Girl Power

thanks Dawn!

tattoo

me: mom should I get a tattoo like this
mom: nah, it looks better on a t shirt.

lol she really doesnt want me to get a tattoo
made with the new iron on paper for stretchy fabric

33

It is early early early on June 15th. My birthday was only minutes ago. I turned a nice big whoppin' 33. mmmmm 33333333333333 a magic number. It's gonna be a good year.

I'm going to do 33 things this year that I will be proud of.
#1. Did karaoke at my b'day party. What a laugh!

I'll post some pics soon of my neat-o tiki cake and some awesome prezzies.

More shoes

Our friend Carla passes down clothes her daughter has outgrown every once in awhile. We loved these cool red shoes for Miss B, but they were scuffed (like the one on the left), so we fixed them (like the one on the right.)

What do my shoes say about me?

1. I love fun shoes so I must love fun things
2. I prefer practical to glamorous, but still with some flair
3. I'm a little bit punk rock! :P

Unframed

This is a super easy, fast, and cheap craft to do with photos. This would be fun to do with a group of friends, so if any of my local readers are interested, let me know and we can get together ;)

You'll need:
a photo (if you can't order a square one, you can cut down a 4x6 or 5x7 yourself. Mine is 5x5)
Square piece of wood 1 inch bigger than your photo all around and as thick as you want it...doesn't really matter)
piece of scrapping paper the same size as your wood
modge podge or craft glue
double sided sticky tape (I use xyron's cheetah)
sand paper
your finger ;)

1. spread the glue thinly across the whole surface of the wood and then lay your paper on it. Use the edge of a debit card to push out the air bubbles. Use some more glue on the edges if they are peeling back. Let this dry a little bit.

2. apply double stick tape to the back of your photo and place in center of scrap paper

3. Using sandpaper, start scraping the edges of the paper. In a couple of places you might want to sand a little harder to make it look more randomly worn. Also if you want sand the edges of the photo and in different spots of the photo

voila! have fun!

Tiny terrariums

So cute terrariums are sooo last month, but in case you needed an idea of something fun to do, I thought I'd share.

If you are doing it with kiddos, you should really include them on gathering the supplies. I let them each pick out their own animal....though I did kind of manipulate B's decision a little bit...T picked up tiny lava rocks at his grandma's house, B used some from the front yard, we looked for jars at the thriftstore (we got lidded ones because they really wanted to use sand and not moss), neither of them wanted the real plant I had, so we used some plastic pond plants. It took only a few minutes to put them together and they so rock!

100 Things About Me

Because I love Theresa. Seriously, that girl could tell me to jump off a cliff and I'd probably do it, because I'm sure some little miraculous thing will happen and I'll be soaring through the air to safety.

