Laid Back

It is so hard to go out to eat with friends these days with L.J so it was nice when The Groom and The Bride-To-Be came over this past weekend for dinner.

The menu was sooo ono! Crab legs, veggie kabobs, roasted corn and cocktails.

YUM!

Dinner should always be as relaxed as L.J is in this pic.

Party In The ATL

As Maid of Honor, I get to plan the bachelorette party!
And I'm sooo excited!
I'm envisioning a starting point at my house with decorations, hor d'ourves, mini games and lots of alcohol with an ending of gorgeous, passed out women in the limo on the way home from ATL.
Boys beware!

Fresh Start

Yay! TLH is not bipolar!
Not yet, anyway.
To make a long story short, TLH is diagnosed with adjustment disorder.
The Dr. said that bipolar usually hits children in their teens and since it runs on her dad's side of the family, there is still a chance she could inherit it.
She also said that it was good we were getting her help early and early intervention will definitely help for what can happen later.
TLH starts therapy in 2 weeks and the A. Team has already incorporated new rules around the house that her therapist suggested we try. And so far, so good.
I know this will only make the A. Team better because we all have the same goal...
To be one big, happy, loving family.

She's Sew Crazy

TLH has shown some interest in sewing since I first received my sewing machine and when the Easter Bunny brought her her very own starter machine, she was excited to get started.
As it turned out, that machine was a piece of crap.
I The Easter Bunny should have known that cheap wasn't the way to go.
So, I returned it it mysteriously disappeared and TLH started learning on my machine.

And, she loves it.
Her first make was this hair scrunchie.

It came out so good and she was sooo proud of herself!
I love when she feels accomplished.
But, we have to take it back to the basics because her hand sewing isn't as great as stepping on a pedal.

CraftFail.com

I don't know how I stumbled upon CraftFail.com, but I'm loving it!
75.5% of the clothing, crafts or whatever it might be that I try to make, end up as fails.
It usually takes me 2 or 3 tries before I just give up and settle I'm satisfied with the final product.
It may be because my measuring stinks.
But it is a big improvement from my old method of just eyeballing it.
Take these bloomers for example.
(Excuse the lack of pictures. My model was such a diva and didn't want pictures taken so I bribed her to sit still by letting her hold that tube. I really don't let her play with diaper rash cream.)

This was my very first time making bloomers.
I used this tutorial as a guide.
I didn't use a pillowcase. I used the matching fabric I made the pillowcase dress with.
I only had to redo them once. Whew! And they were still so-so.
I wish the leg openings were a little more stretchy than they are, but, she was able to get her chubby legs in them.
The leg openings on the first bloomer I made were just a little too tight.
It looked like they were cutting off her circulation.
I've since made another bloomer for her (which I'll share in a later post) and I only had to make them once. But, the leg openings weren't the same so one is smaller than the other and somehow one side came out longer than the other.
I don't know how that happened.
The innocent look on my face right now says it all. =)
Another fail project I just finished is this ruffled butt onesie.

I followed the tutorial to the tee (or t.?) but somehow I managed to still fail.
I even measured. Correctly.
I guess I was so intent on following the directions and concentrating that I forgot to make sure the ruffles were on straight.
It doesn't look too bad in the picture but when you hold it up, there is such a noticeable slant.
Maybe it won't be so noticeable when L.J wears it.
Oh, well.
I have 4 other onesie's to practice on.
Thank goodness for Gerber onesie packs.

My Muno

Buttahz is one of my besties from waaay back in the day.
Back when Nirvana was the shit.
Back when Doc Martens were on everyones feet.
Back when everyone dressed for raves.
I am sooo glad that we still keep in touch after all these years.
I made a Muno softie for her most adorablest son, Marz, today but as soon as L.J saw it, she had to have it.

I figured she would play with it for a few minutes and then move on to the next thing like she does with her other toys, but that didn't happen.
She kept Muno by her side for almost the entire day.

She even walked a few steps to get him.

I knew, then, that Muno wasn't going to be shipped off to his new home with Marz.
Muno now has sentimental value.
I'm sorry, Marz! I'll send you something even better than Muno. And I promise it won't have a drop of L.J drool on it!

So Much To Do

I have been on a yard sale/thrifting kick for a couple of weeks now, so after TLH's soccer game on Sat. I just had to stop at a couple that were on the way home.
Big mistake.
Mr. A ruined it for me.
He was hating on everything! He cock-blocked everything I picked up.
"You don't need that." "That thing doesn't work anymore."
I glared at him like I normally do when I have something ugly to say but keep it to myself because we're in public.
Never again will I take him with me.
He made me pass up on a baby jogger that I've been longing for.
Just the other day I told him I wanted one and what do you know?
I spot one at a yard sale.
First thing he says, "How are we getting it home?"
Hellooo...
Isn't that why we we bought Delilah?
To pile our crap in?
Needless to say, I didn't get anything.
Anyway, when we got home, I was still irraz, so while he was out painting the garage, I took the girls with me to go thrifting.
I found a couple of cute things, but my find of the day was an old pentagon side table with storage.
I haven't taken any photos of it but you'll see it in a future 'Before/After' blog.
I can't wait to get started on that project!
So little time.
As I mentioned, Mr. A has been working hard finishing the second garage we built a year ago and getting our pond pretty again.
And while he's been doing those projects, I've been resanding our back deck.
Yup, I'm handling power tools.
Well, just a sander, but it still has to get plugged into the wall before being used.
I was sanding away when I saw Mr. A in the corner of my eye on the top landing (where my new craft room will be!) of the second garage with a basketball.

Him and TLH were playing basketball and he decided to launch the basketball from that distance.
And guess what?
He made it on the second try.
He's such a big kid.
I also got a little break from sanding when the duckies came!
They usually swim in the pond in the mornings, but I guess they got a late start today.
TLH grabbed some bread and they led the duckies all the way to the house so I could get closer pics of them.

So cute!
Anyway, the deck should be finished and stained by the end of the week (yay! no more splinters!) and then I'll be able to start on that table.
So the plan goes.