Swap-Bot goodies

Swap-Bot goodies
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

Well, here is the package I'm sending my Swap-Bot partner! I hope she likes it. I'm really pleased how it turned out and I'm thinkin' I need to make a similar one for me!

My partner is in Brazil, by the way... How cool is that. Until I see how much the shipping will be. I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

This is just a quickie post, I have to go get supper started: Fried Catfish and mac-and-cheese. Maybe some redbeans and rice...? YUMMY!!!

Swapbot Mania

Well, I have (finally) discovered the wonders of Swapbot! A few weeks ago I was invited by a flickr buddy to join the Handbag Swap. I have never been involved in a swap and was so excited to be invited! I had seen on many a blog where people were getting all this fabulous mail and it completely eluded me as to how all this was happening! Well, I've found it and it is sooo addictive. I've already signed up for two others! I even received my first swap item today. I signed up for the "A Letter for Me" swap and I got my letter today! It's from a lovely lady, Lesly. How exciting is all this!? How fun... I must be a bit cautious though because I can see myself signing up for several of these and not having anytime to, like, take care of my kids and house and stuff. hehehe I'm currently working on my handbag for my swap and waiting to hear who my partner is for the Ribbon Swap. (!) You should definitely try it.

Coastin'

Coastin'
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

where does the time go (and stinkin' Ebay sellers)

(Warning: liberal dosing of profanity towards end, sorry)
Whew! I cannot believe this summer is nearly over. In saying that I don't mean the temperature, by any means! It's supposed to be 107 degrees today! Eeegads...
What I'm meaning is Meghan will be back in school soon and I'll be able to get back on some sort of schedule again. wahoo! It's hard to believe she just turned 9 and will be in the 4th grade! Ahh....that means I'm gettin older, too.

We had a really nice trip to my brother's for the 4th of July holiday. It was not nearly long enough. We had so much fun at Worlds of Fun and plan to go again. In talking to my S-I-L, she'd like it to maybe become a yearly thing to do something for the holiday. Which is cool with me. I had a good talk with my brother, too. Everytime family gets together we are all so rushed and never really get to talk. That was really nice. We didn't get to do everything we wanted but it was nice to get away form this town!

Oh, and Conner got ahold of one of their china teacups and broke it. Eek! I think it was her grandma's china. God, I felt like shit! But I found one on replacements.com. I got it last week and it was the wrong one so I had to send it back. I should be gettin the correct one soon. I also found some of the china on Ebay. I got a really good price on a set of sooup bowls, sugar and creamer, gravy boat, and oval veggie bowl. When I got it I opened it up and heard the horrid clanking sound of broken china. Oh I was pissed! The veggie bowl, creamer handle and one soup bowl was broken! I could have just strangled that lady! She did the shittiest packing job I have ever seen!!! I was just sick! She refunded part of the money to me but I still feel like I got ripped. In the auction she even said the packing was a little higher priced so she could pack it extra good. Fuck that! Fucking bitch! GGGrrgrgrggrrr! Okay, I'm making myself angry again. Must. calm. down. (inhale, exhale) Anyway, it just really made me mad because the reason I friggin' bid on her stupid aucion was because it had those serving pieces! FUUUCKKK!!! Uh... sorry about the sprinkling of "F" words. I can't help it. It feels very cleansing though. To a small degree. I hate to leave negative feedback and I never have but, I dunno, this may warrant it. What would you all do?

I really have to go now and friggin' blogger is not letting me post any pictures....AGAIN! What am I doing wrong! I swear I'm thinking of switching to typepad! Maybe after school starts and I'll actually have time to blog!

Later ya'll

I Gots mine!

Whoo Hoo! I got my wee wonderfully pattern in the mail today. Apparently I am one of the lucky ones as she sold out in like a few hours or something. The pattern looks really simple and I cannot wait to get started making one. I really must go now though. We are going on a mini vacation to my brother's this weekend and I wanted to get everything straightened and caught up before we go so we come back to a nice clean house with no laundry other than what we bring with us. I'm really excited. I wish we could have a longer time to visit and see the sites (and shop) but I don't want to over stay our welcome and plus there's this thing called work that the hubby has to come home for.

wardrobe remix 6-22-2006

wardrobe remix 6-22-2006
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

Well, I joined the wardrobe remix group on flickr the other day. I just love looking at how everyone puts stuff together. I also see that I need a major overhaul

