Things I've Loved This Week

Preparing for my best friend's wedding.



Bought my hubby the new Zelda game for Christmas and had no idea it would have such a whimsical soundtrack. Great nap time music.



Kona Solid Poseidon Bundle. Getting ready for the FMQAYGQAL!



Geeky children's books. You can find this one here.



My new Erin Condren life planner. Keep an eye out. I'll be sharing more about this one later.



Relient K Christmas album.

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Look what the mailman brought me today!!



I got some money for Christmas so I have been shopping!

Also, I got these:



These are two of the three items I won from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! The cards are so cute! I just love all of them. They were sent over by Linda from A Maiden Hair Fern. She has a great quilt blog. You should go check it out. The book is a handmade science book for my little Mazer. She's going to be so smart!! I had a hard time choosing which book I wanted. I was SO close to getting the mustache one instead! Go check out Victoria's blog here.

I know. Two posts in one day. I was just too excited!

My Blogger's Choice Bundle!!

It took a lot of time, but I finally got a good board put together. I bring you, Danny's Awesomely Fantastic Fabric Bundle for Fat Quarter Shop!



1. Palladium Gray Gridlock
2. Domestic Bliss Aqua with Cream Beaded Curtain
3. Safari Sweet Organic Dark Orange Solid
4. Etchings Woven Charcoal Dash Stripe
5. Little Apples Aqua Leaves
6. Whimsy Yellow Flower Mosaic
7. Little Apples Aqua Sweater Check
8. Fairy Tale Friends Aqua Twinkle Twinkle
9. Promenade Yellow Dots
10. Sorbet Aqua Spa Ikat
11. Kona Cotton Windsor
12. Bella Solids 30's Yellow
13. Annie's Farm Stand Orange Ring Dings
14. Coming Home Peacock Blue Barn Siding
15. Circa 52 Organic Shroom Tree Stripes

I'm linking up at Quokka Quilts right now!

Where am I today?

Why, I'm over at Love Affair With My Brother. Go check me out! I have a yummy recipe for you over there!

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest

My friend Laura's persistence has paid off in a BIG way. She has convinced Fat Quarter Shop to let her host an awesome contest in which the winner will get their choice of fabrics! Here are the details from her site:

It's finally here! Nope, not Christmas which a lot of you are still celebrating as I write this, but the day AFTER Christmas (known in various parts of the world as Boxing Day), which is the day I have been waiting for, the day I can reveal all... Very exciting sponsored competition! Sooo excited about this.

If you have looked through the Fat Quarter Shop's FQ bundles section, you will surely have noticed the 'Blogger's Choice Bundles'. Woweee, I thought. Wouldn't it be great to be so famous a blogger that you get your own bundle listed in the FQS?



I thought it might be fun to post what I'd put together as a bundle for FQS if I was a famous blogger.

And then I thought you might find that fun too!

Especially if FQS has hopped on board and offered one lucky person a fat quarter bundle all of their own choosing as a prize.

Well, sorry, that's not happening.

Nope, not a fat quarter bundle. They're offering you a WHOLE HALF YARD of 15 fabrics of your choice - 12 prints and 3 solids. The only problem now is that I can't win. Dammit.

What you need to do:

Go to The Fat Quarter Shop website and choose 12 coordinating prints and 3 solids from their selection. There are various ways of browsing - I started off in the 'modern fabric' section and went from there.
Either a) create a blog entry about your set of fabrics; or b) if you don't have a blog, upload them somewhere they can be seen in one link - eg flickr, picasa, etc. You must include pictures of your fabrics. You can 'borrow' these from the FQS site. It would be very helpful to the judges if you could do a photo collage of your various prints. Instructions below if you don't know how - new IT skills are always useful!

Come back here and link in your entry by 15 January. Please link your photo collage as the thumbnail if you can! I'm going to post mine in the next few days. I started with one print I loved and worked others around it. My 'shortlist' ended up at about 23 fabrics and boy was it hard to cut down!



This is just a snippet of her post, but you get the idea. Stop by and see her blog and be sure to join in this fun contest!! I'll post my picks as soon as I figure out exactly which ones I want!

Things I've Loved This Week

I finally opened my Accuquilt this week. I haven't cut anything with it, but I touched everything... twice. :)



Made some Cheeseburger Soup from Taste of Home. SO GOOD. Get the recipe here.



Touching twinkle lights.



Jeni's quilt. I know she made it a while ago, but I love it anyway. I am seriously considering copying it!



Disney channel has been playing this movie over and over. I totally forgot how much I love it! Ride like the wind, Bullseye!!

I am going to be checking out for Christmas. I want to spend as much time with my family and little lady as I possibly can! I will be back after the holiday.

