granola

i found this granola recipe online a while ago and it's fabulous. i really like granola, but i don't like nuts, so i don't usually buy it. but then i was talking to my sister about a year ago and she told me about adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips. YUM!!! i've been doing it that way ever since *smile*. although i discovered hershey's special dark cocoa powder, and so i usually don't add the chocolate chips. especially since then the kids only want to eat the "candies" and not the "crunchies".

but i hadn't made granola in a while. it's been too hot to turn on the oven for anything but bread. so this morning i made my first batch in a couple of months. i'm so excited cuz the house smells wonderful and i can't wait to eat it. i may not even let it cool *smile*. my stomach is already grumbling just waiting and i've got another 10 minutes to go *smile*

well...not so good....

sometimes my brilliance is hindered by my lack of skill. *smile*

isabelle's new "big girl underwear" is so adorable. the pics are on my phone which is upstairs, but just believe me that they're adorable. but either she's an incredibly heavy wetter or the waterproof capabilities of fleece are totally overrated. so far none of them are waterproof. such a bummer. and i made another pair last night that have an actual waterproof layer (a dismantled diaper wrap that i KNOW is waterproof) but they didn't fit right. for some reason they pooch in the front in a really weird way. she loved them, but i just couldn't let them go like that. so now i have to figure out what the design flaw is and get going.

and it's no wonder these things can go for $20 a pair. that's the reason we didn't just buy some to begin with when alexander was potty training. they don't cost a lot in materials, but they take a while to make, especially if you're making them by hand for real. i'm sure though, once i figure out what i'm doing things will be easier. *smile* but i'm frustrated now, cuz i can see them in my head (and online *smile*) but i can't get them to work in reality the way i want them to.

i'm not giving up! i will persevere. i will be sedulous! *smile*

bootylicious babies

well, isabelle will be 2 in a matter of weeks, and she's very "precocious". she's been wanting to go potty for about 4 months now, with much success, but we're stuck in the trap of pull-ups. and for a family that exclusively cloth diapered both kids (except for travelling), this sudden expense is really killing me. so last night i was online, and i happened across an ad for cloth training pants, and i had a eureka moment. i could make them myself! and thus bootylicious babies was born.

i went to joann's today to buy the few things i needed. and i was amazed by how easy it was. i merely pinned a pull-up in isabelle's current size to a layer of printed knit, a layer of microfleece (for waterproofing), and another layer of plain knit (for the inner lining).

i used an old cloth diaper that doesn't fit her anymore to add some absorbability between the fleece and the inner lining.


i sewed it all together...


and added some ribbed knit around the leg holes and waistband, and voila! cloth training pants!



now i just need her to wake up from her nap to see if they fit. *smile* and of course cloth diapering is very in vogue right now, so if i can get my process a little more streamlined, maybe i'll do this for other people. but right now i need to make about a dozen more for isabelle to make it through a couple of days without having to go back to disposables. we'll see what happens *smile*

so close to being done!

well, my quilt is almost done. i can honestly say that i'm about 90% finished, and i'm really proud of myself. it's ginormous! and i can't believe i've done it all myself (with some coaching from my sister *smile*)

originally i wanted michelle to quilt it for me, cuz i just didn't think i could handle a project of this magnitude, and i was really bummed when she said no. but now i'm so glad she did, cuz i'm so proud of myself! i did it! yeah!

anyway, here's some pics:

this is about 75% done. with the kids laying on it you can really get a feel for how huge it is! had to rearrange the furniture in my living room to lay it out flat. our bedroom is directly above the living room, so i knew it would fit there.



at this point, i just finished sewing all of the 8 panels together and had planned to add another layer of batting before i added the whole-piece backing for added warmth. i was hoping to find a long-arm quilting machine to do some additional quilting so that the extra batting wouldn't shift and make it all funky. but then i talked to my brilliant sister and she suggested that i make it a quilted duvet cover which would eliminate the need for additional quilting but would still allow for additional warmth. i was so excited! thanks, michelle! *smile*


and here it is now:

this is the first quilt i've done with a double border. i feel like an actual accomplished quilter now *smile* .


even though this quilt is adaptable for colder weather, i've already got my next one planned, but i may do the same thing with that one so that we have options. with all the work that goes into it, they'd better be used all year round! *smile*

now i have to make a trip to joann's to get cotton piping to do the edging and big funky buttons. i was there on saturday and had the piping in my basket, but i was disappointed in the button selection. i do not want to pay $1 a button, especially since i would have had to pay for them all individually (i wanted 8) and i only had 2 coupons with me. *smile* and then i heard the sky open, and i'd left my windows open in my car, so i had to go. when i got to the car i realized how late it was and just left my shopping cart in the store and went home. i hate doing that cuz i hated doing reshops when i worked retail, so i try to not leave them for others.

