The Sewing Mom

I thought you might like to see what happens when I sit down to drop my Entrecards. I tend to do my drops in the early afternoon which seems to coincide with the time of day our dog wants to get lazy and take a good nap.  Her eyes were closed and she was in a deep sleep until I reached for the camera.  She is a dog who wants to be right with you at all times, a super cuddler. She also likes to lay her head on my laptop and has a tendency to inadvertently press buttons, driving me crazy! She keeps me company during the day though and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Tags: puggle, puppy, Wordless Wednesday

It’s time for routine maintenance to be done on our van. I can’t believe we’ve owned our van for over 7 year. It really looks almost new, just a few little scratches here and there. For a vehicle to last a long time, it’s important to have regular maintenance performed, whether you do it yourself or take it in for servicing.

If you do work on your own vehicles, you should know that you can get high performance, quality car parts from CarPartsWarehouse.com and they even have free shipping. Don’t let your vehicle get run down.

Tags: car parts, carpartswarehouse.com, vehicle

I wanted to update on the very special tote bags I created from a variety of Breast Cancer Awareness fabrics. 2 of the tote bags went to Laurie, one for herself and one she purchased as a birthday gift for her very good friend Nikki. I had the pleasure of meeting both ladies last week and I feel so proud of where my tote creations are heading. You see, Laurie and Nikkie will be using the totes to carry some of their supplies when they participate in the 2008 Dallas Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk beginning this Friday.

This walk is a huge undertaking, 60 miles of walking over a 3 day period. Prior to attending the walk, participants raise funds in support of breast cancer research. Please visit their site to read more. While you’re visiting, please consider making a donation, small or large, to this great cause. There aren’t too many people who have not been touched in one way or another by breast cancer.

Tags: 3-Day, breast cancer, Dallas Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

I think with all the warmer weather we’ve been having here in North Texas, I’m having a hard time believing that the holidays are right around the corner. And yet, Christmas is a mere 54 days away! I have purchased 2 gifts so far, but, today, after I put away the Halloween decorations, I will be getting out the items of Thanksgiving decor I have and start organizing the Christmas decorations that will go up the day after Thanksgiving.

The one thing I like to have before Thanksgiving is my Holiday Cards. You see, after eating my big Thanksgiving meal, I like to sit down, relax, and work on addressing and writing personal notes inside the cards I’m mailing out. With all the hectic activities that occur around the holidays, I always feel a sense of accomplishment at having my cards ready to be mailed.

I’ve made my own cards for a few years, but last year I sent out personalized photo cards using a picture of my daughter and her new puppy. They were both decked out in red and white and it was so cute. Now VistaPrint has the cutest Holiday Caricature Cards that I’m considering for this year. This style is one of my favorites.

It’s super easy to order from their website, plus, if I order now, I’ll save 50% and have them in time to write notes and address them on Thanksgiving day. VistaPrint has great prices too, some of the holiday cards start as low as $4.99. Anyone who has shopped for holiday cards over the past several years knows that this is a true bargain!

How about you? Do you send them out?

Tags: cards, holiday cards, VistaPrint, vistaprint.com

Happy Halloween everyone! I wish I had some cool graphics to offer this morning, but I’m too busy working on my daughter’s costume, nothing like waiting until the last minute!

But, to celebrate, here is my favorite meme. If you’d like to participate, visit Fun, Crafts and Recipes.

This weeks questions and my answers:

#1. What kind of pretzels are your favorite? I like the big fat fresh baked pretzels you get at the mall! I like them with salt.

#2. What’s your favorite way to eat pancakes? I prefer buttermilk pancakes with plenty of butter and maple syrup.

#3. Do you make garlic bread from scratch or buy frozen? I don’t do either. I buy it from the grocery bakery (if I remember), and just stick it in the oven to warm it up.

