Quilting?

Okay, I've figured out how to use my fabric stashes. Make quilts. I just made the top of one (using these fabrics)  that's going to go in the family room. By the way, I discovered Creative Quilt Kits - right.down.the.road. What an unexpected treat!

I know that my iPhone photos aren't the best, but I really wanted to capture this before I but the backing on and quilt it. I didn't use a pattern (you can tell), but I tried to be consistent with my strip sizes.

In other news, my Weekender Bag made it through the airport and Mexico and back! It was really great. The only thing I'd do differently is add a should strap for carrying it through the airport. Otherwise, it was really roomy and help three bathing suits, an extra outfit, my laptop & cord, two textbooks, my makeup bag AND my Kindle. Very handy indeed.

A finished project

I did it! I finished the travel bag. It isn't even horrible! Woot! Woot! 

 

I added feet, too

The coolest thing: 

 

Lou fits in it. I put him in there (no, I did not zip it up) and he had lots of room to spare. 

Time to pack for vacay! My dress for that is almost done, too...

Getting into it

I finished constructing the outside of the Weekender bag. Check it out:

And because I'm really good at avoiding homework, I threw this quickie together yesterday:

This is my version of the Trapeze Dress in Heather Ross's book (I think it's weekend projects or something). I had to add the tie because it looked too much like a maternity dress otherwise. I have to do some tweaking to the top, but overall I'm happy with it.

Bringing crafty back

Did you miss me? I've been spending so much time at work, school, and Facebook that I sort of dropped off the map. I didn't realize it's been almost a year since I updated my blog. Oopsies.

I picked out this fabric and this fabric (shown together above) to make this adorable Amy Butler bag:

 

I'm more than a little nervous about making this thing. First, it's so super cute that I don't want to mess it up. Next, lots and lots of other people out here have had less than pleasant experiences making it. They all promise, however, that it is worth it in the end. We'll see...I'll try to keep you posted with my progress. I want to have it done by the time we go to Puerto Vallarta in February. It would make a lovely carry on, don't you think?

I used the Amy Butler Liverpool pattern to make a tunic, but it ended up as the outer shell for what will be the coolest spring coat. Ever. Really.

I've promised myself that I will become more patient and crafty and active. I think I've started out the new year rather well!

I'm having a non-good morning

Rather than have a midlife crisis brought on by the abrupt changes in American politics, I'm just going to post an adorable photo of the boys for you.

In the 1950s, George Orwell described what he calls Newspeak in his eerily prophetic book 1984. What is Newspeak? According to Orwell, it is words "deliberately constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not only had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them."

Let's take a quick look at Obama's Newspeak:

• The War on Terror is now to be referred to as Overseas Contingency Operation
• Terrorists or acts of terrorism are now to be referred to as Man-Caused Disasters

Really? Do people not see that this is a power grab? A way to change the way people remember what is happening? Okay, I have to stop. But really, if you haven't read 1984, please do. And if you have time, stick Animal Farm on your reading list, too. That one will show you how utopian communism isn't.

The bizarre thing is that Orwell was a socialist. It amazes me that no matter what path we follow, sometimes there are inevitable openings to which we must approach. Was the door intentionally left open for a socialist President to enter? Was it inevitable? I wonder what is in store for us in the coming year.

Preparing for the Pine Car Derby

The boys are building their cars for the Pine Car Derby this weekend. We are taking them to church tomorrow night to have the cars weighed and measured and impounded until race day. That's this weekend, so I'll let you know how it goes. All three of the boys had a blast building and decorating their cars.

A rant about Noggin

If it weren't for Little Bear, I would be boycotting Noggin at our house. Permanently. As it stands, I'm recording the 23 minutes of Little Bear, not a minute before or after, to show the boys when it's quiet time. I am drafting a LONG letter to them right now, though, let me tell you. Some background:

• We do not allow our boys to watch the DVD player in the car unless the trip is longer than three hours, nor do we believe in using the TV in the house as a babysitter. Jim and I both agree that placing our boys in front of the tube is a waste of time. This isn't to say that we've never let them have couch potato days. Of course we have! It is the exception, however, and not the rule.
  

• Next, we do not allow the boys to watch "regular" TV. They can watch Playhouse Disney in the mornings (for one show on weekdays, two on the weekends), or Noggin in the afternoons for quiet time. I'm so picky that Spongbob on Nick Jr. is outlawed at our house. I emphasize that last part because I know they watch it sometimes at other people's houses. That's okay because it isn't a regular occurence :)
  
• We realize that we are somewhat extreme when it comes to our TV rules, but our kids are happy, healthy, intelligent beings and we want to keep them that way. The television doesn't encourage any synapse-firing activity, so we discourage it. Period. (I'm almost off my soapbox, I swear).
  

