A new project

Back in the day I used to sew. A lot. I made the girls clothes, I made them toys, I made curtains for our first house, and I even made the girls three foot bears for their beds two years ago for Christmas.
Then we moved to New Mexico, I started our home school journey, we bought our first rental property, and life got really busy. It has been two years since I sewed on my machine, and at first I enjoyed the break from washing and ironing fabric, cutting out pattern pieces, and finding a place for the sewing machine.
That was then, and the now is I miss sewing. So, I am getting my machine primed and ready to go, and I am going to start sewing again. My first project is to make a "Cabbage Patch Kid" type doll for Mary. She has been asking for this doll for over a year, and has agreed to pay her own allowance to buy material for clothes. This will be a well dressed baby.
(We are making Mary the bald baby)


Ruth is wanting a stuffed animal, so I am going to make her a dog. In the picture it has multi colored fur. We've made on of these animals before, and it turned out really cute.




This is the animal pattern Ruth picked.
"Grape" is the animal we made first years ago. It was just solid fabric like the animal in the top right corner. The one we are making next week will be the one covered completely in fur.

My messy desk

I thought I would share a photo of my desk. You wouldn't believe it, but it was clean on Monday. You could actually see the desk, and find papers you needed. However, it is now Friday, and my desk has not been neat since Monday afternoon.

You can see my pencil cup, that was full on Monday, but as the week goes on they end up in the kitchen. Ruth and Mary's drinks from breakfast are still on my desk.

The phone in it's semi permanent home. I was calling Joann's fabric, they are having a sale on Simplicity patterns this next week, have to head there Sunday. I am getting my sewing machine fixed this weekend, the girls really want me to sew them things, so I told them if they used their allowance money for material I would make them whatever they wanted.

Then there is the stack of papers. That are is always clean and empty Monday morning, and then it fills up all week long. Right now I have my property folder out, DVD's from the library, Girl Scout cookie order forms, directions to our friends house for dinner tonight, the new cd Matt ordered from Amazon.com that came today, and print outs from the patterns I plan to buy on Sunday.

Re-sale update

No need to petition (sorry! if you already did!)

Tomorrow's headlines state that congress heard from enough people, and
the new law has been restated barring all 2nd hand children's
clothes & toys from the testing... read the article at:
http://www.latimes. com/business/ la-fi-thrift9- 2009jan09, 0,7588285. story

The fate of re-sale

If I had not called my new local re sale store to confirm, I would not have believed this.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

So it appears that after Febuary 9th you can no longer buy or sell your kids clothes at a thrift store. Something about lead, here is an excerpt from the article.

You will no longer be able to place used children's clothes or toys into the "stream of commerce" unless you can prove that they've been tested for lead and pthalates. As I and others understand it, that means no selling items without such proof on ebay, CRAIGSLIST, yard sales, and church/organization consignment sales (See if your favorite sales are still scheduled). Of course, that means no buying kids' clothes and toys without certification from these sources either. This act could easily triple the amount that many families pay to clothe their kid until there are enough second-hand items manufactured after Feb. 10 to replenish the second-hand market (and even then it's likely that prices at thrift stores, etc. will be higher due to the added cost of testing them). It will absolutely eliminate the notion of recouping any of the cost of older items through reselling.

For our family, this is a big lige style change. I hardly ever buy the kids clothes new, and because we can get good deals at the local thrift stores, they are able to get numerous clothing items, and we can take our time and shop for things they love.

If you would like to help try to repeal this law, here is the link for more information.
Thanks.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

What a little girl does for fun

Mary made her own computer using the old keyboard, mouse and speakers from my desk in the school room.
Thank you Dimitri for the New Egg gift card. Now the girls and I can type and listen to music in style.

She's got it!

Ruth is the reader of the two girls. She reads comic books while eating lunch, and before bed. She loves to read, and despite a bumpy start, she is a fabulous reader.
Mary on the other hand is not a reader, yet. She is getting to the point that she likes to be read stories, and despite an equally bumpy start, she has emerged as a reader.
Take today for instance. We have been working for months on letter sounds and blends. She was getting them okay, but needed assistance and it was one step forward two steps back. I figured it was due to the hearing loss that she was not retaining and using the information, and after days of research had come up with a new reading plan for her.
It was a really crazy day, so we ended up doing worksheets instead of the Hawaii lapbook I had planned on starting, and what do you know? The kid can read!! She knows her blends. She can fill in the blanks on missing consonants, she can read the words!
She's got it, my girl has got it!!

Ruth and another lost tooth

Ruth is getting really good at pulling out loose teeth. She has already lost five, and her sixth one came out today. The one she pulled today was the top left tooth.
Now she has a really interesting smile!!