Speaking politics for a moment...

I haven't really talked politics on this blog, but I'm going to for a minute today. Primarily because tomorrow is voting day and partly because yesterday, I had the privilege to see Bruce Springstein yesterday - oh, and Barack Obama, in Cleveland.

I guess the estimates have the crowd at around 80,000 people. It was massive, I can tell you that. Despite getting there at around 1:45 pm, I ended up in the overflow area. Here's a picture I took shortly before the rally started of the overflow area. I simply stuck my cell phone up high and pointed it backwards. It's important to note that behind us is the lake (as in Erie, it's a big enough one to just call the lake), so there was pretty much no more room in the overflow area.

It was awesome and inspiring. Barack Obama is an awesome speech. Halfway through his speech, it started to sprinkle. Everyone stayed. I did too, though I had a moment of oh, gosh, is it bad to keep my seven week old out in this? But, my quick thought was - I was wearing him, his legs and arms were tucked in and he had a hood on his outfit, so I put his hood over his head and he stayed dry and toasty. :) And, um, how was I supposed to get out of that crowd? Better, in my opinion to wait.

The diversity was great. There were old, young, black, white, asian - well, just about everyone. Awesome that so many people are getting out this year. I saw many parents with children. The ones with strollers I felt bad - it certainly wasn't easy to navigate a stroller with that many people down there. I was glad that I was wearing my baby.

I rode the Rapid into Cleveland, on my way back, I needed change, so I stood in line to get change for my $10 bill. A mom behind me and her son commented on little Josh and were making small talk - guess what the son's name was? Joshua. :) It was his first Presidential election at 19 and he was very excited to tell me that he had early voted for Barack Obama. :)

People were very nice to me - mainly because of Josh, I'm sure. :) There were a group of ladies, probably in their early 50's who were near me in the crowd, when people were trying to barge through, like the drunken Browns fans who were clearly trying to stir up trouble, were trying to shove through, they were very mother hen over us to make sure that we didn't get shoved.

Handmade Holidays

November is the second annual Handmade Holidays for Sew Mama Sews blog - http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=636 (as a side note, I need to learn to embed links).

So, I'm going to attempt to sew every single day in November (minus maybe Thanksgiving?), which will hopefully give me a great jump on my personal presents, plus an apron swap I'm in right now for a fancy smancy apron - http://flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com/ as well as making some things for sale. Last night, I kicked it all off by buying some supplies, like bias tape. I also finished up a crayon roll up for my sister - for her nephew. I have two more of those for my first official sales - yay! :)

Must fix my camera or figure out why the batteries keep dying so that I can take better pictures than with my phone....

A christmas apron

I was able to whip this up tonight:


Crappy cell phone picture, but you get the idea. It's similar to the one that I made a before, though I did do some things differently. For starters, I had no bias tape, so I had to modify for that. And, I didn't think it all the way through because I ended up with part of the apron with unfinished edges. Enter ribbon. That solved that. Overall, I'm happy with it. It's not perfect, but it's okay. The fabric is a red backround with green and white swirly dots. So descriptive, eh? I'll try to take better photos later....

I think my camera is toast

So, I was going to come on and show that my house isn't completely ugly by showing you my dining room, but I think my camera is toast. :( I picked the dining room to take pictures of since, although the dining set was free from family, it's nice and all matches. ;) I even dusted and vacuumed for you. I think pretty much everything else in my house is mis-matchy (and not necessarily in a good way) and was free (except for the crib that was way too much cash looking back and our mattress set, which was bought seven years ago and I lurve it, but could probably be replaced in a few more years). Not that I'm opposed to free stuff, it's just that some of it was free for a good reason. And, now, I'm trying to either paint/recover or get rid of those sorry pieces so that it can be a more cohesive look, instead of the college dorm room look.

Fall cleaning

So, I've been doing some fall cleaning. Our bedroom has been my first completion. I didn't take a before, sorry. But, here is the room all cleaned up - heck, even the bed is made. I rearranged the room all by myself last night while my husband was bowling - he was quite surprised that I moved all the furniture by myself.

Our room tends to be the catch all room. AKA, "oh no, we have company coming, quick move this pile to....um, our room!". We keep moving the same junk from room to room. That's probably a hint that I need to just pitch it, eh? I did come up with a kitchen garbage bag full of clothes to get rid of. Flylady would be proud of me....at least yesterday. Speaking of clothes, clearly, one bag is not enough to have gotten rid of. I have eight more baskets to put away. Only, where to put it? The dressers and armiore are full, as is the closet. Of course, saying the closet is full is not a feat or anything. After all, we're talking about a house built in 1945. Yes, that means the closets suck. I think I have DH talked into raising the closet rod and then installing another lower. Then we can each have a closet rod, which would double our space. Of course, the few dresses that I own will have to be relegated to the hall closet. There could be worse fates, eh?

We need a headboard, but I think Dave Ramsey would call it a want. And, since it has been seven years without one, I guess it really isn't a need. More of a big want.

The two tall dressers (side by side) I should probably paint
and add new hardware. Thoughts on paint color and hardware? The armoire will have to stay the same. It's an antique of some sort and my DHs parents have the rest of the BR set, in their bedroom. So, I'm not sure I'm ready to paint that piece just yet since we know where the matching pieces are at. Here's a picture of that piece (that's DDs Christmas dress).


I really like the wall color in there - it's an icy blue sort of color. It's rather calm and soothing. It does, however, need some touching up in spots. I guess I'll need to look for the color, it's probably in the basement somewhere.

I'd like to get a large rag rug for the floor in our room as well. It's hardwoods in there and I think it would just make it feel a bit warmer in the room.

The bedding is also something that doesn't have to stay. Unfortunately, I've not seen anything that I like in King size that is on super low clearance, so I suppose, for now, it will stay. The crocheted afghan is one that I made for my Grandmother one year for Christmas. My Gramps took it over after she died. When he died last October, I took it home with me. The colors are very country, but I keep it mainly for the sentimental value behind it. You can also see my kids in the following picture. DD had just gotten a diaper on after her bath (that's a towel over her legs). She was the one watching Barney, which, you got a glimpse of earlier in this post.


Finally, there is no artwork in the room. At one point I slapped up a blue picture frame with vases of flowers (Becky, do you remember this print? It came from you.) but the frame fell off the wall and fell behind the bed and broke. Now before you go thinking how in the world did a picture fall off the wall, it was our daughter. She was playing on our bed while I was in the room. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough and the picture suffered it's fate of death. I've seen some fabric colored pieces of wood that look like cheap and interesting art work, so I'll have to try something like that.

More sewing

This time, an apron. I stumbled across this great tutorial over at the Byrd House (http://mybyrdhouse.blogspot.com/2007/06/june-clothspin-apron.html).

Here is my interpretation of the pocket apron. I'll likely change a few things next time I make one (which will be soon), but this was good for a first try, me thinks. :)


I need to find a better area to take pictures of my projects.

It's been awhile...

On September 13, we welcomed a baby boy into our family. Joshua Edward is a pretty easy going baby. In comparing him to Nora, they are night and day different so far - Nora was quite colicky. Nora is adjusting to being a big sister and having to share her brother with mommy and daddy.

So, that likely explains my absence to you. Here's a little crayon roll for a special little girl who just turned four. Please note that the reason there are crayons missing is because I ran out of them. Rather than risk forgetting to take a picture after they are filled in, I took a picture before hand. The little girl will also get a few coloring books to go along with the crayon roll.

This was scrap fabric - Becky may take notice of the contrasting fabric on the inside - after all, I believe that came from a shirt (or was it a dress) that I made for her. :)