brain farts

ever have one of those days when everything you you do makes you think "oh crap, why did I do that?!" yesteray was like that for me. Now, generally I believe myself to be of above-average intelligence and quite clever and witty. It was a smack-the-forehead day for li'l ol' me yesterday.... It all started when I was packing up some goodies for my dear sister and her daughter when I got the idea that I needed to send her boys something, too. I mean you just can't do that to little kids. The gift I'm sending my neice was actually for her birthday that was over a month ago... uh, yes! I'm a horrible procratinator but that's a different story. Anyhoo, I thought some little tote bags would be cool for them. They could put all their goodies in 'em and maybe use them for library trips. So I got to work on those. I had just bought some transfer paper the other day and thought "hey, wouldn't it be cool to put their names on them!" Okay, so things are going pretty good so far, right? Well, I hopped on over to the computer and spent all this time finding cool fonts and colors to go with the bag colors.... I printed them out on the iron transfer paper and let 'em dry. As I was getting ready to iron on the first one I thought maybe I should do a test run first. Good thing 'cause my dumb ass forgot to reverse the print. Duh. Then I reprinted the names and was happily ironing the first one to it's respective bag. The bag is dark denim so I printed my eldest nephew's name in light yellow, thinking it would show up, right? Wrong. It was translucent yellow and so it doesn't even friggin' show up! Um, the package DID say to only use it on light fabrics.... but ya know I'm just soooo smart that I thought of a way to get around it. Duh #2. Okay so finally, I lifted everything up and I had been ironing on my work table with the required pillowcase under the fabric. And what did I find you ask? I f@#*ing melted my cutting mat! Of course on the back it says keep away from heat and cold. super duh #3. For crissakes what is the matter with me?!? Here's the finished product:

I'm just going to make a patch and put over the boo boo.

Oh that's alright just laugh.... =P

what was I thinking...

what was I thinking...
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

or maybe I wasn't thinking... I don't know. I dyed my hair today which is something I've never done before. I'm a natural redhead but this is RED! You know I really like it to be honest. I had one of those "oh crap" moments when I rinsed all the goo out and looked in the mirror. But after I fixed 'er up it's no so bad. My Mom'll probably die and I know my MIL will not to mention my daughter. My husband might find it intriguing though. Like he'll get to sleep with another woman...we'll see as they will both be hemo in a few minutes!

recycling

recycling
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

In the garage sale stuff I found this pale green dress I had made several years ago. The stripy fabric is some old sheets of ours that I loved. I transformed these into some new jammies for Meghan and I! They turned out really good and were comfy. AND!!! and they fit! I just used Meghan's measurements to make hers. She was asleep 'cause I started hers at like midnight so I had to wait till morning to finish the straps. She loves them by the way! Now she wants more! I need to make Conner some though. We go through his jammies so fast! I think just about every morning that kid is soaked! He just pees and pees at night! I got bigger diapers because I thought the others were too small but he leaks out of these because they are to big! Sheesh!

Well, off I go to sew!

dresses made for 20yr olds should not be worn by 60+ yr olds!

Well, I might be gettin' a little tailoring business today. My M-I-L's neighbor needs to have a dress shortened...by tomorrow!!! Yeah, she's friggin' crazy anyway. Uh... literally. and annoying you know the type. and she always like hums through her nose and she's really nosy. I said I'd have to look at the dress first as I usually require at least a week on stuff like this. She'll be over soon.

Okay, she just left. Um, I'm not sure this woman should be wearing this dress... but hey, it's money in mah pocket! so I will just shut up. I guess I better get started. My house is a mess, too. I need a maid...

summa summa summa tiimme

Remember that song by Will Smith? Well, it's that time again around here. Technically it's still spring but around these parts it's SUMMER!!! Friggin' 100 degree temps. Supposed to be 101 today. Who. pee.

Along with spring comes garage sales! Oh yes I love them. We had one this last Saturday and it wnet really well. We had sooo much stuff. Mostly clothes. I wanted to keep everything from last years so we could have one this year... Not this time. oh no... We just got done donating everything a little while ago. It feels SO good to get all that out of my house! It was spilling out from the attic into just about every room. Our bedroom mostly. Now I get to clean it up and make it resemble a bedroom again instead of an attic! Plus my husband was about to pull the rest of his very minimal hair out! He threatened to pitch it all on several occasions. Whew! It was a nice day too. WINDY but nice. I think the wind helped it from being to terribly hot. We did most of our business before we were technically open, which was fine with me! We didn't make a huge wad of cash because we had everything really cheap to get rid of it. I'm saving it all up for our trip to Kansas City. My brother and his wife have invited us up for the weekend before the 4th. Gonna take Meghan to Worlds of Fun for the first time. I have to say that I'm really excited. My S-I-L was telling me about a really awesome fabris store that she wanted to take me to. I hope we will still have time!

Meghan is starting a Summer Adventure program with the Parks and Rec Dept. Today is the first day and the reason that I actually have time to blog! Whoo hoo! Generally she is standing over my shoulder wanting me to go to the Worlds of Fun website...hence, I have not been able to catch up on reading all the blogs I used to read everyday let alone post anything in my own!!!

I have done some sewing. I've been making some tote bags and I got a few more pottery items added to my etsy shop. I hope they will sell. THAT would be totally awesome! Oh and speaking of pottery... now that we have gotten rid of all our excesses I will be able to get to my pottery wheel and clay! YES! I'm really excited about this.

