I made a skirt!

I am not Martha Stewart. I know, you're all shocked. I like to pretend like I am for some reason, but I'm not. I love to craft. I'm not very good at it, but I really like to do it! Many times, and I mean many times, my crafts are a lot better in my head than they are in real life. My ideas are way better than my skills. Despite my less than stellar results, I just keep on craftin away! As evidenced by the task list I gave myself for Ant's birthday party this weekend. As if making the happy birthday banner, centerpieces, as well as putting the entire party together wasn't enough, I decided I needed to make a batman skirt to wear.

Aside from going old school needle and thread to fix a torn seam here and there, I have never sewn anything in my life. I've never made an article of clothing, until now. Despite my complete lack of skill and experience I decided I could, and should, make this skirt. I have no idea why. I used this tutorial, which made it look so incredibly easy.



All pinned together, ready to be sewn

I went to JoAnnes and got the fabric I needed, got the elastic waist band and got some stitch witchery, to cheat a little on the seam.  Putting the skirt together to prepare for sewing was actually pretty easy. Just cut the fabric to the length you want, use some stitch witchery for the bottom seam, use some for the top (so the fabric is thicker and will stay with the elastic better, put your folds (or ruffles) in the skirt so the fabric fits along the elastic band and pin it all in place. TA-DA! After I got that all done I thought damn, maybe this wont be so hard! That was pretty easy! I was in for a rude awakening.

After I had my brother in law set up the sewing machine for me, (apparently his grandma taught him how to sew) I looked in the manual for a "stretch stitch" the instructions told me which stitch and which setting to use to allow for some stretching in the stitches, it said "for use with elastic" Well perfect! I thought. I was so proud of myself for thinking to look for a stitch that would stretch with the elastic. The problem was, that I somehow messed it up and the stitch does not stretch, at all. I have no idea how I managed to mess it up after just reading how to do it, but considering that was my first ever stitch done on a sewing machine its not all that surprising. Not only is my stitch not stretchy, its also not very straight or clean looking. After sewing the skirt of fabric onto the elastic I decided it was time to sew the side seam. I decided to use a cross stitch so it would be more secure. The problem was, those cross stitches are crazy. Somehow the bottom thread that comes from the bobbin (is that the right spelling for that??) got tangled. I tried to take it out and untangle it but I just made it worse. The more I tried the worse it got. After about an hour of fighting it I gave up. I hand stitched the side seam of the elastic and then stitch witchery'd the side seam of the fabric.

Finished product! Not the cleanest of jobs, but works.

So overall, it works. It's a skirt. As long as I put it on over my head because that not stretchy seam wont fit over my fat butt, I can wear it and still look cute for the party. Just please, don't look closely at it, because up close its not pretty haha.

Cake Bossery and other craftyness

Have you ever watched a show so much that you think you can now do whatever it is you've seen on the show? Like if you watch a marathon of CSI you think you could go out and solve a few crimes? Watch some Deadliest Catch and you think you can go out and crab fish? Well I used to watch a lot of Cake Boss. Don't ask me why, but I did. They make that shiz look easy. Fondant people? No problem. Buttercream roses? Childs play.  I don't know why, but I seem to think that I have magically become a pastry chef via Cake Boss.



This is the cake I will be attempting. Attempting.

This coming up week, I'll put my cake bossery to the test. Anthony's birthday party is next weekend and I have given myself the task of making his cake. Really, in the world of fondant and cake making it's easy. Easy...relatively speaking. You see, no matter how much I've watched Sir Cake Boss work with fondant, I myself have never done it. Looks easy enough, right? Mix it, kneed it, flatten it, lay it out right??? Sure.....

We'll see if next week I post a picture of a pile of fondant on the floor, wet from my tears. The bat signal and city are the least scary parts. Its the laying of the yellow across the cake that scares me the most. I need to spend some time on google, finding some tips, pointers and tricks to try to ease the process. Who knows, maybe i'll do this and find out I have some hidden cake making talent. Yeah, that's totally what's going to happen.



