God Must Love Girl Scout Cookies

Two weeks have flown by during which time Bugs and I have been devoted to selling Girl Scout cookies in her efforts to reach a certain goal. They sell themselves but it's still a ton of work! 

We had two order forms nearly completely filled out, the second one filled out by spending hours this past Saturday driving all over town as Bugs went door to door. She was insanely brave for a 7 year old asking complete strangers to buy cookies. I was so proud of her because that's some serious scary stuff!  She always took the rejection with a smile and I would want to punch the person in the nose. Just kidding - ok, maybe one or two times.  Easy Mother Hen!

Yesterday sales officially ended and the order forms were due back to the Troop.  Problem was, I hadn't seen that 2nd form since we got home on Saturday and it had been nagging at me for a couple of days.  So when it was time to drive them over and drop them off, I couldn't find it anywhere. Anywhere. 

Have you ever let your child down? Bigtime like this?  I was not equipped to come clean with her innocent little brave face that I had screwed up so royally and lost all of her hard work.  I was SURE I was the one who had lost it, thinking it very likely that I accidentally threw it away and the garbage truck came this morning.  I was totally freaking out looking everywhere I could think of. I finally stopped and tried meditating through my steps on Saturday which only made me freak out worse.  So I said a quickie prayer and immediately afterward, I was sure I said to myself, "Find her lunchbox and it'll be right with it." Bugs had her lunchbox in the car with us so she could eat her lunch while we were out selling.  But I really did think it was my own voice - it was a good idea but it was MY idea, right?

A few minutes later, I was in her room and I looked under her bed, I think subconsciously looking for her lunchbox.  There was the lunchbox...and right next to it was the order form.

It wasn't until later did I remember that simple sentence in my head, "Find her lunchbox and it'll be right with it."  What I imagined at the time to be my own good idea is not so easily passed off as luck.  I've never had a prayer answered so clearly.  But there's no other explanation.  I am humbled.

Ruffle Skirts - They're Addicting

A couple years back I made a whole bunch of ruffle skirts for Bugs when she was 5 and now they no longer fit her. To buy them brand new, it is outrageous what they cost especially when you consider it takes probably $5 worth of remnant fabric and a few hours of time to make a better product than what can be purchased!

Problem now is that Bugs has grown. She  has grasshopper legs like The Marshmallow and the skirts are way too short for her gangle legs (isn't that descriptive?)

I have a hard time buying patterns for ruffle skirts because there are so many free tutorials. But beware, some of them are LAME with poor directions, inaccurate measurements etc, etc, etc. Take for instance the one I made last night.  I've made a lot of ruffle skirts so I knew where this woman was going wrong and made attempts to correct mistakes. But it was too far gone and while my result is wearable, the dimensions are screwy and I'd be better off unstitching it and adding a bit more fabric to make it more comfortable, let alone modest since it's really just too short. That's what I get for sewing when my kids are in bed and not available for try-ons.

The reason I tried this tutorial instead of going with one I already liked was that my very favorite tute I did a couple years ago was one I could not find for the life of me. I was sure I'd printed it off or bookmarked it somewhere but it was nowhere.  This is the skirt.We get compliments on it wherever we go.  Tink wears it now and it is adorable on her but I really wanted to make one for Bugs too! 

I finally did a new search adding "2009" to my search terms and it was the 2nd google result!  This was today and I am sooo happy! I'm definitely going to print it off and save it on my harddrive this time because it's tried and true and a total favorite.  So, if you're looking for a very excellent tutorial that is excellent for beginners (it was the very first one I ever made) then this one is for you. Not to mention that it has stood the test of time. It's been through two children, the washer numerous times, lots of ironings and play times.  Not a single stitch is coming out of place.  It's a very full skirt with lots of fabric but that's what makes it so cute.  Now that I have the tute again, I'm going to make several of these. Even as a beginner, I noted in my blog post that it only took me 1/2 a day to make it. Now that I'm a tiny bit more seasoned, I'll bet I can whip it up in just a couple 2-3 hours easy.  Now that's what I'm talking about.

Here's the link to the tutorial:
http://www.polkadotchair.com/2009/09/sydneys-skirt-tutorial.html

Have fun!

Vaseline Report

I wanted to let you know the final results of my foray into Vaseline expulsion from the other night.  I have rarely demonstrated such diligence into any particular effort. Time is too precious at this point.

My efforts at removing 2 oz of Vaseline from my beautiful microfiber duvet were...successful 100%.  I didn't even want to open my eyes to do the final inspection after all efforts were exhausted. I did a final wash in the washing machine and let it dry on the line but once it was dry, I peeked at it through squinted eyes to see what I was left with. Because at that point, I would be left with whatever was there. I had no more ideas, no more effort.

This is what I tried and I do NOT know what was successful exactly but that the entire combination eventually did the trick. I'm putting this out there for posterity and the desperation of some random woman out there who wants to save her prized ... whatever it may be after her toddler discovered Vaseline.  Vaseline....  it's viscosity must be that one temptation that can not be overcome by any amount of toddler will power. I speak from experience (two toddlers who have stuck pudgy hands down deep into pots of the stuff).

I.......
1) cried.
2) washed with Tide & OxyClean on hot (do not dry)
3) scrape all remaining Vaseline off with a butter knife
4) dab vigorously with alcohol
5) spray hydrogen peroxide generously and lightly scrub
6) spray all spots with WD40, let sit for 18 hours (less is probably fine - I just didn't get back to it before then)

At this point I was highly alarmed at the "stain" that the WD40 left and thought I'd have a new disaster to deal with  so I...

7) doused the whole stain with dish soap, plunged it into a bathtub of hot water and scrubbed like a woman from 1870.
8) let sit in the hot water until the hot water wasn't hot anymore
9) threw it all into the washing machine AGAIN and washed for a normal cycle on hot with Tide and Oxyclean.
10) Line dried

I think it looked better than it did before.  Whew!  I think that Vaseline will forever be on the list of items not allowed in this house ever again upon risk of hanging.  I'm serious.