CHRISTMAS 2007

Christmas was good to us. Emmi got a boatload of Littlest Pet Shops, which brings her count of total pets to a whopping 61. She also got a new bike. YES, she got one last year too, but geez, she grew so much that last years bike is way too small. So this year I bought her a 20 inch bike, it is a bit big for her, but I’m okay with that.

Emmi bought me a cute turtle necklace and the a joint gift from my parents. My dad took some of the gem rocks he found in N. Carolina and made them into necklaces. Mine was a beautiful green swirl Emerald. Emmi picked it out for me. My dad also gave Emmi one later in the day. I've included pictures of our necklaces and my ring below. The pictures don't do them justice, they are sooo pretty.

At my parents house I got an electric skillet. I know it’s weird but I have wanted one for YEARS and have just never bought myself one. I can’t wait for zucchini season now. I can guarantee it will be used every night from July-Oct. *Smile* My parents also gave me a Magic Bullet blender (yeah, I can throw away the piece of crap blender in my cupboard). Oh and I won’t have to use a wooden spoon to shove ice cubes down while I’m blending drinks anymore. I also got a beautiful ring from my dad. Once again from the gems he and my mom found in N. Carolina. This ring is silver with a dark pink Ruby.

So now Christmas is over, and we are approaching the end of 2007. Around this time of year most people start looking back at what the last year brought. For us the last year has been good. We’ve now spent a year in our new home. We’ve put in a yard, mostly finished the room in the basement, adopted a new pet, and painted some walls. We spend more time together making new memories and best of all we have had one more year together. 365 more days of getting to know the precious spirit the Lord has blessed me with., I really can’t believe she is almost 8. 365 more days of being able to hug the ones I love, build more bonds and start new friendships. After all, isn’t that the best gift of all?

THE DRESS

I got an itch. Ya know, one of those "I need to do _______." My sister tells me that when I get one of those I'm supposed to go lie down until the itch goes away. Once again I didn't listen to my sister.

The itch was that I thought it would be fun to make Emmi's Christmas dress. Every year she has a special holiday dress to wear to church on the Sunday before Christmas. The last two years she has been able to wear the same dress (only because I bought the thing big). *smile*

This year while shopping for fabric I saw a display at JoAnn Fabrics. It was a pretty holiday dress in gold and black. The bottom of the dress was gold with little Scotty dogs in velvet. I decided that it looked easy enough (large snort) to make.

So I took Emmi back to the store with me to let her see it and to pick the fabric. She chose blue instead of the gold, but she too liked the dress. We bought the fabric ($14 a yard) and headed home. Now I just had to make it. *smile*

The day after we bought the fabric I decided to get started. I cut out the bottom of the dress, and then while cutting out the top portion I realized that I had cut the bottom a size too small. (smile fades). I decided to push on and if the dress turned out not to fit my daughter, I was just going to have to pass it on to my niece.

I got the bottom sewn and the top sewn, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to gather six feet of fabric into a 14 inch waist....so I stopped for the day.

A week or so later I picked it up again and managed to gather the waist (just don't look to closely). My smile once again grew. Now it was on to the zipper. *rolls eyes*

I'll start off by saying that I HATE zippers. Hate, with a capital "H". They are soooo not easy to put in, and rarely do my zippers actually look good. But I knew going into this project that I would have to put one in the dress, so I dug the zipper out of the bag and got to work.

And presto.... the zipper went in with no problems. *Cheshire cat grin*

I call Emmi down and have her try the dress on.... and...boom... my smile fades. The fabric around her bust is too big and gapes open at the back by the zipper. So yup, you guessed it, I would have to re-due my perfect zipper.

NOOOOTTTT. So I put the project away for a few more weeks.

Yesterday morning I was feeling chipper enough to tackle the project once again. I had thought the zipper issue over and come up with a plan. I didn't really have to re due the whole zipper, maybe, just maybe I could just re due the top portion and have a little pleat halfway down her back. Then I could do a hook and eye at the top of the zipper. (I tell you, I would have done anything to keep from having to pick out a zipper.

With a smile on my face again, I got to work. I fixed the top of the zipper and put the little pleat in and tried it on my daughter. Wallah (just how do you spell that word), it worked. Yes it looked a little strange, but it worked.

Then I realized I didn't have a hook, or an eye. So I looked for Velcro... and nope, none of that either. I knew I was going to have to be creative. So I racked my brain for about an hour and came up with a plan. (play scary music here)

I went upstairs looking for a blue or black button. We searched all of Emmi's old clothes, my button collection and then went digging through my very old shirts. That is where we struck gold... or better yet, we struck blue...a dark blue button on a shirt that had to be at least 10 years old and was being used as a nightgown

Then I created a bow out of some leftover blue fabric, attached it to one side of the dress above the zipper and used the button to attach the other side. AND IT WORKED.

