The Sewing Mom

Most people I know have at least one room in their house, if not their entire house, that they would like to have made over. Some are certainly in more need than others. My house for instance had damaged walls and floors from the previous owners playing hockey indoors. While it’s major to me, it’s minor compared to what other people are dealing with. I know another blogger who showed pictures of her kitchen and there were electrical cords hanging from one corner of the ceiling to the opposite corner and then running down a wall. Everything needed to be re-wired, re-walled, re-floored and re-countered.

In case you hadn’t all ready heard, Renuzit TriScents has been hosting a room makeover contest. To enter, individuals needed to submit a video of the room they would like to have made over. Visit the semi-finalist gallery to vote for your favorite semi-finalist. The winner will win $20,000 and a home makeover from Tanya Memme. Voting is taking place until June 7, 2008.

I voted for the one in my picture. You would not believe what she has had to live with. Winning the Renuzit TriScents Home makeover contest would make her the happiest homeowner on earth.

Click on the picture to go directly to the contest page.

Has anyone else noticed how popular circles have become in the sewing world. I am seeing circles in many quilt patterns. I don’t mean quilts made with polka dot fabric. These quilts are made with cirlces rather than square blocks. They are so pretty. I wonder if they are hard to make. Curves tend to umm, throw me a curve. LOL

I found the cutest circle pin cushions. They have flower petals in different colors sewn around each one. They are the cutest and most unique pin cushions.

I bought a new sewing table that fits my sewing machine. It actually has an attachment that will help me sew circles. I sure am glad. I have trouble sewing a straight line let alone attempting circles. 

Yesterday, I flew from Dallas to Louisville and I happened to over hear a conversation that has really left me thinking about identity theft.  As we were getting ready to get off the plane, the couple seated behind me were discussing this issue and I was really surprised by what I heard.  You see, the man had apparently had his identity stolen not just once, but twice.  I found this very surprising.

I take a lot of precautions when it comes to our privacy and our financial identities, but I’m sure there are many more things that I should be doing.  After hearing that this man has had to deal with recovering his identity twice, I’m thinking that I really need to utilize lifelock services.

I read a recent press release by Lifelock that emphasizes that while there is definitely increased attention on the issue of identity theft, it continues to be a problem. This is a really serious and expensive crime and Lifelock has set out to increase consumer awareness with its “Strike Back - Defeat Identity Theft Now” campaign. In addition, Lifelock is asking consumers to sign petitions that will be delivered to the U.S. Congress, requesting Congress to enact more stringent laws to protect consumers from losses of data, problems of identity theft, and prosecute the perpetrators of the crime.

It’s a lot to think about, but traveling always makes me more aware of my surroundings and the need to be safe, from all types of predators.

By the way, if you’re interested, I understand the Lifelock is looking for people to join their team.

I wanted to post a brief note here to apologize to all of my readers and EC droppers.  I am currently visiting my sister and her family in order to attend my niece’s graduation from nursing school.  My sister has internet access, but it is dial up and extremely slow.  I also want to spend my time visiting and not on the computer (it took 10 minutes for my blog to load) and so will more than likely not be dropping card or responding to comments until I return home on Monday.

I hope you all have a great week and wonderful weekend. 

I was surfing through some of my favorite blogs today and I ran across a fantastic contest at Lori’s blog, My Wooden Spoon.

Now, before I tell you about the contest, I have to tell you about a fantastic recipe I found. We are a huge mashed potato eating family and it’s nice to find a recipe that jazzes up the typical bowl of mashed potatoes and gives us a change of pace. If you want a yummy recipe for mash potatoes with baked potato flavor then you really need to check this recipe out. This recipe uses red potatoes with the skins on, so I’m all ready a fan because there’s no peeling involved! My husband loves to make twice baked potatoes, and this recipe is a great cross between baked and mashed.

Besides this blog being fun and full of great recipes, there is currently a fabulous contest going on and the prize? The prize is a phenomenal Kitchenaid Stand Mixer! What a great way to kick off 3 months of contests with WEEKLY giveaways! There are several ways to enter, so head on over to this wonderful recipe blog and get yourself entered into the contest.

By the way, next time you visit this site, you’ll be able to see one the banners from My Wooden Spoon in my sidebar. Displaying the banner will get me 5 bonus entries into the contest. Go ahead, get one for yourself.

