Pot Pourri for 50 Alex...



Golf green carrot cake

Life is just plowing along. My Bumble turned 50 last week and I was completely consumed with his surprise 50th birthday party. This was no easy feat considering I had almost no money and I was having the party in our house...BIG STRESS!

It was a success, a good time was had by all. Good friends, family, food and drinks...what more do you need?



secret recipe sangria



party food



kamakaze's, wine, beer, sangria, YUM.

And because I strive on stress and deadlines, I allowed myself to be nominated costume director for Seussical at Julia's school...a play that I know zilch about! Here are part of my bird girl costumes:

We have Horton, Cat in the Hat, circus animals, jungle animals, kangaroos,monkeys, oh my. I will manage somehow. Right? I have also taken a job caring for my eldery neighbors, Rose and Mary...I thought raising kids was tough, ha ha ha ha. Did I mention that I have jury duty next month? Enough whining already. Take a look at the coolest snowman ever:

He completely freaked me out every time I drove by and I drive by times a day.Bravo to the creators, it was fantastic!

Pregaming for Beyonce Bowl

I am excited for the big game tomorrow... as in the commercials, Beyonce, and having hours of couch time!
It is tradition in our family that on Superbowl Sunday that I make some party food and Dave takes it to his friend's party and I stay home and help the girls with their Science Fair projects for the fair on Wednesday. I am so happy that this is my the very last science fair for us! WOOHOO! I figure that we will be done dealing with compost, worms and food scraps by game time, then I am pouring wine and hunkering down for a night of

organizing my tangled bins of embroidery supplies! I am actually looking forward to this. Sad, huh?

Pressure!

Some people love to work under pressure. That kind of people is not me. I like to have some kind of a plan and an ample amount of time. I like to be finished with an assignment well before it is due. It helps me to sleep at night and also keeps me sane. This quilt needs to be finished by 2:00 next Sunday and is causing me a bit of anxiety! *breathes into a paper bag* This would be totally fine and it could be done if my world would stop for a few days.



On the other hand, I am glad that I won't have too much time with it because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it already and I will have a hard time parting with it. After sewing oilcloth every day for a year, it gives me so much pleasure to sink my sewing machine needle into cotton...don't get me wrong, I still loves me some oilcloth but it's not cotton, Amy Butler cotton at that. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh


It was another busy week here at Rick Rack Central; lunch bags are selling, dance recital, softball, summer work party and xrays and doctors appt that I will fill you in on after Monday's visit.

getting by, and you?

It's been a tough couple of weeks around here. My husband was sick for over a week with a cough that shakes the windows, makes his ribs feel broken and rattles my last nerve. He wasn't sleeping...I wasn't sleeping, he was sick and cranky...I was cranky. He's back to work but still not feeling 100% so I have been doing my normal thing plus what he couldn't. I always appreciate him but I have a deeper appreciation after my gas light in my car has gone on 3 seperate times (he puts gas in my car), I've been to the grocery store 4 times a week for work and home (he picks up groceries), emptying the litter box (ugh), doing all the driving of all the children all the time, etc., etc.
All this with raging PMS! How am I doing? getting by, and you?

It can always be worse though. I made this super soft fairy princess blanket for my coworker's 3 year old daughter. Hope was born with a heart deformity and needless to say, has had lots of medical issues throughout her little life. She goes for a major heart surgery on Wednesday. I always struggle with "what to do" in these situations so I usually turn to my sewing machine. Hope loves to dress up like a princess every day, I think she may actually be a princess. Please keep little Hope in your thoughts and prayers this week.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had an enjoyable New Year's Eve. Ours was low key as usual...just the way we like it. I have never liked New Year's Eve much. I think it's too much pressure to have a great time if you go out, I have a problem with "forced fun" and besides that I have had too many miserable New Year's Eves in my younger days.
Anyway, we had a fabulous dinner with the kids and the parents. We lingered at the table with some very nice wine and good dessert a bit longer than usual. It was very nice and THEN we went upstairs to our house and things got crazy. We began our family's first annual "New Year's Eve Wii Sports Tournament". Here's what I look like on Wii, my name is Mad Martha.