1. I picked up the nickname "Moki" in highschool
2. I've also been called meeky and momo and squeaker, but never mo or moni
3. I have a freckle in my left eye and I believe this makes me special...really LOL!
4. I was born breech and my poor mom didn't know I was breech until the doc started to pull me out
5. I'm not fond of the mail or the mailman...in fact I didn't check my mail for a week once and the mail man confronted me about it, which made me even less fond of the mailman
6. The only new car I ever had was not a VW, all the others were used vws. I hated the new car.
7. I love cheesy sappy 80's songs, some of them make me cry
8. I play the flute, and wish I played better
9. The only time I ever lived on my own (and had my own room) was for the two weeks after my dad dropped me off in VA before my husband got back from his deployment.
10. I like stories about women in the south, preferably during the depression
11. I've given birth naturally (w/o meds)4 times
12. I wish I could only have dreams where I fly
13. I worry...a lot
14. I recycle
15. Movies I could watch over and over again: Stranger Than Fiction, Alot Like Love, French Kiss, and Somethings Got to Give...and probably PS I Love You
16. I like zombie movies and movies about the world ending/being threatend by aliens/or having a secret meaning, treasure, or whatever
17. If I didn't have a family, I'd be a traveler, and might even be in the peace corp.
18. I sleep on a feather pillow
19. I love waking to early morning rain
20. I can make the sound of ships and tug boats coming into the harbor...an unappreciated talent
21. I love the smell of lavender
22. I pierced my nose with a safety pin in my highschool art center bathroom...hardcore ;)
23. I have a tattoo. It's just a little moon and star
24. I want another one, but will never be able to decide what to get
25. I look for signs
26. I love ABQ, but sometimes I daydream about moving
27. I love making scones
28. I wasted most of my teenage years, really
29. I'm a flirt
30. I was once sort of forced into singing with an all girls group and had to perform at church meetings and senior homes
31. I can sing and read music, but my voice is nothing spectacular
32. I was in gifted and so I thought I was special...I am
33. I don't judge people based on intelligence, income, or status, only on how nice they are to others
34. That being said, I am not always nice
35. I've been in love more than once
36. We named C-bug after a punkish(?) Irish song
37. Tall dark and handsome always rocks me (Patrick Dempsy), but it's always the blondies (Ewan McGregor) that get my heart
38. I never settle
39. My life changed when I was 17.
40. I have always been an artist
41. I had a fling with one of the members of The Shins. My husband tells the G-rated version to the young men at church, which shocks them and makes me feel uber cool
42. I discovered only this last year, that a lot of boys were afraid of me when I was younger.
43. I want to rock climb...I think that's my goal right now, to get back to a spot where I am physically strong enough to do it.
44. I LOVE California, I want to go all the time, I would live there even if it meant my whole family lived in a studio apartment and that eventually the big one would hit and we'd fall into the ocean...ok maybe not that ha ha
45. I know how to change my oil, tires, replace clutch cables, and radiators on some VW's
46. I like to know how to do things. Whatever it is I want to or need to know how to do. (see #45 for example)
47. I'm a conflicted registered republican.
48. I like to try to figure out what kind of person people are by there shoes. If you told me what your favorite pair of shoes are, I could tell you all about yourself...maybe. I realized I can do this with other things as well. I taught a group of girls how to make oil lamps like the ones the virgins carried, and told one of the girls I could tell from her lamp that she kept her room clean enough to trick her mom, but had some dirty house keeping habits that she kept secret. Then all the girls wanted to know what their lamps said about them.
49. I have good friends in my life
50. I think I am the coolest girl in the room, and the biggest dork too
51. People that drive me crazy are the ones I am most like
52. Sometimes I like to talk a lot, other times I prefer to not talk at all and watch people and listen to what they say and analyze their body language. I always worry that people might think I am stuck up or lack confidence, when really I just value getting to know people, and the best way to do that is to shut up
53. I am a gemini, and don't really put a lot of stock into astrology, except that I am a Class A gemini.
54. I don't like pie
55. I do love a good sugar cookie
56. I have been to Disneyland 5 times in the last 3 1/2 years
57. I like a clean house, I really don't mind cleaning, but I'd rather make a mess baking, painting, setting up a scene, gardening, or creating in general
58. I once had a spiritual experience in which I was instantly healed from a recurring health problem and have never since then been sick with that illness
59. I am a night owl. I love the quiet and freedom. I miss the late night phone calls with Jess (some day dear friend)
60. I used to not be able to keep secrets. I'm really good at it now. I enjoy my secrets the best, because I want to tell everyone, and not being able to is exciting.
61. This is where I would tell you one of the secrets
62. I've decided not to get lasik because I think my glasses make me look cool and different
63. Bad things have happened in my life but as an adult, I refuse to be victimized, because through bad things come strengths, new experiences, forgiveness, knowledge, etc.
64. My favorite pair of shoes are black leather ballet flats with a strap and buckle going across the toe, know what that says about me?
65. I've been published in a book about stuffed toys
66. I really suck at hiding my emotions. I roll my eyes too much, blush, stutter, pout. I wish I wasn't so transparent.
67. One time at girls camp, a bunch of friends and I snuck out to a grass field between camps and talked late into the night and fell asleep under the stars. That is one of my favorite experiences.
68. Some day I will go to Hawaii, own a hybrid, have my dream camera, tell one of my secrets, watch Casablanca
69. I've been skinny dipping and if you are comfortable in your skin, I highly recommend it
70. My first kiss was in kindergarten, best kiss was a drummer in highschool, most memorable kiss was far too short, and hubs gets most special kiss award.
