Thanksgiving Memories

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving with family and friends, and stuffed themselves full of glee.  Luckily we were invited by friends to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast with Family.  I was quite depressed that morning, thinking about my husband throughout the entire day. He is usually the one who prepares the turkey and the stuffing, and not hearing him stress out over the time was completely strange to me. However, I enjoyed the fact that my thoughts were broken up by kids and conversation during the afternoon.  We had a beautiful time, and the food was delicious, and I did not even have to cook.

I decided to dress Olivia in a dress I made last year, and she never got to wear, because she fell asleep right before the turkey came out of the oven.  It was so perfect, and although it is alot shorter then most of her purchased dresses, I liked it alot.

Normally, I spend Thanksgiving Day sewing, and I must say I missed that this year alot.  I really have an itch to sit down and sew.  There is so much going on in my house at the moment, that I rarely find the time to do anything for myself.  I know that I will make the time to sew up a few things for Olivia.  She desperately needs some new clothes, and Nicolas needs a pajama for his December Polar Express Field Trip.  I managed to find some "I Believe" flannel at JA's, and that will be cute.

So, I wanted to end today's blog entry by saying how thankful I am for my family, my husband, my friends and the unbelievable fortunate life I currently enjoy.  I imagine I am not the only one who feels that way today.

Mother and Son

Today, I was presented with the perfect opportunity to spend a day with my son.  After dropping Olivia off at daycare, I tried to drop off Nicolas to get some Xmas shopping done, however the daycare wanted another $50 for registration fees, which went against everything I stood for.  I mean if you pay a registration fee once, why pay it again a year later right.  It is just another way of squeezing money out of the customer for no apparent reason.  Seriously, all of his paperwork is still the same, and nobody needs to reregister him.  So I asked him whether he wanted to stay at the daycare and go on the fieldtrip, or go shopping with mommy, and he jumped at the chance to say mommy!  So together we went on an excursion to the mall, and went from computer store to computer store, with little detours to candy shops and so forth and had a grand old time together.  I have always loved to shop with Nicolas.  He rarely acts up, and listens very well, unlike my little girl.  We talked, and kissed, and hugged and I felt no guilt that Olivia was not there to experience our fun outing.  We had alot of fun together, and five hours later, we decided it was time to go home and pick up Olivia.

My decision on buying an IMac has been thought over, and I decided that I am going to go with a PC.  The PC will cost me about $1200 less then the Mac, and I just cannot convince myself - nor could anyone else - that the Mac would be a better computer.  Although, the thought of buying an Imac really got me excited, my wallet has decided for me.  I am going to hold off on my purchase as long as I can until I see some sales.  Hopefully that will happen sooner then later.

Sluggish...........

Have you ever woken up and felt like you were moving along like a slug?  Slowly creeping out of bed, but not exactly thinking clearly.  Getting nowhere fast.  Well, that is pretty much my feeling for today.  I woke up late, got out of bed late, and stayed in my pajamas way too long.

It started a few weeks ago, when my computer gave me problems.  I recently purchased Photoshop for the computer, and combined with the amount of pictures I have been taking, the computer has slowed down so much that I finally reached the maximium output of this thing.  So, in every free moment I had, I did my research.  Is the program that has caused all this mess?  Is it my pictures?  I moved them all over to an external hard-drive.  Well, I will just upgrade.  If I need more memory and a bigger hard drive then I will buy them.  HA.  No go.  My motherboard/processor cannot handle all this new fangled stuff, so now I am looking at purchasing a new computer.  I have a computer friend, so I called him.  He spends all day repairing PC's, and his recommendation - buy a Mac.  Great.  I did not need to hear this, even though I had already checked out their site.  I know that with all the images I process - both embroidery and camera images that it was inevitable that when I ask what I should buy, everyone would recommend the same thing. 

My brain needs time to take all this in, and process this.  Do I really want a 1500 dollar gift for Christmas?Is it a good investment?  I could not get my mind off of this important decision, when it suddenly occurred to me that my husbands old store carried Imacs.  He was just given a 20percent gift certificate for his 20 years in the service, so that could give me a $300 savings plus no tax.  That makes everything a little better.   But only a little.

Inspiration

Christmas Feliz, originally uploaded by iveyc95.

