Spring Break!!!! Is It Really a Break?

FINALLY!  A week off from school and the early morning wake up and rush routine.  It's so lovely to not have to be anywhere by 8am.  Too bad the kids don't understand the luxury that is sleeping in.  I guess to them it's a luxury to be able to wake up and just play.  I don't know why they feel the need to do that at 7am ... but at least they let me lay in bed and slowly gain consciousness.  I think we all needed a little break from the routine, and while I appreciate not having to get these kids to school each morning, I wouldn't exactly consider this a "break".  We're having a stay-cation, so that means Mom is working full time to keep this house from falling into shambles while the kids enjoy their toys and pretend play all across the house.  Then there are the 3 meals a day, clean up that goes with them, snacks, projects, crafts, more play.  Stay-cations are awesome, especially when you live in paradise, but they are messy and require constant clean up from Mom.  No worries, though!  I love what I do and I'm happy to do it ... I just think lets call it what it is ... Spring WORK!  :)

I've got LOTS on my to-do list and I have multiple to-do lists.  Here is just a glimpse into what plans I have rolling around in this head of mine.  Who said stay at home mom's have it easy!?


My Sewing To-Do List:


1)  Make 18 pencil cases  - finished!
2)  Make 2 wristlets - finished!
3)  Cut scraps into coin purses and ear bud cases  - finished!
4)  Sew coin purses and ear bud cases
5)  Make shorts using new pattern and wool suiting
6)  Messenger bag with wool suiting
7)  Diaper bag with new pattern and wool suiting
8)  My new messenger bag design with wool suiting
9)  Cut up scraps from wool into coin purses, wristlets, and ear bud cases
10)  Sew the coin purses, etc from wool
11)  Make dress from new pattern and the organic cotton I purchased (got for free!  From Hemp Traders!  Making friends in all the right places!)
12)  Make rasta skirt with left over knit from rasta shirt
13)  Make pancho from rasta lycra for a beach cover up
14)  Make sewing machine table skirt
15)  Make a Jimmy Z style skirt - just for good retro fun!
16)  Make a jacket or pancho with left over organic cotton
17)  Finish hand sewing projects - button on shorts, Bayne's ripped jeans, JJ's patch
18)  Combine Bayne's favorite old shirt with a new shirt
19)  Make wristlet/purse with front pocket


My Kids To-Do List:


1)  We just got our larvae in the mail for our painted lady butterflies, so I wanted to make some little caterpillars ... maybe just with thumb prints - we have lots of stamp pads.
2)  Make butterflies from toilet paper rolls and decorate
3)  Make coasters from perler beads
4)  Make Bayne practice math 15 minutes per day on IXL while Aubrey practices writing her letters
5)  Make sock puppets with fluorescent puffy paint, pull out the black light and have a glow in the dark puppet show
6)  Go to the school and ride bikes a few times this week - although poor Aubrey has a yucky cough :(
7)  Pull out the old slides and have a slide show-  I've been meaning to do this forever!
8)  Make Easter cookies and decorate
9)  Go see the Easter Bunny at the mall


Around the House To-Do List:


1)  Laundry - oh how I hate you
2)  Touch up paint in kitchen
3)  Decorate for Easter
4)  Finish putting up the plastic sheeting on the green house
5)  Rake out the garden bed and add new soil - plant 3 veggie plants and prep the sides for herbs (I can only afford to do so much planting at one time)
7)  Un-decorate from Easter :)
8)  Figure out what is wrong with the damn printer!!!

My Work-Out To-Do List:


1)  Jillian (aka- Mean Bitch!) - No More Trouble Zones
2)  Play Punch out with Bayne and Jillian yoga
3)  Yard work and progressive pilates - 4 work outs
4) Arm workout + cardio (punch out or run)
5)  Progressive Pilates easy one + cardio
6)  Power Yoga + cadio
7)  Cardio + Abs


As you can see I already crossed a few things off of my list ....

Here are the 18 pencil cases I made for a friend and loyal customer:

She bought 15 for her daughters soccer team.  The good news is I have 2 more up for sale!

One has a blue zipper and one has a black zipper.  Both can be puchase here:

At my Etsy Store!

Just specify which color zipper you prefer.

 

I also made a wristlet in a purse style for her daughter.  She is young, so we designed it with a long strap that she can carry over her shoulder or across her chest, so she doesn't accidentally lose or misplace her money and phone.

Here is the other wristlet I made for a girl at the bank who is always bailing me out of trouble.  Love her!  She is getting married and I thought this would be a nice gift for her to use at her wedding and beyond.  I don't share my vintage fabric with anyone and the white is from my vintage stash.  

She is having an all white wedding with a crystal broach bouquet and peacock feathers for the men.  I thought the blue lining was a good touch, not only for the peacock feathers, but for the whole "something blue" deal.

Also, I would like to introduce you to my new friend!  I bought a serger!!!  I am so excited and terrified all at the same time!  It came with a instruction disc, but I don't have a PC, so I can't watch it, D'oH!  I haven't tried it out yet, but I plan on tackling that this week.  I guess that should have been on my to-do list.  I am saving all my knit work to be done on here.  I cannot wait to figure this thing out and get comfortable on it.  I think it is going to change my life.  It's a brother, so I named it after my brother ... Mike!

Meet Mike!

Welcome to the family!  Here is my trifecta, the trinity, the threesome and me!

Mike, my bro.  Ken, my best friend.  Conner, my boyfriend.  And ME!

I also decided to change my hair color for the spring.  I started doing it myself for cost reasons.  I'm pretty disappointed with box dyes.  I feel like they wash out within a few weeks and I want to re-do them within 3 weeks, but I don't want to dump a bunch of chemicals on my head so frequently.  I've been looking into trying henna on my hair.  It is very permanent, though, so I want to be sure I'm ready for it if I do it.  It has a very red - Lucille Ball - look to it, which I think I can pull off.  Box dye ends up washing out and leaving me with an orange coppery look anyway, so why not just embrace the red!  Before I dive into the henna world (it seems like a bit of a process at first) I decided to try out a natural dye from Whole Foods.  I went for copper reddish blond and MAN it is RED!  It's super fun and vibrant.  It makes me want to dress all fun, funky, and fresh.  I'm really feeling it.  My guess is this color will wash out pretty fast.  I went ahead and ordered the henna.  I think if I can handle this red, than I should be able to handle the henna red.  What I love about the henna is it is completely natural and 100% organic.  It's actually good for your hair and strengthens it.  It is safe to apply as often as you want.  It permanently dyes your hair red and applying more will darken it to a deeper red with each dye.  You can store any left over henna in the freezer and just pull it out when you need to do a root touch up.  It's also safe to use on your eyebrows.  I hate when my eyebrows are a different color from my hair for some reason.  Drives me crazy!  I will have to blog about it once I do it.  I'm a little scared because it does seem to take some time and patience and a few days to settle into it's color.  I worry I may look like Bozo the clown for a few days.  It also looks really hard to wash out.  Even this natural dye from Whole Foods was very hard to wash out.  I am sure it had henna in it.  Anyway, here is the new me!  All red and ready for spring!  What do you think?

Should I go for the henna and commit to being a red head?  

I hope you all have lots of fun plans for the Spring Break!!  If you are out in the world vacationing, enjoy yourself a little extra for me.  I'll be back in here to share some of our Spring Break stay-cation fun.