I hope you all have a very happy Christmas!

Earrings and Zucchini

I love earrings.

I don't wear them very often, but I absolutely love them. I've seen the fabric earrings floating around the inter webs and I thought to myself, "I could do that!" So I did.











I also made yummy zucchini parmesan last night for dinner from Handle the Heat. I have had it pinned for all of a week and even that was too long for me to wait! It was simple to make (although it did have two oven steps) and tasted delicious! I'll definitely be visiting this recipe again soon! I was in too much of a hurry to take pictures while preparing it (I was babysitting too...) and I didn't think to take any pictures until it was all but demolished, so please excuse the photo from their website. I had this pinned on the "Yum" board, but now you can find it on the "Made it" board.



All in all, even though there was no sewing to be had, yesterday was a pretty freaking fantastic day. I cleaned my house a bit, danced with Clara, had a couple of friends visit and just had a good feeling, happy day. Don't you just love days like that?

More stupider

Any Phineas and Ferb fans in the house? If so, you'll know what I mean when I say my brain is lying on the floor next to Frankenstein's monster's.

I used to consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I graduated first in my class with a double major and a minor. I taught high school AP classes. I was a tutor. I took graduate classes, for Pete's sake! I was quick witted. I could hang with the most sarcastic, the most charming, the most clever of people... And then I got pregnant.

I'm sure there was a huge collective sigh of recognition from all the mothers out there reading along, and if you're a mother and you didn't sigh with recognition and understanding of my situation, you suck.

I was talking today with the mother of one of my students, relaying to her my dilemma. She completely understood my inability to finish my sentences even in conversation with her. My baby is five months old and I still can't find my words.

I drove to my husband's work when I was supposed to go to a friend's house a 30 minute drive back the way I came.
I put in an order at the deli and left without picking it up.
I routinely put on Mazer's pants without snapping her onesie first.
I wore two different color Toms out to the mall.
A passerby kindly pointed it out.
I can't make the DVD player work, which I actually KNEW how to do at one point.
I forget to turn off the straightener, so I've stopped doing my hair.
I lose important paperwork and find it months later in the bin with the dog toys.
I put the mayo in the cabinet.
I found my cell phone in Mazer's laundry bin.
Good thing because I always forget to do the laundry.
I wrapped a few gifts without taking note of who the recipient should be.
I wore a shirt backwards all day once.
I rewatched all the seasons of Psych and legitimately could not remember what happened.
I can't tell you the names of the main characters of any of the shows I watch religiously.
But I can describe them.
I have also lost all ability to recall anything in books I've read, hence the reviews.

I'm a mess.

It's embarrassing! I've lost all confidence in myself. People I used to joke with I try to avoid because I know I'm fresh out of retorts. No longer am I a smooth talking, well-rounded business professional. No. Now I am a bumbling bag of hormones who has lost the ability to properly dress myself. I really feel I owe my mom an apology for all those years I mocked her for tattered shirts and frizzy locks and hesitant speech. If I were her, I would have high-fived me in the face. Hard.

This little rant has no meaning, but thank you if you've read this far. Now I'm going to scoot off to bed and try to remember to make the bottle BEFORE waking the baby tomorrow.

If you have any related stories, please share them! I'd like to know I'm not the only one fit for the looney bin out there!

Worth it

In case you were wondering, this is what makes 4am feedings worth while.

Stuff I loved this week

I love going to people's blogs and seeing what they are fascinated with each week. It makes me feel like I know them better. So, I've decided to try it out; show all you lovelies what I've been pinning and googling this week!



Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" series... just. too. good.



Voile scarf from Lindsay Sews. Three things about this:

1. Lindsay's scarf is adorable, and I know it's soft!
2. I have never sewn with voile, but this makes me want to try.
3. I don't know how to pronounce "voile".




Half Moon Modern. Julie got some in over at The Intrepid Thread. I don't know why, but I am drawn to this line.



Sugar Cookie Pop Tarts. Addictive.



Tea.



We discovered White Collar earlier this week. I've accomplished nothing.



Embroidery patterns and Wild Olive. I just discovered this blog and it is ah-maze-ing!

And Mazer turned over for the first time this week! So precious! She's growing up so fast!!

Guest Blogging at Hopeful Threads

Good morning! Isn't it a lovely day?? I just love winter!

Today I am guest blogging over at Hopeful Threads. I made a nice little Christmas tutorial for you, so go check it out here!

Something New at Mommy For Reals: Stardust - Neil Gaiman

Most of you don't know this, but once upon a time I was an educator. I'm a stay-at-home momma now, but even though my life has turned from SATs and essays to binkies and diapers, I still love a good book.