Well, while Conner is napping and Meghan is off having fun I'm going to have a little fun of my own. TO the sewing room I go. I tried the printing ribbon labels through my printer and want to see how they will hold up to washing. If it works I will be so happy. I haven't tried the iron on transfer yet. So off I go!

G'Day!!!

Some of the worst pain ever...

aside from, maybe, childbirth...watching your baby get shots! Oh yes! Conner had to get two shots yesterday. Poor little man... he hasn't been eating very well all week and then on Wed. he got a high fever and the same on thurs. so in to the Dr. we went! He has strep AND tonsillitis!!! His Dr. said his tonsils were HUGE and she drew us a picture of how huge they are. Poor man... Anyway, we got home and he was in so much pain he just screamed and cried and straightened out his little legs 'cause they hurt! One of those shots seemed large enough for a horse. Who could blame him! I just cried too. I felt so bad for him and there is not much I could do besides hold him (trying not to touch the injection sites!) Oh goodness, it was a mess...but he is much better now and has some meds to take. She gave us all scripts in case we get it too.

On a happier note! My good friend Mary from back in my Texas days called and told me she is preggers! It's been a long bumpy road for her and she sounded happy for the first time in years. Then, I read my new friend Amy's blog and it says she most likely will be having a little girl! Yeah! Babies!!! Let me get rid of another 50 lbs. and I'll be ready for another one, too! Heehee...

On the crafty side, I'm nearly finished with Kati's tote bag. I think she may have had sticker shock when I told her the price of the other bag so I don't know if she'll want this or not. I think $30 is pretty reasonable for a handmade bag though! If she doesn't take it I'll pop it on etsy. I want to try to make a really cool thing I found on Craftster the other day, too. It's a changing pad that holds diapers and and travel wipes. Coolness. Since my diaper pouch thingy I thought I invented is actually patent pending by some other friggin' lady I can't very well market mine. I had drawings and measurements and everything and then I come by that f*@kin' diapeewipee thing...dammit! Oh well.

I can hear Conner up so I better go check on him. Maybe he'll want to eat now that his little throat feels better.

A new 'do

Well, I got a new haircut today and I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's a bit shorter than I wanted and not really what I asked for. I like my hair kinda funkified and I think my hairdresser is just a little too conservative.

I think once I wash it myself and use all my own styling gunk I'll be happy with it.

I finished the tote for Kati's friend last night and took it to her house today. She loved it and was thinking of keeping it for herself. She thinks her freind will like it, too so I'm happy.

The Bird's

I love birds! And now we have a little bird family beginning in front of our house! I've been noticing these birds flying into a spider plant I have hanging right in front of our livingroom window. At first I thought they were just getting stuff for there nest and flying off. Well, the other day I took my plant down (out of curiosity) and, sure enough, they are building their nest right inside my plant! My mom has had this happen a few times but we never have so I'm mighty excited about it! I can't wait till they start laying eggs so we can watch for the babies to hatch. I'm not sure what type of birds these are. The male has a pretty red head and the female is brown and really stripy so I am thinking a type of finch. Purple finch maybe? I dunno but it is cool all the same. Here they are looking at their nest. I try to get pictures of them through the window but every time they see the slightest movement they hurry off. Hopefully they will get used to me looking at them and not run off. It was kind of cute how they were ducking their heads down to check on the nest.

I took this picture just a second ago and noticed they have added some stuffing so their little abode will be plush and cozy. When I looked the other day it was just started and there were a few twigs, a tiny feather, and a bit of an indentation in the soil were they must have scratched the dirt around. CUTE!!! I just love it!

In other, more crafty news, I am working away at the totes. I ran out of interfacing and since I DO NOT shop at that one store I ordered it online from JoAnn's and thankfully they had a 50% day. Whoo hoo! So I just said "what the hey!" and ordered a bolt of the stuff. It got here really quickly and I'm back in action. Here's a li'l sneaky peak:

The End

Well, not of me but, the gift shop that I used to work for is quitting business. They wanted me to work all this week (and then some) but I just couldn't do that. I did work yesterday for the first day of there sale. It was so busy but nice to get out of the house for the day. It was also really sad. They are all good friends and I will miss coming in at Christmas time to do up their window displays (which I have done for the past few years even after I had to leave to work for the hubby). There were all the ladies outside banging on the door to get in and the owners wanted to say a prayer before we opened. We were all crying and I had mascara tears dripping down my face seconds before they opened the doors. Of course I was wearing a white top and had to walk around all day with little grayish teardrops on my shirt. Greeaaaat! I tried the shout wipes to get it out (which usually works on everything) and it only made it worse. Oh well! The downtown area is kind of dying (like most towns) Thanks to that friggin' store that is not to be mentioned. It begins with a W and ends with anti-Christ...you know the one.
Well, I am going to shut up now and put away all the clean dishes my MIL so lovingly washed for me while I was working yesterday. May all the Gods rain down blessings upon her! =)
Later y'all!