This brings me to my issue with Noggin. I was grading papers on Thursday during "quiet time" (since the boys gave up naps, we now have "quiet time"). The boys were sitting with me watching something on Noggin. Let me drift off for a second here so you can understand my rage. I TRUSTED Noggin so much that I just turned it on at 2:30 in the afternoon and sat down (with the boys of course!) to let the boys watch one show. I didn't question what would be on. It's Noggin. Noggin is like the "safe" channel with no commercials and every show has a sound resolution. It's a feel-good channel for paranoid mommas like me. I can turn it on for 25 minutes, and usually get a lot done on the computer in that short amount of time.

Let's go back to that particular "quiet time" on Thursday. I wasn't paying attention to the tube until Nickolas said, "Rocco Bama likes to play basketball!" Good ole Rocco Bama (AKA Barack Obama) likes what?, I thought. I looked up and saw that there was a flipping cartoon of the Socialist President of the U.S. on the "safe channel." I had to bite my tongue as I watched the rest of the three-minute cartoon with him. The short clip glorified Obama as if he was some extraordinary citizen. Now, I've been watching Noggin for a few years and I don't ever remember seeing ANYTHING about George W Bush. Nothing about Jesus Christ. Nothing about the men and women in the military protecting us. Where is the fairness in this type of coverage? What about the liberal's coveted Fairness Doctrine? Where was that on Noggin? It certainly wasn't there on Thursday afternoon when the station aired its propaganda.

As most media outlets have attempted to do in the past year, they've hidden behind Obama's blackness as rationale for making him their self-appointed messiah. It's easy to give the first black President of the United States special treatment. It is an historic occassion that I do believe should be celebrated on many accounts. The walls that crumbled when he was elected will not likely be built again in our time. I have no qualms with admitting how important that was (and is) for the U.S. However, I don't care if he's yellow, purple, green, white, Chinese, Dutch, Swiss, Hispanic, or hillbilly; he is a man. Period. There is nothing exceptional about him, and glorifying his color and attempting to draw innocent children to him is wrong. Long gone are the days of the Hitler Youth, but are these little cartoons the beginning of the Obama Youth? I don't think I'm that far off, and I know many of you agree.

My blood is absolutely boiling right now. I think I'll just have to stop writing and let you think about this.

Home from Paradise Valley

Thanks to a great deal from Hotwire.com, we were able to stay at a gorgeous resort in Paradise Valley, AZ for less than most of the local hotels cost. Here are some of our photos. No, the boys were not with us.

I'm big now!

On Nathan's birthday, I made him a strawberry cake (all he asked for was a "strawberry birthday" and rather than buy him a Strawberry Shortcake doll, I went for the cake). He could not figure out how to blow out the candles. We tried and tried, but Nick got so frustrated that he finally went over and did it for him!

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After all of that practice, you'd think he'd have it down for his party. Nope. Jim stepped in at the end and blew them out for him. Look at nick in the background, trying SO hard to not just do it for him!

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It's also important to note that this was the birthday of the silky pants. Nathan wore gojamma pants all day, which gave him the urge to hold his penis all.day.long.

A new chapter

For those of you who know Nathan, you know how independent he is. He will not let us help him with anything unless it was his idea to ask for help in the first place. It's slightly challenging, but refreshing. Gone are the colicky days of his infancy (oh, Lord, thank you for ending that misery) when I swore his skin would attach to mine after holding him for so long. But today, Nathan began a new chapter. Nathan started preschool.

Here's just a little bit of history and then the pictures of his first day: when Nick went back to school in the Fall, Nathan really wanted to go. To stop him from being pesty, I told him that he wouldn't be able to go to preschool until he was potty trained. Ha! That'll keep him quiet.

About ten days later, Nathan was completely potty trained. We did not really push it, he just decided that he wanted to do it. So he did. And since that time, in September 2008, he has asked me every single Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday if he can go to preschool. I couldn't lie to him. I had to tell him that he wasn't old enough. That did not sit well. "But I go potty on da toywit." Yes, little man, you do.

So, just in time to celebrate Nathan's third birthday, the preschool accepted him into the Lamb Room. He had a great first day. He ran into the building and stopped outside the classroom door. "May I go into do cwasroom now?" "Absolutely! Go on in!" So he ran in and took off his coat and had and turned around and asked, "May I pway wit da toys now?" "Sure, buddy! have at it!" And that was it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it is Silly Week, so on his first day of school, Nathan wore his favorite gojammies (he calls them gojammies...probably because we say "go get your jammies on!"). What a great way to start school.