71. I got into a fist fight when I was a sophmore with a *itch on my bus. She was picking on my sister. Unfortunately, she fought like a girl and pulled hair.
72. I fractured my ankle while jumping on some friends trampoline when I was 15 I think. Their dad was an Air Force cop that reminded me of Sean Connery. He carried me to the car and into the hospital in his arms. I have sprained that ankle numerous times including last spring when I got too aggressive at volleyball. I haven't gone back since and I miss it terribly.
73. I want answers to the things I dont know...what happened in Roswell? did lee harvey oswald really kill JFK? What happened behind the closed door? lol
74. I love Christmas music when it is too early to listen to it.
75. I use to hang out with skinheads, yup I did. One of my friends got beat up really bad in a fight and because of this big fight one of them had to leave town fast. He came back years later and dated my sister for awhile.
76. I miss 2 of my sister's exes. I adore them, but understand
77. I get too honest when it is late at night ha ha
78. I like to go to lunch with my sisters. Our kids might drive us crazy, but I can just be myself when it's my sisters and I
79. I am really good with kids. The only kids that I have a hard time with are the ones who naturally don't trust adults or any stranger. I know what makes kids tick, I know how to handle meltdowns, I can get them to do things they didn't think they wanted to do. My kids have lived with me too long and can now see through most of my tricks. ha ha
80. I swear...sometimes a lot. I started swearing when I was 10 so it's really the longest bad habit I've had and they don't make a patch for it!!! I didn't say any bad words today though...yet
81. I really like surprises and unexpected good things. Because I am an observant person, I often discover planned surprises before they happen. So I rarely get surprised which means they are a valuable commodity(economics of surprises)
82. I always wonder what my "thing" is. My sisters all have their "thing" they do...The "thing" is something that is of slightly negative nature, like being pessimistic, unavailable, over-reactive, always late, get it? My mom is so sweet about it, but I don't know why, given all the crap I have given her in my life. She says stuff like "Oh I don't know Monique. Maybe you worry too much." ha ha ha I know that! But is that my thing?
83. Absolute darkness plays tricks on me and makes me clautrophobic. In photo class there were these little closets about 3 feet by 3 feet with a little shelf on one wall. To load your film into a developing canister you need complete darkness, no light whatsoever, not even the kind your eyes eventually adjust to! So we'd use these closets to do that. And whenever I did I would start seeing things, shapes of animals all swirling (no I wasn't on drugs) I learned to load my film very quickly.
84. One of my good friends was in a motorcycle accident when we were in school. He was in a coma and when he came out, he was not quite himself. His parents had him change schools and I didn't see him again until last year in front of Old Navy with his boys. I have never been happier to see an old friend, than to see him! He was such a cool guy back then and I always wanted the best for him.
85. I dated a guy who had a friend who lent him a Delorion.That's right! Like Back to the Future minus the 1.21 gigawatts! Driving in that was a rock awesome experience!
86. My first and really only real date was with the deloreon guy. He took me up the tram on the Sandia Mountains with a picnic dinner that we ate on the edge of a cliff...which describes our relationship! HA!
87. I never REALLY dated my husband. We would just hang out, or meet places to eat or see movies...I didn't consider it dating...I guess I qualify it as a date only if there is some planning, you arrive in the same car, one person pays, and you leave in one car...none of the things we did ever met all of those criteria. too funny
88. I share my birthday with one of my brothers in law. We haven't spoken since he threw a phone at me and stormed out of my house in a rage more than 5 years ago(?). Cause we are so alike I think.
89. I'm a wee bit of a hippie (no kidding right?) I try to play it down.
90. I'm very sentimental.
91. I used to be afraid of jet skiing. Then one summer I decided to get over it and could not get enough of it. I realized my fears are trivial compared to the possible experiences I could have...even if it kills me.
92. I am often thinking up stories that would make great books or movies. I think if I wrote them they'd be great, but I'm not ready for greatness ;)
93. My ringtone on my phone is by the Pixies
94. I would never give up email, but I miss phone calls and getting letters in the mail...maybe that's why I hate the mailman???
95. I have a vivid imagination. It is both a benefit and a hinderance to me
96. I like to "go out with the girls." I've got a couple of close friends (not counting my sisters) and a group of gals I do things with through game nights, and church activities. When I was a kid...my whole life as a kid, I would only have one good girl friend and a bunch of guy friends. I think guys are easier to be friends with, but anyways, I've really come to enjoy the company of the women in my life.
97. I am raising my children to be a bit rowdy and unafraid. It may backfire a bit on me, but it will help them be strong adults I hope.
8. I'm hosting a tiki party for my birthday. I told a couple people that all I wanted for my birthday was for them to buy themselves something and tell me happy birthdy. I think I say that every year and still they load me up with presents. SO I thought I really want to give something back in the form of a party. We're going to have kabobs, tropical fruit salad, something my mom will make (rice???) virgin mai tais, limbo, karaoke, water balloons, and a tiki cake with flames coming out of it's head! HA HA! I feel like I am 5 again! LOL!
99. I am at my happiest when I am working and busy. I discovered I really do well with pressure, stress, deadlines, etc...and I always thought I preferred a nice lounge chair by the pool with Paco the cabana boy bringing me cherry cokes and massaging my feet...poor Paco, he misses me mucho.
100. Certain songs pop into my head for certain occasions. "Cry to Me" by Solomon Burke when I get over stressed, "She's Only Happy in the Sun" by Ben Harper when I think about being somewhere else, "Trouble" by Cat Stevens when I am getting into trouble ;), I've had some new songs poppin' into my head lately...too much staying up late and making playlists.

