The Sewing Mom

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

This past weekend we were supposed to be out watching softball all weekend, but Mother Nature decided to continue with her downpour of rain on north Texas, so, we spent the entire weekend at home. Yes, I did manage to get a little laundry and cleaning done at home, but hey, it’s the weekend! I want entertainment!

A rained out weekend is perfect for laying around with family, watching T.V. It’s no fun though if there isn’t anything be televised that we want to watch. That’s what makes “On Demand” by Charter so great. It not only allows us to watch the movies of our choice, at the time we want to watch, but we can also watch many of our favorite television shows On Demand as well. There are literally thousands of shows to choose from and most of the major networks are participating in On Demand by having their shows available to view starting the day after they originally air. Visit the On Demand home page to find out more. My favorite movie of late would have to be Alice in Wonderland, and yes, it’s available ON DEMAND! I just enjoy the fact the I can watch pretty much whatever I want to watch, when I want to watch it!

By the way, You will ‘Like’ their Facebook page as well.  How about you, do you watch t.v. as it’s airing or later?

Aren’t these cute?! My sister Grace created these and I think they’re pretty handy, not to mention good looking! I’m not so good at getting zippers into my creations, especially small items, but I think she does a great job! I’ve been trying to decide which one of these I need to beg her to send me and I just can’t decide, what do you think?

If you’re in need of a gift or maybe you would like one for yourself, Grace does sell her creations to the public.

These are 2 items I really haven’t used much lately. Well, I used my iPod when I was at the dentist a couple of weeks ago, that was nice! My sewing machine has been sitting idle for over a month now. I have just 2 more patio cushions to make and I’d be done with that project, I just can’t get myself in that back room to do it. I think it’s called lack of motivation!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.

This past weekend was so nice for me! My daughter was supposed to play in a softball tournament all weekend, but it was rained out. So, with absolutely no plans, I spent the weekend lounging around the house. Yes, I did manage to get a few things accomplished including getting the bushes trimmed. That’s the bad part of having time off from work with no plans, there is always something around the house that needs to be done. Next time I have a full 3 days off with no plans, I’m going to just get in the car and take myself someplace to stay in a hotel! Better yet, I think I’ll enter the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes so I can not only have my weekend, but, if I win the Grand Prize my friends can join me, all for FREE!

There are so many places to choose from to spend a peaceful weekend. The one place I’ve been wanting to go since we moved to Dallas, is Hot Springs, Arkansas. I’ve read so many nice things about that area and I’d love to go explore it for myself. With the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes, there is a daily giveaway of a free weekend stay at any Hampton Hotel and I think I would choose Hot Springs. Or, maybe San Antonio, there is a Hampton Inn right by The Alamo and that would be pretty cool too. The Grand Prize in the Sweepstakes is winning the entire hotel for a weekend (100 rooms for 2 nights), so all our friends and family could join us!

Click Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes to enter for yourself.

I hope everyone has enjoyed a nice weekend! We started ours off by driving to Arlington to watch the Chicago White Sox play the Texas Rangers at Rangers Stadium.

As you can see from the above photo, it was a rainy evening in the Dallas area! We weren’t even sure if the game was going to be played, but we had purchased our tickets months prior and were hoping the rain would ease off before the game start time. We walked under raincoats and umbrellas to the stadium, quickly found our seats, and this is what we saw:

We felt very fortunate because our seats were on the lower level, situated under an upper level overhang which meant we had dry seats! After sitting in the stadium for at least an hour, an announcement was made that they were hoping to have first pitch before 8 pm., it was supposed to have started at 7:05. We thought that was okay, although we knew we had to be up early the next morning because my daughter was playing in a softball tournament. But, we opted to wait it out, we’d spent too much money on tickets to go home now! There was even a little bit of excitement when Juan Pierre, the White Sox Right Fielder, popped out onto the field to sign autographs… in the rain! There weren’t to many fans from Chicago, so my daughter was able to get his autograph and is completely thrilled! (that’s him signing her jersey!)

Eventually, the announcement was made that the game would begin at 9:30 pm and they expected an end to the rain. The grounds crew came out to begin the process of removing the tarp from the infield. This was a very interesting process and it’s absolutely amazing how ginormous the tarp really is!

It is so huge, and was completely covered in water, so they had to pull it all the way to the outfield to drain the water off (flipping it upside down), then pulled it back onto the infield where they began folding it. After folding it on half, it was roller onto a giant tube where it is stored.

The grounds crew brought out dry dirt for the infield and spent time sifting and raking it in. Then they marked the batters box and foul lines before the game got started. It was all a very interesting process to watch, usually this is all done before we ever get to the stadium.

The game was very exciting and worth waiting for. In the top of the 9th inning, with 2 outs and 2 strikes against him, Mark Kotsay, White Sox DH, hit a double to left center that brought in 2 runs, giving the White Sox a 5-3 win over the Rangers! We were thrilled, even more so when we got a text telling us the softball tournament had been canceled due to rain! That meant we could stay to watch the stadium fireworks show before heading home! A great night!