Click Here to download a free Dora the Explorer game when you register to receive updates on Nickelodeon Video downloads and other Nick, Jr. offers. Thanks to Robin at Pink Coupon Cafe for this tip!

        

Well I didn't win the sewing machine - but I DID win the Pilsbury Honey Biscuit giveaway over at I Heart Savings   I am excited to have won two coupons for free cans of Honey Butter Biscuits along with a butter dish and knife.  The last time I remember winning anything, I was about ten and actually drew my own name out of a hat during halftime at a basketball game, maybe my luck is changing.  Thanks a bunch Michelle for the opportunity!

        

I wrote a post at the Sewing Business blog today about an Extreme Sewing Contest and it looked like so much fun that I just had to enter.  The grand prize is a brand new Janome sewing machine and as you can see from these pictures my ancient, but much loved Bernina could use a rest.  To enter the contest all you have to do is submit a picture of yourself "sewing" in an extreme location.



I've got four year old quadruplets, a five year old son, and not near enough sewing time so I figured if you can't beat'm, join'm!



My husband, the beekeeper, thought this was hilarious!  Since I'm allergic to bees, it was definitely extreme sewing for me.  Thank goodness it was a rainy day and all the bees were snug inside!

        

Wow!!  I can't believe that it's been almost two months since my last blog post.  It's been even crazier here than usually lately since my mom (and huge help with childcare) was sick for about a month due to an allergic reaction from poison ivy, and I've been working on two big course construction projects.  I've got one of them done, and the other is about half done so I thought I'd take a short break and come apologize to anyone who might have missed me   I plan to do a much better job of keeping up for the rest of the year!

Also, I found out that WalMart is giving away free samples of Garnier Nutrisioniste eye cream (while supplies last) and I simply LOVE this stuff so I wanted to share.  Just go to this page at WalMart and fill out your name and address so you can get your own free sample.

        

Last year we planted several butterfly bushes around the kids' play yard, and this spring we planted a bunch of cherry bushes on the other side of the play yard.  Of course there's no way that cherry trees would do well in our southern climate, but these cherry bushes were supposed to be hardier and we had hoped to maybe have some cherries next year.  Unfortunately, only one of them made it through the heatwave we had this summer, and I don't think we're going to get any cherries without at least two bushes for pollination.  The good news is - the butterfly bushes are looking beautiful and are doing their job!

        

I recently got one of those tiny netbook computers since I work mainly online, so that I can get online from anywhere without having to lug around a lot of equipment and now I don't how I ever lived without it   Well I found this adorable hot pink case for it on eBay for cheap ($6 - it's awesome and has lots of pockets), but when it got here I HATED the strap.  It was way too long, especially for such a small case, and when I tried adjusting it to shorten the length it became too bulky to carry comfortably.



I found some similar clips at Michael's and then had a great time trying to decide which ribbon I wanted to use.  I really could've taken the original strap apart and used the those clips, but I decided to save the strap just in case I might need it at some future point.

I folded the original strap while it was still attached to the netbook case to figure out what length I wanted - I determined that I wanted the final length to be about 10", so I cut a 21" piece of the ribbon to allow for doubling and for a seam.

Next I laced the two clips through the ribbon, overlapped the ends 1/2", and stitched the ribbon closed so that it resembled a ring.  Then I laid the strap out flat with the clips at either end, with the seam where I wanted it, and pinned it in place.  The final step was to stitch within 1/8" of each long edge of the ribbon and across at each end to hold the clips in place.

I LOVE the new look and it's so much easier to carry now.  Someone truly ambitious could even make a variety of different handles for their laptop or netbook case to suit every mood!

 

        

We were very lucky that Jacob's cousins, Sarah Lynn and Mark, were able to make it to his birthday party - this is the first year that their annual trip from Korea came near his birthday.  Our cousin Chris was also able to make it down from Pennsylvania and the kids were all happy that he got to come to the party too.

Of course I think they were more excited about our surprise guest, SpongeBob SquarePants!  Jacob is a huge fan so we sent him an invitation quite awhile back, but we were all suprised that SpongeBob was able to make it   A HUGE thanks to Aunt Diana for hooking us up with SpongeBob and for an awesome party, and to all the guests who gave Jacob a special day!!!