Before creating Mommy For Reals, I had another blog, a book blog I created in collaboration with a friend of mine. When she had her son, she decided blogging wasn't really for her anymore and I was left to tend to our little piece of the internet alone. After much consideration, I have decided to combine all my interests into one blog. I know it is a risk. I know I may lose followers. My goal has always been to portray myself to my online friends as I am in person and it would be unfair to hide my uber-nerdy, book-always-in-tow side from you all! If you don't want to read my book reviews, feel free to skip them, just please don't leave me for good!

So, here we go.



Stardust is one of my favorite movies of all time and every time I’m asked why, I never seem to have a very good answer. “Because I like it” is usually my retort of choice. I know it isn’t a reasonable answer and I realize the vagueness defeats the purpose of the inquirer’s intent, but I really cannot seem to put into words why I enjoy the movie so much. It’s fantasy. It’s adventure. It’s Robert DeNiro in a petticoat. So, when I discovered that my favorite movie was actually based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, I rushed to my local book dealer (who am I kidding? Barnes and Noble stores are EVERYWHERE) and picked up a copy that wouldn’t fit on my already overflowing bookshelves. Jumping to the top of my “To Read” list, I poured through the pages eagerly only to find that in this case, the movie was better.

This is a story about a young man named Tristan who adventures into the land of Faerie (Stormhold, in the movie) to find a star that has fallen from the heavens to bring back to the undeserving brat he has found himself in love with. As it turns out, fallen stars are quite desirable and Tristan finds himself matched in a race with a brutal prince of the land and a trio of dangerous witches. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot because it is such a fantastic story and I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun of putting the pieces together for anyone.

The reason I like the film more than the book is just a matter of personal preference. The movie has more instances of comedic relief than the novel and leaves out some of the more provocative scenes, whose detail was really quite unnecessary to the storyline, but to be expected from a title nestled on a shelf labeled “Fantasy”. I haven’t read any of Neil Gaiman’s other novels but I have seen many snippits of him floating around the Internet which make me quite intrigued by his nature. It seems the contributors of one of my favorite websites, www.neatorama.com, are equally as intrigued as Gaiman has been the topic of many of their posts. I would definitely give another one of his books a shot but I would probably scour the library for them rather than invest in owning a copy of my own.

Overall, Gaiman’s story is worth the effort. I recommend the movie over the novel, but if you are just one of those people who MUST read the novel first, go for it. Just note: I would not hand THE BOOK to anyone who is troubled by the details of a little sexual exploit.

My Eyes Hurt

I just finished quilting this rainbow quilt (I call it the Pride quilt... shhh!) I was getting mesmerized by the fabric! SO. MUCH. COLOR.

This is another Comfort Quilters quilt, and just so you know, I do NOT pick the fabrics!

Tutorial: Snowball Ornament

Hello Lovelies!

When my husband and I were first married, we didn't have a whole lot of money to go out and buy Christmas decorations. We went from store to store looking for the cheapest prices on ornaments, wrapping paper, and the Christmas "necessities". I remember REALLY wanting a nativity set, but seriously, those things are expensive!! (We settled on a Fisher-Price Little People nativity set a few years later, but that's neither here nor there...) We raided the dollar store here in town, but the selection was minimal and we didn't want a dozen of the same ornament on the tree so, I decided the cheapest way to display a variation of ornaments would be to just make them. As the years have progressed, we've been trading out the old, ugly ornaments with new, shiny ornaments, but some of those handmade trinkets still grace our tree every year, and I'm going to teach you how to make one of my favorites! Behold! The Snowball Ornament!



Laaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (<--- Angels singing, of course!)

Now, these were created before I owned a hot glue gun meaning they are incredibly easy to make. This may be a good holiday craft for the kids to help with too.

Materials:

White yarn (I got the fluffiest stuff I could find)
Flat head pins
Ribbon
Styrofoam balls



This is easy. Wrap the yarn around the styrofoam ball. I used a pin to hold the end to the ball, but you can just hold it if you want.



When you've covered the entire ball with yarn, use a pin to hold the end of the strand in place.



The pin is small so you can't even see it!



Next, take a piece of ribbon and cross it like so. Pin the ribbon to the snowball near the pin you used to hold the end of the yarn. This will be the loop you use to hang it one the tree.



And finished! I told you it was easy. I was honestly worried they would fall apart since there is no adhesive used, but I've had them for 7 years and they haven't fallen apart yet! I still have about 10 of these on my tree. They're subtle. I like that.

I left mine plain, but you could easily dress them up with a bow at the base of the ribbon or with some brightly colored yarn. The sky's the limit!