls, we're unforgettable...

Brown Ugg boots with sweat pants on top.

Sometimes I do this.  To make popular music more accessible to myself.  I mean seriously, I don't care how great of a body you have, what do you wear more of, bikini tops or sweat pants...  'Nuff said.

The first time I saw someone write 'Nuff said, I thought "Nuff said what?"

I have a special spoon exclusively for eating pudding.  It's a Gerber baby food spoon I found in my keepsake box.  I has a little imprint of the Gerber Baby on the handle and it's great for eating tapioca.

My favorite pudding is Tapioca.  I love those little cloudy nubblets.  I don't know what they are but they kind of look like the gross things you sometimes find in pepperoni, but they aren't gross, they are delicious.

When I first saw "The Departed" I had to keep calling my dad to ask what the derogatory words meant.  I had never heard half of them and the half I had heard I didn't know if it was derogatory toward the Irish or the Italians.  How's that for good parenting?

My nephew Andy plays the piano.

He plays really well.

And I'm posting my first video!

Please don't forget about my giveaway!  Deadline doesn't end until Sunday!

Revenge of the weeds.

Ok, so I'm trying to clean out the backyard of all those pesky weeds, but it is just too hard!!  I cut down a bunch (chopped down would be more adequate, I've never seen stalks like that on a weed before) and laid them out to bag and throw away.  They are all thorny and spiky though and would just rip the bags to shreds and I couldn't even really get them in there in first place.  So I just took the giant stack of weeds and threw it on the other side of the yard.  And I'm sitting here sweaty and itchy because I'm convinced THERE ARE SPIDERS CRAWLING ALL OVER ME.

I didn't take any photos because well, it looks the same as last time except the weeds are mostly brown now and half of them are hacked off and laying on top of the other half.

Oh golly.  I really thought it looked the same as it did in June, but I am really wrong.   Here is what it looked like in June:

Seems so cute and inviting.  Here is what it looks like right now.

The really amazing part is what it looked like in March when I moved in.

Katie thought I was so lucky because I didn't have any grass to worry about.  I bet you don't think I am lucky now!!  I pray for grass.  At least grass doesn't have thorns!!  Or spider webs at the base of their giant trunks.  Or dead things, Mikey, dead things!  Anyway, I just want you all to know that I will be setting my yard on fire this afternoon.  I'm just gonna douse it in lighter fluid, set it on fire, let it burn for like 30 seconds and then hose it off.  What could go wrong?  It's an ingenious plan!!

I've been working on the spare room this weekend too (see?  I said that like I worked in the yard when we all know I really didn't.)  The spare room for me is such a blessing and a curse.  I love the extra space, but then I just dumping crap in there all the time.

So I spent a little time in there yesterday and organized it.

It's getting there.  I was thinking about buying a futon or a twin bed for this room, but I have no idea where I would put it!  This was originally suppose to be my craft room, but it has really become more of an office.  It was funny because I called Katie to see if she had any straws and when came over to bring them to me she told me Jesse was taking a nap.  I then proceeded to hang some pictures.  They must love me as a neighbor!

Alright, I gotta go set my yard on fire.  Don't forget to check out my giveaway!