So you sew?

Look at the darling baby maxi-dress I made for my little niece! Oh, and the cutie chihuahua photo bomber!

I have a childhood friend who is battling breast cancer and I made and sent this out too....

My cousin is expecting her first baby and I made this for her little one...

I also made a fun present for a friend who had recently had surgery...

So here's the haps (in case you were wondering):

I have been busy. Bleh. Not the good kind of busy where you are literally drowning in wonderful projects and people and happy thoughts with butterflies and kisses....Nope. I have been the kind of busy that pisses you off and wears you down and chokes you out with the monotony of the mundane everyday life that is really inescapable as a responsible adult. (Wow, that was a sunny thought! :P)

I have been able to sneak in a little crafty-sewy time in between all that mundane monotony of the 30 something adult with kids. (Refer to the pictures I was able to successfully upload above) Which is definitely a good thing. :)

In February I was hit with right hook of that little monster called depression. Actually, it has been looming about for a few months now and even though it is mostly manageable, sometimes it gets a bit out of hand. Maybe a lot out of hand would be more appropriate. People don't understand why you just can't be happy. Heck, I can't understand why I just can't be happy. I have a great life, a job, fantastic kids, a roof over my head, someone warm to come home to at night...I SHOULD be happy. No worries folks, I am okay. A little reflection, a little taking a step back, a lot of talking it out, and a little medication have helped.
You see, I noticed that I didn't want to do anything I normally enjoy. My blogs have all been neglected, I haven't been anxious to depart on a photo taking expedition, I've barely been on Facebook (tragedy, I know!), and I've barely sewn a thing. Sigh. Yeah, somehow all these things didn't occur to me until I was deep into the murk.

I think we're turning a corner now though. I was actually thinking of writing this post for a few days now and I have a specific location I want to capture on my next photo shoot! Even my friend invited me out a couple of weekends ago to take pictures of her family, which was fun! (and I think most of them turned out...eeek!) I also have several sewing projects lined up in the queue...yeah! :D

So, in reality I haven't disappeared or forgotten or abandoned ShE's NoT yOuR aVeRaGe MoM (you were worried,  I know... ;)). It was all an illusion...yeah, let's go with that. ;)

[ Inset photo here ]

I don't necessarily believe in New Year's resolutions. Now don't get me wrong, I can fully appreciate the effort people make in self-improvement that comes with such a notion, I, for one believe in self-improvement in everyday instead. All of this being said, I really wanted to share a little more via blog-world. I really enjoy the ability to share and express myself in this fashion. So, last week I had a little time and went to upload a picture for a post, only to discover I had successfully reached my capacity level in my picasa web album (where your uploaded pics from your blog are stored). Fail. Blame it on my 365 photo blog from last year (2011 and points forward), blame it on my need for visuals with words, blame it on blogger's piss-poor uploader for "losing" my last uploaded pictures...um, constantly, but I need to have pictures with my posts. Sigh.
What to do now though? Purging my album after saving my blog content in it's entirety (thanks to the skills of my ABC Rent-a-Geek and his html writing abilities) would be ideal and of course, a blog book from my 2011 blog would be cool too (and a great b-day present, hint...hint ;)).
For now though? I guess I'll resign myself to reusing already uploaded pictures and web photos and attempt to not be seriously annoyed by it all. Lame.

2012 Here we come!

I trust we all survived the holidays? I did, barely. Ugh. ;0) I thought I'd take a minute to share a few of the things I was able to complete (craftiness involved). The first thing I did was was to make some cloth garland for my Christmas tree. I have used recycled sparkly Christmas ribbons for a few years now and since my colors were chartreuse and red this year, I opted for something a little different. I had several remnants of Christmas themed material that a cut into wide strips (about 4 inches wide). I alternated a red swirl pattern with a vintage poinsettia print with my theme colors. I sewed all the strips together making a a long chain (about 70 feet long). I broke up the pattern by taking a small remnant of red on red snowflake material and tying knots in the middle of each fabric, as well as, the seams where I sewed the colors together. Along with my collection of red and chartreuse ball ornaments (along with some old fashioned green) and chartreuse bead garland and some over sized, old fashioned Christmas lights, the effect was gorgeous! ;0D (See picture below too!)

Christmas skirt this year! ;0) My daughter (being the girly-girl tomboy that she is, ha!) is very into pretty things. Last year I made her this dress and this year we opted for a pretty skirt instead. I picked up a remnant of stretchy velour fabric for like .97 (wow!) and a black embellished t-shirt on clearance at Target for $3. I added two inserts of black and white polka dot to the skirt out of the velour and topped them with black bows (to match the t-shirt). I made a quick head wrap and let her borrow my sparkly black cardigan (which she covets BTW). Such a cutie and look at how grown up she's getting! 

