Okay I am trying to get more organized and planning out my week better and my first step is going with a meal plan. I am going to go with some tried and true stuff to begin with because I want to ease my way into it. I figured posting it here is a good way to keep accountable!

Tonight: Ham with mashed potatoes and corn with a salad
Monday: Chili with corn bread
Tuesday: Ham it up spaghetti (to use up the leftover Ham from tonight) --we eat this one a lot but I 1/2 the sauce
Wednesday: Chicken Stir Fry
Thursday: Pork chops with seasoned rice, peas and carrot sticks
Friday: Homemade Pizza and salad
Saturday: Fish with seasoned rice and mixed veggies

My goals are to have at least 1 meal per week with beans in it (next month I will up that to two) and to eat more veggies.

I was very busy last night. I managed to sew 3 aprons and 3 stockings after the kids went to bed last night. Of course this necessitated a late night but I am pleased with the results!

This is a horrible picture but these aprons are based on the tutorial found here. After I made the first apron I decided that it needed more room in the chest area and I changed the way that the casing was done because their way was a PITA...but then again I was also sewing with heavy stretch twill so that might be the reason for it. I *might* try sewing it their way again if I use a regular woven fabric but then again I really like my way so I may not .


The 3 stockings I made are for my kids. We are usually at my ILs Christmas morning and my MIL bought them stockings years ago so I never bothered. This year however we won't be getting to ILs until later on Christmas day and my kids are getting bigger so I decided it was time to make them a home grown option. I had all sorts of appliqué ideas in my head but that just seemed to be holding me up so I ended up going with simple but cute. I think I will get some puffy fabric paint today to put their names on them since Niamh informs me that they require names. Niamh's is the red velour stocking, Isla gets the white sherpa (found on the floor of my sewing room) and Rhys gets the green velour. All of the stockings were made with repurposed denim and I cut the fronts all on a pocket which I think is really cute.

And finally, I finished my version of the oh-so-chic bag several days ago but I haven't had a chance to take pictures before. However since DH has kindly allowed me early access to my Christmas present (a truly scrummy Sony Alpha 200 SLR camera) I managed to get pictures last night...




So on tap for today is finishing a few ufo's (mostly dresses for Niamh) and possibly getting another 2 aprons done...oh yeah and the names on the stockings!

Steph

Just got my Christmas present a little early and it is wonderful! A new Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 camera. Now I only wish it wasn't so dang cold outside so that we could go and play in the snow (and take pictures naturally!)

Steph

Well I am happy to say that SIL present is complete and I am very happy with the results. I also sewed up 6 of my adjustable aprons from hand towels and brought them to the bake sale at the kids school and managed to make $50 from the sale all by myself so that made me happy. I was supposed to donate cookies which I did but didn't get as much made as I had planned to because making cookies is not conducive with sewing...but it was easy to whip off six aprons and donate them to the sale!

Steph

Ah yes the sewing ADD strikes yet again...still haven't touched those aprons I have been yammering about since forever LOL but I have been working on a very special project for my SIL SueAnn for Christmas. I suppose I won't be able to post pictures of it here until after Christmas just in case she happens to wander by LOL.

Its going together well but slowly...mostly because I am terrified of making a mistake and ending up with a useless artifact instead of a cool gift! My goal is to get it completed by Wednesday and then maybe I will feel like tackling those poor orphaned aprons!

Steph

So on tap for today...the adult aprons that I fluffed off yesterday. I also have to clean the house because Rhys' friend Ryan is coming over for a playdate...oh ya and I have to think of something to feed all of the rugrats for dinner! Wish me luck!

Steph

Okay so I confess...I have a bit of ADD when it comes to sewing. No I didn't get any of the aprons I said I was going to make done...but I did manage to sew 2 fleece hats for the kids so all is not lost. It all began when Rhys informed me that he required a Christmas hat for school as apparently "all my friends have a Christmas hat mom". I told him that I would be happy to make him a Christmas hat and he informed me that I should just go buy one at Walmart because "they have really good prices there mom"...so you can see why I felt the need to vindicate myself.

So here is Rhys' hat....I have named it "Dino Santa". Of course Rhys has since informed me that it "isn't really a Christmas hat" but apparently he likes it anyway because he was wearing it while reading to me from his Pokémon chapter book (apparently since his best friend Ryan reads chapter books it is now alright for Rhys to read them...never mind that he could have read them months ago based on ability...but I digress).

And when Rhys' hat was made Niamh was a bit put out and wanted to know where her momma made hat was. I asked if she wanted a dino hat like Rhys or a princess hat in pink and purple (having dug through my stash and found pink and purple fleece in large quantities). Niamh decided that a princess hat sounded good so here is what I dreamed up.

I did these without patterns but I drew my inspiration from a blog post here. I am always continually amazed by the generosity of so many crafters who share their ideas with others. I was too lazy to measure their heads (and besides I can never find my measuring tape when I need it!!) so I just had the kids come over and wrapped the full size fleece around their heads to find out the width...then estimated the length based on that. I think each hat took about 30 minutes to make and I do so dearly love projects that come together quickly and easily!

Steph

So my goal for today is to sew up some grown up aprons. Who knows if I am actually going to get them done though because I get to go for a root canal in about an hour. Still...I am going to cut them out before I go so fingers crossed! I'll be using the instructions from here to sew an adjustable apron. I love the internet. Almost anything I want to sew I can find a tutorial for right here! Wish me luck!

Steph