Tuesday-10am

Good Morning!  It's Tuesday already.  We've had such beautiful spring-like days...and this weekend they were summer-like (65 and 74!!).  We're back to the spring-like 40s and 50s this week.  The sun has been out a lot...windows and porch door cracked to wide open...

...Karma's been spending a lot of time on the porch... 

...watching the chatty geese flapping by in those first small groups. 

I say "spring-like" and "summer-like" because this is really too early for this weather.  It's kind of hard to believe we won't have more ice and snow before May. 

Time will tell.

Looks like they are putting up another apartment building over by the last one.  Yesterday it drizzled for a good chunk of the day.  Our one dark day.  

But this was the pastel sunset last night, though. 

Right now it's 32, but is supposed to get up near 50 later.  Will this last?  Will we still have snow or an ice storm?  Or will spring really arrive a good month early? 

Well, as you know from my last post (I missed T-Day by a day), I am happy to be back online!  I lost all my pictures taken since some time in December.  I didn't think I had posted her, so I re-took the door angel so you could see how pretty she is in my bathroom.  

Thanks again, Jeannie!

I actually bought some art stuff this month.  Not that I'll have time to use them any time soon, but it is my birthday month so I just bought them for myself.  ;)  Got the Pebeo paints--three fluorescent and the rest have this cool shimmer to them.  You saw me playing very briefly with the fluorescent ones.  

I've seen people use these on gelli plates quite often.  From Dick Blick I also ordered the other small gelli plate so now I have them both (5 X 7 and 3 X 5).  I have a large acrylic block coming from Amazon that will fit the smallest one to really be able to use it as a stamp!  Cool! 

Basically been sewing since we last spoke.  Finished another trial set of pads (Leah adds the snaps).

We both decided that the wider wings were not going to cut it because they didn't fold as well as we would like...or folded too much fabric, I should say.  So we tweaked the patterns one last time and are just going for it.  Need to get the sewing projects done before April as McFamily is leaving on the 3rd!  Whoohoo!  They were thinking of doing two weeks in Japan and one week in Australia, but it would cost way too much for them to add Australia.  So--it will be three weeks in Japan!  I can hardly wait for video chats!  

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Leah came over for most of Saturday by herself so we could work on the stroller cubby project.  We figured out a pattern and then Leah did all the cutting and sewing.  TaDa!  It turned out absolutely perfectly!!  It slides over the handles snuggly and can just stay there when the stroller is folded up.

It's made out of neoprene which is strong but very pliable.  Has two big hanging pouches.  Each of those is divided in half and holds a lot!  

Here we put in both our water bottles and my coffee mug with room to spare.  [That's my what-I-am-drinking contribution for T-Day over at Elizabeth's this week--LOL!  Hi, girls!]   

 There's room for sippy cups, toys, cell phones or even a small tablet...whatever.  Not that they'd use it for electronics on vacation, but they go walking around the neighborhood pretty often in nice weather months.

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It's always such a thrill when you invent your own pattern and it turns out so well, you know?  We weren't sure how to connect the straps and had discussed velcro, elastic, bungee chords...but when it came to actually putting it together...we didn't need any of those things at all!  Made longer straps and just sewed them together so the whole thing slips over the handles when the stroller is not clicked open.  Click it open and the cubby fits snug as a bug in a rug!  Awesome!

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  Oh, and BTW--Miss Brother did not like the neoprene, either.  *sigh*  She'd miss stitches unless you sewed at a snail's pace, but the Diva did cooperate fairly well when Leah did that.  I had learned how to work around her ornery temperament while making the toy tote so I had a few tricks up my sleeve.  LOL!  Anyways, the stroller cubby fit and worked out perfectly.  Still just makes me smile thinking about it.  :)

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Meanwhile...I have been getting ready for some assembly-line sewing. 

I'm still using my Baby Steps List (the checking you see was for that last set of three pads) as a guide for this big batch. 

Just multiplying each step by 16 this time.  (Leah didn't ask for that many, but I thought I might as well use up the rest of the PUL-waterproof fabric--as long as I was cutting.)

We decided to make them all with flannel because that is lighter weight for summer and easier to sew on for the mass producing, too.  We need a lot more flannel.  Leah is dropping off some more today, I believe.  I hope so because I am as far as I can go on the assembly line until I have the flannel to cut and I'm hoping to get them all done before next Monday.  Little doubt as to what I'll be doing all week, eh?  LOL!  ;)

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 Miss Karma has no idea how much I am going to be gone in April visiting Sammy and Annie (McFamily's cats)--LOL!  I think she mostly sleeps while I am gone, anyways.  Just like she mostly sleeps while I am home--LOL!

And last, but certainly not least, I had two pictures of Ian on a blog post before McLap's brain went blank.  They were saved in cyberspace in a draft!!

I've never used drafts.  Happened to see it said I had a "draft" post...huh?  And look what I found!  :):) 

I sit down to write and you get what you get.  I don't know how to edit pictures or videos so you get what you get with those, too.  I'm an immediate kind of girl, I guess--LOL!  I have had pictures that were a couple weeks old before, but rarely.  These are great ones from mom!  Ian is now a crawler.  Soon he'll be a genuine toddler at this rate!  I'm glad I found these!!

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Oh, and one last thing--beware of the phone scammers!  I got an automated call telling me that the IRS was going to file a lawsuit against me and to call this particular number.  I laughed because the government certainly knows everything about my finances for over a decade.  They own me--LOL!  So I'd have to go to prison...and hope they take cats.  Can't get blood from a stone, as they say. 

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Seriously, though.  Imagine how many people believe that computer-voice and call the number!  I googled it and these scammers get people to give them financial access because they convince them that they owe the government in back taxes.  And they can go so far as to send fake government letters and make (human) harassment calls, etc.  But you would have gotten a certified letter from the government if there were any issues at all.  You'd be audited.  They would never use an automated electronic call in the first place.  Beware!  These scammers really start hitting the public hard from now till tax time, I guess.

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Well, that's it from Fargo for today.  I may not have any time to post until next Tuesday with all this sewing, but we'll see.  I never know how I'll be feeling.  This bit of spring fever and sunshine has helped with motivation--LOL!  ;)  

Have a wonderful week.   

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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass where ever you may be."

Robert Fulghum