The only "duh" I did was that instead of attaching the button to the bow and putting a button hole in the dress (the easy way), I attached the button to the dress and then had to create a button hole on the underneath side of a very tiny bow. But either way, it worked.

And my angel wore her "Made by Mommy" dress to church today.

HAPPY DECEMBER

We took our Family Holiday Pictures this weekend. It reminded me of all the funny shows where you set the camera up, push the button and then RUUUUUN to get yourself into the picture before the count down ends. I think we took a total of 20 pictures before we managed to get us both in the frame and smiling. Emmi was getting frustrated and I was laughing. Maybe next year we will just go to a portrait studio.

This past weekend we also got our first snowstorm of the year. Emmi had a blast trying to make a snowman, even if she only got the bottom ball finished before she froze. I'm not sure I am ready for all of the snow. I was really liking the 70 degree weather we were having in November, but we need to snow for our water, so I guess I will have to get used to it.

I'm almost finished shopping for presents. Usually I'm completely finished by Thanksgiving, but not this year. In fact, my little sister finished before me. Brat! She normally is still shopping a few days before Christmas. I think that may be ME this year. LOL

Happy December Everyone!

THE MORNING AFTER

I am not one of those women who drag themselves out of bed on "Black Friday" to scream, push, pull, and basically make a fool out of yourself to buy a gift and save a few dollars. I'm the type of woman who hates shopping.... yes, shopping in general, not just on the day after Thanksgiving.

My mom says I'm not her daughter. Ya see, the women in my family looooove to shop and my mom is the queen. I on the other hand dread shopping trips, mainly because I can't decide what I want. But more than that, I hate that I can't find what I want and that I waste so much time looking for something that I know they don't have.

Every year on "Black Friday" my mom, my sister and my grandma head out at 3 am to buy their Christmas gifts, while I....ummm.... well.... SLEEP Each and every year they get irritated at me for not wanting to drag my butt out of bed and freeze my previously mentioned butt off while I stand in line with a bunch of women that.... I swear... need medication for their shopping issues.

This year was no different. And yet, I still managed to keep myself in bed. Other years my willpower hasn't been so strong and I have given into the pressure and gone shopping.

So what did I do on the day after Thanksgiving. I put up the Holiday decorations. It's a tradition dating back to my childhood. I've kept the tradition with Emmi. So this year we put up the tree, all the garland and the outdoor lights.

It's a mess... but after everything is finished it feels so very good. Plus I love the house all decorated. Here are three pictures from our "putting up the lights...day" Tipsy (the cat) loves to sleep under the tree.

Enjoy!

LEAD POISONING IN YOUR DINNER PLATES

This report was on Utah's KUTV channel 2. The company that manufactures the plates is Gibson. They are also sold under the "Home Trends" name at local stores.

Here are the links
http://www.kutv.com/content/gephardt/story.aspx?content_id=d567af85-e5fc-4343-bc6a-a7c3bc47ba9f

http://www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=1FD09736-768D-4539-A830-F5D3F5EB8A40&gsa=true

I have Corelle dishes and according to some sites I found, they contain little or no lead. However, I have some Christmas dishes made by Gibson that went out in the trash today. I'm not willing to risk it.

If you live in Utah, there is a link on the channel 2 website where you can ask Bill Gephardt to get your dishes tested. Even though I have Corelle, I still asked because along with my dishes there are a whole slew of bakeware that matches the dishes. I want to make sure they are safe too. We will see what he is able to get put together and what more he finds out about this.

I wish there were a list available that would tell you what brands or patterns have lead. I've looked online and can't find one yet.

After all, we should be the ones to choose what goes into our bodies, not these manufacturers.

NAUGHTY RABBIT

I swear, having animals is pretty close to having another child in the home. They are picky eaters, they get mad at you, they make you clean up their poop and they make lots and lots of messes.

I remember when Emmi was about a year old she pulled all of the Kleenex out of the box. She had a blast doing it, too. I've also heard of kids pulling all of the toilet paper off of the roll and stringing it all over the house. I guess I was lucky, cause Emmi never did that one.

Weeeeeell, today I came home from work to find that Pokey (our bun) had somehow stuck his mouth through the top of the cage and shredded the roll of toilet paper we keep up there for clean-ups.

Like I said, animals are just like having another kid in the house. She even grunted at me when I tried to clean up the mess. I guess she didn't like the digs and was trying to redecorate, she just wanted a soft fluffy bed.

I took pictures because it was soooo funny.