#4. Share a recipe that calls for mozzarella cheese. That would be lasagna which I just made last week.

brown 2 lbs. hamburger in 2 T. olive oil. Add chopped onion, 2 cloves chopped garlic, 2 tsp. leaf basil.
Add 2 cans tomato sauce and 2 cans diced tomatoes. Simmer for a minimum of 2 hours.

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.

Mix 2 eggs into 1 c. cottage cheese.

Layer:
1 layer of noodles
spread meatsauce on top of noodles
1/2 of cottage cheese mixture
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
repeat
Top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 6-8 slices of provolone

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let cool just a bit, it will make it easier to serve.

Tags: Four Foods on Friday, lasagna, meme

Christmas is less than two months away, 55 days to be exact. That’s 55 days to get your holiday shopping done, no pressure!

This year our budget will be much tighter than previous years and what that means is that I want to make sure the gifts I’m giving are chosen carefully and that they are gifts that can be cherished. A new idea is giving the gift of family protection. That sounds odd, but it’s really very simple.

C’elle provides a safe and easy method for women to collect stem cells directly from their menstrual fluid. These stem cells can then be stored and, if needed in the future, can be used in treating a number of possibly life-threatening diseases that she, a parent, a sibling or even her children may face in later years, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. While this may be unusual, giving a C’elle gift certificate is certainly a worthwhile gift idea.

Gift certificates can be purchased in amounts of $50 and up. Visit the pricing page to find out more information or to order now for a special gift.

Tags: C'elle

I was hoping to be farther along with my Christmas sewing project, but, to tell the truth, I haven’t even worked on it in the last week. So, instead, I am posting a photo of when my sisters, mom & I had a booth at a trade show in Knoxville, TN back in July. We did okay at the show, but I came home with more completed bags than I had hoped too. My sister Grace is considering having a booth there again in November and I think she will do better since the holidays are so close. It’s the season for gift buying!

Tags: Knoxville, sewing, Wordless Wednesday

I spent the morning doing errands and trying to get some family business stuff taken care of. I’ve had some letters that needed to be typed on my to-do list for a few weeks and I finally got them done. They weren’t difficult, it just takes so much time to sit down and type. I’m a pretty fast typist too, but still, it’s hard for me to carve out the time it takes to get it done right. You see, between all of my sewing projects, keeping up with 2 blogs, EC and family obligations, I need ways to save time.

I’ve mentioned previously on this blog the product Dragon Naturally Speaking and how it can save time. A fellow blogging friend actually got to test the product and created a video to demonstrate how it works. I think it’s fabulous and wanted to share it with you. Here is Drew, form Benspark, in his own words.

Think about it, Dragon Naturally Speaking can help you to Type at 150 WPM for $99! When you consider how much time you will save, don’t you think it’s worth it? If you’re still not convinced, please read the following article.

Drew of the BenSpark has put together a great little video demonstrating Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Drew has been blogging for quite some time and he might just be one of the best mobile bloggers that I know. He is probably more famous for his picture a day work as he is an excellent photographer. But I can’t help be amazed at how much content he creates and the high level of quality in that content.

He’s definitely a blogger that employs best practices when he finds them. And based on this video, it looks like he might see some potential in Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Now I am not trying to put an endorsement in Drew’s mouth. Time will tell, but I do think he is off to an excellent start.

You’ll notice in his video, that the sound quality of his video is excellent. That’s actually an important aspect for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I don’t mean that you need good video quality or sound quality in a video to make Dragon NaturallySpeaking work. However you do need a good microphone, and it should be a noise canceling microphone at that. The better the sound quality, and the better able your microphone is to remove other background noises, the better your system will be able to recognize the words that you say as fast as you say them and transcribe them accurately.

Now Dragon NaturallySpeaking comes with a noise cancellation microphone that works very well when you buy it out of the box. Drew is working with a download version that does not come with a microphone, and so he had to supply his own.