                 

        

 
I saw someone wearing a similar version of this cute no-sew shrug, so it's not my original idea, but that shrug was made from an adorable, designer label t-shirt with a fancy finished collar and sleeves, while this one started out as a cheapo blank long-sleeved t-shirt that I got at the craft store for $3.

The first step was getting rid of the icky collar and cuffs, which I carefully cut off close to the stitch line and then stored in a sandwich bag for some future project.



Next I measured to find the center line of the shirt and drew in a chalk cutting line, I also drew in a bit of a V-neckline at the top by measuring three inches down the center line and three inches off the center along the neckline.  For the tie strips I measured over two inches off the center line, and up ten inches from the hemline - which I later changed to nine inches as you can see from my chalk lines.  I would recommend that you try on the shirt before doing any marking and figure out how short you want the final shirt to be, then mark it with chalk or a pin, so that you don't have to move the shirt around once you've got it nice and flat and have started marking.

 
The final step is to cut along the lines - you should cut the horizontal lines first, over to the mark for the ties, then along the outer tie lines up to the new hem, and then lift the ties to finish cutting the back hemline.  Now you can lift the shirt if you want to finish cutting the centerline.  There is no need to finish the edges since they won't unravel and they'll roll up quite nicely after washing.  If I can find a pink long sleeved t-shirt, I might just go to the extra effort of finishing it with a lettuce edge using the serger.

It's been getting cool in the mornings and I've been LOVING having this shrug to throw on when I run my kindergartner to school.  Unfortunately the hubby's been hiding all his shirts since I've been on the prowl for another that I can cut up and keep in the car for chilly days and the rare trip to Waffle House

        

       
Wow - our big boy is all grown up!  Jacob started his first day of school yesterday and I'm so happy to report that he loved it!  We've been a little concerned about how he would react to being away from us all day because he's never been in daycare or anything, all of his caregivers are relatives, and he's never been away from us for longer than a Sunday school class.

We've been working with him all summer long, making sure he can handle his own belts and buttons for bathroom breaks, letting him know that daddy and mommy will be dropping him off in the morning then leaving for work, but we'll back and waiting for him when he gets out in the afternoon.

Well, we both went together to take him on his first day and he was raring to go!  We got out of the car in the parking lot at school and he says "give me my hug and kiss" then tries to take off and leave us there!  We took all our pictures at home so we wouldn't embarrass him too much at school, but we darn sure weren't just dropping him off in the parking lot on the first day!

I took Jacob to an open house last week to meet the teacher and see his classroom, but even with all the preparation we weren't sure where he needed to go, so we walked him inside and he graciously allowed us to each hold a hand while he went bee bopping along, SpongeBob backpack just a bouncing.  The teachers and school personnel were wonderful - on what has to be their longest, toughest day of the year they were all very patient with everyone and I'm not sure how we managed but all of a sudden we found ourselves back in the car without our baby, and he just didn't seem to mind at all when he said "see ya" and sorta waved bye as he disappeared down the hallway.

I don't know who was more nervous, Jacob, or Mommy, or Mamaw, or Nana.....but I know I spent the day kind of quietly freaking out, hoping he was doing okay and having a good time.  I thought I was making it to the school early to pick him up (newbie mistake apparently) and ended up at the backend of a long line, worrying the whole time that he'd be able to find me.  Of course all he wants to do when he jumps in the car is show me a new dance and sing a new song he learned.  He had a wonderful day and is looking forward to going back tomorrow, whew, maybe tonight I'll be able to get some sleep

        

On the way to our house we pass over about six miles of dirt roads through the woods and we often get to see all types of wildlife like wild turkeys, armadilloes, possums, deer galore and more than our fair share of snakes.  My husband insisted that we stop to check out this huge rattlesnake on our way out the other day, of course we did that from the safety of the car.  He took this picture with my cellphone and I readily admit to being too chicken to even lean out the window to take a peek.

We come across snakes sunning themselves in the road all the time since there's never much traffic back here, but usually they slither away pretty fast when they figure out that we're coming.  This guy was in no big hurry to get out of the way, acted like we were annoying him.  Actually waited for us to figure out how to get the cell-cam going, then finally got camera shy and crossed the road.

The hubby insists on driving around any living thing in the road (even the multitude of snakes) to the point of scaring me with the swerving at times.  I'm not gonna say what I do when I come across them while I'm driving, but this big fella better look out if I'm on my own the next time I see him.