I need my own sewing room.
There is seriously no place in this house for me to sew. I did have my sewing stuff set up in our bedroom, but that's not a very practical place for it, since the only time I have to sew is late at night and I don't want to keep DH up. The family room won't work - DH uses it for music equipment and computer stuff - I don't want to junk it up even more. We use the dining room as my office/Scout's play area, so that won't work either. The kitchen table is the only place I've found that *sort of* works, but it sucks too because if I am working on a project that takes more than one evening to complete, we have no place to eat our meals and all my sewing stuff clutters up the entire kitchen. I'm not sure what the solution is. The garage? I don't know. I guess that's a possibility, but I'm not sure I'm willing to sweat my rear off in a hot, dark, dirty box that smells like motor oil and trash cans all in the name of craftiness.

Labels: general complaining, sewing

Neglecting a blog is like losing touch with a close friend or family member. The longer you put off calling or visiting, the harder it is to pick up the phone. It's like you don't know what to say and you don't know how to excuse the fact that you've stayed away for so long.

Hi, blog! How've you been? I'm so sorry I've been a stranger. You know...life..ummm...so busy..er...I just never have the chance...uh..anyway, How've you been? Did I already ask that?


I'll just give a little recap, since I don't really know what to write about.

Scout:

• Says : "Daieee" (daddy), "Beebee" (baby) "Bad dah!" (bad dog), "Dah" (hat, light, and sock), "Tseecsh" (cheese), "Bah!" (bye), "Hieeeee!" (hi), "Ahhhow" (uh-oh), "Bawoh" (ball) and "Bayeee" (belly). She hardly ever says "mama". Hhmph.

• Doesn't really know the different parts of her face yet. When I ask her to point to her eye or her mouth, she always points to her cheek or her ear. She does point to her nose when asked, on occasion. She pats the top of her head if I say hair or head....or if she sees someone with a hat on.
  

• Thinks that all bare skin is "Bayeee" (belly)...so she will often point to my leg or her foot and say "bayeee!"
  

• Signs: drink, eat, nurse, bath, more, mommy & daddy (although she uses the same made-up sign for both), sleep, baby, hi & bye (of course), "I don't know", and ball.

• Doesn't show much interest in being read to. She likes to thumb through books herself, and sometimes will sit with me while I point out and name things in picture books, but she won't just sit on my lap and while I read her a story. She's WAY too busy for that!

• Loves her afternoon stroller ride through the neighborhood. If she is having a cranky day, it's almost like hitting a "reset" button.
  

• Is VERY attached to DH lately. When she gets up in the morning and he's not here, she often says "Daiee? Daieee?" while shrugging her shoulders and opening her palms upward. I'm not sure how much she understands, but I always tell her, "Daddy went bye-bye in his truck. He went to work, but he'll be home later. We will see him tonight." It's probably a longer explanation than what she needs, huh?
  

• Hits things/people when she is very angry. It's hard for me not to laugh when she gets frustrated over not being able to fit a toy into a specific place and then gets so angry that she punches her teddy bear as hard as she possibly can while grunting and making a mean face. It's not quite as funny when she does that to my face. We're working on that.
  

• Is generally a very happy little girl (above mentioned little frustration outbursts aside). I know you may think I'm just saying this because I'm her momma, but she seriously lights up a room with her smile and "Princess Diana wave" (as one friendly cashier called it). She says "Hi" to every single person we pass when out in public. No joke. Every. Single. Person. And she will keep waving and say "Hi" louder and louder until they acknowledge her. We recently went out of town for DH's job training and Scout liked one of the hotel employees so much, that she lunged for her with outstretched arms, demanding that the woman hold her. She doesn't know a stranger. Which, I suppose could be both a good and bad thing.

• Has been sleeping through the night from about 9 PM to 8 AM about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, she only wakes up once or twice during the night and goes right back to sleep within 5 minutes of nursing her back down. I'll take it.
  

Unkempt Mommy:

• Has a really hard time keeping up with household chores. Some days I try soooo hard to tidy things up a little and keep the kitchen clean and just generally make our house NOT look like a nasty pig sty. But most days I fail. Miserably. Scout keeps me so busy. I honestly feel like I spend all day every day following her around the house, playing with her, and feeding her. (Which isn't all bad, by the way. I really do enjoy it most of the time) DH says he doesn't mind that I don't keep the house as clean as I would like. But I still feel bad that he has to come home to a big mess every day.
  