How cute. Love it.

Autumn Trail

After experiencing such a dreadful day with the kids on Tuesday, I attempted to make them happy on Wednesday.  We decided to take a hike (2 miles to be exact), and we experienced the wonderment of Fall.  For the first time this year, we saw the wonderful greens mixed with the yellows and oranges.  The kids had a great time, and I got to take some beautiful pictures.  After two hours of fun, we turned around and went home, and for the first time in a long time the kids were ready to go to bed an hour early.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments, being a mom is not easy, and going at it alone is even tougher, but without friends it would not be possible.

Christmas Crafting

I have always told myself that I would never get trendy and switch up my Christmas Ornaments every year, but both this year and last year I have wanted to change the tree from red and gold to white and gold and silver.  This year I fell in love with the Good Housekeeping spread of Green Christmas.  I just love the natural look of all that greenery around the house.  And oh the smells of a beautiful natural wreath is oh so sweet.  I think I have to hit Hobby Lobby tomorrow, or maybe Walmart.  I may have to buy some new bulbs.  Nicolas is in love with the star.

On top of that I also found some cute craft ideas to do with the kids, and I was really excited by the blog Girls in the Garden when she posted a link to the Christmas ball wreath.

Found this on Martha Stewarts site right here.

Lori posted a link to this site.

Other then that, life around our house was sort of boring today.  I  tried to get the house clean, but instead I did laundry almost all day.  I managed to accomplish alot of small things, but the general look of the house is still quite dirty.  Hopefully, we (and yes I mean the kids too) will be able to finish up the cleaning and head outdoors tomorrow.  Looking at my calendar today, I realized the first of advent was next Sunday.  OMG, I have alot to do, and so much to prepare for.  I always get excited about doing so much, until the holidays are here, and I am exhausted.  Hopefully my planning ahead will help out this year.  I think this year will be different.  Just the thought of him coming home for Christmas, sends an uplifting smile to my lips.   Yes, I am excited, and I have every reason to be.   Shhhhhh.....the kids sitll don't know.

Christmas Preparation

I cannot believe it is already Thanksgiving.  Goodness gracious where is the time going?  I feel so unproductive this year.  Getting ready for Christmas I will have to prepare myself with a list of things to do and start working on my calendar.  Even though it does not always help, it gives me a sense of less anxiety, when I can look at my list and mark off a few things that have already been accomplilshed.   Anyone have any great advice?

Here is my advice for a great Christmas.
Six years ago, I decided it was time to keep a Christmas Journal.  It is split into four sections:
Decorations
Cookies
Gifts
Sewing
I update it each year with new pictures and recipes.  I like to take pictures of my decorations, so that when I pull the 20 boxes down from the attic, I am not overwhelmed.  I also do not like looking for recipes each year.  I have a few that I use every year, such as Martha Stewart's Turkey (absolutely fabulous), my mother's red cabbage recipe, and my Thumbprints, which seem to be the favorite cookie with friends and family. I always try a few new recipes, and if we love them they go into the journal.   

I also jot down what I need to buy for next year, such as lights or new ornaments.  I love to look at the Christmas decorations, and I buy something new each year.  However, I found that in the past I was buying things I did not really need, so I keep notes now.

Of course, it would not be my journal without notes about what I sew in the past, and what needs to be sewn this year.  Sometimes I think of great ideas for Christmas dresses, and I know exactly where to keep my notes.

It is great to keep a Christmas journal.  It is such a hectic time of year, and every mom wants things to go smoothly, so the more organized you stay, the easier it will be.  I wonder if someone else does something similiar.

Fix It Friday - wk 37

Before

After

Our newest challenge this week.  I love to edit these pictures because I am trying to improve the look of most of the pictures I take of the kids.  This is a great way to practice.

1. Adjustments in Lightroom.
The exposure was great.  Recovery: 48
Clarity:38
Vibrance: 19

2. To correct the face, I used the adjustment brush in Lightroom and increased the brightness.

3. Also corrected the Luminance
Red: 17
Orange: 9
Yellow: 19
Green: 17

4. In photoshop, I ran Jodi's MCP Action Fingerpaint to give the leaves a bit more pop.

5. I also ran MCP Skin actions to smooth out her blotchiness in the face, and changed the opacity to 31%.

6. I ran an unsharp mask and then created a duplicate layer with mask to brighten the eyes.

SOOOOoooooooo slllllllow.........

