A Sweet Little Something

I found these two adorable patterns from You Can Make This, I purchased them and made them with no one in particular in mind. My friend saw them while they were a work-in-progress when she came to pick up the burp cloths for Victoria. She said that she wanted to see them when they were completed, they were quite possibly going to go to Spain too, along with the burp cloths.


This is the front of the Reversible Open Back Baby Dress. I made it in Size 0-3 months.


This is the back. You can see a little of the reverse fabric.


This is the Fancy Ruffled Diaper Cover. Also in 0-3 months.


And this is how cute they look together. I love how the ruffles show in the open back of the dress.

More Gifts to Spain

A good friend of mine (we just met and became friends 5 or 6 years ago) was born in Spain, but moved here when she was young. When she was a teenager, her family moved back to Spain and she stayed here.

Her cousin (which is more like a sister than a cousin to her) just had her first child - a baby girl and asked me to make some personalized burp cloths that she could send to her...yes, in Spain.

I think that is so cool!



It's hard to tell in the photo, but below the ribbon is brown rick rack.



To see the first gifts to Spain, click here.

Shabby Apple

Shabby Apple is having a great sale. Make sure you go check them out.

Shabby Apple has dresses and accessories for the every day woman, they have maternity dresses and dresses for little girls. Click one of the links below to go where you are interested.

Dresses from Shabby Apple

Women's Dresses from Shabby Apple

Maternity Dresses from Shabby Apple

Little Girls Dresses from Shabby Apple

I love the retro feel of this dress...


Check them out and let me know your favorite!

My Special Friend

All my friends are special, but this particular one is special because she and I have been friends since we were about 15 years old and we have never met.

Go, ahead and re-read it if you want. We are both 40 years old, have been friends since we were 15 and we have never met (we've been friends for 25 years).

You see when I took Spanish (my Freshman year in High School), everyone in Spanish class was required to get a Pen-Pal from Spain or Mexico. Balbi is my Pen-Pal from Spain. She and I still write, although it is now e-mails (very few hand written letters). We have kept in touch all these years. She writes more often than I do (I am so fortunate for her to not give up on me). I have good intentions, but life gets in the way sometimes.

It is very neat that she and I were both born in November (less than 2 weeks apart) in the same year in two different countries, became friends, and stayed friends all these years.

Well, Balbi just had her first child, a baby boy! Boy is he beautiful. He almost makes me want to have another one...ALMOST!

I made these burp cloths for Balbi and her precious new little one and mailed them to go over seas to Spain.






To see other things going to Spain, click here.

The Waiting Place - Book Review

The Waiting Place - Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays by Eileen Button is not what I was expecting. By the title, I was expecting a book that would teach me to look around and smell the roses while I was waiting in a doctor's office, car rider line at school, etc.

The Waiting Place is basically a collection of Eileen Buttons memories. (It reminds me of the Chicken Soup books, but instead of a collection of many people's memories it was a collection of one person's memories.) I have to admit that I was disappointed at first.

Since I am a mother of 4 boys, the short stories made it easier for me to read. There was nothing wrong with the book, it just wasn't what I was expecting and wanting. As I continued to read though, I began to realize that I had been in many of the same waiting places that Eileen had been in (maybe a different state, a different time, with different people, but the same waiting place anyway).

I began to feel a connection with Eileen. She understood me because we had been in several of the same waiting places. Some of the things that she felt during those times were some of the same things that I felt when I was in my waiting place. I began to appreciate the waiting places that I had been in, in the past.

The book still didn't meet my expectations, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I think that I can look at things in my past differently (in a more positive light) and hopefully train myself to look at present and future waiting places more positively while I am in them.

I received this book for free from Book Sneeze for this review, but the review and opinions are my own.

I am Unstopable

Vocal Point (see below for more info.) sent me this product by Downy called Unstopables and asked me to try it. Well, I love it! The first thing that I really liked about it was the packaging...



...you are able to smell the product without opening it. So in the store aisle, you know what it smells like instead of having to wait until you get home. (But you don't have to worry - it smells great.) I was sent the fragrance 'Fresh' it has a aqua colored lid.

My husband even commented on how good it smelled (without me prompting him - that is very rare). He said it even smelled good outside (when I had my dryer going - it is vented outside - and he was outside working he could smell it).

I am really into lavender right now and they have a fragrance called 'Lush' and it has a purple lid. I am really anxious to try it! Wonder if it smells like lavender?

I will give you a little warning. The fragrance it strong, so if you don't like that, you might not care for this product. However, I do like it. I want my clothes to smell fresh for days (I love to take a towel out of the linen closet and it still smell fresh and clean).



It comes in these little half-spheres that you shake into the lid (the product labeling tells you how to use it).



Then you pour them into your washer at the beginning of the wash load. Because you pour it in at the beginning (instead of the rinse cycle) the clothes are infused with the fragrance. This is also nice so that you don't have to worry about listening to the rinse cycle (or I have a Downy ball - and sometimes it doesn't release the fabric softener in the rinse cycle and I have to re-rise my clothes).

Unstopables is safe for High Efficiency washers, it is safe for all colors, all fabrics and all loads.

I suggest that you try it when you can (it is only available in select stores right now - but if you sign up with Vocal Point you can get a sample for yourself). They are having another sample offer coming up soon.

I am a member of Vocal Point and I am constantly getting free samples to try. I got a full size bottle of Downy Unstopables to try. They asked me to let my readers know what I thought about it, but it was not a requirement for the free product (I got the product regardless). If you want to become a member of Vocal Point you can do it by typing in this link (or copying and pasting) and signing up (it's free) http://www.vocalpoint.com/registration/acquire.aspx?sourceid=466 .

MOPS Retreat

We just had our MOPS Steering Team Retreat this past weekend. That is our planning session. We work for about 24 hrs (with just a few hours of sleep) to plan our whole up-coming MOPS year.

It's pretty intensive, but it is also fun. We (the Steering Team) really get to know each other (which makes working together the next year easier).

As Coordinator for our group, I want to thank the ladies that are willing to take on the responsibilities of the ST and are willing to server other mothers and make MOPS possible. They also give up a weekend in the summer to plan the next year (thanks girls - I really appreciate it), plus so much more. So here is what I did for my ST.

I personalized buckets (using my Cricut) with their last name and crocheted a cotton dish cloth to go with it.







It's hard to tell from the picture, the colors of the buckets are cherry red, hot pink, teal, and country green.

I also personalized totes (embroidered their first name on the tote) so they could have something to carry their MOPS stuff back and forth to MOPS meetings, ST meetings, etc.







In the totes, I had their notebooks (used Cricut to make the cover). Each notebook had the title of their position, our theme for next MOPS year (starts Sept. 2011) and inside I had a pencil pouch with pen & pencil, a gift card, a coupon for a free hamburger, and post it notes. Inside each binder was the handbook for their specific position, our meeting dates for the next year, a calendar with all pertinant info (ST b-days, MOPS meeting dates, ST meeting dates, etc.) filled out and highlighted. There was paper for them to take notes at the ST Retreat and anything else that they might need. They should be able to use the notebook through out the whole next year.




I want my ST to know how much they are loved and appreciated. I have a fantastic group, otherwise I would not be able to be a Coordinator. They make my job easier. This is just a small token of my appreciation. There just aren't words to express what I feel for this special group of women.