Thankful Thursdays

I always forget to do this! But today I remembered. Today I will be thankful that my daughter is capable of keeping herself (mostly) entertained when I have Busy Time (like crafting or cleaning.) I wish I wouldn't turn the TV on as often as I have been this past week, it has been dreadful weather, but I'm glad she wanders into her room to play instead of watching. :)

* I am what awesome is made of *

Ever get into one of those moods where you feel like that? I'm right there right now. At least, until I go back into the kitchen to clean up post-crafting, that is. HA.

I just finished a little sewing project / giftie. Inspired by the http://www.youcanmakethis.com/ name pillows, and to be honest I'm sure I've seen other name pillows too, but those are the first that pop into my head. This took me about three hours from start to finish, including the time spent placating my toddler and being anal-retentive. (ironing over and over, anyone?) These are quite possibly much simpler than the YCMT pillows, but I'm not sure.

This is an envelope pillow, camping-pillow sized. Camping pillows are available at walmart, and they're about, oh, half the size of a regular pillow? Perfect for toddler and perfect for little accent pillows, too!

If anyone wants a tutorial, speak now or forever hold your peace! Nicole wants to keep this pillow, but for obvious reasons she will not be getting her wishes, this will be going to her cousin Morgan for her 7th birthday gift. With a pillow inside, of course. Anywhoo, I have tons of extra fabric, and since this accidently matches the colours for Nicole's room (the blues in particular) I'll make her one almost the same. :) So if you want a tutorial, I'll make one!

The other reason I'm on cloud nine is I am feeling FABULOUS. I have been working out for at LEAST half an hour every day for the last few days. I'm pretty impressed with myself, and I'm starting to get that energy spike that comes with it, too.

5 Things You Can Do With A Small Girl

1. Have a princess tea party (strawberries and water)

2. Play with makeup (in an attempt to keep her on the potty)

3. Clean up the pee from the hall just outside the bathroom right after playing makeup while sitting on the potty for more than half an hour. (I decided to go with another makeup picture for that one.)

4. Have her 'over for coffee' (and by coffee I mean frothed milk and then pour in a smidge of coffee while making a big deal out of it) and a chat.

5. Make her a dress to dress her up for church in.

Just a Simplicity pattern, not my own invention. Instructions were a buttload of "whaaat????!" in two or three places, but I battled through them until they turned into engrish. Chris helped me with this, how cute is that? He pulled out the gathering stitches for me, and helped pin some godets in place while I started sewing the first few.

All in all the last few days have been fun. :) PS, I play golf like Happy Gilmore, rumour has it. Except it's like I am generally either the top of the scores or the bottom. It's more the haphazard WHACK. I do play with two hands. Listen, girlfriend plays hockey, not golf.

KangaRoom Cupcake Storage Organization

KangaRoom Cupcake Storage Organization

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HOW CUTE ARE THESE CUPCAKE STORAGE CONTAINERS????! For $25 for two, I'll actually order these instead of making them myself, too.

(a white)Christmas in July

Now, as those of you who know me irl and thusly have me on facebook have noticed, I have an ongoing battle going on with the weather. I'm losing, by the way. It has been noted that the weather would pretty much be nice all the time if I stayed inside. If I put up my laundry to dry? It pours. If I sit outside on a lawnchair? It pours. Get on a ferris wheel? Pours. Start the barbeque? CHRISTMAS IN JULY, THAT'S WHAT.

It's also been noted that once I run inside, the sun comes out.

Anywhoo. Christmas in July. Plus a minor flash flood in my backyard. Behold.

My hostas have been SLAUGHTERED. They are all pegged through with holes. For those who know nothing about plants, a) fear not, for I am one of you. My neighbour told me this was a hosta. and b) The hosta is the big green leafy one. And it looks like it had a run in with a smalltown teen with a BB gun.

And for the record, it was around 26 degrees celcious for most of the day. Then I fired up the barbeque, the sky got dark, the wind roared in and scared the pants off of me, effectively disarming the screen door in the process. So then I had no pants and Chris had to screw the army bracey thingy (technical jargon, it may be beyond your comprehension) back into the wall while I clung onto the door so it wouldn't slam open. All the while, our barbeque hissed and steamed.

And I really did have no pants, but to be more honest I actually took them off because when the sheet of water slammed into me I got soaked in two minutes. That top picture where you can see a few inches of water? I took that literally three minutes into the rain. YEAH. I KNOW.

PS for my reputation's sake, I will state that the pants where on during the screendoor part of the fiasco. I think I changed into shorts AFTER that.

Product Review: Pulse Perfection Mascara

I was one of http://www.ChickAdvisor.com Pulse Perfection Mascara reviewers. Thought I'd share with my readers my opinion on this mascara, as I'm sure a lot of the people who have heard about it are curious.

As somebody who is a self-proclaimed mascara guru, I felt the vibrating wand made no difference in the coverage I got out of this mascara. I tried it with and without the pulse, and didn't find there was a difference, for me. In and of itself, the mascara was nothing special.

That said, I think that if you have a hard time applying mascara and getting good coverage, definitely give this a try. If you have a steady hand, a slow application from root to tip could have you covered.

(Personally, my favourite mascara price-to-value is still Lashblast.)

Potty, Where Art Thou?

So, I decided that since Nicole is nearly 2 (just two weeks away already!) I would give potty training a go. I decided to forgo Pullups or whatever brand alternative in favour of going straight to training pants and panties. To me, pull ups just seems like a diaper that fits in a different way. Good idea for kids that are already well into potty training, and for leaving the house of course, but at home it seems like a waste. Especially considering how expensive they are!

Now, aside from searching the net for advice, and deciding that it seems like there are more people who aren't quite sure what they're doing then those who confidently have it down pat, I just winged it.

lol

I know, right? That went well.

Potty was exciting to sit on. She peed in it a little bit. Then we went to the kitchen to phone daddy and tell him, and she peed all over the floor. Whoops. Apparently she does not want to actually let go of bladder control when she's sitting on the potty.

Tried just giving her the 'well you pee in the potty or all over yourself, up to you' approach, all casual like. That backfired like NO TOMORROW. Now she does NOT want to wear panties AT ALL. Or sit on the potty. She was very stressed out every time she wet herself, and still did not want to 'let go' on the potty. She actually asked to have her diaper back.

I've decided to give her a few days to destress. Plus it's the babysitting days, and while she IS willing to sit on the potty at the same time as Little Friend sits on her own, she still won't pee. But I'll leave her in diapers until Thursday, when it's just her and I again. Then I think we'll go back outside armed with panties and potty for the day. Hopefully it won't put her back into DIAPER. PLEASE! mode again.

So if anyone has any advice....? By all means. Lay it on me. And don't tell me it's just too early, I'm pretty sure if a kid can start the car, she can figure out potty training. She just needs to relax about it a bit... (and I can't give her any awards like stickers etc until she actually pees on that potty. Which she is trying her darndest not to do. Halp?)