The black and white material on my daughter's skirt made an appearance here as well! This adorable dress was a present for my baby niece! I bought the top at the thrift store for a $1 and love the embroidery detail of the roses on it. I normally make empire-wasted dresses (be cause they are just so stinking cute!), but the detail was way too cute to not save. I opted for a drop-waste dress instead. I attache a skirt of b & w polka dot to the bottom and ran a ribbon and made a bow for the bottom of the shirt. I also made some matching hair bows for her little piggy tails and I love, love how cute this turned out! ;0)

All planned out...

The front of the book

The pages complete

I'm sure I mentioned that my nephew is a car freak and this year I had soooo much fun making his gift. It's a quiet book that he can take to church on Sundays and play with his cars. I actually designed and made this myself and it was so fun! The book opens to four pages flat where a road travels through a neighborhood, to the country, to the forest, and eventually ends up at the beach! It folds up and ties tight with a garage pocket in the door to store cars. I made it out of felt and backed it with a transportation-themed flannel, so if they have some felt board figures, they can be used on the book too. ;0)

~

J. Lamb 2011

I also made some journals (that didn't take a picture of, poo.) and I painted a table for my two older nieces (with a monogrammed "A" for their initials, which I didn't take a picture of either, double poo.). I did snap a picture of a quick painting I did for New Year's of night falling. Not great, but I like the colors. ;0)


I also want to express my thanks to everyone (you know who you are) who helped make this Christmas really special! You are all amazing! I was so taken aback by the generosity of my friends and family and know that I am forever indebted to you all, thank you.

~J. Lamb

Merry Christmas Mr. Offended

Ben Stein

In case you were wondering, I have mended my broken Christmas spirit somewhat. I did get my tree up, I have nearly completed my gift buying, I have plans for goody baking next week as well. I have been locked in my laundry room attempting to complete a large pile homemade gifts. I helped the kids with their gingerbread house kit too. Eh, I'm still not necessarily a fan of all the fuss and the greediness, but the spirit of giving I can appreciate.

I don't necessarily agree with the efforts of others to take the "Christ" out of Christmas. I mean what on earth is a "Holiday Tree"? I've seen mass posts being shared among my FB friends complaining about people not saying Merry Christmas anymore. I don't feel the need to yell though because I know that not everybody celebrates the holiday and that's okay. Apparently this bothers Ben Stein as well, read on:


(well said.....)

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year -- which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you.

It is quite eloquent and "searing" in reality!




The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it.

It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.

I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: Where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.

She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. (The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.) And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about -- And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

I received this in an e-mail and seeing as though I believe in God myself, I felt that it was completely worth sharing. So, Merry Christmas if that is what you celebrate and Happy Hanukkah too. And now I know why I always liked Ben Stein ;0)

Why I DON'T like Christmas

Call me what you will...

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you would have seen my Christmas posts from last year (click here and here and here and here). I really put a lot of work and effort into the holiday for my family and one would would never expect that I really can't stand Christmas. Yep. You read it right, I don't like it. I am also amazed at how personally people take this statement. "What do you mean you don't like Christmas?!" and "What's wrong with you?" We can discuss the latter for days and probably still get nowhere, ha!
The thing is, this is not a new feeling or anything, I've had a hard time with the holiday since I was a kid. I can remember many a Christmas I spent crying because I just hated it so. I have to hand it to my folks (and Mom especially) who did so much for us around the holidays and really showed me how to give back and make it special for us. As an adult, I have had an increasingly harder time every year to make it good for my kids and this year, I am having a horrendous time even doing anything at all. It's just so much work and the true meaning of the holiday is completely lost to the majority of the public. Maybe I'm going to have to break it down to get my point across:

1. Christmas = mass media feeding frenzy.
You need THIS, you want THAT. Celebrate this way, you are a bad mother if you don't get your kids that. It all boils down to guilt. I don't make much and I can barely afford to get my kids the bare minimum of what they need, let alone what they want. I want to be able to give so much more to everyone around me, who have loved me, who support me and I just can't. I can make things, give from my heart and I don't have the time to do what I want of that either. The whole situation makes me sad.

2. Past demons.
My ex-husband got me something for Christmas the year just before we got married and the year just before we split up. Nothing at all for the years in between. My man is good to me, he really is, but I have to spell out exactly what I want. We've been together for almost 8 years now and I would fall over dead if he were to give me something that he KNEW I wanted because he knew ME. I won't hold my breath though and I actually told him I didn't want anything this year. I guess we'll see.

3. The reason for the season.
If even half the people that celebrated the holiday put the emphasis where it should be (on Christ), I would be a lot happier about it. Nope, it is celebrated as a gimmee-gimmee day and that makes me sick.

4. I put in all the effort and see nothing in return.
Well, that's not totally true...my kids (my daughter especially) help out. I get paid in hugs and kisses and
"I love yous". I just wish I could get them more, nah, I just wish I could get them all of what they need. I bought clothes for my daughter at the thrift store yesterday because it's cold and she doesn't have much. My boys have just 2 pairs of shoes a piece and thank goodness my little on wears a uniform to school because he has nothing but ratty hand-me-downs to wear otherwise. It just makes me sad. They need things and are good kids and I can't give it to them.

