Covered in glitter and recriminations

In spite of my Big Plans to make more felt toys and other handmade goodies for Christmas my two-year old niece Ella is the only one getting a handmade gift this year. Armed with my lessons learned from my first attempt at Kitschy Coo Pettiskirt tutorial I got to work.

The first time around I messed up my seam allowances and ended up with something very poofy due to short layers. My tulle was also too lightweight and wispy (read that: cheap). This time I got stiffer, sparkle tulle. So stiff in fact that I still ended up with something way poofier than I was aiming for.

I've had the sweater for months and wanted to make a pettiskirt to match. Due to the weird effect of a flash on the sparkle tulle and the seafoam underskirt you'll have to take my word that it *does* match.

The satin underskirt matches the tutu of the ballerina on the sweater. Which also matches the top cuffs of the baby legs I made.

As I was pulling the elastic Rylee walked by and saw the pile of princess craziness on my lap and proclaimed "That's mine's."

When I tried it on her to check the waist fit she immediately began to switch her hips and declare "I'm the true princess!" She was also willing to model the underskirt, if not change out of her favorite monkey pants.

She was finally willing to grudgingly concede that it was "Lella's" and mommy would make her one soon. So I'll be blogging a third attempt at some point in the near future.

And lest you think I'm the worst mother in the world for letting her be barefoot outside in the winter I'll just add that it was almost 60 degrees. So I'm only a moderately bad mother. For that reason at least.

This goes down in my house a few times a month

We have two golden retrievers, a female named Gala and a male named Marc Anthony.  We call Gala our nanny dog, because she's always taken care of all of us as best as she can without thumbs. Sometimes when something terrible happens to Rylee - getting her milk in the wrong cup for example, as happened in the video - it makes Gala very, very sad. She will come from anywhere in the house to be sad near Rylee, as you see her in the video. Sometimes this will make Marc Anthony sad. And the result is funny and sad, in proportion to the amount of sleep I've had.

As a bonus you can hear the best Christmas album ever at the beginning before the family starts in. Enjoy!

When favorite things collide

I love sewing for Rylee and had a few ideas for a handmade costume this year. Then someone offered me this free, new-with-tags pig costume.

I love free stuff almost as much as Rylee loves the first piece of Halloween candy.

I made the bag. Last year. It counts.

Mmmmm.....

Sung to a tune I think only my sister knows

Where are you going, my little one, little one?

Where are you going, my baby, my own?

 

Turn around and you're two. Turn around and you're four.

  

Turn around and you're a young girl...

 

...going out of the door. 

Turn around, turn around

 Turn around and you're a young girl...

  

 ...going out of the door.

 

I wish I had before pictures

We've been (finally) tackling all the storage needs in our house over the last month or so. We got new desks, re-arranged the office/sewing room and re-did the closet in the Master bedroom and Rylee's room. It's still a disaster area, but we're getting there.

I'll post pictures when it's all done. I'm so excited!

Doing my civic duty. Possibly for the wrong reasons.

Arizona has an early ballot system where you can vote by mail and not have to go to the polling place on election day. As the stay-at-home mom of a two-year old, this appeals to me greatly.

When we were out walking the dogs the other day I said to Eric "I like the convenience, but I wish I could still get my little sticker for voting." And yes, I was pretty serious.

So imagine my thrill when the balloting material came. They have my number.

Thinking

I'm thinking, more and more, about maybe, possibly, could-be-willing-for-the-right-thing, going back to work.

Here's how that's shaking out:

Angsty posts to Facebook about applying for a job: 1
Supportive comments from friends saying GO FOR IT: 28
Days since I applied to the first job: 2
Number of times Amazon has contacted me about a job in  Seattle: 2
Number of times the company I applied to has contacted me: 0
Day care facilities I've contacted as part of my process: 2
Number of times I cried watching a virtual tour of a day care: 1
Number of times I've changed what I think I want: 387478329783474938283744389
How many minutes since I applied to a second place: 5

Don't know what I'm hoping, but here's hoping!