Here I am again

Dammit, if I could just make up my friggin' mind. Well, as I just posted over here, I figured out what my problem with Blogger was and I'm still not tellin'! But it's so much easier to blog and add crap to my page, etc. on Blogger. I think I'll just start where I left off thankyouverymuch. So hopefully I can fill this electronic page with enough witticism and humorous banter to keep it lively.

On with the recent news...

Meghan had her first band concert last night. It was fun and Conner even liked it. He liked the drums best, I think. Not too many squeaks and squawks so that was a bonus. Here's a couple pics:

playin' a happy tune

Meghan (in peach) yakkin'. What's new?

Conner and Daddy, being good boys

Broken bones and training bras

Ok. Well, we've had an interesting coupla weeks around here. Well not that interesting but I thought that sounded like a good opener. First off two Saturdays ago my dear husband broke his foot. So, we spent nearly the whole afternoon in the waiting room of the emergency room. Okay, okay, it was only like 2-3 hours but it sure felt like all day. Come to find out he has what they call a Dancer's Fracture because it is very common amongst dancers and athletes. Apparently, his wasn't too bad so they stuck this ugly little bootie thing on his foot and sent him along his way with instructions to see a Orthopedic surgeon on Monday. Yeah. No temporary cast, no wrapping of an Ace bandage, nothin', nada. And then we find out our crappy insurance won't pay for any of this so we'll have an inflated hospital bill of probably $1200-$1500 with only an ugly little bootie thing to show for it. After a lot of internet research about his foot, Gene pretty much said "F@%k going to a doctor!" and we went to a medical supply place and got him one of those walking boot/cast things that he can take off and on and it is working. It is the same thing the doctor would have put on him anyway. Thank heaven for the 'Net. It only cost $85. I'm sure the doctor would have charged triple that or given him the fancy neumatic one that was $600! Good Lord!

I bet you're wondering about the whole training bra bit. Yeah... well, me too! My sweet little girl turned 9 this summer and with that she's starting to blossom a little bit. She is of the plump persuasion anyway so I thought it would be fun to get her a few of the little training bras that are basically a cropped tank top, you know? She wasn't too sure about them at first and wore them a few times during the end of the summer. She's used to them now and wears one everyday. Okay, that's all fine and good, right? She came home last weekend from spending the night at her Granny's (who lives in town) and apparently she failed to pack a bra or something because when she came home she wasn't wearing one. And the scary fact was I could tell!!! ALRIGHT! I WANT TO KNOW WHO IN HELL TOOK MY BABY GIRL AWAY FORM ME AND TURNED HER INTO A MINI-WOMAN!!! Is it my fault for getting those friggin' baby bras? Did they make her breast GROW? I just want to sit down and cry. I found our video camera awhile ago and finally got it working. We haven't used in forever because Meghan dropped and it made a loud whirring noise whenever we used it. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.... I played some of the tapes and there was my little sweetpea opening her birthday presents from when she turned 2. And Christmas at 2 1/2, singing her ABC's outside in the backyard when she was not yet 3, and a preschool performance. Oh I just cried and cried. I'm crying now just thinking of it! I wish I could rewind time like I did those tapes. I miss her like that so much but I do love the "'tween" she is now and the young woman she is becoming and further more the woman I think she'll be.

I do have a little crafty update. More swappage...Imagine that! I got my handbag in from my Handbag swap partner. Julie was moving at the time of the swap so she e-mailed me and told me it would be late. That was cool of her. It is handknit and felted. Really lovely, but I can't use it as a purse dammit! The way it is constructed it hangs open and all my crap falls out so this fall when I start crocheting and knitting again I'll use it for my projects. I sent off my Flat Stanley for that swap yesterday. He is going to Washington. I can't wait to get mine. I've already got plans for him. Muwhahaahaaaa!

I sent my Letter for me #3 buddy an ATC. Actually, my very first! When she wrote back to me she told me what they were in the first place! Miss Annie you have inspired me.
What else, what else.....I can't think of anything. I do have several more swaps coming up this month so more on those later.

