New Shirt Update

So I've finally finished the shirt I told y'all about. There are a couple of things I love about this pattern: 1) It's easy, and 2) It doesn't matter what size you are - you make the shirt to fit you (no ambiguous small, medium, large language).

I got a little out of control and kept messing with the shirt - ripping out seams, adding more shaping, etc. I finally had to stop and call it a day. And I still look at it and see flaws. There are a few things I will do for the next one (Oh, yes. There will be a next one). I will definitely do the arm divots (which said "optional". I was too impatient and skipped the step. Now I fear I will soon have deodorant stains). Also, I will do the shaping before I put the shirt together rather than after.

Enough boring details - here it is:


Recognize the fabric? I used the same stuff for the dog bed I made (which was made from a sheet I bought at a thrift store for three bucks).

What do you think?

Cute

Tucker has about seventeen toys to ride on, but the (not meant to be ridden on) caterpillar is his ride of choice.

That's What I Love About Sunday

I love CBS Sunday Morning News.

I'm not one of those people who tunes into the six o' clock or ten o' clock news. I don't ever desire to watch the news - unlike my husband and my father. Except for on Sundays.

I make a point of being up and having my first cup of coffee before eight, when CBS Sunday Morning News comes on.

Today, it was a particularly good episode: The Dave Matthews Band, pictures of the real Bonnie and Clyde, and a woman who sells rare buttons from her shop in New York City.

What do you love about Sunday? I'd love to know. Blog about it and then add your permalink below!

New Shirt

I've started a new project.

This time, it's a shirt (pattern by Rae), tutorial here.

I've never made an item of clothing for myself, unless you count the sweatshirt in eighth grade Home Economics (back in the good ol' days, when they actually called it Home Economics - not Life Sciences or whatever the crap they call it now). Well, and there was the time I was making something that was supposed to resemble a jumper with my mom. I never finished it and it's probably still sitting in her sewing room under stacks of lovely vintage fabric. (Mom, we are SO going through your stash when I get there.)

So anyway, this shirt. I am obsessing about it. I thought about it last night while I was laying in bed. I'm thinking about it now as I should be focused on the last few days of school (which, if I live through without gouging out my eyes, will be a miracle).

I plan on having it finished tonight; stay tuned for pictures!

That's What I Love About Sunday

Have you ever heard that Craig Morgan song? I love it. And it's stuck in my head today.

I'm going to start a tradition here, I think. I'm going to write one day a week - on Sundays - to tell you guys what I really love about life.

I think sometimes I get caught up in the crap, the irritations, the bad things in life. And sometimes I'll read through my previous posts and think that maybe I'm not portraying the way I really feel most of the time: Happy. Thankful. Loved.

One thing I love about Sunday is watching my boys reading the paper together.


'Cause it's 35 cents off a ground round, Baby. Cut that coupon out!

What do you love about Sunday?

Before and After: Old TV to Dog Bed

Remember the ugly old television?


Now, it's a lovely dog bed (I told you so!).


And if you peek inside, you'll find...


...the cutest boy ever!

And a dog who has been humbled by his judgmental nature.


It really looks a whole lot better in person. It turned out nicely and it adds some nice color to our white-wall plague.

Tucker seems to be more impressed with it than the dogs, however, so maybe it will eventually be used as a puppet show stage.

Silhouette

This is my entry for iHeartFaces this week. If something in life involves 1) Scout, or 2) being tossed in the air, Tucker is there. When both of the above conditions exist, Tucker is one happy boy.

I love how this picture captures the obvious bond they have.

And look at those beautiful trees that line our street. I will surely miss those when we move.

Long Weekend Projects

I'm excited for the long weekend; we have a ton of (fun) projects to finish.

I was driving down the street and found this fun (and currently ugly) item sitting on the corner. And guess what I thought of? A dog bed, of course! And it was free - one happy girl, I am.


Scout and Tucker helped me pull out the busted TV.




Lewis watched like, "What are you morons doing?" (That's ok, soon enough he will be thanking us.)


I also have a quilt for Butterball to finish and this bag to complete, which has been sitting on my sewing table for way too long.

I can't wait to show you guys pictures (especially those of you wondering how in the world I would make a dog bed out of an old television thingy).

P.S. I hate Lowe's and I'm never going back. Ever.

But that's another story for another time. Have a great weekend!

Change

The feelings of dread I've had about moving over the past few months have slowly changed to excitement. It's nice.

There have been numerous calls on the house since it went on the rental market on May 1st. Although all of the calls were from people that needed something Right Now, I'm hopeful that there will still be people interested in it at the end of June. It's in a good location (about a mile from post), has a huge backyard, and is actually quite cute, if I do say so myself. The walls are all white (blech - I H-A-T-E white walls) thanks to Scout, the painting king. Things are fixed and except for a very necessary deep cleaning, the house is ready to go.

And luckily, my mother and my sister are crazy animal people like myself (what, you think I became The Crazy Lady With Six Dogs all on my own? No way). My mom has generously offered to take Neurotic Lewis and Lazy Daisy, while my sister will take Sweet Foxy and Crazy Winston, while we look into buying a house. We will live on post in the meantime (with Cat Killing Kansas and Street Guy Diesel). 

And, AND. There's a farm house that I'm so in love with I can't put it into words. It's the house that I've been dreaming of for years. And the price recently dropped $25,000, only $10,000 more than what the bank will finance us for (it needs $1,700 worth of septic/well work - I'm assuming no one wants to deal with the hassle). If our house gets rented out, there shouldn't be a problem with us getting our dream home. It's amazing how, a few weeks ago, I had almost resigned to living in a 1996 trailer with a bad roof. And now, owning my dream house on 40 acres could be a reality.