I have been having some computer problems, so I will try and catch up tomorrow with the blog.

Among Toddlers

Ever get the feeling when you hang out with children, especially toddlers long enough, you start acting like them? An occasional temper tantrum, a little bit of whining, and a grumpy attitude when you feel that you are just not being treated fairly.  Is it because I rarely have another adult to talk to lately?  Or is it because my blood pressure rises with each incident, and that I am just too old to be mother of the year? Or is it because my hormones are at an unusual level, and I cannot compete with the rise in adrenalin levels in my body? Or am I completely normal to just "lose it" every once and awhile (lately once a week)?  I am sure most women would say "Thats normal!"  Nevertheless, I hate myself for raising my voice so loud that I lose my voice at the end of my speech, and/or making the kids cry.

I was incredibly happy to see the kids today, and maybe that was what led me to the fury I felt in the evening.  I finished my last Christmas order for Kinder Kouture, and all I could think about was grabbing the kids and relaxing with them.  Yes, I had time to go to Target, and no I did not have to "work".  I could not wait to just play with the kids.   I worked all morning, with only that goal in mind, knowing that I there were so many things I wanted to do with the both of them before Christmas.

Nicolas got off the bus, and stomped into the house, pointing his finger at me very angry.  Probably another bad example I have set - well noted.  "Mom" he said "I got in trouble today because of you not making me lunch this morning."  "Because of you I had to sit next to ????? and she and I talked too much, and I got two yellows today."  A little frustrated at his tone of voice, and his lack of responsibility, I tried to think about what I was going to say to him.  "First of all" I said "You did not get into trouble, because mom did not make you lunch, you got into trouble because you were not following the rules, which are that you must whisper and eat your lunch."  "Second of all," I said, "You don't talk to an adult, least of all your mother, in that tone of voice."  Later on I explained to him that it is not fair nor nice to blame someone else for your own mistakes.   Getting a school lunch, forces him to sit next to people who often get in trouble, which is something we can avoid, but it is not why he got into trouble.

We picked up Olivia, and as always I let Nicolas stay in the car, while I sign the little one out of school.  The parking lot is usually empty when I come to get her, and I always take a second key and lock him in the car.    He likes to watch the DVD player, and he knows that he is not allowed to get out of his car seat.  However, this time my six-year old decided to climb through the window and run around the parking lot.  As I was leaving the building, I noticed how frantic the office gals were, only to find out that it was my son causing all the confusion.  Needless to say, I was livid when I reached the car.  Lately, he has been doing crazy things like that.  More worried about someone calling the police then anything else, I obviously cannot trust him, and will no longer leave him in the car.

So off we went to Target to just grab some bread and cereal, but before we even got through the door, the two of them were fighting like cats and dogs about who gets to sit where.  I took them both out of the cart, parked it and walked out of the store, because my cupeth runneth over.  I told Nicolas that he was not going to the awards ceremony tonight, and he was to stay in his room. 

The cherry on top of it all came when Nicolas left his markers on his desk, and once again Olivia had a grand ol time writing all over her new pink carpet that I just bought.  This time both of them were put in time-out.  One for not cleaning up his toys, and the other for using a magic marker.   I screamed so loud at the both of them, that I actually lost my voice.  After about a half hour, I was calm again, and I explained to Olivia that she would not like it if someone cut off Ducky's head, nor do I like it when someone ruins my things.  Taking a pair of scissors and acting like I was going to cut the Ducks feet off, seemed to get my point across.  Maybe this time she will learn  the lesson, even though I doubt it. 

I guess I need to go to Daycare tomorrow, and see what it is like to be told how to act.  I was not the perfect example of a mother, and I could feel my blood pressure rising to a point, that I just sat down and took a break behind closed doors.  This is when I miss my dh the most, because he would save me from a creating a severe wreck.   This is when I need to yell at someone, and he would be my likely target, taking it all lightly, and then giving me a hug when I most need it.  I wish I had more patience. I wish I could just shrug and be done with it after talking to the kids in a gentle tone of voice.  Nope that is not me.  Oh well, can I blame it on something else?  Don't need the guilt trip that will come after putting them to bed without reading books or singing songs. 

