I found a deal and want to share it with you!!! I just got Robert Kaufman minky for 11.55/yd!!! Here’s how you can get it too: Click here to get to the home sale page: http://tinyurl.com/noqdy6
and then click on the big banner that says 12 Deals of Christmas. On the 4th day deals, go to the 2nd page and at the bottom there is a link for Robert Kaufman Minky on sale for 13.58/yd, but hurry the cute prints are going fast! When you checkout, use coupon code THX1010 and it will take another 15% off your entire order, and best of all, if you spend over $35 you get FREE SHIPPING!!!

Let’s face it, who can resist prints like this?:

I’m going to have mine sent off for lamination and turned into PUL for diapers…fancy!!! If I ever get around to making something with it, I’ll be sure to post here, lol.

Well, I had a great time spending the day with the kids today! We had a great bonding experience in this project. This would probably explain why I don’t get a lot of sewing done. Now, before I post the before pics, I want to clarify that I DO actually do laundry on a regular basis. However, no matter how many loads that I do, the dirty pile seems to be getting BIGGER no matter what I do! Let’s analyze this, shall we? Maybe some of you can relate:
1) I use cloth diapers, so that is one extra load every 2-3 days, and that load takes forever, because I do 3 cycles (I know, overkill but I would rather rinse too much than not enough…don’t flame me, please). Then, the AIO’s that we use take at least 2 dryer cycles to get totally dry. Did I mention I even have 2 dryers????

Ok, now on to reason 2) the kids use lap sized blankets for every imaginable game/project/pretend/fort, etc…and they never take the blankets back, then the dog decides to use them as doggie beds, and once he curls up on one for 2 seconds, the blanket is unfit for human use until properly washed…Rocky just stinks.

One of the biggest culprits for laundry: 3) No matter now many times I tell them, the kids think they should use a clean set of pajamas and a clean towel every night. They get baths/showers every night, so how dirty do you think a towel is going to get after drying off a clean body for 2 minutes? Heck, they dont’ even really use them to dry themselves, they just use it as a cover to run from the bathroom to the bedroom and then drop it on the floor to dig out ANOTHER clean set of pjs to wear. 3 kids=3 towels and 3 sets of pjs per night. Remember, once the towel hits the floor, it becomes a doggie mattress. You would think that I even things out…since I don’t work, how dirty do you think I get every day? I can stretch out bras, pjs, and jeans indefinitely without having to wash them again (again, no flaming…don’t tell me none of you do the smell test to see if those items need a trip through the washer? Now, who will cast THAT first stone?). Plus, I figureif I skip a bath here and there, that is one towel that doesn’t have to go through the wash, lol.

I guess that is all I can think of as to the reason I can’t seem to bump this laundry monster down to a manageable size. The other reason I’m posting these pics is in hopes that I will either A) get a few BTDT comments so that I dont’ feel like I’m the only one with this massive of a laundry quandry, and B) perhaps it will make someone ELSE out there feel like they aren’t the only person in this situation either.

Now, on to the project. First, we had to collect all the dirty clothes in the house and take them to the basement, which just happens to also be the kids bedroom and where the laundry area is. I just told them to dump everything on Austin’s bed since she is at her dad’s this week and would never know. Then, since all the baskets were now empty from dumping, we began to separate into colors, and as each one got full, I moved it into the closet just to be out of the middle of the room and to give me a bit of organization so I can feel like tackling this mountain. It really doesnt’ look as bad in the pics as in person, but here goes:

Keep in mind this is a California King sized bed!

Then, Braylin’s job was to hold Dallas and keep her occupied (she chose that job over sorting), and Carter and I sorted…and sorted…and sorted some more until it was finally finished and became THIS:

The blankets/sheets are piled in the front. Here is a better view of the back (and you can see the Superman undies Carter bought Daddy for his Bday, lol):

That is about 7 small baskets (1 load each), 6 large baskets (at least 2 loads each) plus several loads of blankets, I’d say 3-4. So, you are talking about 23 loads of laundry, PLUS you know there is a diaper pail nearly full upstairs. Even at 3 loads per day, that is 8 days of washing if NO clothes continued to get dirty!!! It’s times like these I consider loading up the kids and the laundry and spending the day at the laundromat…a ton of quarters, some coloring books and snacks, and I’d come home with a car full of clean clothes, and ATTEMPT to keep caught up. Anyone ever done this? Don’t lie now…I have actually done it a couple of times. It works for a short period of time, but it’s not long before it’s Mount Everest again, so I figure I’ll save my money this close to Christmas.

