First, for months now I've been thinking that I really need to learn the basics of refashioning. I see all these adorable shirts and dresses in blogland that have been refashioned from thrifted items. So, last weekend, I attended the Move It On Garage Sale which is for a great cause in my hometown. Anyways, I saw a cute striped shirt that was in great condition and I thought I could certainly turn it into something for Nug. I'm into strips right now, and grey, so it was perfect.
Second, I've been in l.o.v.e with the Warhol Dress from MADE since I saw it. So, today the two worlds met and I used this shirt....
to make this dress...
I'm pretty thrilled with out it turned out. Dana's pattern is for 3-4 year old or 6-12 month, and since I wanted this to fit my little love this summer (when she'll be 13+ months), I just made the 6-12 month pattern a little larger. It was super easy to work with (even for me who is kind of scared of knits) and the directions were clear as a bell (clear as a bell? is that it?).
And as a bonus, I can now make another dress because I bought two t-shirts thinking that I would surely mess the first one up!
I made this bow board a few month ago, but never put it up on the blog. So, here it is. I got the inspiration from Samster Mommy, which just so happens to be the first craft blog I ever stumbled across and I've been hooked ever since. (I blame you, Samster Mommy, for hours I've spent scouring craft blogs when I should be doing other things like cleaning my house or reading to my kid!) :)
Anywho, the bow board was a quick 'n easy solution to this problem.
The top of the dresser was not the permanent residence of all the bow goodness, but that particular day I got frustrated that they were getting smooshed in the drawer, so I pulled them all out. Then, I made this...
And now Nug's bow are neatly (and I use the word neatly very loosely here) organized like so...
And the funny part is that I never put a headband or bow on her head anymore. We're all about the little clippies these days. Now the beautiful bow board is simply decoration. And I'm OK with that.
Remember way back when I posted that I won my first giveaway? I was so excited. I won a Carmen Tunic pattern from Lille Skapet. It was emailed to be quickly, and then there it sat, in my inbox. Until tonight, that is. It was time to finally make the Carmen Tunic for Nug. Nevermind that I've had the fabric for three months. I haven't really been sewing much lately due to the crazy demands of finishing up my Master's degree. It sure felt good to sew something tonight. It is doens't hurt that it turned out super cute and my little love is going to look darling in it (nothing humble about that statement!).
The pattern was a little tricky, but I muscled my way through it and I'm happy with the overall results.
I think my favorite part is the cuff around the sleeve. I like it so much more than having a flared out sleeve, especially for a babe.
Hopefully I'm back on the sewing/crafting/blogging bandwagon because it's such a great outlet for me. But, in all honesty, it will probably be sparse until I finish up with school. Oh well.
UPDATE: Turns out, she does look totally adorable wearing this tunic :)
Camera's still broken. Drats! But, I do want to share with you one of our fave recipes. So yummy, so easy.
Baked Jambalaya
3 tbsp. bacon bits
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. green onions, chopped
1/2 lb. kielbasa, sliced
1/2 lb. cooked ham, diced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. cajun seasoning
1 - 28 oz. can crushed tomato
1 - 14.5 oz. can beef broth
1 1/2 c. uncooked white rice
O.k. are you ready for how easy this is?
Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Pour into greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover and back at 375 for 1 hour. Uncover and stir before serving.
I mean, c'mon! That's easy. Enjoy :)
Since my camera is still broken,
I can't include any fun pictures with this post, but since I was already planning to blog about "life" on Mondays, here goes...
Today sucked. Plain and simple.
In order to make the long story about why today sucked make sense, you need some background information.
I am a full-time stay-at-home mom and part-time student. I'm working on my Masters in Teaching and part of my education consists of interning in a local elementary school. I haven't had to intern since fall, therefore I haven't had to deal with any childcare for Nug for awhile. Today was supposed to be my first day back at the school and I was planning to bring Nug back to the nanny that we used back in September.
Last night I was a mess. I was crying. I didn't want to go to school. I didn't want to leave Nug. I just felt horrible, uneasy, sad. Around 8 p.m. last night I got an email from the Nanny answering a question that I had about a tax form. I asked her for her tax i.d. number so I could finish filing out that 1099-misc to give to her this morning (we had previously agreed on this). She emailed me back and said "if you need to take the deduction, and it will help you financially..." WOW! I felt like she was totally belittling me for wanting to get the tax credit for childcare. It's 20%...of course I want the credit!
