Baby Quilts

Where on earth do I find the time to do these things?  When I figure it out, I will let you know.  But mostly I suspect it's my lack of ability to sit still and do nothing.  Most of the time it seems like such a waste.  I have a lot of things I want to do in my free time, but I just prioritize the hell out of it.  It helps to have a loving husband who is supportive of my insane need to do some of these things.  :)

Anywho, it's been a while since I made a quilt, but all these people are having babies and so my baby quilt book is starting to see some exercise!  The first batter up is Sarah who is having a shower this weekend.  I asked her a while ago what, if any, kind of theme she was going with.  Jungle prints, courtesy of inherited baby stuff from family members.  Awesome, I can work with that.  I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and let my mind wander as I picked out a pattern and fabric to go with it.  The patterns in the book always explain how to re-create the exact quilt shown, so I have to think outside the mold a little if I like the basic pattern, but not their prints (pretty much how all of them are). 

I pieced it together Friday during the day while everyone was out of the house.  After Colin went to sleep, I stayed up hand tying it together.  My husband thought it would be a good idea to record this process.

Looks just like I know what I am doing!  :)  This morning I finished making the binding and attached it to the quilt.  I find myself always going to look for the YouTube Video I found a few years ago to help me figure out how to get it to meet up and lay flat.   It never makes sense when I watch it, but it works every time!  Finished product:

And while I was at it, I decided to make some pacifier clips in case they need them.  I found them to be a life saver from having to play, "pick the pacifier up off the floor and rinse" every 5 minutes.   I found the pattern on Pinterest and it worked out pretty well. 

I am sure there will be a few more posted here before the year is out.  It seems people have really caught onto the baby fever!

Using Coupons at Target

In the past week I went to Target twice (imagine that) and had two completely different experiences involving the use of coupons.  Enough so I wanted to share them here.  And more so to say that in both instances I was right but each time the cashier was "wrong".  Also an important fact, my husband worked for Target for about 9 months and knows their policies.  Here is my tale.

I preface this first tale with this; I am not what I would consider an "extreme couponer", but I will push it right up to the nose of where I know the line to be.  I don't try to scam stores into taking more than what I can logically account for with items and number of coupons.  When I see a coupon for buy one get one free,  I immediately search my book to see if I have a coupon for the "buy one" part.  I had found a coupon for buy one get one free on mascara (Cover Girl if you care) and I did in fact have a coupon for $1 off Cover Girl products.  I also wanted to pick up another eye liner which I was also going to buy in a Cover Girl brand because I had another $1 off coupon for any beauty product.  So are you with me so far?  I have three Cover Girl items and three coupons.  Two mascaras (one free, and one will get the $1 off) and the eye liner (also $1 off).  I have done this quite a few times before and NEVER had a problem at the check out.  I should have known there was going to be an issue when the girl stopped to read IN DETAIL the cat food coupon I had which read off a number of combinations of canned food you could buy to save $1.  So when she got to the buy one get one coupon, it should have been no surprise that she had to call over a manager and have a discussion about what I had and why it wasn't going through.  And at this point I was like, what's the problem?  She was like, well, it looks like you are trying to use too many coupons, we only accept one per item (now I am mad because I have 3 items and 3 coupons - I am NOT stupid).  I actually bought exactly what was pictured and the manager added, well you didn't buy the item, to which point I might have had an outburst.  FYI - If you are a manager you better double check before accusing your customer of something that's not true.  It does wonders for customer service.  Also, at this point, another customer loaded their items back in their cart to find another line (I didn't blame them).  I had pulled out the items and was showing them exactly what I had bought and what coupons I was using and how.  She was not listening at all.  In the end, she "gave me the deal" but as I walked away I heard her explain to the employee, "we only accept one coupon per item" to which my head imploded.  I had to get home otherwise I would have gone back and had them explain what I was "getting away with". Sigh...

The second tale is with another cashier a few days later.  I was trying to buy a handful of items and didn't have any coupons on hand to offset the cost at all.  Mostly because they were medicine/treatment for Colin's eczema and therefore not something in the usual kit of mine.  I bought a giant tub of Aquafor (or as we call it in this house - grease) which had one of those "instant" coupons on the top of the jar, but it was for their sunblock, so I was like oh well and just set it on the belt.  The cashier rings up my stuff and notices said instant coupon and says, "Oh you have a coupon here" and I told him "Oh that's for the sunblock version of this stuff".  He proceeded to take it off anyway and said, "Well, let's try it".  What do you know, it went through.  He was pretty pleased with himself and I wasn't going to argue.  My conscious was clear since I explained why I did not intend to use that coupon.  But hey, what a nice bonus.

So do the two tales cancel each other out?  Sort of, but I really have to wonder about the training at that store.  We have had a few other incidents with a couple of cashiers just not being smart enough to know how to ring things out.  One instance I recall was trying to get the Coke Zero free because we had bought the required amount (4 cases).  The dude was so confused, he tried to give us a $5 gift card and we were like no no, the Coke should just be free.  I guess if we were smart we would have just taken the $5 card since it was worth more, but again, we aren't trying to scam people.  The real lesson learned here is that I now have a favorite cashier to go to if he is working.  :)

Pinterest

Pinterest, the latest and greatest web phenomenon that's sweeping the nation.  Ok, it may not be that popular, but it's definitely main stream and sucking up hours and hours of peoples lives as they skim the website for the coolest ideas and funny photos of cats or the latest eCards.

