Friday, November 25, 2011

Turkey Day

I hope you all had a spectacular Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends-and in some cases....co-workers! We had a wonderful time with all of the above. 

My kids can't escape my dorkiness....even on Thanksgiving. I made some "turkey shirts with googley eyes" for them. What a crew! 
I worked til midnite on Thanksgiving after spending the day with family. On the way home I was so amazed at how busy and bright it all was due to the Black Friday sales. I had no inclination to get up for the shopping rush. BUT...I did have some great coupons for Jo-Ann's  and with orders for The CarSeat Cozee to fill I wanted to hit the sales. I left the house at 9:30am and made my way to the 2nd best store (THE Home Depot being the first....of course!). Oh. My. Word. I know I am crazy for coupons and sales and all things cheap but seriously......SERIOUSLY.
I pulled a number out of the ticket roll and found 1sq ft of space to stand with my 4 pieces of fabric. I looked at my ticket and it was F71....they were freaking on E1. That is 171 people in front of me waiting to get fabric cut. That's 171 people in front of me waiting to pay for their cut fabric. I waited about an hour and it was only up to ......E21. People had re-stocking carts filled to taller than themselves. Yeah....not so much. I will try again tomorrow. 
If you were stronger and braver and more patient than me- I hope your Black Friday was uber successful.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I just can't help myself....

I've said before that we are a drop-off for all sorts of things- dogs, leftovers from Applebee's, furniture. We got an influx of stuff when a friend had a couple changes in marital status. They dropped off a wonderful dining room set that needed a little love in the seat cushion department. 
With 3 kids so far --I'm still hoping for a doorbell ring and a set of twins in Moses baskets sitting there- I figured I would set myself up for less headaches and cleaning.

Here is the before. You can see what I mean. 


Here is the after. For 2 of the chairs I picked a great fabric and then covered them in a thick clear plastic. Spill away boys! Now go get a sponge and wipe it up..... 
I was waiting at the cutting counter at Jo-Anns and a "Judge Judy" type lady was asking everyone what they were making with their fabric. I tried to find my cell phone to fake a call but since my number was up next I didn't want to be rude to the employee since I am in there every other day. 
She didn't like the idea of mixing it up in such an important room. 
Now, normally I would come back with a sarcastic remark but I am trying to be "nicer". *sigh*......
I love it. Stay on your chairs boys. 


There was a pile of naked stuffed animals at church waiting for clothes before they were given away downtown. I tried my hand at making a little dress for a Cabbage Patch cat.....I ain't winnin' any awards with this one. Simmer down American Girl you will turn a profit this year. I actually got a catalog in the mail last week from them. Holy cow! I don't even spend that much on a shirt for ME. ME, a grown woman, whole human being, ME.  3 square inches of Burberry fashioned into a shirt shouldn't cost more than 36 square inches of Daisy Fuentes....just sayin'.

Monday, November 14, 2011

My review of the new SmashBurger.

The kids and I had some errands to run and we were "in the area" and decided to stop in to the new SmashBurger restaurant that opened last week-ish. As some of you are aware I am a burger fanatic. I will pick a burger over anything, anywhere, anytime.  

I ordered a "SmashBurger". It is the standard burger here. Nothing fancy with the Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and "smash"sauce. I was eye-ing the Bacon, BBQ  and crispy onion burger but the whole "smash"sauce sucked me in. 

The fries are super skinny. They have a few different varieties and I actually meant to order the rosemary ones but (surprisingly) I was distracted by the boys trying to take "a money" out of the tip bowl.  Silly me, I need to focus.

I ordered a kid meal with a cheeseburger and one with chicken tenders. I split the two meals between the boys so they get a little of each. Why? I really don't know. 

Yes, my kids are drinking pop. I usually get them chocolate milk as a "treat" when we eat out but they kept going on and on about "can't wait to drink my diet coke" (i have no idea where they picked that up from) so I just let them have some Fanta orange. I won "Mother of the year" tonight from them. 

You can see the burger and chicken tender is gone from their little metal basket.  Drink up, Logan you won't get that for a while!

To go along with the "Mother of the Year", yes my 10 month old is eating french fries. That kid eats whatever we eat and really doesn't eat any baby food anymore. Works for me!

Well, how was it??
Ummmm......honestly? 
Disappointing. 
Gasp! 
Yep. 
Culver's is right next door and I would go to them instead of coming back to Smashburger. 
It was a bright, clean place with ample room in the booth. The employees were nice, not overly attentive where you can't get a bite in between "How is everything?" and "Can I get anyone anything?"
My silverware was dirty, the boys chicken tender meal had no BBQ sauce as ordered, the fries were hard as a rock and everytime I took a bite of my average burger there was a weird smell of wet dishrag. 
The bun to burger ratio is off. The huge bun swallows the thin patty. The chicken was SOOO greasy and limp. 
The window where the servers stand and pick up your order was close to our seats and I got to hear super interesting conversations about how good Steak-n-Shake was on the way to work because one of the employees would never eat this "crap" and so on. The servers throwing  paper and pens at each other was a nice touch in front of my 2 yr olds but whatever! The manager stopped at the table next to us with a half untucked shirt and a crooked name tag which I thought was a nice professional touch, but maybe I am just being nit-picky.
Would I go back? I would but it wouldn't be for awhile. Maybe let them work the "kinks" out. 
Have you gone? What did you think? I hope your experience was fantastic and I just went on an off night. 



Monday, November 7, 2011

Dog jackets

I have some great fabric scraps that I just couldn't throw out. I asked on Facebook what I should do with them. I got a lot of great ideas that I am going to get to work on and this is one. Dog jackets!!
My co-worker, Heidi, asked me to make her dogs some jackets with some scraps. Here you go, Heidi!!
I know, I know...I had to add a CarSeat Cozee tag, I love them. 
Another notch in my dork belt!