Friday, April 29, 2011

Political Humor

There is a federal election happening in Canada at the moment.  I will head out to vote after the weekend.  There are signs in yards all over our city advertising the different parties running.

My mother in law relayed the following conversation to me after bringing Emmett home from a visit with her yesterday:

Grandma to Emmett:  So, I see that your neighbours are voting NDP in this election.  Who will you vote for, Emmett?

Emmett:  I will vote for KFC.

The End.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Twirly.

I made Charlotte a new dress for Spring.  It is from the same pattern I used for her babydoll top and ruffled pants. (McCalls 6065, if you are curious)

I went in to this project feeling pretty confidant since the shirt went together so well.  I got a Karmic smackdown in no time.  I had to rip apart and sew the bodice on this dress twice and the second time I didn't leave much left in the seam allowance so I think I brought the top down a full size.  It fits Charlotte's narrow torso better than the first top did, but it brought me many problems when it came time to fit the skirt in.  For some strange reason, the skirt fits the outside of the bodice perfectly, but when it came time to sew the lining down, I had too much skirt.  I have absolutely no idea how I managed to pull that blunder off, but by the time I had realized it and spent the better part of an afternoon, machine sewing it, then ripping it out, then spending the evening hand-sewing it back in, I was done with this dress and starting to resent it.  What is a crafty person to do?  Why slap a big flower over the weird bunchy bit at the front and call it a day.

Aside from the challenges I had with the construction of the dress, I did make a couple of modifications on purpose:  I added four inches of length to the skirt so that it would be long enough to last through a growth spurt or two.  I also left the sides of the outer skirt open to make the dress extra twirly and to allow the pretty lining fabric to peek through a bit more.

The dress was put to the twirl test on our walk to school this morning and passed with flying colours.

I think I need to sew something for myself now.  My mom was very kind and got me a discount card for my local fabric store, and the gorgeous Laura Ashley patterns are calling out to me.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

It was only a matter of time.

I got my first pair of glasses when I was in grade one.  Richard got his in grade six.  For the past two years our optometrist has been telling us Emmett's eyesight is getting worse each year.  A few weeks ago Emmett came home from school complaining of a headache and telling me he has been having a hard time seeing the spelling words on the bulletin board.  I was waiting for this day.

Didn't he pick out a stylish pair?  He has an equally stylish extra pair in my bedroom just in case he has an accident with these ones.

It has been so long since I got my first pair of glasses I am having a hard time remembering everything I need to tell him about owning them.  They are just a part of my body now.  So far I have come up with:  don't sleep in them, don't let your classmates try them on, and leave them with your teacher on Swimming Day at school.  I am sure more stuff will come up in the coming days.

Charlotte is jealous she can't have glasses so I ordered her a pair of frames with non-prescription lenses in them when I ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses for myself.  She has to be just like her big brother.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Public Service Announcement

Our hot water heater died yesterday.  It was the second time this has happened in a year.  We found a repairman and left a message.  Richard poked around online to get a feel for the cost of a new heater.  I boiled water to wash the dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher (hooray for the High Temp Wash function!) and the kids got cold sponge baths for bedtime.
This morning, at 0700 on the dot, the repairman called and came over. The thermocoupler was burned out.  Again.(it is the thingy that supplies fresh air to the pilot light to keep it lit)  He cleaned it up, relit the pilot light and advised us to buy an air filter attachment for it.  On the way out the door he mentioned it was a massive lint build up under the hot water heater that caused the problem and advised that I vacuum underneath the heater to clean things up.
Is your hot water heater in your laundry room?  Have you vacuumed under it lately?  Have you ever thought to?

Word to the wise:  add it to your Spring Cleaning List. Get off the computer and go and do it!  Your shower will thank you.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Snowball Effect.

I shouldn't be joking about snow.  There is some in the forecast for this week!

It all started with a pair of pants that were too short.  Charlotte liked these pants and they fit well everywhere else, so I decided to sew a ruffle to the bottom of the legs to add some length.  I went to the fabric store and found the perfect fabric.  The print matched some embroidery on the pants and looked great with them.  The fabric was gorgeous.  I decided that it would be a shame to waste the pattern on a tidbit of trim at the bottom of some pants.

This led me to the pattern books.  I found a cute summery baby doll top that would do the trick.  (The fabric store loves customers like me!)

A quick little job turned into an afternoon, evening and morning and another afternoon of work.  I am pretty sure Charlotte's dolly is going to get a dress out of the leftover fabric. 


All of this work just to make some pants a bit longer.

It was SO worth it!


Saturday, April 9, 2011

Putting my Big Girl Pants on.

Last week at Sparks we did a field trip.  We visited a local vet clinic and learned important things like how to behave around dogs you don't know and why you need to groom your cat regularly. (We passed around a mat of cat hair the size of William Shatner's toupee.  I went home having an allergy attack.)  At the end of the presentation the girls had the opportunity to meet the office pet.  This is where I had to be so, so, brave.

I have a very deep-seated and irrational fear of snakes.  This guy is a seven-foot boa constrictor.  He seemed pretty nice, as far as snakes go.  Just out of arm's reach is the closest I have ever gotten to a snake without completely losing it.  His head is out of focus because I only got close enough to snap a quick picture then I beat a hasty retreat as soon as he moved. 

I tried so very hard to be brave because I don't want my girls to think it is OK to be scared just because I am.  I wanted them to be brave and learn that in this, controlled situation, it is OK to be near this guy.

I think I made a tiny step forward in learning how to conquer my own fear. 

I love how the girls are holding hands to help each other out.  It is so very sweet.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Dear Mother Nature....

This was the view from my front door this morning. Really.
....You missed April Fool's Day by a couple of days.  Why the heavy snowfall warnings now?  If this is some sort of a joke, it is not funny at all.   Seriously.  It's the last day of Spring Break and this is what you do??  So. Not.  Funny.

Maybe I shouldn't have complained so loudly about how ugly the slush is and how much work will need to be done to clean up Lucy's mess in the yard once the snow melts.  Maybe I shouldn't have thought about going for a run this morning after taking so much time off to be sick.

If you need me, I will be under my blankie on the couch knitting a sock and sipping tea today.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Ain't Misbehavin' Review and Giveaway

Disclosure - I am participating in the Ain’t Misbehavin’ program by Mom Central on behalf of Wiley Publishing.  I received a copy of the book to review and gift card as a thank you for my participation.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

When the opportunity came up for me to receive a book about discipline to review  I jumped at the chance.  I love getting new books to check out.  When I got this description in an email, I got even more excited.

... Ain’t Misbehavin’, is a book for theory-weary parents, who don’t have time to read an entire book, but need to flip to the page that tells them how to handle a specific behaviour.

Parenting expert Alyson Schafer has heard it all from the parents she’s worked with – tantrums, whining, sulking, cheating, lying, crying – and in her newest book, she shows parents how to stop flipping between being too firm and too permissive, but rather striking the right balance of respective yet effective with their discipline.

The book covers more than 100 common and normal kid behaviours that parents experience trouble with – the behaviours that Schafer is asked about most frequently by the parents who phone into her weekly call-in advice show, now in it’s 6th season.


That is me in a nutshell.  I have a few parenting books on my shelfthat I have bought with good intentions, but never finished.  have paid overdue fees for many more)   I often don't have time to study and assimilate and embrace a whole new parenting philosophy when I just need a band aid.  This book is full of helpful band aids in the form of a clear, concise table of contents and charts sprinkled throughout the book.