The tournament was planned by my husband with winner's and loser's brackets, teams, points, it was Little ESPN here. I am sad to report that Mad Martha sucks at Wii Sports and came in dead last. Oh well.
Happy New Year everyone!

Things I forgot to say yesterday...

Look what my Bumble found-

The Advent thingy that I had lost and was so upset over a few weeks ago! Julia has been very happy to have it back. Notice all the cards around it...thanks to my kind friends(real life and blog) and family! Each one gave me a HUGE smile on my face when I received them.
Here's last night's accomplishment-

Julia refers to this as "the ultimate girl gift set" and she would know. I almost feel guilty about this gift because the fabric came from the remnant bin and cost less than $2.00, but it is totally cute and appropriate for the recipient.

Fear not.

Originally uploaded by cbcyr

I'm still here!
Today I am taking the day off from work to Christmas shop. No fake french accent, no Bumble, no fun.

*****update****
I wore my badge with pride today. I just got off the phone with the evil empire that is WalMart:
me: hi, I was there this morning and I'm pretty sure one of my bags didn't make it in my cart.
nasty customer service girl: uh huh
me: um, it had blah, blah, blah in it
nasty customer service girl:: yeah
me: do you have it?? (annoyed now)
nasty customer service girl: yeah
me:: good! Gee, you'd think when someone is paying $400 for an order the cashier would go that extra mile and make sure you have all your bags.
nasty customer service girl who is chatty now: well you'd think that if someone is paying $400 for an order they would make sure they have all their bags. (I just know her head was going side to side)
me: um, can I speak to your store manager?
nasty customer service girl: CLICK!
UGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I went through a half hour of trying to reach this guy. At one point a young guy picked up the phone pretending to be the store manager. I asked what his name was and he said, "CSS". I screamed, "Your mother named you CSS??? That's your title not your name, kid!" I want to speak to the store manger NOWWWWWWWW!!
CSS told me that the manager was too busy working to speak to me.
Long story short...I finally got him and screamed at him for 8 minutes and I feel better. The bumble needs to go pick up my bag because I fear for my life now.

Black Friday, Sewing in my sleep,& The McDreamy trifecta

Huh, You say?
Let's start with Black Friday. I have not ventured out with the crazies in YEARS. I'm not sure what came over me this year but I decided that me, the Bumble, and my neice Katie should go shopping at 5:30 am and leave the kids with my mom. For some reason we decided that we would speak with french accents and end every sentence with the word "no". Like this:
"We should go to...how you say...Deeek's Sporting Goods next, no?"
We laughed so hard all morning that our sides hurt more than our feet.
I was also testing good Karma buy donating a dollar here and there and directing people to shorter lines and it paid off big time, I scored the very last of a certain kid's game thing that we waited in line for. Karma, she works, no? OK, I need to stop.
The last store we stopped in was Joann Fabric. They had flannel for 99 cents a yard, I was late getting there but they still had some:

This brings us to sewing in my sleep, which I will get to after I explain The McDreamy Trifecta. I had mommy guilt after shopping half the day so I thought a matinee was in order. "Enchanted" it was!

It was a cute movie, I recommend it. We came home and I hit the couch with the Tivo remote and watched a recorded Martha Stewart...with Patrick Dempsey and after the kids went to bed we watched Tivo'd Grey's Anatomy from the night before...with Patrick Dempsey...hence the McDreamy Trifecta!
After all that McDreamy I go to sleep and start sewing flannel in my dreams. I have problems, no? I had flannel blankets in mind when I purchased it but I couldn't get the thought of this one and how it would match with Julia's coat out of my head.

I was right, It matches perfectly.

I whipped up a set including a scarf, mittens and earwarmer headband yesterday morning.

They are all fleece lined and reversible!

Where do I start?