I posted to Facebook the other day that I had learned the following things from Pinterest:

I need Mod Podge, it's the new duct tape
Chervon patterns are apparently the latest trend, but I think it's ugly
"I'll be glad I pinned this one day" is the most over used tag line
Some people are really clever
Some people have too much time on their hands
I need about 30 more hours a week to do some of the fun things I have pinned

I could also add these as well:

People appear to keep everything in cute labeled baskets and never seem to have anything out of place even if they are organizing a toddlers room!
People are blindly re-pinning things that have websites that go to no where (not a big deal when it's a funny picture, more so when it's 'follow these instructions to happy organized home")
Nutella is the new ingredient for any dessert recipe
Mason jars are the new "it" containers for everything from summer fun drinks to baking cake in to using as a vase.

 I love pinterest, I really do, but I also recognize that there is no way I am ever going to make half of the things I have pinned.  As my husband has told me, it's like the new magazine for people to oohh and aaahh over.  I don't disagree, but it sparks some little bit of self doubt when you see what people are pinning.  "Am I doing cool enough things around my house?" "Should I be craftier?" "What if I don't know how to make 50 random meals from what I have on hand?" "Do people really have time to do all of this and how the hell do I make time for just one of these ideas?"

A perfect category in which the above worries come into play is the "Brilliant ideas and tips for around the house".   Nothing like making you slap your head and say, "Why didn't I think of some of these?"  Of course, two minutes after you pin it, you can't remember one simple idea that seemed so second nature when you were reading and so the cycle continues.

A lot of what I a pin are ideas that I hope to reference when Colin is older.  Ideas for keeping kids entertained that involve simple household items or cool craft projects they can make and occupy themselves for an hour or so.  I also like to pin gift ideas and crafty things around the house in the event I find time and want to make something  homemade (which I love to do).  But I try to at least skim the articles/blogs/sites and see if it is anything I would honestly every try to attempt on my own.  Some of the pins involve some really whacked out steps or materials and all I can think is, "Really?  You think people are honestly going to be able to do that on  their own?"  But that is what Pinterest is for after all, imagining the possibilities even if they aren't possible for you.

Food recipes I have gotten a bit more discriminating of because there are SO many food pins.  I am trying to get on board with using the crock pot more, but some sites use some really terrible ingredients.  The fact  that something has 5 ingredients or less is not always a plus in the dishes favor no matter how quick it is.  I like to enjoy my food.  I have made a couple of things from my pins and had varying degrees of success.  I am happy to try new things, but just not every day.

*gets on soapbox*

One of my bigger pet peeves about Pinterest pins are the ones that use the tag line, "I'll be glad I pinned  this one day".  I can't stand it.  That's the whole purpose of Pinterest!!  You "pin it" so you can reference it at some point in the future.  This pet peeve also includes things like,  "Definitely making this one day" or any other statement which implies that you think you'll do something with the pin at a later date. I want to write NO DUH! in response to many of these, but as Pinterest doesn't really have a medium for that (and thank god they don't) I vent my annoyances here.   Every time you re-pin something, you have the option to change the text that goes with it.  Do us all a favor and remove those silly statements and just give a two sentence summary of what you pinned if appropriate.  Comics don't need summaries, a simple Haha, LOL, Hysterical, Hilarious, or other such statement is perfect.

*gets off soapbox*

With that I say, if you haven't joined the Pinterest community and want to see some fun things, what are you waiting for?  :)  Happy Pinning!

Welcome Baby Colin

It's probably no surprise to anyone, but our son joined our family back in April and has been pretty much the center of our lives since.  His arrival was pretty textbook, although I wasn't expecting to have a relatively short labor (12 hours from first pain to delivery) the way I have heard many of my friends talk so I was shocked when after 5 hours of labor I was already 6-7cm which I had labored through at home.  We got to the hospital in the middle of the night at the next morning, out he came!

The hospital stay was nice and all the doctors and nurses we saw were great.  Definitely a positive experience and the food wasn't half bad either!  Before we knew it we were home with him and trying to figure out how to be parents for the first time.  Believe it or not, while they don't come with an instruction book, instincts kick in from somewhere and help guide you.  That and there are only so many things that can be troubling them at such a young age.  Diaper wet?  Fed? Tired? Gassy?  That pretty much covers 90% of all problems.

He has been a good baby and has slept at night from the start and has been pretty content.  I am not going to lie though, there were a few periods in there where I thought he was a colicky baby and I was going to loose my mind.  However it turns out he really didn't like me eating dairy, so I cut that out of the diet pretty much all the way (how I miss ice cream).  It has since helped a lot.  Of course, mom lost her mind and ate some broccoli the other day and was reminded in short order that that's not appreciated either.  The growth spurts at 2 weeks and around 6 weeks were the hardest, but we got through them.  Now we are in the "easy" zone for a few months before he starts teething.

While I would love to be home forever with him, we have bills to pay and I need two way conversations that don't involve poop.  Day care started a few weeks ago and he seems to be adjusting to that well.  We got him trained to take a bottle a while ago and that helped immensely.  The ladies at day care have been great and have been loving on him a lot.  He seems pretty happy when he gets home and that makes for happy parents.

The question people want to know the answer to most - Are you getting any sleep?  The answer is yes, but (there's always a but) it's nothing like the sleep you get before you have a baby.  So while yes in fact he does sleep for 4-5 hours (sometimes 6 if we are super lucky) at a time, you still have to wake from a dead sleep to get up, wake up enough to feed him, and then get yourself back to sleep.  It's not always as easy as it sounds.  Now that he is sleeping in his crib it's a bit easier because I don't lie awake listening to him until I know he is totally passed out again.  I have also gotten to know when he will and won't be happy when I put him back in his crib.  Like I said, it's a learning process and he is a good teacher.

So with that, I will share a few of my favorite photos for now and tell you all to just stay tuned as we go through this new (and very long) chapter in our lives about parenting.  :)