The Sewing Mom

It’s so nice to be back home!  I had a fabulous time with my mom and sisters and my niece’s college graduation with her nursing degree was wonderful, a very proud moment for all of us.

It’s certainly nice to be home though and I am trying to play catch up with my computer.  With over 400 emails waiting for me, I spent the better part of my morning, in between doing laundry, I’ve cut it down to about 150.  Now I’m looking at my blogs, trying to respond to comments that were left while I was gone.  I apologize if I miss anyone, I’m trying!

I’m also playing sincere catch up with Entrecard, I was unable to drop on anyone since last Tuesday and I apologize for that.  Now I’m back though and I’m dropping right now!  Let me know if I miss you. 

I missed this meme last week and I don’t want to miss it again, even if I have to do it on dial-up! I love Val’s Four Foods on Friday meme. This week, being away from home, I’m not eating well and eating too much fast food I’m sure, so it’s nice to remind myself of my regular eating habits and what I’m missing!

Remember, if you’d like to participate, head over to Fun, Crafts and Recipes for instructions!

This weeks questions are:

#1. How do you make chicken salad? I don’t make this myself, but I do order it occassionally at a restaurant or cafe. I like it with mayo and chunky chicken and celery.

#2. Fast food chicken. What fast food restaurant makes the best chicken? KFC and Church’s. Either way, you have to catch it when it’s fresh or else it can be just a pile of grease on a bone.

#3. What’s your favorite way to eat chicken? I love fried chicken, hot and fresh. I particularly like the dark meat.

#4. Share a recipe using chicken or take a picture of a chicken dish. I’d provide a picture, but I’m not at home, so let me think of a recipe. Use cream of chicken soup, Stove Top stuffing mix, 3 chicken breast boiled and cut up and 1/2 stick of butter. Make stuffing according to package directions. Melt butter a large baking dish. Layer stuffing then cubed chicken and pour soup mixed with half a soup can of milk on top. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Being together with my sisters and mom gives us a chance to really talk about our future sewing endeavors and how we want to proceed with the business side of sewing.

We’ve been discussing our operating costs and the cost of buying fabric as well as the best way to keep track of our expenses and sales. We’ve talked about tax i.d.’s and wholesale licenses, sales tax and shipping costs. We really want to keep things as simple as possible, especially because we do all live so far apart.

We started talking about possible getting a credit card account that we could all use, possibly even a small business account. Something with good rates and no annual fees. This could help us track spending. The biggest question is which card out of the hundreds (or possibly thousands) available should we look into. It will help to see credit card ratings and compare a variety of cards before making a decision. The last thing we want is to add credit card fees to our expense ledger, that is money we’d much rather spend on fabric.

We’re all looking forward to our sale in July. It will be a true test of what will and won’t sell.

I’m at my sister’s in Kentucky and the computer connection is dial-up.  Can we say “slow as molasses”!

I thought I’d check in and I do have several comments I need to respond to but will have to wait until I get home, it just takes way too long on this connection, for any page to load.  I’ve tried to visit a few other blogs, but it’s frustrating to sit and watch 10 or 15 minutes pass by before I can see anything.

So, yesterday I spent the day sewing.  My sister had created her own pattern for making pillowcases and showed me what to do.  I made a pretty hot pink one with heart accents and embroidered the word “Love” on her new embroidery machine.  It’s not my best work, but it was fun. 

We have a few bags we want to make, but I’m not sure if we’ll have time.  My brother-in-law is installing a new floor through a large part of the downstairs today and so everything will sort of be in disarray.  We’ll see how it goes.

Again, I apologize to those EC droppers whom I’ve been unable to drop back on.  I’ve hit only a few this morning as it just takes too long for sites to load.  Bare with me, I’ll be home on Monday!

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!