The listing can be found here

Because I have so much time on my hands, I also took on the task of making the "Happy Birthday" banner, the center pieces and cupcakes for those who don't get to enjoy the batcake. I got my inspiration for these from Etsy, so as to not be disrespectful towards this person who is trying to make a living, I'll post the link to the listing with the picture.  My center pieces will be similar, but with no blue. We're doing black, grey, and yellow.  The banner will be pretty much the same colors/theme.

We'll see how it all turns out! It's going to be a lot of time that I don't really have, and a lot of work but I'm excited to try it all out. Stay tuned to see how it goes, my crafts are usually way better in theory than they are in reality so it will be interesting!

Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Hands down. I love Christmas, I love Thanksgiving (really, who doesn't??) But there's just something about Halloween that I LOVE. I love the spooky, creepy, scarys. Its my thing. I was beyond excited when we moved into our new house earlier this month and were told by multiple neightbors that Halloween was a big deal around there. We found out on Halloween...they weren't kidding.

Brandon and I left work at noon and after a quick stop at the dentist (I got to have a root canal on Halloween, lucky me!) we were home getting everything ready for the night! My mom, my sister and her kids came over to join in the festivities. We set up the driveway with some chairs, the fire pit, and a cauldron full of dry ice. My brother in law stayed behind and passed out candy while we took the kids out to trick or treat.

Seriously it's been a dream of mine to live in a neighborhood like that. I enjoyed every second of not having to drive anywhere and of being able to host my family for my favorite holiday. Unfortunately all I took was a few pictures on my phone, but you can see how cute my boys are!

Noah was Hulk baby!

Anthony was a super studly superman!

He decided that Superman needed a mask, I dont know why. He INSISTED.

My trick or treating babies!

Brandon and I were the bad wolf and dead red riding hood. See? Im dead cause the wolf got me....get it???

Red riding hood needs to invest in an iron.

Our set up in the driveway

All that candy and we still ran out. We started handing out Noahs trick or treating candy haha

I can haz punkinz?

I spend far too much time in the humor section of pinterest. Unfortunately for my husband he has to hear me mutter the word "ermahgerd" way too often. I give credit to his genuis mind for this little piece of heaven right here.

 

Pumpkin patch!

In 2010 we made our first trip as a family to the Bates Nut Farm pumpkin patch. When Brandon was a kid he would go with his family every year and we have inherited the tradition. This year was our third year making the trip out there, and even though it is indeed a trip to get there, we always enjoy our time. Its a huge pumpkin patch with "big macs" that you pay per pound or your average sized pumpkin for a set price. There's rides and mazes and a little store where you can buy home made jams and all sorts of goodies. The weather was cool and drizzly, the boys were well behaved, and we got some good pumpkins. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!



My kid is crazy

I was that mom. I made me kids wear matching sweaters

Nono trying to move one of the Big Macs

Look at this stud muffin!

Coolest kids ever

family portrait

The boys runnin in the pumpkin field

look at this cool guy!

 There is a stack of pumpkins, a little picture prop they have out every year. The first year we took a picture with it just because it was there. But we've taken pictures with it every year since. It's kinda cool to look back and see how different your life can be just a year later.

2010 - our first trip out to the pumpkin patch. Ant was almost two and so small and cute and innocent!

2011 - Notice the little tiny newborn Noey here! This year it was super hot and miserable.

 

2012! We made a point to plan our trip around the weather this year, no more hot pumpkin patch trips!

Im embarassed to admit that im so out of shape, my legs were sore from squatting down to take pictures of my kids. But thats the ugly truth, people.

We have a sick little guy on our hands.. part two

Remember how I told you when Noah was born he needed to spend three days in the NICU where he was on oxygen and heart monitors? And then how about 6 months ago he got bronchiolitis and had to receive breathing treatments, steroids and an inhaler? Well I think this kid likes to get sick and scare me. I think its a hobby of his. That, and poking people in the eye.

