Crafting and Babies

I have a problem.  I start projects then have a hard time finishing them.  I started a quilt, got all the squares sewn together and so now all I have left to do is the batting and the border and backing.  Do you think I can get the energy to go finish it?  I also have a blanket that I'm making for a friends new baby.  I've crocheted it and it's almost done.  I have a few blocks left to crochet and then piece the last few blocks together but I don't want to work on it.  I wonder why?  It seems like this is a problem that I should be able to find a cure for.  I try to tell myself that I can't start a new project until the current one is finished but then I never seem to listen to myself and next thing I know I've got two projects started and neither of them are finished. 

Jason says that this is my MO and that I have all sorts of projects started and as soon as I get the slightest bit bored with them I stop working on them and move on to something else.  You would think that after it took me 7 years to finish school and I never stopped working towards that goal that I would be able to finish a simple craft project, but nope.  Seems to be beyond my personal skill set.  I will finish these projects as they are gifts and so they need to be finished but it will be grudgingly finished without all the gumption from the beginning of the project.

In other news my girls are actually behaving themselves today.  I haven't had to yell at them recently for anything to major. Just had to tell Abby to stop bugging her sister once.  That's is so far and it's almost nap time!

Lastly can you believe that it's November?  It seems like it should still be summer but now Thanksgiving is just around the corner (literally it's only 3 weeks from tomorrow)  When I told people that our due date for this baby was Feb 21st, 2011 some of them were like, "You are so lucky!  You have the whole holiday season to help those last few months go by fast!"  Well I'm currently 24 weeks 2 days preggos and I realize that I have only 16 weeks left, and then I realize that I haven't made it to a due date yet so in all reality I hopefully only have 14-15 weeks left.  That is great news!!!  That is 3 1/2 months left.  And in 3 weeks (which will get me into the third trimester) is Thanksgiving, then 4 more weeks is Christmas, then a week later is New Years Eve, then 3 weeks after that is my 30th birthday, then I'm only 3 weeks out from my due date.  So within a few weeks of each other there is something going on to break up this long stretch of feeling fat and uncomfortable. 

Oh, lets talk about the season of babies for my group of friends: 

Melissa  due in November but already had her baby boy.
Heather  due middle of December (girl)
Katie  due end of December (girl)
Angel  due January (girl)
Sara  due January (???)
Myself due February  (girl)
Katie P. due March  (???)

We are going to have babies coming out our our 'ears' for months.  Heather and Angel are my step mom's kids and so there are going to be 3 newborn grand babies within 3 months!  My Dad is one lucky guy!

I guess we all got what we wanted for Christmas this year!  Here's hoping everyone has healthy, happy, sleepy little babies!  And that their deliveries are uncomplicated and only minimally painful!

Quilting...

So I LOVE Ebay!!!  It is the best website for finding cheap things!  I found a package of pre-cut 5" quilting fabric squares from Moda called Freebird.  They are a mildly retro print that has tons of colors and is basically gender neutral leaning towards girl because of some of the butterflies on a few of the squares.  I got 126 of these squares for $19.99 plus $3.99 shipping.  It took only 3 days to get them and that is pretty impressive!

So I got them and couldn't hold back, I had to start sewing them together.  I have very little sewing prowess and figured that I would just try to square them up and sew them together.  So I sat down and with the help of Abby we sewed them together.  I got half of this done and am going to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow morning to try to find some backing material and batting.  I'm so excited to get this done!  But it's going to be a big let down once it is done as it will be over.  I will be super proud to have constructed this from my own two hands for my new little one but once it's done I wont have anything to work on.  It's like sex, you get excited to do it, get into the action and feelings and then you blow your wad and it's all over and all you have left is the clean up.  Satisfying but over too quickly!

 sorry fuzzy again...

So, I feel like I should limit myself and only work a little bit on it every day to make it last but I can't.  I'm like a 10 year old boy and that I should only eat 2 pcs of Halloween Candy every day to make it last but no, instead I gorge myself on it and feel sick all day just cause I ate it all in one day!

So I've been working on this blog for about a week now and I've realized that I must be a bit ADD because every day it's something different.  I have written about mud trucks, crocheting, quilting, grocery shopping, budgets, and family life.  I keep thinking that I should focus on one subject and keep each post about that topic but my life isn't focused on one topic.  I'm a mother of 2.53 girls, married to a great, however occasionally stubborn man, I like to create things in my free time and I can't keep my mind focused on just crocheting or just quilting or scrapbooking.  I think that I will continue to write about whatever is going on in my life at that moment and I hope that you all are enjoying my rambling and that you can at least find something that speaks to some aspect of your life.

Until the next crazy topic comes up...

Directions, optional?