So, I emailed her back and reminded her of our original agreement. She emailed me back about 10 p.m. and said that she forget, but she wanted to talk to me and my husband about "next year's taxes" so to please give her a call. It's 10 p.m. at this point and I'm supposed to be bring Eva over at 8 a.m. today, so I find it a little weird that she's asking us to call her. I didn't even get her email until this morning.
After talking with my husband about the email, we both just felt uneasy. She's been doing weird things like calling us late on a Friday night to make sure we're still bringing Nug to her, asking us for letters of recommendation even though we've only used her for a few weeks, asking if her husband can watch Nug instead of her one day a week so she can go work for another family. Just weird stuff. And I'd been going along with it this whole time because I thought I was just being a sensitive first time mom.
Well, this morning, I just couldn't take it anymore. I just had a bad feeling about her and the whole situation. My heart was racing, my hands were shaking. I thought to myself "I can't drop my daughter off at this lady's house while I'm feeling like this!" So, the hubs called in sick and we planned to spend the day finding other arrangements for Nug during the day while I have to be at school.
My husband called the nanny this morning to explain to her that we were just feeling uneasy and that we wouldn't be taking Nug to her after all. Now, I understand that we gave her zero notice. But, what happened next I did not expect. To make a long story short, she got very nasty with us, making false accusations, demanding severance pay, telling us how she was "doing us a favor" by watching our daughter, and just being demeaning. It was horrible. My husband kept trying to explain to her that it was not a personal attack, but our daughter is our utmost priority and we have to trust our gut feeling when it comes to her well-being.
After hanging up, we felt so much better. We didn't enjoy the verbal attack, but we both knew we made the right decision. Then, the emails started pouring in. She was continuing her rant over email. Unbelievable. She just continued to confirm our suspicions that she is a crazy person! Now, I can't believe I took my daughter there in the first place :(
So, after much consideration today, we found a great child care facility down the street from our home. It's actually part of a retirement community (or nursing home, I suppose) which I think it awesome. They incorporate the children into some activities with the residents. It's a win-win for the children and for the residents. We got such a wonderful, warm feeling with the staff members and the facility and I think Nug will really enjoy it there (although I'd like to believe her favorite place to be is with her mama!).
Moral of the story: trust your gut! I wish I'd listened to my instincts earlier and avoided this whole mess. When it comes to being a mom, no one knows more about your child than you. You might not always be right, but it's your baby, and you have to be confident in your decision.
Like I mentioned before, we returned home from a trip to the east coast last week. Luckily, flying with an 8-month-old was pretty uneventful. She did great on the plane. No ear popping issues to be "heard" of. It was rather pleasent, actually, which was a great relief since getting to the east coast was a nightmare. Some of our travel highlights that day include seven hours in the airport before even leaving, an overtired baby, running out of diapers, Nug crawling around on the nasty airport floor and the airline loosing my car seat. With that said, I was so thankful that coming home was a breeze.
We made it to Seattle with no problems. Flights were on time, baby was happy, mama was happy. Then, my heart was broken. While waiting for our baggage, and juggling a baby, diaper bag, purse, and camera bag something terrible happened. I dropped my camera bag. Ahh! I was too scared to open and see if anything broke, so I just picked it up and put it back on my shoulder. Then, I actually kind of forgot about it.
The next day, when I went to get my memory card to upload pictures from our trip, I noticed that the lens cover was sort of crooked. Then it dawned on me that I had dropped it the night before and I thought that was the extent of the damage. Oh no! I took the lens cap of to find a shattered lens. (Insert gasp here!). It quickly became a sad, sad day. No camera = no pictures of Nug, no pictures to upload to my blog. Crap.
I started checking online for replacement lens' and since I've never bought one before (my camera is only one year old), I didn't really know exactly how much they were. The cheapest I found one for is $166! Now I'm realizing that actually might be a steal, but it's still hard to cough up that kind of dough. So, I'm currently without a lens until I either a) stop being cheap or b) o.k. I guess a is the only option. Double crap.
My beautiful plan of becoming a more regular blogger this week is shattered by life. I will continue to post, not sure about what yet, but I will. And hopefully soon I'll have a new lens so I can take pictures. Maybe in the meanwhile I'll do some research on taking better pictures, because I kind of suck.