Maybe later, I will give them a goodnight kiss, when they silently sleep like angels.  Maybe then I will rest too.

Life as a minivan mom..........

Why on earth does this country have to be so big?  A routine stop to the grocery store takes two hours.  Americans really do like everything big don't they?  Big Screen Tv's, Big Cars, Big Grocery Stores, Eight Lane Highways, and Bigger Portions to eat.  I like small.  I like quaint.  I like good.  It just reminds me that wherever I retire, has to be calm, small, and beautiful.  I want to walk to a bakery, or a butcher (do we have any left in this country?)  No wonder I have become such a great internet shopper.  LOL.  That really is not such a good thing, believe me.  I am just tired of spending half of life in a car, even though our Henrietta is a fantastic car.l

I spent another day with the kids on the road.  (No wonder why the inside of my car looks like it does every week.)  I left with Nicolas right after he got off the bus. Picked up Olivia, and drove to our Doctors office.  Yes, the day had come, where I needed to get them vaccinated against this horrible H1N1 virus.  I dreaded it all day.  Could not concentrate on anything.  I knew I could easily fool Olivia, but Nicolas was another story.  Thank goodness, they all know me at the office, and helped me seperate the kids.  It was over quickly, and neither one of them cried.  All that worrying for nothing.  The wait was agonizing for me, and yet I am still worried about the consequences of them getting these shots.  It was the right decision, but Olivia is so fragile when it comes to her health.  I still worry.

We left after an hour of waiting, and I stopped in JA's to pick up some zippers.  Having a hard time finding red zippers lately.  You would think they would double up on their stock during this time of year.  Grabbed everything they had, and took the kids out to eat.  This is the fourth night in less then a week, we have eaten junk food.  Even though, their meals did include fruit cups tonight.  I am hating this fast lane life lately.  We made it home just before 7pm, exhausted, whiny and grumpy.  My goodness, I was driving.  I should have been the one grumpy and tired.  Olivia is such a drama queen pretending her whole body was pricked with a needle, she could not walk down the hallway.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said she had a booboo pointing to her right arm.  They stuck the needle in the left arm, so I knew she was faking it.  When I told her there was nothing there, she pointed to her hand, and the game went on and on, until I got her to laugh.  Mommyhood at its finest. 

I am exhausted.  So as usual, after cleaning up the mess we brought in from the car, I sat down and began to blog, hoping that tomorrow I will finally get alot of sewing done.  My TODO List grows each hour, and as it stands right now, I will get very little done again. 

However, my blogging certain sites was fun tonight.  There is a site I am dying to share.  It is called Jasmine Star Photography Blog.  This girl is amazing.  She photographs all kinds of things, but most importantly she knows design.  I mean she photographs brides that are wearing Carolina Herrera wedding gowns, and the shoes are just to die for.  I would love to post a picture, but she specifically asks that we don't steal her pictures, so you will just have to go see for yourself.  I swear her and Heidi Klum are probably best friends. Look at this wedding gown and those Kate Spade Shoes, and if you have any love whatsoever for interior design, you will just love the pictures.  She really makes you feel like you know the groom and bride.  You can feel what they are feeling.  Her blog is a beautiful story, one picture after another.

Wow, it has gotten cold here at night.  Time to bundle up and go to bed and read a nice blog.  Good Night.

 

Autumn Beauty

Autumn Beauty is the theme for this week's I Love Faces Photo Challenge.  I decided to post this picture, since posting beautiful Fall landscape or leaves is completely out of the question here in Florida.  When Olivia grabbed the scarecrow that sat guarding our front door, and hugged him, I thought it was a great "picture" moment.

Hanna Anderson Inspiration

One of the biggest obstacles I faced with sewing this year for my own family, is that although I get such enjoyment sewing beautiful clothing, there has been very little opportunity to wear the nice clothes.  I guess I am slightly to blame.  If I would visit the mall with both children more often, I could dress the kids up.  However, my kids live in jeans, t-shirts and knit clothing.  Olivia had a closet full of beautiful clothing this summer, and I thank god we went to California for two months, because I had ample opportunities to get her dressed there.  In Florida, the opposite was true.  Flip-flops is the name of the game here.

