Brain Fart Friday

So I just KNOW there was something I was gonna post about and for the life of me, I can't think of what the heck it was!!

Who cares, it's Friday and I have a three day weekend coming up, Yay!!! Mr. McD will be working, the kids will be at their dad's. This mean 3 whole days of uninterrupted crafting (till 5 o'clock when Mr. McD gets home). Don't think I don't have my 'to do's' ready. *rolls out list*

Let's see ... there are two pressing items. The first is to make a seat cover for Mr.McD's jeep. That should be fairly quick since it's just gonna be some slip-ons with velcro closures to allow for the hardware. I had him pick up some painting drop-cloths from the hardware store. Will wash them tonight and begin tomorrow morning.

The other will be a fab-oo messenger style book bag for Princess Buttercup. Her teacher gave her a binder to use instead of the standard folder. It just doesn't fit in her kid-size-appropriate backpack. I picked up some oilcloths at the Fredricksburg Trade Days. Now i finally have a project worthy of actually cutting into them. She spent an evening and a morning going back and forth between patterns...so I'm gonna make it out of both. Yeah, me smart.

Never go to Eleven...

A month? A whole month? Wow...I never even went to Eleven.

Well needless to say I did get my sewing machine fixed...but not before the man at the repair shop convinced me to buy another one (refurbished of course) to take home right away. And right away, I finished pillow totes, yay! Here's one of them (listed on my etsy of course)

I was so excited this Monday morning when I opened my etsy and found that I had made my FIRST SALE over the weekend! What a wonderful feeling that was. Tracy from Seattle bought a pillow tote from me. She doesn't know it yet, but I sent her a little pin just for being my very first customer. And just to give me that extra boost, my fab mom (the very person who made me a crafter) bought another pillow tote and my Joan brooch. Aaawww, thanks mom!


BTW kids started school on Monday and were glad to do so. Little man was excited a week before, Princess Buttercup was unhappy until the very morning. As she got ready and as we walked to class her excitement grew and grew. All was well by Pledge of Allegiance time!

So I'm gonna start another batch of pillow totes this weekend (maybe sooner). Kids will be with their father and Mr. McD will be working. Also starting on my dioramas for Christmas. I'd like to have a whole bunch of them, but each scene takes so much time, don't know how many I can reallistically crank out. So far I have 5.

Oh and that top ten that goes to Eleven? Let's finish that off, shall we?
8) A certain earth citizen of amphibian persuasion left this world. It was covertly replaced with a look-a-like to avoid princess drama.
9) On the Fourth of July, Mr. McD drove the firetruck in a couple of neighborhood parades. Little McD and I tagged along behind ... I knocked down an old lady's mailbox BY ACCIDENT. Don't worry I replaced it, with love even. Holiday mayhem; good times, good times.
10) We started some gardening. Started, not finished. but started.
11) ... has already been shown to you. The crafty goodness of Pincess Buttercup' diorama but I'll show you again for good measure. She may sell these on my esty.

"45% of the way there!!" or...Top Ten that drags on

Seems like I'll never get to 11! well, my fabulous bags from the last post are on hold for now. I realized that my rinky dink 'hello kitty' machine is not going to cut it when it comes to mass production (mass = more than 3). The Brother that Mr. McD bought me went to the shop today. The repair guy said it's defiantely worth fixing. He also managed to talk me into buying a refurb'd machine with the promise of a ridiculously low, under-the-table price for fixing the Brother. Updates on my new machine tomorrow.

In the meantime, please feel free to oooh and aaah over this cute little 'diarama' made by Princess Buttercup. She worked on it as I was making some of my Christmas ornaments. I think it's such a funny expression! I'm trying to convince her to make a few more but I think she may be through with the whole thing as she has moved on to sewing.



As our countdown resumes we find we've already, made a headboard, stuck a bean in our ear, broke a hand, bought a car and got gutted. Let's see what other fun the clan can get into.

THE SIXTH thing that happened was that we went on our family vacation. We loaded up the minivan, piled in the kids and had ourselves a good old fashioned roadtrip. There was no hot blonde traveling alongside (thank God) and no crazy aunt dying on us (double thank God). If you don't get the reference, just keep moving.

We first went from Houston to St. Louis and neighboring parts to visit the my inlaws. The weather was cool for a Texas girl like me. I even required my sweater at night, Yikes! We had loads of fun visiting with little cousins. MIL and SIL made fabulous dinners for us while we were there. We were treated to a minor league baseball game that, I have to say, I think was far better than a major league game would have been. It just felt so cozy and "small town-y". Everybody made us feel so welcome!

From STL we forged on to Pittsburg and its neighboring parts. The main event there of course was the famous Kennywood Park one of the nations oldest amusement parks. There are a couple of books about Kennywood and it's history and it's actually quite interesting! If you ever have a chance to visit Pittsburg, do yourself a favor and go to Kennywood.