Last Tuesday I noticed my normally happy, smiley baby was a clingy, fussy, warm little ball of cries following me around and knew he was getting sick. Wednesday morning he woke up sounding raspy with a clearly sore throat and a little bit of a cough. But with it being a week day and him not having a fever, we gave him some tylenol and sent him to daycare anyway. I was getting calls and texts all day about how his throat sounded worse and worse all day. He was getting raspier, he cough was getting deeper, his breathing was getting wheezy, and his voice was getting higher and higher like his throat was swelling.

I went to pick him up after work and did not find my baby, but found what sounded like a barking seal instead. So I dropped Anthony and Brandon off at home and Noah and I headed off to urgent care. We waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes, watching people get called back, get their vitals taken and get sent back out into the waiting room to wait their turn.

They called us back for our turn to get his vitals taken and the nurse commented at least three times on how bad Noahs breating sounded. She took his vitals, asked a few questions, heard him cough and then told us we were being bumped ahead of everyone, and ushered us to our room.  Soon the doctor came in and told us what the nurse had already told us she suspected, that he had croup. They gave him a steriod and a breathing treatment and he sounded better by the time we left. They told us that it may have been because of his bronchiolitis that he got this, it left him with sort of a pre-disposition to respritory issues. And even more good news is that now that he's had croup once, he's more likely to get it again.

The real good news is that he's doing better. We've been running his humidifier and giving him ibuprofen to keep the swelling in his throat down. He still has a cough but it just sounds like a gunky cough, not a seal bark anymore. Lets hold out hope that this fall and winter dont bring us many more croup issues!

Mother Nature hates So. California.

It's October right? October as in... Fall, Halloween, changing leaves, chilly weather, all that fun stuff... right? Someone forgot to send the weather here in San Diego that memo. Yesterday it was 103 degrees. Thats hot even for our summers. We are in a seemingly endless heat wave and i've just about had it with this heat! I have friends who live in all different areas of the US. And they're all posting pictures of changing leaves, their kids in sweaters and boots, them in scarfs and jackets and I'm turning red with envy. I would be turning green if it wasn't so damn hot, all I can do is turn red.

I'm a native San Diegan. My grandparents came here from Kansas and Oklahoma, my mom was born here, my siblings and I were born here, and my kids were born here. We're pretty rooted in San Diego. You would think I would be used to the weather and embrace living in pleasantville where the worst weather we get is some heat and/or a little rain. But I really don't. I know that I take it for granted, but the fact of the matter is, I don't know any other kind of weather. To me, this is boring. I see other areas of the US that have real season and I swoon. I'm so envious of areas that have actual weather!

Last year Brandon got offered a job in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Its a cute little down in central NJ. Brandon approached me very cautiously about the opportunity, thinking I wouldn't be on board but I jumped at the opportunity and literally started researching the town ten minutes after he told me about it. Yeah yeah I knew ew NJ but the chance to live out East, and live somewhere with real weather was so insanely exciting to me. Unfortunately the move didn't work out. Clearly. Because we're still here in pleasantville.

It's not so much that I hate San Diego. Sometimes I say that I do, but I don't. I love the beach, I love how SD is unique in that you're an hour or less from the beach, the mountains, the desert, and the city. You have it all smooshed into one area. We have Disneyland, Sea World, Legoland, the (world famous) SD Zoo, Knotts Berry Farm, and the Wild Animal Park all within an hour or two drive or less. San Diego is the type of place people dream of, I realize that. But damn its boring after 26 years of it.

I can feel Fall trying to break through. Its chilly at night and first thing in the morning. It cools down quick after the sun goes down, but then that asshole sun comes back the next morning to heat everything up again.

Someone send me some fall leave? A jar of cold (not AC produced) air?  Or better yet, someone give me and/or Brandon a job somewhere else so we can have real seasons!