• Has been sewing a little more lately, which has been very therapeutic. I am going to split a vendor's booth at a local craft fair with a friend of mine in October, so I'm gearing up to spend the Summer creating baby clothes, bags, aprons, slings, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I'm not sure where I'll find the time, but it's an outlet I really enjoy and hope to make it into something lucrative someday.

• Still has a giant storage tote FULL of cloth diapers to sell. Uuuughh. It's been looming over my head since January. I just can't make myself spend Scout's nap time (oh, how precious nap time is!) on the tedium of writing descriptions and listing used diapers on swap sites. I know that I need to, though. It HAS to be done.
  

• Feels all ga-ga in love with DH. I mean, I always have. But I guess that "new love" feeling has made a resurgence lately and I'm enjoying it. It's probably due to a combination of factors, one of which is the crumble of our very close friends' marriage. Seeing the state of their relationship and the pain they are going through makes me even more thankful that DH and I have such a healthy marriage. It makes me thankful that we are honest with each other, we communicate, and we are each other's best friends.

DH:

• Has been pretty stressed about money lately. I feel awful that he bears the burden of our finances all on his own. He pays all the bills and balances the checkbook. I am completely oblivious to the state of our budget most of the time. Maybe I should step up and offer to handle the bill-paying. Maybe I should be the one handling the finances. But I'm not sure how that would work. We've always done it this way and I'm sure it would be tough for both of us to change.
  

• Hasn't had much time for music lately, which is his passion. Again, another thing I feel bad about and wish I could help with.
  

• Sold his scooter so we could pay off some debt. Have I ever mentioned that I am married to the most responsible, practical man in the world? I know a lot of gals married to guys who spend tons of time and money on big-boy toys like motorcycles, boats, four-wheelers, fishing gear, paint-balling gear, etc. I know everyone needs a hobby and I think it's good to have an outlet like that, but you know the kind of guys I am talking about. The ones that put their recreational toys before everything else. I feel thankful that DH is NOT one of those guys.
  

Labels: baby sleep, cloth diapering, dh, family, finances, firsts, friends, scout talking, sign language

I know you all must be dying to know how my ruined load of laundry turned out. Well, about 75% of the stains came out. Some of the clothes are actually stain-free and look pretty good, but the harsh chemical rust remover I had to use faded the colors and made the fibers of the fabric feel kind of different...like, stiffer or something. There are about 5 or 6 articles of clothing that have some fairly noticeable rust stains left, but I'm still working on those. I was over at a friend's house literally ALL DAY LONG washing, re-washing, treating, rinsing, and scrubbing. After all of that didn't work, I finally resorted to the rust remover and it did the trick. I was so paranoid about those awful chemicals being on Scout's clothes, I rinsed them about a zillion times. I'm still not crazy about her wearing them now. Last night was the first night I put some pajamas on her out of that load and I was worried that she would have a skin reaction or something. She didn't. I'm sure it's fine and I'm just being a nut.

Remember this top? It came surprisingly clean!



After a phone call and an e-mail (complete with photos of the rusty clothes) to the Public Works Director and a phone message left for the Mayor, I STILL have not heard back from anyone. I think I'm going to have to keep being the squeaky wheel in order to get anything accomplished. At this point, I would just be happy if the city compensated me for all the laundry products I had to buy and if I could get the ball rolling on putting something in place where they actually warn the residents about the hydrant flushing. I'm not usually this passionate about civil complaints/issues and I absolutely hate confrontation....but I guess I now know that all you have to do is ruin some of my daughter's cute clothes to get a rise out of me. Pretty sad, eh?

So, now you know more details than you ever wanted to know about a load of my laundry. And you'll never get that time back again. Sorry.

Labels: general complaining, laundry

Yesterday was gorgeous. Scout and I went outside so I could hang some laundry on the clothesline. Safely enclosed in her baby cage, Scout played happily (for the most part) while I pinned freshly laundered sheets and towels to the line. Ahhhh. There's nothing like it.