So I've decided that since I can't ever find what I want for what I want to pay for it I'm going to just start making things.  I need a new diaper bag for when this baby comes since the one we are using is WAY to small.  So I found a pattern of a bag that I liked and some material that I liked.  So today I sewed it together...  Well it's a about the same size as the one we are already using...



Well the picture is a little fuzzy but you can get the idea.  So I'm going to alter the pattern to make it the right size and with the right pockets and such. 

Directions for me are something that I always have a problem with.  I never seem to follow them in the right order or think that I understand them without actually reading all of them.  So I always seem to have to make a sample project then I can figure it out and make the one I really want to make.  Since this one is too small for what I want I'm going to have to completely rip apart the pattern to make it the right size and will fit my purpose!  I also want to add a flap to the top instead of a zipper so I guess I might actually have to make another sample. 

Etsy.com is a market place that people create 'stores' that they sell their handmade items.  I'm going crazy making things around here and have thought about setting up a store.  It seems pretty straight forward.  They charge $.20 for each 4 month listing and then 3.5% of the purchase price when you sell something.  Whoever thought about creating websites for people to sell things is insane.  They have got to be uber rich by now, I guess it is a million dollar idea that someone (who isn't me) thought of!  Where is my million dollar idea?  I want an idea that costs nothing for start up but makes me millions of dollars.  I'm not afraid of working for my money or anything I just want to find something that will MAKE me money!  Is that too much to ask? 

It sucks when you realize that you have X amount of money to go grocery shopping and trying to make sure that you can get all of your groceries and stay in your budget.  I only go to the store every other week, used to be once a month but I don't have that energy anymore!  So that helps to keep the costs down, I'm going to clip coupons and buy things that are on sale too.  I found that things like that will help to reduce your monthly grocery bill a ton if you do it right!  I might have to stop at 3 different stores but doing so will save me $20-$30 per month.  That's $20-$30 worth of craft supplies that I can buy! 

Speaking of craft supplies.  I don't know if I've ever told you but I LOVE ebay.com.  I found a lot of 126 5" squares of high quality quilting fabric for $20 today.  It should be the perfect amount to make a blanket for the new baby.  I'm super excited to get started on it and I'm hoping it comes in the mail quickly!  I've told myself that I can't start that blanket until I finish the one that I'm crocheting for Jeremy and Melissa's little Jacob.  I'm hoping we can go see him soon to give him his blanket and hat. 

Here's my theory on crafts.  As long as I make something that is useful (that we actually need) or that I can give as a gift then it's not a waste of money.  It accomplishes 2 things, creates something that doesn't go to waste and keeps my mind busy so that I don't go crazy.  What else could I ask for?  However I have my 2 nephews for Christmas and they aren't going to appreciate the crocheted hat and mittens that I'm thinking about making them...  oh well. Beggars can't be choosers!

Well I think that is enough for the day.  I've touched on enough subjects for the day...

First Post... hope you enjoy...

Ok, so here's my attempt at blogging.  Here's my story:  Married since 2005 to Jason.  Girls: Abigail (Abby) 4 years old, Kaitlyn (Kate) 2 years old.  Both a joy to have but can be trying at times as you will see.  I'm pregnant with Baby Girl #3 which is due February 21, 2010.  So with this pregnancy, like my other two I suffer from Hyperemesis, which is a nasty version of morning sickness in the extreme.  Don't say you understand if you just had morning sickness because it's nothing like morning sickness.  It's unrelenting and nasty.  Anyway off that soapbox for the day... LOL. 

So I'm home on disability from work and have a ton of free time.  I spend my days sitting at home doing a whole lot of nothing.  I've started crocheting things.  It keeps my hands busy and lets me create things so I don't go crazy.  I've so far made 2.5 blankets (working on the third one for a friends new baby right now) 4 hats and am thinking that I'm going to have to start on a new project soon.  I'm into making things for the tiny humans as they are just so cute.  I'm thinking also that if I have enough free time to make a ton of things I will have to look into creating an etsy.com store account to sell some of these things on.  Hmmm.... do I have that much free time on my hands?  I do have 2 tiny humans at home to keep from hurting each other...  So if you'd like anything made for a tiny human let me know! 

I've also started going to a book club that is once a month.  I figure that I deserve one night a month to go out with other women, some of which have children and some without, to enjoy the evening without my children or hubby.  I think that every woman deserves an evening to be surrounded by other women...  why we would want that I'm not always sure but I need to have an adult discussion without men in the room sometimes!

So I don't know how often I will actually blog about life but it might be a good way to get rid of some of the steam that life creates.  So hopefully you will enjoy listening to me ramble about why life can cause you such joy and why life can cause you such grief, all in the same day!

Let the estrogen free!