Super Fun Night

When my husband travels, which is almost all of the time lately, he likes to call and let me know what he's up to....when he goes out to nice restauraunts...while we eat kraft macaroni for dinner.

(Yes, I also cook real food occasionally...but lately I'm busy...or nauseated...or tired.)

So, when my dear sweetheart called to tell me he was going out to Sticky Fingers, I called for an emergency "girl's night out". (Excluding Cozette, who is not generally well-behaved of late.) Of course, now "girl's night" has to be called "Super Fun Night" (after the new TV show, which we are SURE based it's 3 main characters off of Mabel, Grinda, and Candy, from the Disney cartoon, Gravity Falls).

{Please excuse the random side rant about tv.}

We went our for Tapas. Oh, yea. Fancy living, here we come...

Yes. We did sing the song. It was the only night we got to be fancy, so we had to.

I even let the girls order a couple of things that I hate, like shrimp and duck...as long as the kept them on their side of the table...so that I didn't have to smell them. (Oh, no. Now I've started to remind myself of my picky little son, Jon. How long has that been going on?)

Sofi and Annika were great company. 

They even awesomely took this picture slightly out of focus. Shaves off 10 years. :)

Super Fun.

...but maybe I should start going out with other people who actually pay for their own food...?

For you, Sarah

So, Sarah, you want to see my little "Cozy activity station".  

Here it goes:

Cozette is one of those busy kids. She always has to be doing something...or at least involved in what the rest of us are doing. This is so very different from the child right behind her, who is a lazy kid. He's happy to sit and "do nothing" (which usually means, sit and think about things that entertain him) or even just sit and make annoying noises for the rest of us to enjoy. I could offer him any number of activities...and he would pass.

That's why it's a Cozy station and not a "little kid station".

I put everything at that little table that I keep planning to get rid of...and then I realize that we do actually need/use it.

Lots of things to do, with the craft drawer and the playdough nearby in the kitchen buffet.

She has her "school books" to color in, along with crayons, pencils, and markers.

I like to grab seasonal stuff from the $1 section at Target or little things to paint from Michaels/AC Moore.

The little sewing machine is also over there, on the window ledge. That, however, is more of a "Mommy and me" activity. (I hide the pedal to make sure.)

For the record, I would put the little table up against the wall to the left....

....but then the cat uses it to reach my cuckoo clock! He's naughty.

The Homecoming Dress

Ah, the marathon sewing project is finally finished.

It didn't actually take forever...just three days of sewing...but it sure felt like an eternity.

(These first couple of pictures aren't a good representation of the color. The fabric was really more of a plum.) Why did this dress take so long? So many darts! Five in each sleeve! ...2 sleeves, with darted linings makes twenty darts just to put the sleeves together. Ugh.

(Besides which, I had to redo one of the sleeves...since my daughter doesn't have one tiny arm and one giant one...so that's really thirty.) 

...but I do like having my dresses lined.

Also, another cute and time consuming detail, the skirt has pleats instead of a gather.

I thought I disliked gathering....it's not so bad.

So, I got to baste each pleat...

...and then remove all of those basting stitches.

I'm so lazy.

We finally got to the last stitches an hour of so before the dance.

Now you can see the pretty plum color Sofi chose.

Sofia said she'd even wear it inside-out. :)

I loved the lace overlay, even though it was a little scary for me to work with.

(And I want to make a million of those peter pan collars! It was so fast and easy! Sofia added gold seed beads where the lace pattern was scarce.)

....and Anthony looked handsome too...and I didn't even have to sew anything for him! :)

Ugh.

So, my husband has been travelling a lot this year. Sometimes that means he is gone for a month, comes home to swap textbooks, and then leaves again. Recently, it has meant that he's staying in a nearby state for whichever rotation he's working in, and he comes home most weekends. 

It's kind of lame, but one gets used to it.

Sometimes I think I'm fine without his help, but lately...not so much.

This past weekend Tony came home and fixed the a/c (which I had not noticed wasn't working...I guess it wasn't too hot last week), fixed my vacuum cleaner, changed the batteries in our smoke alarms, and installed shelves in one of our doorless closets.  (And that project also gave us the opportunity to say, 

"Shelves in a closet...happy thought."...just like Elizabeth Bennet.)