Fast forward to later in the afternoon:

That load was dry, so I went to take a load of Scout's clothes out of the machine and realized that they had all been horribly stained with rust. I knew that putting them in the dryer would be a bad idea, so I hung them on the line while I tried to think of a plan. We were going to take them to a friend's house who has well-water last night, but our water started running clear before they called me back, so I've been washing/soaking them in our washer since then. DH stopped and got a bottle of "Iron Out" rust remover on his way home from work yesterday, but I'm trying to hold out and only use it as a last resort since it is so harsh. The bottle says it can "irreparably damage colors, logos, and embroidery." Dang.

I let the clothes sit in a washer full of vinegar and water this morning and have plans to go get some lemon juice, salt, and oxyclean. But just now, I filled the washer up with some more clean water for them to soak in and guess what? MORE RUST!!!!! Even worse than yesterday. And I thought I was being so smart and thorough by "testing" the water every time I ran the washer by filling up a mason jar with the washer water and holding against something white so I could check to see if it was discolored. Apparently, the water was running clear when I tested and then turned brown after I left the laundry room. {insert banging-head-against-a-brick-wall smiley here} Now, not only are all the clothes tinted brownish-orange, they have huge blotches of dark rust stains on top of that.

This whole thing wouldn't normally have ruffled my feathers so badly, except that this load was almost entirely made up of brand new outfits that Scout received for her birthday. A lot of it is very expensive stuff that my family bought for her while they were visiting recently. There's got to be at least $200-$300 worth of brand new clothing in there that now seems ruined.


This shirt used to be snow white, by the way:



I just called the water department and they basically (in a nice and sympathetic way :eyeroll ) said "tough luck". The lady said that the fire dept was going around and flushing hydrants yesterday, so EVERYONE in town has been calling and complaining. She said that they don't even inform the water dept before they do it.

Hey, Fire Dept, get a freaking clue!!!! All you have to do is post signs on the hydrants around the neighborhoods that say what dates the hydrant flushing will be done and then people will know not to do laundry or cook with their water on those days. That's what they did in my neighborhood where I grew up and it worked fine. It just seems like a no-brainer to me.

The lady at the water dept transferred me to the public works director so I could leave a message for him, but I don't know how that could do any good. I'm sure my message is just one of MANY he's gotten in the last few days if everyone around here is irate about the rust problem. I just (politely and calmly) let him know that at least a couple hundred dollars of my daughters brand new clothes that she has only gotten the chance to wear a few times are completely ruined and I feel like I should be compensated in some way and that having the whole town mad about the water being contaminated could've easily been avoided by POSTING A FEW SIGNS. I left my phone # ....we'll see if he ever calls back.

I am taking the clothes over to my friend's house this afternoon to try to get as much rust out as I can, using some of the products mentioned above. Wish me luck.

(any assvice is totally welcome :)

Labels: doh, laundry, pics of scout

I had a really nice Mother's Day. I hope you all did too!

Saturday afternoon, Scout and I walked around the mall while DH went to hang out and play music with some ex-bandmates. I decided to pick out a Mother's Day gift for myself, since I assumed I wouldn't be getting one from DH. He is usually kind of bah-humbug about "Hallmark Holidays" and last year - which was my first Mother's Day, by the way - he didn't really do anything. (To his credit, though, he is always telling me what a great mom he thinks I am and that attributes Scout being so healthy and smart to me....and that means WAY more to me than any Mother's Day card or gift bought out of obligation)

Anyway, I bought myself $50 worth of underwear that aren't frumpy granny-panties and don't look like I've been wearing them every day for 10 years. I was in desperate need of some semi-fancy undergarments. It's hard to feel at all sexy when you are sporting underwear to bed that look like they should be turned into dust rags. Seriously.

When DH got home, I told him about the gift I bought for myself. By his reaction, at first I thought he was peeved at me for blowing $50 on undies and I was about to get a little irritated, since I never spend money on stuff like that. But then he told me that he thought about getting me a gift, but got too busy and ran out of time and he felt bad about that. I had already prepared myself for not getting anything, so it was really no big deal. Then he told me that his original idea for my gift was to find me a bottle of my favorite Bath & Body Works spray that was discontinued a loooooong time ago. It was the scent I wore all the time when we first met and he really liked it and knew I was sad when it got discontinued. Sometimes there are unopened bottles of the body spray and lotion on eBay, so he looked there and bought me one. I thought that was so sweet and it meant a lot to me. It sounds cliche, but it really was the thought that counted.