Things are lookin' up. I'd say I'm finally ready to move.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day was wonderful.

We took a ride in the Jeep with the top off. Crazy Train came on the radio as the wind lulled our curly-haired boy to sleep. At that very moment, it seemed like the perfect combination.

Tucker and Scout made me the masterpiece pictured above. I was very impressed to see Scout using stuff we already had around the house to create something only a mother could love. :)

Not to mention the fact that they shocked me with this bad boy. Dang, I'm one lucky girl.

And Mother's Day got me thinking; I really want another baby (or five). I'm getting that "itch" that I've heard about - only I thought it was unique to women who could get pregnant merely by looking at their husbands. I think we'll be looking into adding to our family when we settle in Colorado.

Happy Mother's Day, especially to the two of mine.

Laughter

I entered this week's photo competition at IHeartFaces. Go check it out!

The theme this week was laughter, and since Tucker has a hearty belly laugh, this one was easy! It's never hard to get him to laugh, especially when Scout is tickling him!

A Little Small Business Love

Um, this is a long post. Grab some snacks.

While Scout was gone, we had a slab leak. I can't remember if I blogged about it.

As I woke up one Friday morning, I placed my naked feet on the floor and realized it was wet. Really wet. I put my naked (very wet) feet into my flip flops, sloshed through the living room (with long pajama bottoms on that were now also wet), called in sick, and phoned a random plumber from the phone book.

It was extremely more dramatic than I'm making it. I believe I actually sobbed into the phone at my principal, who said, "Yes, Erin. Sloshing through water INSIDE your house and waiting for a plumber to show before the weekend arrives is good enough reason not to come to work."

But drama is not the reason for this post, so I'll spare you.

Thanks to my Lucky Stars, I picked the right plumber: Willie Ellis. I actually picked him because his last name is the same as my favorite town in Kansas. The most RETARDED reason. Ever. to hire someone. But it worked.

He looked at me like a grandpa would as I started tearing up standing in my front yard, watching him back out of my driveway, knowing that I would have to go the weekend without water because he couldn't come back until Monday. I believe he said, "Don't cry, dear. It will be ok."

He was there on Monday. On time (that's HUGE). I had to work, but he let himself in; he put holes in my walls, rerouted pipes, and had the drywall fixed by the time I got home. He even called to tell me the progress and asked if I would like to save some money in exchange for having less pressure at our backyard water spigot. I declined but appreciated him considering my wallet (especially because he could have done the cheaper job and charged me full price - and I wouldn't have known the difference).

Fast forward to about two months ago. Very long story short, we hired a contractor to fix some things that just weren't reasonable for us to get to before our move to Colorado. What he said would take two or three days ended up taking three mother-effing weeks. Another slab leak sprung up and since he was STILL there, we had him fix it. When we expressed our concern about the damp concrete 24 hours later, he said he would pour some more on it. And not to worry, even if it still leaked, it would go under the house - we would never notice it. We said, "whatever", and ushered him out the door.

(Some people may be saying, "WTF? Why didn't you have him fix it?" Well, my friends, Scout discovered something about our chatty little contractor that made us both want him out of our house. We almost welcomed the "finished" shotty plumbing fix if it meant he would be gone from our lives. Scout had gotten curious the day before and googled details that the contractor had blabbed about, "I was a San Quentin Guard, blah blah blah, retired in 2000, blah blah blah...", and his full name. According to Scout's research, this guy was busted for smuggling heroine and cocaine into San Quentin with the intent to sell it to inmates. Maybe I should have gone with my Favorite Towns in Kansas Strategy when I chose our contractor).

Anyway, this post isn't about Crackhead Contractor either, so again, I'll spare you.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I heard the noise that only plumbers and people that have had multiple slab leaks recognize. The television was off, Scout was at work, the dogs were (surprisingly) quiet, and Tucker was asleep. That annoyingly unique sound was coming from under the sink. I rolled my eyes and got ready for work.

When we both got home, both the front and back lawns were saturated (it had not rained for days). There was water under the house. We surveyed the damage and called the guy I knew would shoot me straight and charge me a fair price: Willie Ellis.

He came out this afternoon, figured out the problem (Crackhead Contractor didn't fix the second leak - and we DID end up noticing it), and charged us $72. It's done. And you know what? I know we won't need it re-repaired in three weeks.

So I'm hoping someone will someday google "good plumber in Killeen, Texas" and come here. Willie Ellis is wonderful, fair, honest, and great. Love him. And I'm betting you will too, if you hire him.

That's just a little of my small business love.

"No! Don't put the egg on your nuts!"

One thing (in a list of many) I never could have imagined I would say. Before children, there is no reason to say such things.

Ever since Easter, Tucker has been Ob-Sessed with those plastic eggs that come apart. He could (and does) play with them for hours. He yells into them, sucks on them, bangs them against any surface he can find, slides on top of them over the tile floor, and puts things inside of them (not including body parts, up until today).

So while I was changing his diaper, he was holding an egg that he had already separated. Right as I slid off his wet diaper, he cupped both parts of the eggs on his boy parts.

And that's when it came out: "No! Don't put the egg on your nuts!" After I said that, I wondered if I was the only person in history who may have uttered those words.

But on the other hand, maybe not, if your son shares the same fascination with his own penis and plastic Easter eggs.

I'm curious to know what kinds of things you other mothers have said over the years that sound ridiculous and may need explanation. :)