Sew you see

People are often surprised to hear that I like to sew. As a little girl it seemed my mom was always making something. I always wanted her to teach me. We started with little things like Barbie clothes, usually with little success. I didn't start to really make anything cool until I started taking sewing classes in jr and sr high school.

As I have grown up I have noticed how much I still love to sew and my skills sometimes come in handy. Here are a few of the things I have made for those who are curious.

This is my most tragic project. It has been probably 6 years in the making. I am not a quilter and don't want to tie this. Anyone want to share their expertise? It is supposed to be a blue/green pattern but unfortunately the lime green looks yellow next to the blues. Oops.

I love making baby things (why did this pic come out sideways, btw?). They are often simple and fast which I need with my schedule. I made these baby booties for a good friend. I love the lime green with the traditional pink. The green button has a cute flower pattern.

More baby gifts. It seems every woman I know is expecting. I wish I could keep up!

This is one of my few contributions to Abe's condo when I moved in. I found this great fabric WAY on sale and bought the entire bolt. It is a sheer green with goldish/green velvety stripes (can't tell from the picture). Unfortunately, it was an out-of-business sale so I couldn't get more. Wish I could to make them a little more full. I think they turned out pretty good considering I had to make-do with what I had.

Trying to go green, I made this re-usable lunch sac for my sister. I thought the fabric was SO cute! It is essentially a brown paper bag style bag, made of canvas. Again, hard to tell from the picture. I hope you use this sometimes, Amber!

Here is the one I made for myself. I liked the earthy pattern. Seemed very "GREEN," appropriate.

A few things on my baby/household sewing wish list:

1- quiet book. I am always trying to steal a peak from people at church for ideas.

2- a lunch box for Abe

3- placemats/table runners

4- stockings and a tree skirt

5- advent calendar. My mom had this Christmas calendar with pockets for each day with a little Christmas pin. On your day you would choose the pin out of the pocket and get to wear it that day. That night, it would go on the Christmas tree image on the top and anyone could wear it after that. I LOVED that and would like to start that tradition with my own kids. Good thing I have awhile. :)

6- Finish my quilt. Right now it is a queen-sized mess.

Next time I will post some pictures of things I have made for myself to wear.

PS I get most of my baby shower ideas from my friend Jill. Check out her blog on my sidebar, Homemade by Jill, for ideas or patterns.

Holiday Cheer

Can it really be December? I am having a hard time believing it. We've had our tree lit and decorated for almost a week, lights in our windows, stockings hanging from our curtain rod (yes, I said curtain rod, thank you very much. We don't have a fireplace so at least they are HANGING), a nativity scene out, and I've even allowed some Christmas music to play around me (I get really annoyed by pre-Thanksgiving day holiday cheer through song). But, somehow, it just doesn't feel like Christmas...until today, maybe. It got really cold. Windy. Chilling. Cold. but no snow which is a relief (because in Iowa snow does not mean beautiful white flakes and white capped mountains--it means ice covered streets and sidewalks threatening to break your wrist before you have disability insurance--I really hope I didn't just jinx myself!). Also, maybe I need to take down my fall wreath but I love coming home to it on the door so I am hesitant to replace it already!

As for this month, I feel tired. I have survived 5 months of intern year. In a lot of ways it feels like "SURVIVED." I am excited for the idea of Christmas time. I am not excited for my still to come 9 days on-call this month (I definitely live on a how-many-days -left-of-call-this-month basis). I also have the joy of working on both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, as well as almost every other day the week before Christmas. So much for the Holiday spirit. I have almost this whole week off call, so maybe I should open my presents now. If you have them feel free to send them on early. :)

With that said, I am looking forward maybe more so to the new year. I wonder what the year 2010 will bring. Here are a few of my hopes:
1) Successful match into Oral Surgery (and if not, at least a decision one way or the other will be good)
2) Abe will finish his PhD and return to the clinics to finish Med School
3) Complete intern year with flying colors!
4) New house (with storage?)
5) 2 weeks of vacation time (what should I do with it?)

I wish you the best of what the season can bring!

Nutty Putty Cave

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34180264/ns/us_news-life/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/26/utah.cave.man/index.html

I still can't believe this happened! I can only imagine the fear and horror he and his family must have felt while he was trapped alive. They can't get him out and will seal off the cave which is just unimagineable to me.

Have you been to Nutty Putty? It is a very popular spot in Utah. I went with some friends during college and I guess it wasn't such a bad thing that I was too scared to crawl through the "birth canal."

Favorite Store

Abe and I did a little "black friday" shopping. However, we found our deals at 7:30 pm, not in the early morning hours, and not because of great "black friday" sales, but mostly good luck and one of our favorite stores.

It seems that stores do not value customer service any more. You can no longer get cash or even change from gift cards any more. So really, when you have $5 on a card left and don't want anything else in the store, you either buy more or GIVE them the card. Or it expires with all of your mom's money going to them for Christmas instead of you.

