The Stuff I Live For

Ottobre Design Magazine Give Away March 27, 2008

Attention Sewers! Are you familiar with the sewing magazine Ottobre Design?  If not, it's a fabulous Eurpoean magazine with modern ideas, photos, patterns and instructions. I decided to subscribe and it cost me a pretty penny. Magazine-subscription-speaking at least, it's not cheap. I signed up for 4 kids issues and 2 woman issues, and it totalled almost $75. (Hope the Hubby's not reading this.) I see from many forums and blogs that they new Spring/Summer 2008 issues were highly anticipated.

To be honest, I'm just not interested in sewing clothes for myself and shouldn't have ordered the Woman magazines. The few things I am wanting to sew for myself, I don't need patterns for.

This issue includes 20 patterns for women (European sizes 34-52) - a neat spring coat, wide-leg linen pants, a sweet blouse, a special-occassion dress, a tunic, leggins plus other casual wear sewn from knits. Also fitness and exercise apparel for active women and a fresh collection for mothers-to-be. All patterns are intact and the magazine is in perfect, unused condition.

If you sew, or know someone who does, just leave a comment. I'll randomly pick a winner on April 5. Sorry, U.S. residents only, please!

Update on April 5th: 

I used random.org to generate a winner from Comments 1-44

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

   5

Timestamp: 2008-04-05 22:54:51 UTC

The winner is Comment #5 Jessica. Congrats, Jessica, I'll be contacting you!

What I’ve Been Up to Lately March 26, 2008

Just showin off the fun stuff I made recently, mostly for my little people….

My Major Award Arrived March 24, 2008

(I wanted to post this a week ago, but I left my camera at Moonbounce Adventures a week and a half ago, and just got it back this past weekend. Sorry, for the delay of my 'thank you,' Wendy!)

I am a freak about getting the mail. I don't know why but I get really annoyed when Eric or anyone else brings the mail in for me. (Unless it's cold, or raining. Then, Eric can get it, but he can't look at what's there first!) I figure I subconsciously think there might someday be a surprise, unwarranted, big, fat check in there and I want to find it first! No, I won't pack my bags and put myself on an island if that check comes. I just wanna see it first. Is my mail obsession crazy? Don't answer that.

Anyway, I've digressed. Who doesn't love an unexpected letter in the mailbox? LET ALONE an unexpected little package. I pulled a padded, manilla envelope with a return address I didn't recognize out of our box Saturday. It was a pack of mini (I love mini stuff), handmade soy tarts from this Etsy shop. It was so cool to see on the packing list that the buyer was Wendy the MomLady, asking her purchase be shipped to me!

Now, these are meant to be burned, but the 'clean cotton' scent smells so good without even being burned, they seem great for sitting out and freshening up my powder room.

And of course I had to have a mini Good Pail to put them in!

Thanks a million, Wendy, for my major award, which you can read about here, or you can just tell yourself, 'That Elexis must be some genious, or humanitarian, or something really great to win a major award!'

Happy Easter! March 23, 2008

We colored eggs last night, did the Easter egg hunt and baskets this morning and went to church. I looked forward to doing this stuff with my own family for so long, and I'm so thankful that I have it all now. Tonight, we're off to dinner at my moms.

 Wow, I wonder who made those adorable little dresses?

Lewis Black Video March 21, 2008

This is in celebration of the email I got from Ticketmaster today saying my Lewis Black tickets have been mailed! Eric and I will see him on May 10th. Woohoo! Black is one of only 2 comedians I really love. The other, Mitch Hedberg, is dead.

Oh, and I like candy corn, but had to pick a PG clip so as to not offend any moms with kids in the room!

Wordless Wednesday - Just Wanted to Share Some Laughs March 19, 2008

 For more Wordless Wednesday go here or here.

oopsies! (in case you missed it, see left side)

bet business is boomin (I'm not mocking the broken english,

just the fact that they put this on their storefront!)

he's not gonna meet his quota

dang it!

Par-Tay! March 12, 2008

This post will stay at the top for the Ultimate Blog Party week. Scroll down for new posts!

You gotta fight, for your right,
to paaaaaaaaaarty!

Or, in

In my case….

You gotta plan three weeks early, and get a babysitter, and get plenty of rest beforehand or you'll pass out too early,
to paaaaaaaaaarty!  

(This is why a blog party fits perfectly into my schedule.)                                                                           

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2008, blogosphere partiers! If we've never met, introductions are in order.

My name is Elexis. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two and wife by day, blogger and online biz owner by night. I recently began sewing because it gives me a reason to procrastinate my household chores and have posted a few tutorials here with more to come. By-the-way, I've had thousands of hits from those tutorials and almost NO ONE leaves a comment. Other bloggers and forum members even have those tut's posted on their sites, and they STILL don't leave a comment here. I love comments, so please leave one!

I post about fab finds, and love sarcastic humor, music, decorating and stuff that reminds me how great life is. I'm not here to whine. I do enough of that for my husband.

I enjoy visting some blogs regularly, rather than many blogs infrequently. So, if you enjoy my posts visit often, and you can be sure I'll visit you.

Also, I am giving away a pail from Good Pails to Have to three winners at the 5 Minutes for Mom prizelist. Check out the prize list here if you haven't already!

Have You Seen This? Absolutely Bizarre

Sheriff: Woman sat on toilet for 2 years

By ROXANA HEGEMAN
Associated Press Writer

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years - so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. … I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wordless Wednesday - Why Women Live Longer Than Men

Wordless Wednesday hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

Some Stuff I’m Loving Right Now March 11, 2008

This would be awesome on our breakfast table in the kitchen, but, dang it, they don't have this adorable retro napkin holder in red.

 This songbird chandelier is ridiculously perfect. Also, it's ridiculously priced at $778! Still, it's fabulous.

Add a splash of color with this hanging mobile made from carefully selected pieces of recycled magazines. Looks like you have to choose between keeping your kids, or getting the mobile. Might be a tough choice.