Last Sunday night my sewing machine broke.
I KNOW!!! The feed dog plate had been dropping a lot and I was able to deal with that but then I went to reverse stitches and the lever snapped off. I FREAKED! The bumble, who is very handy, looked at it and determined that I should just get a new machine. Again, I FREAKED! "OMGOMGOMGwedon'thavethemoneywhatarewegoingtodoOMGOMGOMG"

I calmed down enough the next night and I got a new machine! I would have never splurged on one like this if he weren't with me. I have the best husband ever. I haven't even begun to figure out all the things this baby can do (the machine...not the husband)but I got some straight stitching done.

Apron gifts for my mom and mother-in-law. My mom gets the tan one for Thanksgiving because she gets very messy when she cooks. I will make her a pretty one for Christmas.
It even sews nicely on oilcloth (this is crucial!)

I'm sure you've all gotten this one..."You sew????" "Can you sew_________for me?" Enter 4 cheerleading skirts, 2 loose emblems and 2 too-big tops.

How do you say no?
Moving on.
I've told you how amazingly talented Gabby (12) is but just look at the stuff she does while watching TV and reading magazines.

I used to make these origami boxes about 5 years ago to hold 3 marble magnets. Gabby was 7 at the time and would sit and watch me fold the paper for hours and then she became the master. We haven't made these in forever and I'm not sure if I could pick it right up again. 2 nights ago she was sitting on the couch curled up under a quilt, she emerged hours later with these teeeeny little boxes made from thick cardstock fall-out cards. I have no idea how she got them so small. That little one can hold a piece of rice or two. Makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it!

Trying something new

Have you ever done this-
You spend the entire day sewing and at night you hit the bed hard and you are still sewing "mentally"? I did this on Saturday night.

I was thinking about gifts I was going to make on Sunday and I was matching, measuring, and cutting fabric "mentally" until I finally fell asleep exhausted. Somebody else has done this, right? It's not just me.


OK, How about this one, has anyone else done this-
You decide you are going to make something very simple...so simple that it doesn't need a pattern which is a good thing because you don't follow patterns very well anyway...and you use your good fabric and you make a BIG mistake that can't be undone?
I guess that's why you shouldn't sew in your sleep! Yep, I wasted a good amount of Heather Ross fabric that I bought specifically for one of our twin friends gift. Some of you will remember the twin horse quilts from last year- http://workinprogress-wip.blogspot.com/2006/11/three-days-to-spare.html These girls are turning 9 this week and I am making much simpler gifts this time around. Both girls still love horses but one has a thing for bugs and frogs and such.
OK, back to the lunch bags. They are fun! I love the way Heather Ross fabric feels too. Is it brushed cotton? Whatever, but it is SOFT! I'm sure there is an easy pattern out there for making paperbag style lunch bags but once I learned from my mistakes the first time around (grrrr, I should know better) I got it down. Beware, I think I might make 100 of them.
My Bumble was off from work last week and spent a lot of time cleaning up some trouble areas in the house for me, What a guy! Here is a picture of my little pantry (sink and counters circa 1959)that he reorganized for me. I figured I'd better take a picture before it gets a mess again

Pre-Halloween Fun and Stress

I am a planner and I am truly an organized person...just don't look around my house...but I really am a bit OCD about things, I just have to let them go until the children move out.
*wringing hands and twitching*
Anyway, I knew this Halloween party was last night and I knew I had to search for costumes in the attic and I forgot to ask my Bumble to get them for me because he is the attic-putter-awayer (as all Bumbles are) and knows where he puts all the stuff...I'm rambling...

I spent my Saturday stressed, sweaty and dusty looking for costume things in the attic, in between baking cupcakes and shopping for juice boxes because volunteers bailed (grrr I hate that). It was worth it. Look at Julia's get up:

She was Orphan Annie (using a recycled dance costume) and was thrilled when she won 2nd place in the costume contest!


Gabby and David (aka Bumble) were in the cast of actors in the haunted school and did an awesome job scaring the bejeesus out of people, seriously, they were very frightning. Sammy and her crew were a bit to cool for all that.

Today I am going to spend some quality time with my washer, dryer and sewing machine and perhaps admire my newest fabric therapy acquisitions that came in the mail yesterday

*please excuse the blurry photos, my batteries keep crapping out on me!