Places like Target will only let you return something like 2 items per year. And it has to be within a certain number of days of purchase. We received many wedding gifts from Target that we found did not work or we didn't need after all, but having received them at wedding showers months before we were married, were uneligible to return these unused or broken items. With this in mind, this is why we love Bed Bath and Beyond. They continually amaze us with their customer service. We have taken back items almost a year later, can receive cash back from all of our gift cards (which never expire), and they seem to really value keeping the customer first. So refreshing!

Last night we were perusing for some potential Christmas gifts. On a side note, we have been casually looking for bedding for 2 years. We happened to find one we both liked that was reduced from $150 to $89. Great! We also had a 20% off coupon so we thought that would make an even greater deal. Next, we found matching curtains on sale for only $10 per panel, so we bought four for our room. Cool. Abe had a $5 off coupon we thought he could use to buy these separately.

When we arrived to the register we remembered a $25 credit we had for referring our sister there for her bridal registry. We noticed, however, that it had expired in April. We asked if they would consider taking it even though it was expired and they gladly did. They also let us combine all of our coupons, evidently they let you use as many coupons as you have items (they dont' abide by the one per person per visit idea), at least at the one in Coralville, IA. So, we saved $30 plus 20% off the bedding.

So....the moral of the story: We got $220 worth of stuff for only $85.

Thank you BBandB!

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=117481
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=119737

Party Pooper

Each year in the fall we try to host a carmel apple making party. Abe makes fantastic carmel apples. It seemed the right time to host this year's party and we decided to invite some of our old carmel apple party regulars, who happen to be medical residents now, and to keep from mixing company too much and as a friendly gesture, decided to invite the other residents from my program and their wives/kids.

I emailed everyone with a request they RSVP so we knew how much food we would need. Then, I waited. and waited. and waited. I had one resident and his wife let me know they already had plans and would not be able to attend. As for the other 9 residents, I never heard anything.

A night before the party I started to panic no one would be there. I was frustrated that while I have many friends I could have invited and would loved to have seen there, I thought it would be a nice thing to do to invite the guys from work. By then, it a bit late to get many new invitees.

So, we had our party. I half expected someone to show up, unexpectedly, just forgetting to RSVP. But nope. We had two couples show up (not from my program) and had a lot of fun (thanks our back-up couple for coming-- you weren't back-up in our thoughts, we just were trying not to mix company too much ).

However, I just kept wondering..."What if this had been a big deal to me? What if my self esteem were riding on the attendance of this party? What if the two couples who had come had not come (and Abe's family weren't around), how bad would I feel?" I keep thinking back on movies I have seen with the girl who is in her party dress with decorations and cake, waiting and waiting when no guests come to her party. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated by the lack of consideration. Maybe I broke some unwritten rule I don't know about...maybe we don't socialize outside of required work parties?

It seems like a fluke-y thing, except 2 years ago I made a similar attempt with some classmates in a group I was in for my whole third year. Out of the 11 of them, only one came (the foreign exchange student who had nothing else to do).

So I keep wondering, do people not like carmel apples? or is it another factor (like me)?

I don't have much time to myself but I realized today when I am home and alone the thing I almost inevitably want to do is make something. With this in mind, I like to peruse fabric stores and walmart's craft section for things on sale to have on hand in case I need a quick creative fix.

During my perusings at walmart while picking up a few essentials, I had some inspiration. I know I have almost missed the fall season (Christmas decorations will likely come out in just a few short weeks), but I couldn't resist when I saw some really pretty colorful leafy garland in pretty fall colors with gold sparkles. And besides, I've been wanting a wreath or other seasonal door decoration.

$6.97 and about 25 minutes later (due to my excessive fiddling, not complexity), I had a pretty wreath. I didn't glue anything down so I guess I can change out the garland for other seasons, and probably leave the taffetta. I dunno. Anyway, I feel proud of myself because outside of sewing, I don't feel very capable in the crafting department. The picture really doesn't do it justice, I think it looks much better in real life, by the way. I should have looked for a rounder wreath, too.

Now, how do I get it on my door?

You go girl!

I was shocked and very sad to hear of the events at Fort Hood. What a tragic blow for our country when our own citizens turn on each other. As a medical professional, it made me even more appalled that a physician took so many lives that he went to school years and years to protect, help, and heal.

When I heard the person who took the shooter down was a woman I was very interested. I was impressed she would have the courage to stand up to him and risk her life to save those around her. I think we need strong women who are willing to stand up and protect our families and neighbors from the evils of the world. I hope she has a speedy and successful recovery.

I admire and respect the men and women who give their lives to protect our country. I love working at the VA hospital and hearing the stories and the incredible sacrifices of those who have done so much for us. Thank you and God bless! I am sorry such a tragic event has effected those who already put themselves willingly in harm's way for us.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/fort.hood.munley/index.html