It's almost 9 a.m. and Conner is still in bed so I better go get him up. The lazy bum! Thinks just because he's not even 2 yet he can sleep as long as he wants. ;) Gene says he's about ready to start mowing the lawn. hehehe (he is joking, trust me!)

Have a beautiful day!

sorry no pictures again. I fully intended to have some but for some reason they won't load. I'll try again later!

Swap!!!

Swap mosaic
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett.

Whew! I have seriously needed to update this sucker for awhile! Sorry everyone.

Anyway, as you can see I've had some swap action going on! I think I've said before that I'm hooked and having fun with it! In the photo starting at the top left-hand corner is a letter from Annie in NY. I sent her a letter for the "A letter for me #3" swap and she wrote me back! How wonderful. She is very into Artist Trading Cards (and very good at it) so I asked her to tell me about them 'cause I know very little about them. I didn't even know they exsisted till I joined Swap-bot. Anyway, she sent me a lovely, funny, awesome letter in return and even sent me some of her very own ATC's! Gah! How friggin' cool is she, anyway!?! The next is some beautiful ribbon from Natalie (one of them is not in the photo). She sent along some D-rings to make a couple of belts which was so thoughtful! Ribbon is awesome, BTW. It's the good stuff! and moving on...stickers from Ella. Very cute! I love the little fishy. He's made of foam so he's poofy. I love the poof... She also sent me way more than the required amount which is totally cool. I try to do that in all my swaps 'cause I like to make people smile and extra goodies always make me smile! =D Also, surprises ROCK! Next, at the beginning of the next row is more ribbon swappage. It's from Mari in Finland. Again, some really awesome stuff...some even vintage. *!* (whispers)i love vintage....There was vintage buttons and a little wooden gamepiece. The envelope she made by folding what looks like a very thick magazine page and taping it. I love it! Must try it... the little note card is handmade too and very pretty! The card from Lesly was from my very first swap "A letter for me #2" (I missed #1). The card is so cute and a very nice letter indeed! The last picture is actually what I'm sending my buddy for the "Fall Fabric & Trim Swap". Unfortunatly, I am missing a few pictures. =( I received an awesome package of stickers from Sasha and I can't find it as I'm reorganizing my sewing stuff. She sent an envelope chock full of scrapbookin' stickers and others, too. So sweet! Remember, I love me some surprises! And the other two are letters from "A letter for me #3 & #4" swaps. They're in my craft stuff, I promise. Both letters were amazing! Both ladies were so friendly it gives me hope for the world! Thank you, Natalie B. and Jennifer!
Have a good day everyone!

Last minute everything!

Well we seem to be doing everything in the last minutes before school starts. We were gone over the weekend to do some school shopping and stayed at my mom and dad's since they are close to Wichita. Meghan is staying there for the week and we will be going back there on Wednesday. We have a "thing" to go to Thurs. and Fri. Gene was eligible for "Admiral's Club" with his job. This basically means he sold enough life insurance during a previous period and is being acknowledged by getting to go to this special meeting. It's actually pretty cool. I'm going with him and on Thursday night we are having a Murder Mystery Dinner and everyone has a "part". Gene is Louis Armstrong and I'm Karen Carpenter. We are going to have fun with it though. They said for us to go all out for it and Gene is borrowing a trumpet from a buddy and I am working on a costume. I just need some bell bottoms or something as I have a top that should work. It'll be a stretch 'cause Karen was really small and petite and well, I'm so very not! Anyhoo, it should be fun.

I got a lovely letter from my "A letter for me #3" swap partner yesterday. Miz Natalie is from the U.K. which was so cool to me and it seems as though we have quite a bit in common. So, I promptly wrote her a 5 or 6 page letter and got it to the post office today. It only cost 85 cents! Cool! I'm having too much fun with these swaps, I tell ya. I went to Craftster and had a look at their swaps and it just looks too complicated! Too many rules although, I understand the reasoning! I really must get going though. I have lots of laundry to catch up on before we leave again! I'll be staying at my Mom's for a few days after we get done with the meetings since my sister and her kids will be there too! Wow! 5 kids under one roof? Eeeek!

Later ya'll!

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!!!