Ok, that’s it for today, let’s see if we can qualify this as a “real” blog post! Personal account of spending quality time with the kids? CHECK Something productive getting accomplished in the process? CHECK Pics documenting the action? CHECK Commentary that is interesting enough to keep everyone reading? I don’t know, but if you comment below, I’ll assume that is a CHECK also. Hey, maybe I can end up beign one of those “REAL” bloggers after all!!! Watch out, Susie Homemaker, I’m coming through!!!!!

Ok, so I’m trying to be more like one of those “real” blogs, which includes doing drawings and giveaways, mostly in exchange for people posting comments, right? So, let’s get this thing going! I’ll be doing a drawing for a free pattern! I just receied the newest pattern in the NykiBaby line, called the Butterfly Fitted Diaper Pattern. It is a PDF pattern and requires a serger, but I figure if you can get around the curves, it will be a super-simple one to put together! I’ll be sure to do a post with lots of pics if I can find the time to make one up. Oh, and I also recall all the good blogs always putting pics with their posts. Ok, so it’s an uploaded graphic of the pattern cover, but I’m moving in the right direction, alright???

So, how do we do the giveaway, huh? Let’s see, all you need to do is post a comment to this post that you’d like to win the pattern, and I’ll do a drawing on random.org on December 1st for the winner. Get posting, people!!!

Ok, I have been inspired by others to get blogging again! When I went to check out my sorry excuse for a blog, I saw that it had been 9 months since I last posted. It’s so bad that it has taken me over half an hour just to figure out how to access the admin portion of the blog itself just to get in and post this!!!

I’d really like to have something worthy of reading, but the amazing blogs of others just remind me of how inadequate mine is. The ones I’ve been reading are full of pictures, tutorials, little cutesy anecdotes, and are stabs at my life in general. I wonder if blogs are like reality TV shows….only showing what the creators want the audience to see? Or maybe there really are these Betty-Crocker Supermoms out there with perfect lives whose idea of a messy house is a mismatched sock that has gone astray under the corner of the couch.

I’m here to tell you, that’s NOT me, and maybe my posts will serve as some sort of feel-good message to all of us not-so-perfect moms out there who are just trying to make it from sun-up to sun-down some days. I do what I can to be a good mom…I’m pretty crunchy (cloth diaper, co-sleep, extended/exclusive BF, babywear, baby-led weaning, non-vac, home school, etc, etc). However, I wonder about my intentions sometimes.

Let’s break these things down: Cloth diapering: they are extremely cute and they give me an excuse to run my business, which is really a way to legitimately feed my fabric addiction.

Co-sleep: who would want to wake up in the middle of the night and walk over to a crib, when you can just roll over, pull out a boob and get that baby right back to sleep, barely waking up yourself?

BF: hmmm, let’s see…it’s FREE, it’s always fresh and ready to go, no bottles to clean, no formula to mix, and it quiets a crying baby 95% of the time. Plus, it’s good bonding time

Baby-wearing: much easier, lighter, and more compact than a clunky stroller, plus I can throw my SleepyWrap in the washer when it’s dirty…the stroller cover is just a magnet for grime and gunk.

Baby-led weaning: no extra plates, spoons, jars, etc…just pick off your own plate in tiny bits and shove it in baby’s mouth. We don’t even need a bib for this, it’s much cleaner and Dallas seems to really love whatever mama is having. Baby food just gags her.

Non-vax: I can never keep up with those damned well-baby/shot schedules. What a pain! My baby is growing and developing like a weed, and because of BF, she has only had 2 days of semi-sniffles and no other ailments her entire 7 months of life. Why would I introduce toxins in her tiny system when she is doing just fine as she is? We really debated about this one, but it’s working for us.

Homeschool: no more missing the bus in the morning!

Ok, ok there are many other GOOD and valid reasons that we chose the above things, but a lot of days I wonder if it was just easier to make these choices because of my own laziness??? Well, this way I can be lazy AND not feel guilty about it, because everything we are doing is still better for the kids, so I guess it really doesn’t matter as much the motivation as the end result, huh?