THE SEVENTH thing that happened was that me and my kiddos all had our B-days in the month of June. While in St. Louis, the family threw us a birthday party/family gathering Luau complete with leis! The dinner, made by elder Mrs. McD, was DELISH! there was presents (of course) and best of all CAKE! don't have pics to post yet, but I PROMISE they're coming!!

Top Ten that goes to Eleven...part deux

where was I...oh yes, when we last left Buttons, she was making a desperate attempt at one-upping cutie pie sister by updating on all the missed blog opportunities in the fabulousness that is her life. let's tune in...

So the fourth thing that happened was that wonderful and fabulous Mr. McD went out and bought me a 1977 Chevy Camaro. She's a fixer upper (which is part of the fun, isn't it?) and sooooo cool. See here my bitchin Camaro

Love starting it up, you should hear the roar!!

The fifth thing that happened: you should know that the kids aren't the only ones with the uncanny ability to cause themselves great harm...NOOOOO. Mr. McD spent a glorious week in the hospital for a rutpured appendix (a nasty case, according to his surgeon) because he waited a week before deciding that he was just in too much pain. He drove himself to the emergency room, waited for hours before he was admitted (of course). Was gutted like a fish, got a cool nasty scar up his belly, got SMACKED on that scar by my loving mother (hi mom!) and teased a little by me.....nice going, Mr. McD! Yeah, he's my tough macho hombre.

Here he is looking not unlike Jason Statham. Oh Yeah.

Here he is unwittingly doing his best founding father imitation. Fabulous!

That is it for now. Oh! I almost forgot, finished my first grocery bag made of upcycled materials! It was extremely easy and I loved doing it. Just need to add a few embellishments. Last night I started a little production line. I have about 5 bags ready to be sewn. Show 'em later!

The Catch-up Countdown -or- Top Ten that goes to Eleven

So, as promised, I'm catching up on all the stuff that shoulda been blogged but since I was busy doing the stuff to blog about, I didn't blog. I'm bringing a Top Ten list of Stuff that happened...except My list goes 'one more' doesn' t it? Now bare in mind, I work for a living, so all things will not get listed today. (this will also give me stuff to blog for a few days, won't it? MOO-HOO-HA-HA!)

First thing that happened: I painted my fabulous headboard It wasn't that it was a bad headboard, or ugly or anything. Just needed a change up to match the decor in my bedroom. It's quite pretty; it's a pale blue with a darker blue "age" rubbed into it. Does that even make sense? In the center of it I painted some tree branches with flowers. Love it!

Second thing that happened: Princess Buttercup felt the burning urge to stick some sort of "bean" in her ear. The discovery of this went something like this:

"Mommy, I think there's something in my ear." I sit her down, head in my lap to try to clean or wash this myserious thing out. As she's sitting there, she says to me, she says,

"I think it's a bean".

"why do you think it's a bean?"

"because I think it's black" .....HMMMM.

"how do you know it's black?"

So she goes on to tell me how she thinks it may or may not, be a seed....a seed that she might have put in her ear, but maybe not. I ask if she's running for office. A visit to our beloved Dr. Don is promptly scheduled.

The seed, bean, whatever was extracted but not with out much pain and anxiety. Here you see both the bean and Princess Buttercup doing her best Ann Baxter.

But wait! It doesn't end there, no. You see, my children are MASTERMINDS at finding ways to injure themselves or insert foreign objects into their bodies.

Third thing that happened: My darling little man broke his hand. Whilst making an earnest and vehement effort to not miss the bus, he managed to simultaneously take out a locker with is knuckles and totally misalign his hand into a cool Mr. Spock formation. Below please find photographic evidence of this one-two punch of future-marine destructive power.

Just look at that knuckle. The bruise covered the top of his hand and his palm as well.

We can make him faster, (slightly) stronger, but not more careful...

Well that's the first three things on the list. Off to an exciting start, huh? See told you the stuff was good. Not ABC Afterschool Special good, or Lifetime movie good, but maybe a Leave it to Beaver episode good.

oh, it's on now...

So my cute little kewpie doll of a sister started a blog...putting me to shame for NOT updating since oh...let's see....MARCH.

Inspired to catch up, I'm posting today. I don't have anything exciting but I just HAVE to put something down. Maybe I can give you a rundown of stuff that's happened since March. It's good stuff, I promise...stay posted ahaha!! See what I did there? 'stay POSTED'. oooh, crack myself up.

BTW here's a picture of me n Sister Kewpie...I'm the tall one in the pink. She's the ....kewpie.

whoa!

Talk about your time off! life really does come at you fast. a lot has gone on since my last post. Princess Buttercup put a bean in her ear, little man almost failed 7th grade, Mr. McD had a ruptured appendix and bought me a Camaro.

On the 'artistic' front, I've made several items to start listing in my etsy. Scoped out several boutiques I think would be good for my products. Built a light box.