And that was a little hard to do. Wondering if certain things about me should be said, not wanting to be superficial in my list though. Let me know if you decide to do the list.

PJ's explained

I tried to get a good pic of them finished. I got these funny ones instead (though I wasn't laughing at the time.)

Here's how to make them:

I hate using patterns, and I suppose I've been sewing long enough (20+ years???) to know what I need to do, but even I made a mistake on these because I was in such a rush to get them done.

So what you want to do is find a pair of cotton PJ pants that fit comfy. Fold them in half vertically and pull that crotch out there. You'll want to leave about 2 inches above the pants on the pillow case to make the casing. You need to pull the waist out from where the fold is to make sure you make them big enough in the but and crotch. A little bigger is always better because you can easily alter them. Cut around your pj's at least 1 inch from the edge and make sure you use the biggest crotch seam on your PJs or else you'll end up with something a little tight like I did!

This is what you will end up with. You can use your cut piece to cut your other leg on the other pillow case. I think I have enough left over to make a little pair for the babe.

Put the 2 pieces right sides together and sew down each crotch about 5/8 inch from the edge.

"Open" the pants up so that you have the folds on the edges. Match up the crotch and bottom edges of the legs and sew up the inner leg about 5/8 inch from the edge. Make the casing for the elastic by folding over about 1/2 inch and then 1 more inch. Sew near the edge to make a casing...make sure you leave an opening to put elastic in.

Did you get all that? Fun pants huh?!

Pillow Talk

mmm pillow talk! LOL ok Really now!

Backstory: Memorial Day, Savers had a 50% off of everything. I am always looking for great furniture and princess dresses for my biz, and always grab something for my humongous baby that wears clothes 2 sizes to big for her age ("Your baby's so fat she wears plus size diapers.") As I am walking past the pillow cases I see poppies peeking out at me. I'm a sucker for poppies...California dreamin'. So I take a looksie and guess what?! There are 2 of them and they are king sized and they are "Vera!" oh and 50¢ !!! How cool is that. They are so beautiful, no marks or wear or anything...just how you want to find used pillow cases.

And maybe you'd think, hey make a cute pillow case dress for one of your gingers. But nah! I'm making myself a pair of pj pants. And the best thing? The hem and side seams are already done. Here's how I'll cut it out, fyi:

Each case will make one leg. If anyone really wants to know how to do this, let me know and I'll walk you through it.

By Request "The Good Neighbors Club"

When I had my old blog I did a special thing one summer of printable project sheets to do with kids. My friend Jess reminded me to post them again.

You can find a larger copy to prin here. Let me know if you have any problems.

Old Skool

Some projects from my old blog. You can click on them to go to the flickr page.

Breakfast, Lunch, Tea (and midnight snack)

Yes I am up kind of late. Partly because a friend of mine is chatting with me about her bebe who is sick. We're kind of waiting to see if her fever goes down. The other part is because hubs was watching a movie and made me a bowl of chili! mmmm He even topped it with 2 kinds of cheese. Don't get all jealous though! He's a lovely guy, but I don't get this kind of service often. (He's really watching a PBS show about a girl and her dad that went back to Cambodia decades after leaving and I asked for the chili, just surprised it came in such a nice bowl with cheese on top!)

This week my C-bug goes off to girls camp!!! 12!!! I don't feel that old, wait, I'm not!

With her gone, I'll have to do a little bit more mommy-entertaining, so I think this might be a good week to teach T-bone to cook. I think we'll use this book by the very young Sam Stern! Simple recipes in large type. He's going to be so excited! We might try some even simpler ones from his vintage BH&G book I gave him for his 4th bday when he first expressed interest in cooking. (But I think I need to buy this cute book! p.s. sorry it's uk amazon...it is after midnight here.)

Oh and that book above, story behind that one. I would not have even pulled it from the shelf had it not been green, and then I wouldn't have seen all the yummy pics inside. I'm a bit of a stickler when it somes to cookbooks. There's really only one thing they must have for me to even consider bringing them into my kitchen. They must have pictures of the recipes prepared! It bugs me to no end when I pick out a cookbook, maybe titled "Robust Sauces From Robust Women" and find no photos of the food! Even more irritating is when the publishers have spent money on photos of foreign countries and scenery but none of the food! I don't get it! It's like buying a book on quilting and having only pictures of cotton fields and bobbin making factories!!! Ridiculous!