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go….

I leave first thing tomorrow morning and will spend the next 5 days in Kentucky with my family.  My niece will graduate from nursing school, something she’s been working towards for a long time and we’re all so very proud of her.

I want to apologize to all my regular EC droppers because I won’t be able to reciprocate until at least Monday.  I’m afraid I won’t have access to the internet until then.  I will miss you all!

I’m feeling a bit stressed and excited at the same time! I’m leaving in the morning for the airport and will be flying east in order to attend my niece’s graduating from nursing school.

My sister and her family, including my niece, live in Eastern Kentucky and it’s not the easiest place to fly in to unless you want to spend a fortune on airfare. Thankfully, my other sister who lives in Indiana is driving down for the graduation and so I managed to find a goof fare on a flight into Louisville where they will pick me up and then we will drive the rest of the way together.

I’m really glad we were able to work out our schedules, otherwise, I probably would have had to rent a car and then drive the distance by myself. I’m happy it’s all worked out the way it did. Do you have to use a car rental service when you visit family?

Now, if the weather will cooperate. They’re calling for thunderstorms in the DFW area tomorrow, that could cause me to be delayed. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

I’ve mentioned before that I have a dream sewing machine in mind for myself. It will be a long time before I can afford this particular machine, and I will have to spend my money on a few other items before I can ever get this machine, but don’t you know, the retailers love to tempt me. With this machine, I’m easily tempted.

My sister emailed to let me know the dealer near her is offering the machine with incentives, including a trade in allowance of $3,000 just for bringing in ANY old machine! Are you kidding me!? I want that machine so badly, I’m tempted to go get it.

But I won’t, not yet…

Over the course of the seven years we lived in Illinois, I probably held 3 or 4 garage sales. I have to say, having a garage sale is really a lot of work. Everything has to be sorted, cleaned, organized and tagged. There is really a lot of planning involved in order to be successful, and I always placed an ad in the local paper to attract buyers. Then, the entire weekend of the garage sale is dedicated solely to sitting there waiting for people to come and pay to take your stuff away. Finally, when the sale is over, decisions have to be made about what to do with what’s left over. It’s truly exhausting.

My final garage sale was just before we relocated. I was selling everything (or so it seemed). Following that sale, we packed up what we had left and moved to Texas. Here we are, one year later and I still have boxes and bins in the garage that have yet to be opened. Something is telling me that if I haven’t used what is in those boxes by now, I probably should get rid of it! Problem is, I really have no desire to have a garage sale.

The reason I bring this up is that while I was driving around running errands yesterday, I discovered a nearby iSold It store. I’m excited about this because I can take items to them that are valued at $50 or more and they will sell it for me. They do all the advertising, answer all buyer questions and collect the payment. They even pack it and ship it which means I don’t have to deal with the miserable post office.

This dresser could be the first item I take over to be sold for me.

I was recently tagged by Margie and Edna for this meme. I know you’re all just clambering to know 7 useless facts about me, so here they come.

1. I played the flute in middle school.  I probably would’ve continued to play the flute, but my family moved and band was not offered at the school I moved in to.
2. I am the youngest of 3 girls.  We are all very close and love hanging out with our Mom, although, we don’t get to do it nearly often enough.
3. My first job was working in a dry cleaners.  It was nasty and disgusting and I don’t think I would ever want that job again.
4. I have a short temper and I almost always feel bad after I’ve become angry, usually at either my daughter or husband.  This is something I’ve been working on over the years.
5. I got my first cat when I was in 3rd grade.  He came walking into my life from the cornfield across from my Grandma’s house where someone had dumped him off.  He stayed in my life until I was in college and he was a big yellow tabby cat.
6. I hate cleaning bathrooms.  I often wonder (at least once a week) why that job falls to the woman of the house, is there some unwritten law that says women are the toilet cleaners of the family?
7. I love flowers, all types of flowers, but I love them best in my garden, not in a vase.

Now, I’m supposed to tag other bloggers with this meme.  As I’ve been blog hopping over the last several days, I’ve noticed that most of those that I would consider tagging have all ready done this meme.  So, I think I will make this meme self tagging.

If you would like to participate in this meme, leave me a comment and I will tag you (giving you a linkback).