Transformed the downstairs....because most of the things you now see in the closet, had been in a big pile in front of the closet.

It inspired me to clean the whole family room!

I was also inspired by the fact that homecoming is on Friday. I need to whip out Sofia's dress  - stat! 

How are those things connected?

Well, sometimes you need a clean space to make a mess in...or the pre-existing mess gets in the way.

So, of course, now I cannot find that pattern that I have already cut out (which is the worst part of having to use a stinking pattern!) ...and love.

I've looked everywhere and posted a $5 reward (normally, that gets anything found pretty quickly in my house.) Nothing. If it doesn't turn up tomorrow, we begin cutting out the backup pattern.

Hmmm....I've digressed quite a bit from my original topic....

...back to "crap that goes wrong whenmy husband leaves". 

He drives away on Sunday.

The very next time I get in my car, everything smells like gas or oil or exhaust or something toxic.

Yep, oil is leaking from the bottom of my car.

So, thank goodness I know nice people and they know a good mechanic!

So, in the midst of "governmental crisis" and whatever trash is going on nationwide, I'm in the midst of sewing and minivan crises and general emotional breakdowns.

Any bets on what will break next?...as long as it's not me!

On the way home from retrieving the van, I got us some consolation doughnuts.

(btw, this box matches my favorite house sweater...the one I sleep in and occasionally absentmindedly wear in public.) 

So, now I'm going to go eat a doughnut and google "how to remove oil stains from your driveway".

Our New Honey Bear

Sewing the liner for Cozy's "critter basket" got me thinking of those cute Calico Critters again. As I was looking for a nice addition to our critter family, I discovered something sad. So, so sad.

They have these same toys in the UK and in Japan, only they're called "Sylvanian Families" and 

they are much, much cuter!

I know you think I'm exaggerating, but no. Cuter. There you can buy Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. A split-timber farmhouse with a stone fireplace. A police call box with a badger "bobby"! A "sewing time with Mommy" set! ...with mother and daughter moles and a tiny sewing machine! It's really too unfair.

The Beekeeper and Beehive was the last straw. 

I ordered one from Great Britain (via Ebay).

NO REGRETS.

...cause just look at the tiny beehive...

...with removable frames!

The beekeeper bear has a veil and a tiny smoker and jars full of honey!

I found our beekeeper tending his hives on our history book. Yep. 

Them kids know how it's done!

I only have one concern. I hope Mr. Bears tail is naturally sting-proof....because there appears to be a design flaw in his suit.

One of these days I'll have to search out another adorable addition...from overseas. :)

Maybe Christmas?

A tisket, A tasket, A liner for my basket...

While summering around in Snohomish, I bought an old sewing basket at a thrift/antique store.

It was one more thing to squeeze into the car for the drive home, but I already had a plan for it. Cozette had been playing so sweetly with my Mom's "Calico Critter" toys. Whenever she finished playing with them, she'd clean them up into the wooden basket where they belonged. 

I thought, "This can be our critter basket!"

...but it was...you know...old, and the bottom had a bit of a residue built up in it.

 I knew I'd be making some kind of liner.

How do you like my pattern? It's on a napkin...and some scrap fabric.

Fancy, I know.

The lining fit ok, so I cut out the rest.

Really, I think making the ties was the hardest part. I guess I could have used ribbon, but I wanted it to be well-crafted....and ribbon felt like cheating.

Oh, man. I used so much starch on that fabric. Sometimes I wish I had a little less 100% quilting cotton and a little more low maintenance blends.

I sewed the trim in place before I put the lining and the main liner together. 

One less thing to try to think about.

(And isn't the yellow sweet! I got it at the PA Fabric Outlet a couple of years ago. 

I wish I had it in 5 more colors.)

Pinned everything in place (especially those dang ties), crossed my fingers, and started sewing.

...and it came together just as I envisioned!

Picnicky and cute.

The critters love it too.

Cozyhosen

I got these adorable lederhosen for my birthday. (Thanks Mom!)

...and, before I could get them hung up on my wall, Cozy discovered that they fit her.

Cutie!

Maybe she and James will have to be a gender-bent Hansel and Gretel for Halloween? ;)