Help!

Maybe someone out there in bloggyland can help me with this. I took a long hiatus from blogging while my little one was an infant, and I'm slowly but surely getting back on the blogging train. While I was away, it seems that blogger and google hooked up, however the sites I follow are not working the way they should.

It used to be, if I clicked to add a site to the list of sites I follow, it would refer to me as sewing-chick and have my little photo there in the list of followers. You could click on me and then see a link to visit my blog. Well that's not the way it's working now. It now refers to me by my first name as if Jodie and sewing-chick are not one and the same. A mention of my own blog is nowhere to be found. Ideas, anyone? Did I miss something while I was away?

Thanks so much! *Hugs!*

Dieters, Beware Dollar General!

Holy crap on a cracker. I just found out today while I was perusing Dollar General, that they sell... drum roll please...

Generic Girl Scout Cookies. I'm talking, honest to goodness, I-can-have-them-year-round Samoas (and Thin Mints and a couple other varieties)! They are d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. Of course, I'll still buy some from the Girl Scouts when it's that time of year, but now I can have them whenever my little heart desires! (They cost $1.85 in case you're wondering).

Just thought you'd like to know!

Read to your Kidlet

Today Joel learned how to pull books off of the bookshelf. Yay. There's no turning back now. Awhile ago I thrifted a new-in-the-package pair of straps to secure said bookshelf to the studs in the wall. Looks like we'll be needing to install that this week!

While we were scattering the books all over the floor, I mean reading, I got the idea to share with you the Christmas/ Wintry books we own. I very rarely pay full price for books (though I did get Joel two books at Barnes & Noble last weekend because a percentage of the purchase price went back to the band program at my school). Most of these books were thrifted, though some were Jason's when he was little, and a few were gifts. Here we go.


Elf Help by Margie Palatini is one of my favs. It's about a cyber-geeky elf who royally screws up everyone's Christmas lists when his computer crashes. Luckily, the kids end up liking the gifts they mistakenly received, and the elf gets to keep his job as cyber-geek. My copy is personally signed by the author!


The Little Engine that Could and the Snowy, Blowy Christmas by Watty Piper. Santa's reindeer come down with an illness just as he's finishing up delivering all the toys. Uh-oh! There's one toy left to deliver but the reindeer are too sick to fly! Who will come to the rescue? I'll let you figure that one out.

Memories of the Present is by William N. Fullington. It's a tale of a grandfather telling his grandson about this metal wagon that he really wanted for Christmas. In the end, his parents couldn't afford the metal wagon and make him a wooden one instead. He overcomes his disappointment and realizes that the wooden wagon is super special because it was homemade. Can I get a hell yeah?



The Mitten is a Ukrainian folktale told by Jan Brett. In this tale, a little boy loses his white mitten in the snow. One by one, animals begin to snuggle themselves into the mitten to keep warm. Finally a bear squeezes into the mitten, sneezes, and all the animals go flying. The little boy sees his mitten, picks it up, and takes it home. It's a good thing too because his grandmother was going to rip him a new one if he lost his mittens.


Silent Night, A Mouse Tale by Betsy Hernandez and Donny Monk is a cute story about how the church mice nearly ruined Christmas were instrumental in the writing of Franz Gruber's beloved Christmas carol, Silent Night.



Rudolph's Second Christmas by Robert L. May is about two children whose dad works for a lousy circus. No one buys tickets for their circus, and they go from town to town, only staying in each town for one day. Because of this vagabond lifestyle, Santa missed them last year! The children were very upset. Rudolph saves the day by introducing a bunch of misfit animals to the circus. The circus suddenly is very popular, and so the family can stay in one town for months on end now. Santa doesn't miss them this year, and all is well.



The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg is a classic. I thrifted this one today for 50c! Woot, woot!


The Fattest, Tallest, Biggest Snowman Ever by Bettina Ling is a book that first and second graders should be able to read. It cleverly incorporates math into the story!



The Hat by Jan Brett is about a hedgehog who gets a hat stuck on his prickly things (what are those things called?). He feels ridiculous and when questioned by the other animals, he tells them that it's winter for pete's sake! Everyone should wear a hat! The other animals then go steal clothes from a nearby clothesline so that they can cover their heads too. And here the hedgehog thought the other animals were making fun of him!


We own three different copies of "The Nutcracker." You can't go wrong there. We also own three different versions of the Baby Jesus story. Baby Jesus by Lori Froeb is toddler friendly. The Christmas Story is a Little Golden Book, and I think it was my husband's so it's pretty old. Finally, we have The Nativity by Juliana Bragg, copyright 1982. It's as old as my brother!

There you have it folks! What's your favorite Christmas book to read to the kiddos?

Mommy, Promise me...

... that you will never show my future girlfriends the photos of me in those silly orange pants you made. What?! You posted them on the internet?!


Ah, the things we do to torture our children.


These warm pajama-like pants came from sleeves of a sweater of mine that I outgrew long, long ago. I couldn't even fit into that sweater before I got pregnant, so I'm pretty sure I'll never fit into that sweater again!

Thrifted Ornament Wreath

Here's something I made several years ago. I used all thrifted materials. Wreath forms which I wrapped in a green and white gingham garage sale ribbon served as the base to which I hot-glued thrifted ornaments. Did I ever mention that my hot glue gun is my BFF? Well, my trusty BFF probably wasn't the best choice for this project. At first, the glue held well but every year when I retrieve these wreaths from storage, ornaments are falling off. Perhaps a different adhesive would work better!

Dealing with Cashier Error

Today I ventured out into the damp greyness and went thrifting despite the freezing cold temps. I'm not sure why I was thinking that today was their monthly half off sale, when I know darn well it's the last Tuesday of the month. Fiddlesticks.

I bought a piece of fabric with very realistic money printed all over it (I thought this would make a nice something-or-other for St Patty's Day), six children's books at 50c a pop, and nine articles of clothing for Joel, all for either 50c or 25c. There were several items that were 1.99 however all were pink tags and 75% off. Woot, woot! I won't spend more than 50c for a piece of clothing for Joel unless it's super special. Herein lies my problem. Today the cashier forgot to ring up one of my items 75% off like it was supposed to be. That means I paid two dollars for one of his shirts. Gasp! She almost missed another one, however I caught that one and reminded her that yellow tags are 50% off. I'm not very happy about it, but I keep telling myself that the extra buck fifty I was charged is a donation to the thrift store. The little devil on my shoulder keeps reminding me that with a buck fifty, I could have bought three more articles of clothing for Joel, but his angelic counterpart reminds me that in the big scheme of things, this is not a big deal!

Now off to the sewing machine I go. I want to sew up another shopping-cart-kiddie- cover-germ-keeper-awayer. I keep one in my car, however it seems like every time we're out and about and need it, we're in my husband's car. This way, we'll each have one. Toodles!

Felted Wool Baby Mittens

It's gotten C.O.L.D. these past few days! So cold, in fact, that I am having second thoughts about going to tomorrow's half-off sale at the Volunteers of America. (You know it's cold if I'm thinking of passing on a 50% off thrifting trip!) With these frigid temperatures, I figured I better get my act in gear and sew Joel a pair of mittens.

This project is easy peasy. First, I chose a felted sweater that still had sleeves. I cut several inches off from the base of each sleeve. I figured I'd utilize the finished wrist section to make less work for myself.



Then I sewed a generic "U" shape onto each cuff and trimmed away the excess. You're done! It's a five minute project- woohoo!





Here's the little squirt passed out on daddy's lap while he played video games.