Kids say the darndest things

This morning Rick and the kids were watching the old "Superman" movie, the one from 1978 with Christopher Reeve. Of course DQ likes to ask questions: What's that? How do they do that? What is going to happen? etc. etc. Rick replies "I don't know I haven't seen this since I was your age." DQ looks at him in wonder and says "You mean it wasn't in black and white!"

Extra pics

I guess I am making up for not posting for a week. I am going through the pics that we took at my folks house and wanted to share. This pic is of DQ doing her impromptu "Fire Dance".
The top picture is of GB eating smores. Can you guess were most of the marshmallow ended up? I don't know how, but it ended up in DQ's hair. CRAZY KIDS!!!!!

Rick's quilt

Rick was in the Navy for 9 years, he has been out for almost 4. I kept all of his old uniforms and patches, hats and t-shirts from his time in the Navy with the idea of making him a quilt. Well, I finally did it. I made the quilt for a Father's Day/Birthday present, he will be 32 in a couple of weeks. I started with some t-shirts from Power School and from food service duty aboard his first sub, the USS GATO. Then I took his work uniform shirts (the light blue) and made squares that I sewed patches onto, the denim sashings are from his old work dungarees and the darker blue side borders are from the newer work pants (the navy changed work uniforms the last 2 years of Ricks enlistment). I used an old wool Army blanket of my grandfathers for the batting (the squishy stuff that goes in between the front and back fabrics) and sewed along all the seam lines with my sewing machine to keep everything together. All and all I am pretty happy with how it turned out, and Rick seems to really like it. Mission Accomplished!

Camping

Ok we are back from my folks house, we had a great time. My folks have a little brook that runs through the property and they have set up their camper and a picnic table and fire pit. It is better than any camp site I have been to. The kids had a great time playing in the brook, there is a little water fall that they try and cross and plenty of frogs for them to catch. Every night we made smores over the fire and ran around with sparklers. The kids ended up with a million bug bites, but they had a blast.

I did it!!! I had no idea that there was that much junk in the van. I also cleaned out Rick's car and got over a dollars worth of bottle returns. That's a lot of diet coke.

French vanilla creamer

I have never been a coffee drinker. I never could acquire a taste for the bitterness. Anyway, about a year ago someone introduced me to flavored creamer. I have been addicted ever since. Of course I put in enough creamer to make the coffee almost white, but it tastes so good. I also have enjoyed the effects of all that caffeine. Amazing what can be accomplished after a large cup.
On the agenda today, I need to clean out my van. When we get a new (I should say new to me) vehicle, I always have the best of intentions to keep it clean. But then reality sets in. Between the soda cans and fast food wrappers, I am happy if I can at least close the doors. I have found over the past few days that when I open the doors some sort of trash tries to get out, so I guess that means it is time to clean. I am going to need another cup of coffee.

Nap time

I just got up from an impromptu nap, I feel so much better. Rick was working on the computer and didn't even realize I was sleeping until I got up when I heard DQ's bus drop her off. Monday will be her last day of school and then we are going to visit my parents for a week. My folks only live 2.5 hours away and we usually get back to see them about once a month and just stay for the weekend. The kids are really looking forward to some extra time with them. My brother, Chip, and his wife, Amy, live next door to my folks and they have 3 kids ages 11, 4, and 3. The kids all get along great and have a blast when they get together. This past year my folks land was subdivided, they kept 9 acres and my brother got 13 acres and put up a really nice modular house. So now when we visit we get to choose were we want to stay.

It seems that GB put himself to bed when I laid down for a nap. You know he is sleepy when he puts himself to bed. Now I need to wake him up and get his energies out so that he can sleep tonight.

Heat wave

Rick and I have figured out how to put up pictures. Actually I should say that Rick figured it out and I sat next to him and watched and added my expert opinion about things.

Here is a new one for me, the other day I get a call from DQ's school that they are having an early dismissal because of the heat. Some of the schools in the district do not have air conditioning and the classrooms were registering above 80 degrees. I just think it is ironic that they are in school this week to make up for all of the snow days they had this past winter. Oh well, only a couple more days until they are out for the summer.

