Fall Fridays

I don't know about everyone else but I'm really enjoying the return of college football, cooler weather and seem to have a hankering to bake bake bake! I was very disappointed to discover that the grocery store wasn't stocking any canned pumpkin yet. I've been waiting to make some fabulous pumpkin bread but had to settle for banana bread.

Pumpkin Bread Courtesy of Simply Recipes 

I forgot how September is almost sports "overload" with the start of football, trying to keep up with the potential wild card teams for baseball and the US Open. I think my head was spinning from all of the activity last weekend. I know I should watch the news in the morning but it's just so depressing I have now defaulted to Mike and Mike on ESPN (Greene is so cute). 

I promise to put up #1's handmade dress soon. It's almost done. We've had some factory mechanical issues over here in the Housewife household but I'm holding strong on the winning end of them. I will be sending my beloved vintage girl off for some servicing TLC next week so she can be in tip top shape. Besides I am also itching to do a fall applique for her like this:

We need something cute to go to the pumpkin patch this year. We didn't make it last year since she was about two weeks old. I will preface this by the fact that I may have my friend help me who actually has an embroidery machine but my machine can applique too. I'm in love with my new hobby in case you didn't notice.

What's everyone else been up to? Are you enjoying the temperature dips and tailgating? Anyone running  more like the Single Gal and myself? We will be the first to tell you we are SO very glad about these awesome running temps for our early morning Saturday runs (followed by an iced coffee from Starbucks of course). I hope they stick around.

The Housewife

Write A Post, Help A Dog Campaign 2011

Hi Y'all! I saw this post go up on another blog I came across and just had to participate.  It only takes a few minutes to write a post and for each one the Pedigree Foundation will donate 20 pounds of food to a shelter.  This effort is to help raise awareness about the 4 million dogs that end up in shelters and breed rescue programs each year.   I am a late comer to this great use of social media but if you want to participate as well all blog posts are due before midnight tonight (September 3) so y'all hurry up and put down a few words. 

This post is for my sweet Hogan, who brought more love into my home than it's ever known and also for The Housewife's sweet Bailey who is no longer with us but remembered all the time. 

Hogan

Here are the deets: 

• -- For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs — its best recipe ever — to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.
• -- Feel free to make your post more visually appealing by using either or both of the two images seen in this post.

 -- The Pedigree Foundation — a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.


There should be a blog hop link in here with a code that will help lists all blogs that completed their post so they can keep track of them for donations! 


Make sure you use the blog hop code thingymajig so they can keep track of your posts!

~the single gal~

I Dream of Seams

I wanted to introduce you to my new friend. This was bequeathed to me from my sweet mother-in-law and has sat unused in my home for quite some time.

1973 Singer Sewing Machine

#1 will be turning 1 in a little more than a month. It's hard to believe. Of course I've been trying to stir up my creativity to come up with a theme for her birthday party and the plans that go along with that. (In our family that means coming up with a date that will sort of work for all of the major players. In short, the equivalent to getting Congress and the Senate (or whoever) to agree on a plan to reduce debt/raise the debt ceiling for the country.) The date was set months ago. I have also decided to try to make a birthday dress for her to wear, which is insane. Do you know why it's insane? I never took Home Ec much to Turtle's dismay, and much to my dismay Turtle actually made an A in Home Ec and neither one of his sisters were very good at Home Ec. 

So I got a pattern off the internet for a reversible jumper dress, ordered some fabric online and enlisted my mother-in-law to help me with this project. Bless her. I'm proving to be a quick learner but at times I feel like the Karate Kid as she gently reminds me, "Presser foot. Presser foot." It tends to stay a little warm in our bonus room where the machine is but it creates an atmosphere similar to a Vietnamese sweatshop. Hey, good for productivity right? 

I'm apprehensive but hopeful about the dress project. I'm afraid we chose the wrong pattern size for #1 and project #2 might end up being matching bloomers to go under the dress but it's all about finding solutions and not dwelling on problems. I'm sure it won't be perfect. I keep reminding myself it's not about being perfect but more about the effort and the memory that it will create. 

A few things I didn't realize. Picking patterns online is difficult because you don't have a true concept of what the "scale" of the pattern really is. You can use almost any fabric (quilting, etc) to make clothes. A seam ripper might turn out to be your best friend sometimes. I know what a backstitch is. I am excited to sew more and even though my machine is a little elderly it appears to be able to do lots of things. The original manual was still in the drawer. 

I'm sure that this will not be my first/last project at all. I'm planning on doing the matching bloomers for the dress in case it's too short for my liking and I'm hoping to DIY #1's Halloween Costume. I'll be sure to post the finished product soon. I'm sure the Single Gal wants me to figure out how to construct some simple curtain panels for her too. 

I told the Turtle he has now been assigned to create the "smash cake" for #1. I'm sure I will micro-manage it, like all good housewives. Anyone else trying something new? 

Wordless Wednesday From The Single Gal

Ok...maybe a few words.