I know that as a mom, now is my time to dress her as I want.  One day - and that day will come - I will have little to say in what my little Ms. Muffet will wear.   So, I am always on the lookout for "PP" clothing - Practical and Pretty.  One of my favorite sources for kids clothing is Hanna Anderson.  I love knits, and their clothing is so soft and so perfect.  

It's that time of year again!

 Olivia wearing her Oliver & S Blouse and Ottobre Jeans.

The house was clean, the beds were made, and I even managed to vacuum the house all before 8am yesterday morning.  I was ready to go.  After I dropped Olivia off, and my newly upholstered dining room chairs arrived, I was going to start my next sewing project.  So I thought.

Remembering that I needed to wash Nicolas' uniform for Soccer I threw a load of laundry in, and scurried to get Olivia dressed.  The machine was making a ton of noise, and then a everything got quiet.  My machine was dead.  I knew it was coming.  It was 11 years old, and it was just a matter of time.  I am a tad bit happy that I have a reason to buy a new one, but the entire research process, and shopping process does not excite me at all.  I drove around all day, picked up the kids, and drove again looking for the best deal, listening to all the salespeople, and finally at 8pm last night bought a Maytag at Lowes with a 20% discount.  The new machine is being delivered today.  Yippee!!!  I cannot wait to do laundry.   Never heard me say that before, huh?

You know my first thought yesterday, was that I am having a bad luck streak, and something else is bound to happen.  All I could think about was please don't let it be Henrietta, our car.  I would die.  Too many expensive repairs would just kill me so close to Christmas time.  With my luck it should not surprise me, but thank goodness, my toaster decided to go on the brink this morning.  I guess that $7 Walmart toaster, that lasted me four years, was my third strike.  I can handle that.

Inspiration

cupcake jacket reverse, originally uploaded by sweeterthancupcakes.

This is toooooooooooooooooo cute!

Fix it Friday

ORIGINAL

AFTER

Most of the editing was done in Camera Raw/Bridge CS4.  After taking an online class about Camera Raw, I put almost all the lessons learned to use.  I adjusted the White Balance with the eyedropper, adjusted exposure, blacks, and clarity to give the face more softness.  In PS I used Magic Skin Action to cover some of the uneven skin tones, and then sharpened.  I thought the eyes were gorgeous, so I did not use Eye Doctor.   All the fun can be seen right here

.

Inspiration

WOW! WOW! WOW! This was posted on
Little Buttercups Blog.  It gives the links to a fabulous shop called Aunt Ollie's that you should really check out.  Love, Love, Love this jacket, and I have some of this fabric.Great design, and she looks so fashionable.

I have enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful day.  I took my time taking Olivia into daycare, and then stopped at Starbucks for my Chai Latte, and strolled through Target.  I literally went isle to isle sipping on my tea.  How nice.  No kids, no whining and no crying.  I have not done that in ages.  I needed to pick up a new mouse for the computer, so why not enjoy the trip.  Afterwards, I came home and cleaned the house.   Yes again.  Having the kids home for two days........well......let's just say ..........is like a Hurricane coming through the house.   But, I managed to get alot of things done, so that tomorrow I concentrate on some sewing and my paperwork.   Ironing is also
on my list of to-do's.

Here are some recent finds from Janie and Jack that I find really nice.  I wish I had a store close by, but I am not so lucky.

 

Inspiration

Christmas dress, originally uploaded by sweeterthancupcakes.

There are two reasons I am blogging this dress.
1. The pattern is adorable.
2. I love this fabric, and have a ton of it. I just can never figure out what to do with it.

Reboot = Revamp

Who would have ever thought that my computer crashing would lead to a totally new sewing room makeover.  Well, the furniture is not new, but my newly organized desk space is.  In short, my computer was crashing on me daily - dumping physical memory several times a day.  I finally called my computer guy - and yes everyone should have one - and he told me that my hard drive is having problems.  Cause: overheating or age.  We came to the conclusion that it is probably overheating.  So I had to move it, and back it up, and now test run it for several days to see if the problem is resolved.  

Read more »

Inspiration

IMG_7878, originally uploaded by mcholley1.

What an adorable adaptation of this cute Oliver & S pattern.

Love the color and the ric-rac.

Very cute and worth posting.