We spent yesterday afternoon at the local library. The kids just love going, they have a little puppet stage and a toy area to play in and comfortable chairs for the moms. I sat and read a book for a good half hour while the kids just had a grand ole time. DQ came home with at least 10 books, her favorites are "encyclopedia Brown" and "American Girl" books, the only problem is that she will stay up late reading. I guess I could have worse problems.

drama queen on memorial day in our front yard 

goofball with his trains 

Weekend stuff

This is the second time in 3 years that I have lost my license. I have known it was missing for the past couple of weeks, but the only time I actually remember to do something about it is on Sundays or Mondays. The DMV is closed on those days. I now have DQ reminding me to get a replacement license, because I need a photo ID to get a pass to the local beach. I had a pass last year, but I only used it once. This year they are giving swimming lessons for $10 week and DQ has expressed interest (actually, she jumped around the room for 5 minutes shouting "Hooray!!"). The beach has a playground that GB can play on while DQ is having a lesson. So it looks like this summer will be spent at the beach.

This weekend I shaved GB's head, he has his fathers hair which is thick and full of cowlicks. So now GB looks like a q-tip, but at least he is a lot cooler. Although he did ask for his hair back the other night because he needed something to twirl while he was sucking his thumb to fall asleep. What a tough guy!

Rick just got me a new cell phone, one that will stay charged for longer than a couple of hours. Of course, there is nothing simple about a new phone, we had to order a special cable so we could download custom ring tones and wallpaper. So Rick customized my phone for me, the wallpaper is Gonzo and Camilla and the ringer is set to "Manamana", can you tell we are Muppets fans. I absolutely love it. I wonder if I can get "I'm to sexy" on his phone without him knowing. That would be a hoot.

Cheapskate or thrifty?

I will be the first to admit that I am a cheapskate. Some may say I am thrifty, but they are just being kind. So my favorite day is Saturday, I will sit down with the newspaper and circle all of the tag sales that I want to go to. The kids don't mind going along because they each get a dollar to spend how they want. Well today they found little toy dogs that make noises and move just like a real puppy, they are the cutest thing. DQ, the crafty one, has already made a little dog house out of an old tissue box and GB carries his puppy around in his shirt and pretends that the dog is licking his face. They talk to the puppies like they are real and try to get them to eat. It is very funny to watch them. Since our landlord says no pets, this is the closest we are going to get.

It had been really hot and humid here the past few days. Thank goodness we have a basement that stays cool because the house is awful. I don't know how Rick can sleep during the day with all of the humidity. I can't stand to be in the house when it is this bad, so I don't get a lot of housework done. I can work at night when it is cooler, but then the kids are in bed and I don't want to wake them up with the vacuum. But tonight I at least need to get the dishes done so that we have bowls and spoons for breakfast tomorrow. At this point in my narrative I should say something witty and amusing, but I just can't think of anything. It is late and those dishes are starting to stink.

In the beginning...

Well, lets see how this works. I got this idea from my sister-in-law and really enjoyed hearing about her everyday life and about the lives her family.

Let me introduce everyone: their is Rick and myself, a 7 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. Rick is a maintenance supervisor for George Weston Bakeries in Greenwich, CT. From what he tells me, it seems that he is in charge of people who fix the machines that make Thomas' English Muffins and the wrapping and packaging of Arnolds Bread. The biggest perk for me is that he gets free bread and I don't have to wash his uniforms. Simple things.
As for me, I have a sewing business appropriately called "Sewing and Such" hence the name of this blog. For the past 3 years I have been doing sewing related stuff for people that I know, mostly I do interior decorating and embroidered blankets. I have a workroom in the basement of our house where I can keep an eye on our 4 year old. I am sure I will go into more detail later, but for now that is an overview of what I do.
The 7 year old girl I will refer to as DQ which is short for drama queen. DQ is a sweetheart with a love for horses, cats, and Kirsten her American Girl doll. She is in the first grade and is an amazing reader. She is very artistic and is a always making books and pictures for everybody, I will try and post some of the books she has written.
Goofball, or GB for short, is a active 4 year old boy. He loves his trains and can name all of the caracters from Thomas the Tank Engine, also he is getting interested in superheros. He has superman and batman shirts (complete with capes) that he wears all the time, usually with cowboy boots. But he is very adamant the he is "Mama's boy" and will still sit on my lap sucking his thumb and twirling my hair. The dentist tells me to break him of the thumb sucking habit, but I figure he will need braces no matter what, so I will just enjoy my goofball.

I am very proud of my family and I guess this will give me an outlet to brag about them. In between the bragging I will post some pictures of my sewing projects sometimes with instructions. This will get me started and maybe I will share this in the near future.