The Sewing Mom

The holiday has officially begun for us.  We picked my mother-in-law up at the airport last night.  Her flight was only 1 1/2 hours late as a result of the high winds we were having here in the Dallas area.  Those high winds not only brought in my mother-in-law, but also some pretty chilly temperatures.  We were in the 50’s in the morning and this morning it was 25.

I did all the holiday grocery shopping first thing this morning, got a nice spiral honey ham for Christmas day.  We are having friends over today, so we set out a mini-buffet.  I hope they arrive soon because I’m starving!  We have ham, turkey and roast beef to make little sandwiches, plus pasta salad and all sorts of crackers and cheeses. 

For some reason I’m in the mood to do some Christmas shopping, even though I really don’t need anything.  I may get up tomorrow morning and hit a few stores and then we will go to the mall which has become our tradition on Christmas Eve.  This is when my daughter finally sees Santa and lets him know her big wish. 

I’m feeling a little bit stressed, have a headache and really need to eat.  Think I’ll go sneak myself a sandwich since they’re not here yet!

My daughter Elfed herself and our dog Plinko. It is really so funny. I had posted this on my other site, but it’s worth repeating (at least it is to me). I’ll be sad when all of these holiday festivities, they are so much fun. I think there have been more creative outlets online this year too. Anyway, enjoy.

Technorati Tags: Elfed

It’s that time again, time for my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday.

#1. Hot chocolate. With marshmallows or without? No marshmallows, I prefer to put Bailey’s Irish Cream in mine.

#2. What is your favorite ice cream? My current favorite is Dryer’s Slow Churned Carmel Delight. Of course I do have to add Hershey’s chocolate syrup to that.

#3. What is your favorite candy bar? This is really hard because I like several. I don’t eat anything with nuts, so you can count all those out, buy I like Cadbury Caramellos very much.

#4. Name something you make with creamed corn in it, and how you make it Oh dear. There is only one thing I can think of that I’ve ever made with creamed corn in it and that would be a corn souffle. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve made it, but it has a can of creamed corn and a can of regular corn in it as well as a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix. I know there are some other ingredients but I can’t think of what they are. I might make it this year for Christmas dinner though, so I’ll hunt down the recipe and post it later.

This is a fun weekly meme and if you’d like to participate just head on over to my friend Valmg and copy the questions. Leave her a comment so she knows you’re participating!

Next year I think we should plan on taking a trip to some place that not only has snow, but I’m thinking some pampering at a luxury resort would be great, like France! Let’s add some perfectly groomed ski runs to this vision while we’re at it. As for lodging, how about if we stay at a Courchevel chalet which is beautiful and sleeps 10 so we can invite extended family to go with us! Each room has it’s own bath and they even provide warm, snuggly bathrobes for all of its guests.

Supertravel provides tea for breakfast and has it waiting for you in the afternoon when you return from skiing.  What a nice way to warm up, hot tea and sitting in front of a fireplace in your own chalet.  Or, maybe you prefer hot cocoa, or how about my favorite, hot cocoa with some Bailey’s Irish cream to warm you up! 

Yes, this sounds like the perfect way to spend the holiday to me.

Technorati Tags: Courchevel chalet, Supertravel

I am not the only crafter in my house, I thought I would share something my daughter has been making recently.  She has made several of these potholders and sent them to friends back in Illinois as gifts.  She even made one the other day for her Grandma who is coming to stay with us for the holidays. 

The other reason I wanted to show these potholders is because, while I haven’t talked much about Plinko lately, it is the loops that these potholders are made with that Plinko likes to eat.  Remember, what goes in, must come out!  (the rest is up to your imagination)

We relocated to Texas back in April of this year from the Chicago area. This was our fourth interstate move and our fifth home purchase. We’ve sold our first four homes, 3 using a realtor, one by owner. We are somewhat experienced at buying and selling real estate.

We purchased our first home on our own, no realtor involved. It was a new build in Southern California and we were so proud of that house. We did everything ourselves, including laying the sod and planting all the bushes. We were so much younger then and had so much more energy! Unfortunately, we were in that home only a few years before my husband took a job in Houston and we had to move.

We used a realtor to sell that home and we also used one on the other end, to buy our new home in Houston. We opted again to buy new construction, but this time, the builder threw in a lot of incentives, such as landscaping, so we didn’t have to do as much after moving in. I think we became spoiled after that one! We were in that house for 6 years before having to sell and move to Connecticut. We started out listing with a realtor, but then opted to sell by owner because it was a very tough market and we still had brand new homes for sale right across the street from us. In the end, that worked to our benefit as it was a man looking at those new homes who saw our “for sale” sign and decided to take a look. He bought it and we saved a ton of money on commissions.

All of our moves following that one, we have used realtors both to buy and to sell. It helps when the company my husband works for is reimbursing for the realtor commissions because they can be quite high. I know that realtors work hard to market a home when they are the listing agent, but there are times that I don’t think the commission they are receiving is reflective of the work they did. That would be true of our home in Illinois.

I worked very hard for about 3 months getting our last home ready to put on the market. I cleaned out closet, storage, the basement, the cupboards. I had a professional cleaning crew come in to do detail cleaning and clean the carpets. I even had a painter come in to paint the two story entry way and had all the hardwood floors cleaned and re-polished. Our realtor was very happy with the results and the day, less than 18 hours actually, after she put our listing in the MLS, we sold it. She had no time to do any marketing other than typing the information into the MLS and yet, she received her full commission. If I hadn’t been being reimbursed by my husband’s employer, I would’ve been more upset about that.

I’m hoping we don’t have to move for a very long time, but if we do, or if we decided to sell this house for any other reason, I’ll be checking into ePERKS.com to find a realtor to list with. Through their site I can find an agent who may be willing to accept a lower commission and/or provide other incentives. We could also receive up to $20,000 cash back after closing! I’d be crazy NOT to go through www.eperks.com to find a realtor.