These are just my evening musings as I put off going to bed since DH is not home from work and all the kiddos are in bed. Lately, I’ve been coming up with all these ideas of witty sayings and stories, and I think “that would be a great thing to blog about, I’m sure it would get some comments and chuckles!” But instead of doing it, I go off and find some other way to waste my time, like reading someone else’s blog and wondering why hers is so good…I swear, I think some people have more hours in a regular day than I do!

Ok, that is enough for now. I’ll post more as the ideas hit me…and since I now have a new camera (if I can only find it, things get lost pretty regularly around here and wind up in the darndest places!), I’ll try to upload at least one pic per post, if nothing else to make it look like a “real” blog. Gotta keep up with the Jones’, KWIM? In this case, it’s not a garden or style of new car that motivates me, it’s those awesome blogs that I feel like I have to read…and I know if I just get organized, I’ll be able to have something worthy of reading too. And if nothing else, it will entertain ME when I come back years from now and read my own entries. Maybe my own kids will think it’s funny.

Feel free to comment…I’d like to know if anyone out there has stumbled across this. Maybe I’ll come up with some contest or giveaway or drawing or something…anything to bribe folks to make me feel like I’m one of the popular girls, lol…it’s high school all over again!

Just a brag about a really nice lady named Nancy who made my latest banner ad that I will be placing on MDC next month…she did an awesome job, had an excellent price, and got my banner done up by the next day after I sent her my info! If you find yourself in need of one yourself, you can find her at Calico Rose!

I wanted to tell you about a fellow wool addict, Kris, who is doing a Good Karma giveaway on her blog…want to win a free wool sweater? Visit her blog here: http://resweater.blogspot.com/2010/02/another-good-karma-giveaway.html and read about how you can enter to win too!

Have fun, and welcome to the addiction…we will soon be posting links to the 12-step program once we get it up and running, lol.

Ok, so I have to confess my addictio since I can’t possibly tell DH how BAD it has gotten! I have probably gathered 10-15 wool sweaters over the years of picking up thrift store finds, etc. But since I have been pregnant, it has become some sort of unquenchable thirst to collect every wool sweater I can find, thinking I’m going to sew them all up into cute recycled longies/soakers.

My first trip to the Goodwill Store (a VERY huge one that happens to be on the way to the midwife’s house) ended up netting me a total of 35 sweaters bulging out of my closet.

So, 2 weeks ago I went and scoured the whole store and cleaned it out of wool sweaters, picking up ANOTHER 45 sweaters (ack!) and still haven’t sewn up a single sweater! So, I am far enough in the pregnancy to need to see the midwife every 2 weeks now, so what does this mean? That’s right, another trip to the Goodwill store in 2 weeks’ time. I figured I’d strike out, since I bought every wool sweater int he store only 2 weeks prior. Well, keep in mind that I already have 80 (yes, that is only 20 shy of 100) sweaters in my house already. Today, I pivked up another FIFTY sweaters…whew, and I even left a FEW on the racks that were sort of boring, the grey and black ones that you find from Gap and Old Navy that seem to be a dime a dozen and were not on sale.

So, any ideas on how in the world I’m going to 1) find room to store all these sweaters, and 2) find the time or energy to make these into longies and shorties so I can get my money back? and finally, 3) how will I resist the temptation 2 weeks from now when I have another midwife appointment?

Now, for those who love to make and sell these, how do you decide what size to make each cover before selling them? I am thinking of just openeing up a new section on my site to just resell the sweaters as they are so others can purchase the sweaters to make thier own…you think anyone would be interested in something like that? maybe I’ll take som pics of the cutest ones and give it a test drive…let me know what you think!

Laurie

Aimee won our first blog contest after entering all the entries into the Random.org website and having them pick a winner for me. We will get her banner up and running ASAP!

If you are thinking of starting your own CD stash, check out the patterns by Little Comet Tails!

Ok, it seems the coding is messed up and won’t allow for any comments to post for the contest! So, until I get it fixed, you can still enter the contest…just send me an email to sales@sewmanydiapers.com and I’ll put your name in a hat and randomly pick someone on Feb 1. Sorry for the hassle!!!! I’ll work hard to get this fixed!

Laurie