Dinner! White beans, dried cranberries, avocado and balsamic vinaigrette.  It was okay. My avocado was a leetle too ripe.

 New Running stuff! Shoes, Headsweats visor, and reflective Yankz because we have been running in the dark a lot.

 The Housewife said Hogan was stinky.  In the tub he went. 

A little happier.  

New pretties from Ann Taylor.  Blue shirt for my photo shoot with Hogan coming up in October and finally a striped shirt that I really like. I had to jump that bandwagon. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Things You Do When You Don't Have a Boyfriend #247 - Home Projects

So, I know y'all are going to think The Housewife invaded my body after this post, and well, it's clearly possible.  The Housewife has really been getting into a lot of home projects lately and has inspired me to do the same.  As I am sure you would realize, being the Single Gal that I am, I am on a single income.  I bought a new town home 2 1/2 years ago and am always struggling to decorate some little area to make my house a little more "homey" and a little more "me". But, it's hard to go out, look pretty, keep Hogan in his special prescription food, and also keep up the house. Mercy-- that Little Baby Jesus expects a lot from me. 

Anyway, The Housewife and I also religiously stalk the "Young House Love" blog and here is my little tribute to The Housewife and also some of our internet DIY'ers -- sprucing up an old vanity that I have been using as a desk for years and seriously diving into some color. 

Desk Before: 

*note, please excuse the terrible iPhone photo. I wasn't inspired for an actual post about this until later. (Clearly it's a boring week and I'm reaching for material.)

So...What to do with the desk? The Housewife and I discussed and we went for something bold for a few reasons -- #1 You can always re-paint it if you hate it.  #2 - Anything pink is awesome and lovely. 

Luckily, Big John owns a painting company so he sent me over to Sherwin Williams for some primer and paint--and even let me put it on the account! Go Dad!  I really agonized over which pink was The. Most. Perfect. Pink. Ever. and I am awful at committing to anything decor wise in my house unless someone tells me that it does in fact, look good.  

The winning pink of all pink swatches was -- Eros Pink.  

And here we go with a sort of step-by-step: 

In the garage and primed! 

That's right. I am mother-freaking crafty, bitches.

A few days later the Eros Pink went on (two coats).  Wow--super pink. Looks awesome in the garage but will I hate it inside???

After this I went to Hobby Lobby to find some drawer pulls and after much frustration with even trying to locate them I decided on some white, flower looking ones.  These might not be forever, but they will do right now. I didn't absolutely love anything. 

AFTER!

Luckily, I think I am really loving the pink desk. I kind of have a lot going on in my downstairs area with prints and colors, but it doesn't bother me (for now). I am trying to tie everything together with little stuff and in the words of The Housewife -- the desk is like "a statement necklace for the living room". 

For now, this is what I did with that wall: 

*Frame in other chair clearly not permanent.

*I did eventually tie up the lamp cord, mmmK?   

Thoughts? Reviews? All The Housewife did was ask for my leftover paint for a project for #1. 

~the single gal~

Fore

The Single Gal and I had a super busy weekend between Friday's PGA date, a 14 mile run and our 10 year high school reunion Saturday night. Hope you all had super weekends!

Houston.....we have a tooth!

I was really excited to make this discovery a few days ago. After all, most of the grandparents are constantly asking, "Any teeth yet?" They had #1 on her way to being fitted for baby dentures. Now that I know she has actually cut her top right tooth a lot of other things are making sense to me. Like why she only drank half of her bottle for K-Woww when she was baby sitting Saturday night, the horrific diaper rash and even more ridiculous poops. Yes, I am going to talk about poop. Why? Probably because I have to use a stupid disposable diaper to medicate the diaper rash when suddenly there is poop all over my living room and all over the baby. WTF. I just looked away for a moment while she was in the safety of toy-ville that is now my living room and apparently there was a poop chaos.

In your mind you really just stop. You are staring at the poop on the carpet and then you stare at the baby and you just can't decide how the hell to proceed immediately. I'm thinking about how much Turtle is going to lose his mind about this carpet fiasco. (It does NOT need to be replaced.) If you spill so much as a grain of salt on that carpet he will launch into a tirade about how it needs to be replaced. So I picked up #1 by her fingers underarms and toted her to the bathtub to strip her down and start cleaning something/someone. Luckily it was time for her nap so I just put her back in clothes and a cloth diaper and put her to sleep. Then off to clean the carpets that will be re-cleaned by Turtle as soon as he gets home because even if I called Stanley Steamer to come it would not be good enough for him. On second thought, I should have just left it for him to clean up when he got home. I mean, I only have to look at the poop if I stay in the living room. He will be home soon.

It sounds like the Turtle owes me a beautiful JCrew cardigan.........riiiiiiiight people???? Actually I never usually have to deal with this thanks to my cloth diapers. All hail cloth and death to disposable (especially Pampers Baby Dry). Hope you all have a poop-free Friday. The Single Gal and I are hitting up the PGATourney tomorrow so we can husband hunt for her.

If you need me.......I will NOT be looking at replacement carpet. You hear me Turtle?