Yesterday, we went out to eat after church with some friends. We ate at one of those Japanese hibachi grill places and then to C0ld Stone Creamery. It was super yummy and we all had a good time. Well, Scout did have a meltdown when the hibachi chef lit the grill on fire during his "show", but she got over it pretty quickly.

Then, we visited DH's grandpa in the hospital (he just had surgery) and hung out w/ DH's parents at the hospital coffee shop for a while. We gave MIL a CD, a card, and some pics of Scout. I think she appreciated that.

It was a nice Mother's Day. I really couldn't have asked for much more! Here is a pic of me with my baby girl. If I'd have known she was making her funny laughing/snorting face for the camera, I would've made one too!

Labels: dh, holidays, home business, pics of scout, special occasions

Happy Mother's Day, all you beautiful hard-working mommies out there! Treat yourself to something nice. I bought myself 50 bucks worth of fancy undies just because I felt like it and I never ever buy myself stuff like that. Go on, momma, go buy yourself a thong-th-thong-thong-thong. (Mine aren't thongs, by the way. I can't stand butt floss.)

Labels: holidays

One load of laundry is clean and hung up. But I have about 3-4 more loads to do that I'm ignoring right now.

My desk is so messy, there's not even room to set my glass of water on it. Gah!

It's chilly and cloudy out today. Scout and I took a little walk earlier, but I was too afraid to venture too far from the house for fear of getting stuck in a down pour...so we walked in circles.

I'm trying to think of a way I can use some leftover chicken for dinner tonight. I'm thinking maybe a broccoli/chicken/cheese casserole type thing. But I don't think we have any cheese, darnit.

I need a shower very badly. I guess I should go get cleaned up so I can go to the store for cheese.......Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably just slap my dirty basebally cap on and pray that no one at the store gets a whiff of my pits.

But before I go, I might as well show you a pic of our new kitchen table and chairs. $37.50 for 4 chairs, the table, and removable leaf at a local junk shop. (We already had the white mod-looking chairs) Yeah, baby.

And just because, here's a pic of my lil' gal:

Labels: lists, my house, pics of scout

So, we are failing miserably at keeping mass-produced plastic noisy made-in-China toys out of our home. But I guess I've passively decided it's not a battle I really want to fight anymore. Scout got a bunch of toys for her birthday from my family and even though they are not hand-crafted or locally made or "green" by any standards, she still enjoys them and they seem to be decent learning tools.

Here is her new toy box and some random toys strewn about. I don't know if you can see it, but to her left is a Playskool Busy Gears toy that she is very interested in right now. She loves to watch the gears spin and then take each gear off one by one and put them back on. She also gets creative with the gears by stacking them on top of one another, using them as hair brushes, and serving them up as food.



This is another one of her favorites right now. She seems to take pride in the fact that she can mount and dismount it all by herself. I'm kind of sick of the Winnie the Pooh theme song, though.



Matt and I got her a Plan Toys shopping cart and some wooden veggies (along with a cabbage patch doll and some plastic toy food) for her birthday.





A friend of ours owns a small local store that sells organic baby clothing, cloth diapers, and wooden toys. We like to support her business when we can, so I have a feeling that Scout is going to end up with quite a few Plan Toys (the only brand the store carries) when it's all said and done.

Labels: pics of scout, toys

Scout knows quite a few signs now and it REALLY helps to know what she wants. She knows diaper change, eat, more(which also means "I want" if she is pointing to something), nurse (which also means "I'm tired" if signed in the evening ), baby, and ball. We are currently working on sit, drink, and help. We've never been very consistent with doing the signs for mommy and daddy. But lately, I've noticed that Scout seems to have made up her own sign for daddy. Every time I would say, "Daddy's home" or "Where's Daddy?" She would rest her fist on the middle of her chest and tap her chest softly with her index finger. DH and I had no idea where she came up with this sign. It amazed me that she made it up all by herself.

Until.....a lightbulb went off in my head one day and I realized that she was simply mimicking us. You see, instead of doing the sign for mommy and daddy, we normally just point to ourselves and say "I'm Mommy" or "I'm Daddy". I guess we thought that would help her learn who is who. So now, she thinks that the sign for daddy (and maybe mommy too?) is tapping on her chest. LOL!

Labels: doh, sign language