As I write this article, I am using a wireless headset microphone from Logitech. I’ve been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for almost two years now, but I’ve just recently untethered myself from Dragon NaturallySpeaking and started using a wireless headset microphone with noise cancellation capabilities. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 does have the capability of working with Bluetooth wireless microphones, but my particular microphone runs on 2.4 GHz wireless technology. Now if you live in a household or work in an office environment where there are a number of systems or phones or microwaves, you may experience some interference with this particular headset. In that case, you will probably be better served with either a Bluetooth headset or a headset that is capable of being plugged directly into your computer through the microphone plug or through USB. I don’t have that issue, and so I do get excellent quality with little to no interference at all.

So if you take an interest in Dragon NaturallySpeaking and want to try it for yourself, I highly recommend that you get a boxed version of the software which you can order from Nuance online. You can even get a good deal on a Bluetooth wireless headset and a bundled option from Nuance. If you’re looking for entry level pricing, you can start using the software and get a headset microphone for as little as $99.

To put that in context, I’ve taken three typing classes over the years to boost my typing speed and spent essentially three semesters practicing at typing. It wasn’t the only thing that I studied, but I spent a lot of time building up my typing skill. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you can invest $99, invest an hour installing the software (I’m being very conservative with that time estimate) and as little as 10 minutes training the software to recognize your voice before you can be off and running typing at 150 words per minute!

That is pretty amazing, and well worth the value of $99. Not to mention if you spend a little extra and get a wireless headset microphone, you can pace around your room or your office, you can exercise, or do a number of different things other than sit at a computer desk staring at your computer all day long. $99 basically gives you your freedom.

Best regards,
Brett Bumeter
www.softduit.com

My name is Brett Bumeter, and I wrote the article above and 4 1/2 minutes. The article is about 659 words long, and that translates into 144 words per minute. Add in two minutes for editing, and that’s still 100 words per minute!

Tags: Dragon Naturally Speaking

I did it!  I got up early this morning and, after dropping my daughter off at school for early morning band sectionals, I went directly to city hall and cast my vote for President.  I was so surprised at how busy it was at 7:15 this morning, but, then again, they were lined up at city hall on Saturday, so I think a lot of people are just trying to avoid the crowds on November 4.

So, have you cast your ballot?

Tags: ballot, president, vote, voting

My sewing room is situated on the front of our house. When I’m not sewing, I’m pretty much oblivious to what goes on outside with our neighbors, I can’t see any of their homes from the back of our house. But, when I am sewing, things go on with the neighbors that can really be surprising. Here is the soap opera going on outside my sewing room window.

Back in April, I watched out the window as quite a bit of activity took place next door that was all very curious. We’d only been living here for about a year, so we didn’t know our neighbors that well, but we knew something was going on.

First, a “For Sale” sign went up in the front yard. Then, within a few days, a truck with a couple of men backed into the driveway and started loading up items from the house and garage. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone. A few weeks later, my husband ran into the guy from next door at a restaurant and got filled in on what was going on. Turns out, his wife was having an affair, in the house, and he decided to move out. So, he and their high school aged son moved into an apartment where they’ve been living. In the mean time, the wife has carried on with her affair next door, I’m really disgusted by it. The two of them are always trying to hide so that they aren’t seen. What kind of relationship is that?

A week or so ago, the husband stopped by as we were standing in our driveway. He let us know that they were getting a divorce and she was moving out of the house and he was moving back in with their son. The husband has lost so much weight, I didn’t even recognize him. I get the feeling he was completely caught off guard with the entire ordeal and I hope that he will soon be able to find peace with it all. Who knows, maybe he’ll find the love of his life!

I think he and his son will be moving back into the house this weekend. Once they get settled, I may just have to tell him that he can visit True.com and search for free to find that someone special. Sign up at True.com is also free, so what’s he got to lose? Obviously I don’t know all that went on next door, but I do believe that everyone deserves to be happy and to be loved. I hope he finds his happiness.

Tags: True.com