5. Overload.
My work experience is in retail management. I have worked retail jobs for 15 years now. I get saturated with Christmas earlier and earlier every year. I worked C-store for 6 years and had one Christmas off in all those years. It really was just another day. See where I'm going with this?

Just 18 more days and we can forget about it until next year. Bah humbug. ;0P

Thanks again!

I have had a few requests for a fabulous soup I make and thought I'd give it a share:

German Potato Soup (GF of course!)


1 pound potatoes (washed and diced)
2 leeks (trimmed and diced)
2 carrots (peeled and diced)
1 cup chopped cabbage
4 cups Beef Broth (I like Pacific Natural Food's version)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrin's)
1/2 cup sour cream
6-8 slices bacon (cooked and crumbled)

Combine leek, carrots, cabbage, broth and potatoes into Crock-Pot. Stir in seasonings. Cover and cook on low 8 to10 hours or High 4 to 5 hours. Remove bay leaf. Using slotted spoon remove potatoes and mash, Combine potatoes with sour cream. Return to Crock-Pot and stir. Stir in bacon pieces. Serves 6 to 8.

This soup is a huge hit at my house and it's so simple too! Yum, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I also wanted to take the opportunity to write my thoughts on Thanksgiving. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the fact that there is an entire holiday dedicated to giving thanks...I just wish more of an emphasis was put on this for everyday. Use this time to teach your children about gratitude and what it really means to be thankful for the things we have. I know that times are rough everywhere, we are not excluded from this at my house either. Before you become bitter about the things you are doing without, remember the things you have. I would be doing myself a great injustice if I didn't take the time to be thankful for what I have and here goes (in no particular order):

My children. They have given me more opportunity to learn and grow in this life than any other person or experience could. We don't always have much, but there is no doubt how much I love them and that is all that matters, right? Thank you, thank you for letting my be your mother.

My family. I'm not sure what I did right on the other side, but I got the very best parents, siblings, in-laws (ex does not do them justice), cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles a girl could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you for being mine!

My Man. My love, my best friend, my cohort, my warmth. You love my children as your own and for that I am so very, very lucky. You constantly amaze me with your strength and that smile is unmatched, thank you.

This is just a drop in the bucket and I could go on like this forever! Have you taken a moment to say thanks? Maybe it's about time for you too. ;0)

How I love you "sew"

"Littlest Pet Shop" Dress for my little niece

and the back

"Littlest Pet Shop" Dress 2 for my older niece

and the back

As you can see, I HAVE been busy with a few more extra-curricular activities (other than work!) and all of which have included making things for people in my life. I love to receive hand-made things and I think it is so fun to make things specifically for people, that you know they can't just go out and buy.

The first two dresses I made were for my nieces (who are obsessed with "Little Pet Shop" toys). The only thing I didn't have in my stash were the t-shirts and I picked those up at Target in clearance for a couple of bucks each! I happened to have picked up a remnant of "Littlest Pet Shop" material sometime ago and knew that a couple of custom dresses would be the perfect birthday presents for my nieces! I paired them with some great pink gingham fabric and the bright turquoise that had the same colors as the "Littlest Pet Shop" material and made each dress a little different. I am a Mom after all and I understand how alike things look when they are lumped together in the laundry! (yipes!) They turned out so pretty too!

"Cars" vest for my nephew

and the back

Well, you can't really make dresses for the sisters and not make something for the brother too, right? Haha, my nephew had a birthday too and I had a plan! This boy loves anything cars related and I thought this "Cars" material paired with a great gingham would do the trick. I actually made this from a "Simplicity" pattern, replacing the back panel with gingham fabric and lining the entire thing in the gingham as well. I think I've mentioned that my machine makes terrible button holes and I wanted his mom to be able to fasten it up, so I recycled a button placket from a .50 cent find from the thrift store and put it to good use! The snaps in the back to cinch it tight were recycled from the same piece and honestly, I don't think I could have done it cheaper! I mean, how cute is this? ;0D

Pretty pillow for my co-worker

and the back too.

Grandma, let me know if the material on the front of this looks familiar...(and thanks!)

I have a wonderful co-worker that turned 35 the other day (I'm not far behind...yipes!) and I wanted to make a little something for her (mostly because I'm flat broke...again). I kind of asked her out of the blue what colors her bedroom were. She told me they were mostly neutrals and that her accent color was a red/orange. Turns out I had something pretty in my stash that would do! I had some quilted material and some fuzzy material that were neutral and paired with this gorgeous print was...well, awesome! I know she and her husband have dogs and so, I made a slip cover that was easily removable and tied it up in the back with a pretty bow. She loved it! My other co-workers couldn't believe I had made it. I guess it looked pretty good! ;0)