anyway, when i'm 100% done i'll be back!

where did the time go?

i didn't sleep well last night, for a variety of reasons, and in the middle of the night i ended up down here on the computer looking at pictures of my kids just wondering how they grew up so quickly. here's an example:
this is alexander when he was like 5 weeks old. other than the blonde "highlights" (what was i thinking? *smile*) and fat thighs, i look pretty much the same. then i stumbled across this picture:
same sweater, same child, but how completely different.. he's like a little man already. an actual person with a personality that you can see in the mischevious glint in his eye. how did this child ever fit in my body? how did i ever walk around the hospital with him in my bathrobe? i can't believe he was ever as tiny as the clothes i see that he wore. amazing.

and isabelle's no better. they get so big so quickly. with her it's all about the hair. when she was born, she was completely bald. not even any eyelashes. but now she's got ponytails. and her hair just seemed to sprout overnight. and what a pain in the neck to comb. *smile* it's amazing.

anyone who doesn't realize what a miracle child birth and child rearing is just hasn't a clue. it's so amazing. everyday is something new. i'm amazed every day.

make up and ghetto booty *smile*

so today was the first day that i could wear eye makeup again, and i just felt reborn. how sad is that? *smile* today was the first day that when i looked in the mirror i felt like myself. i hadn't realized how much i "need" to wear makeup. and that's not to say that i don't like the way i look without makeup, but i just look so much better with makeup *smile*. and i saw some pictures of myself without makeup, and i'm always surprised cuz that's not what i think i look like when i look in the mirror. oh well.

but the other interesting thing that's happened to me lately is that i've discovered jeans made for black girls who may have a little extra junk in their trunk *smile*. i don't, necessarily (but isabelle definitely does *smile*), but someone stopped by the shop the other day with some stuff her sister was getting rid of. and i am now the proud owner of baby phat, coogi, and roca wear jeans. and i'm amazed at how they fit and make my butt look. they sell those brands in stores and/or departments that i never venture into, so i had no clue, but they're awesome *smile*. and they're a smaller size then i thought i'd wear. and they're all long enough, since i have a hard time finding jeans that're long enough. i was really excited, even though christopher was somewhat dismayed to find me sucumbing to the peer influence i'm under in my predominantly black salon. oh well. it's not like i went out and bought an entire baby phat wardrobe. free is free and if it fits, even better *smile*. and now i know what to buy for isabelle when she's ready. do they make baby baby phat jeans for babies with ghetto booty? *smile*

pink eye

well, i have pink eye. actually, it's almost all gone, and i only have one more full day of eye drop usage, but it's totally sucked. luckily, i was the only one in the house, or of all my friends, to get pink eye, so i guess i'm not as bad about washing my hands as i thought i was *smile*. especially since i'd had it for 4 days before i went to the doctor. it would have been a nightmare if one of the kids had gotten it. i can barely remember to use the eye drops myself. if i'd had to do the kids that would have really sucked *smile*

but, i love wearing makeup, and i not only haven't been able to wear any, but i had to throw away everything that i had been using since i got pink eye (which i just thought were my allergies acting up *smile*). luckily i had been feeling particularly lazy and hadn't felt like putting on my face, so i'd only worn makeup one day before i realized what was wrong. but i had to throw away my incredibly expensive estee lauder mascara that vibrates and it's totally fabulous. i'm very sad about that *smile*. but i now need to go shopping for new foundation and mascara. luckily i'd decided to use a different brush and eye shadow the one day i did put on makeup, thinking that if my eyes were already bothering me from my allergies, that using my bare escentuals (which make my eyes itch anyway *smile*) would not be a good idea. so i used an eye shadow that i don't use often and a different brush. as christopher says, i'm expensive *smile*

but the last time they were having free gift with purchase, i fell in love with this new mascara from estee lauder that has a little battery in the handle, and it vibrates as you apply it, so that it separates the lashes and makes them longer and thicker looking. i totally love it. but it's really expensive, so i think i may have to go back to max factor for a while *smile*. and i need to find a new mary kay lady to get some more foundation. i had been using something i found on qvc (since bare minerals makes me itch *smile*), but i really like mary kay the best. unfortunately, all the mary kay ladies i know personally aren't selling anymore, so i'll have to find someone on line or something. it doesn't really make sense to pay to reactivate myself and then place a $400 order just to get a $15 tube of foundation *smile*

i've got another day to figure it out, since i can't wear makeup again until friday, so hopefully i'll know what i'm doing by then. i wonder how much it would cost to overnight something from qvc? *smile*