For now, I’m just going to sit back and try to enjoy the home we’re in. That is, after I finish painting it, repairing it, cleaning it…

Technorati Tags: realtor, real estate, realtors, ePERKS.com

I’ve mentioned before that I am the Team Manager for our 6th grade Destination Imagination team and that our team consists of entirely girls.  So, I decided to put my sewing skills to work over the past week and I made each one of them a little “zipper” bag.  These are so easy.  By the time I made the last one, I had it down to about an hour to make one, start to finish, including cutting out the fabric.

 When I first saw this bag and I thought it would be difficult because of the zipper.  Not true.  The way the zipper is put in is the easiest I’ve ever seen.  I love to top stitch too, so I got to do quite a bit of that.  If you’re really in a hurry, that step could be left off.  Each bag ends up being about 8″x10″ and has a shoulder strap.

My sister does some quilting on the “zipper” bags she’s been making.  They’ve been coming out really pretty too.  I opted to not quilt these.  Each one was different except that I had two of the blue/brown patterned ones.  It’s just the way it worked out.  I put them each in a gift bag with tissue paper and told the girls to pick a bag.  They had to open them at the same time and then I said they were welcome to swap with each other if they wanted to.  Not one of them swapped, it was great!  They wore them over their shoulders the entire meeting!

So, this is what I’ve been up to lately.

Technorati Tags: Destination Imagination, sewing

I can’t keep up with all the new Webkinz plush toys that come out, but the newest one is a must have for my daughter, it’s a turtle. 

 My daughter is a turtle fanatic, she has loved turtles for as long as I can remember.  Her biggest thrill in South Dakota wasn’t Mt. Rushmore, it was seeing live Galapagos tortoises at the Reptile Gardens!  Her request to Santa this year was to giver her $100 towards her goal of $250 so she can adopt a sea turtle family through the World Wildlife Fund.  How incredible is that!? 

Anyway, yesterday, we stopped by a little shop where she likes to buy her Webkinz, but they didn’t have any turtles on the shelf.  The shop was pretty busy and the shop owner was apparently in the back room looking for something, so we didn’t even wait to ask about the turtles, we just headed on home.

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, my daughter happened to check her cell phone and found there was a voicemail message from the same shop we’d been to earlier in the day letting her know they got the turtles in!  I have a feeling they had set the turtles aside and not put them on the shelf.  Now, I’m hoping that when they open this morning, they will still have a turtle and I can run over and get it.

I hate this last minute stuff, it’s too stressful.  The look on my daughter’s face though will be priceless if I can get the turtle to put under the tree for Christmas morning.  Oh, don’t worry, she’s going to have the money to adopt the turtle family as well, afterall, that’s on the top of her list!

Technorati Tags: Webkinz, World Wildlife Fund

How many of you are either giving or receiving a new digital camera for Christmas? I put one on my wish list, although I think it’s unlikely that it will be under our tree. I’m sure my husband can’t for the life of him figure out why I want a new camera when the one he gave me is probably less than 2 years old. I just wanted the new one for its features, perhaps some better photographs to put in our scrapbooks.

My first really nice digital camera operated the same way as my Canon Rebel 35 mm and was so easy to use. I was able to get some amazing pictures with it. One day though, the camera froze up. It just wouldn’t work. My husband, thinking as a non-photographer would, bought me a simple Sony digital camera. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this camera, it takes great every day shots. It just doesn’t have the features I would like for some of the outdoor and landscape photography I enjoy doing.

If my original digital were still working I know that I’d be entering the PhotographyCorner.com 2007 Photograph of the Year contest that started on December 18 and runs through January 15, 2008. They have over $20,000 in prizes!

Anyone can enter this contest and once a photograph is submitted, the community of Photographycorner.com votes on it. The winning photograph will be announced on January 30, 2008 and prizes will be awarded for 12st-10th place finishers.

I’m really hoping that my new camera will be under the tree…

Technorati Tags: 2007 Photograph of the Year, contest, Photographycorner.com

I am trying this year to be more involved with my daughter and her school.  I figure it’s the least I can do since when we relocated in the spring I opted to not go back to working full time outside the home.  When school started in the Fall, I promptly joined the Parent Teacher Association, or PTA. 

I then became the school’s coordinator for Destination Imagination.  This is a job I sort of fell in to.  I volunteered to be a Team Manager for one team.  I met with the principal to get the school to pay for the National Registration and when she said she’d like to have more than one team, I was so desperate that I said, “sure, whatever I can do to help!”, and thus, I became the school coordinator.  I now preside over 2 teams, am team manager of one oversee another team manager for a younger team. 

The PTA took Destination Imagination under it’s wing, although I’m not sure what that means.  The school has paid the hefty National Registration and the Regional Tournament fees for both teams.  I did get the PTA to amend their budget in order to pay a $30 Workshop fee for the teams to attend in January.  I guess we’re doing okay, so far the teams haven’t had to spend any money, although, that will change when they start needing costumes and supplies for sets.  Each team does have a maximum spending limit of $125, that is set by the National Organization.

Anyway, I attended my 3rd PTA meeting this evening.  I actually almost forgot about it.  It was just after dinner and I was sitting down, putting my feet up for the first time today when I realized it was 6:53 p.m. and the meeting started at 7:00.  I grabbed my daughter and we headed out the door.  When we took our seats at the meeting, it was 7:03 and the meeting adjourned at 7:07!  So, do you think we missed anything?  These people don’t mess around!  They start their meetings on time and get right to business.  Lesson learned: don’t be late to a PTA meeting!

Technorati Tags: Parent Teacher Association, PTA, Destination Imagination