Felt Book: Numbers

Normally I wouldn't post about someone's birthday gift until after I've given it to them but since c.b. is only turning one I don't think this post will ruin the surprise for him.  For c.b.'s first birthday (as well as Christmas), I am making him a felt Quiet Book.  I have several pages in mind; this is the first I completed.

My inspiration for the Numbers pages came from a blog post I found on Pinterest.  I really like having the different numbers of beads on the ribbon so c.b. can play with the beads without choking on them.

I started out by making a "pattern" of my own.  To be honest, this page was so simple I probably didn't need a pattern but I did one anyone, 'cause I'm like that.  Sorry the image isn't incredibly easy to see, I used pencil.

Here are the materials needed and their prices (if known/relevant):

- 2 background pages.  I chose white because I wanted the numbers and ribbon to be rainbow colors and I thought it'd be cute to have a white background.  These two pages came from a multi-pack that had a handful of pages in it (not all of them complete pages, which irked me a little when I got home and opened up the pack).  Each page in that pack came to about $0.15, so my two background pages cost $0.30.

- Felt for each color the numbers would be in.  This price is going to be difficult to come to.  The pink, yellow, green, and blue came from the multi-pack but I obviously didn't use full pages.  The multi-pack didn't have any orange so I had to buy that one separate, on sale, for $0.25 (and it wasn't even the orange I wanted but the best JoAnn had at the time).  I figure all the felt I used for those numbers comes to about $0.10.

- Ribbon.  The purple ribbon I used came from a pack I purchased from a friend while she was getting ready to move.  The whole pack had a ton of ribbon in it and I think I paid her $10 so I'd guesstimate the cost of the ribbon I used for these pages to be about $0.20.

- Thread.  I just used the cheap white stuff that is currently in my machine.  I think the cost is probably too insignificant to put here.

- 55 Beads.  The smallest pack of the big plastic beads that I could find had 245 pieces - way more than I needed but whatever.  That pack cost $1.99.  I chose white because I couldn't find any good mutli-colored packs.  I saw a red, white, and blue pack and a multi-colored pack that has some funky colors but I wanted to stick with traditional rainbow-like colors, so white works.

This brings the total cost of these two pages to $2.59 - that includes the 190 beads I didn't use.

Steps.

1. I started with cutting out the numbers.  I cut the color felt I wanted to about 2 inches by 2 inches, then drew the number on the felt (using a thin Sharpie marker) backwards.  I did it backwards so less of the marker would show when I put the numbers on the pages.
2. Next I sewed each number on to the background felt and sewed  one side of the ribbon to the background.
3. Then I placed the appropriate number of beads on the ribbon, secured the beads back with a pin, and sewed the other side of the ribbon.
4. Done.  Ok, so these pages are technically done but I'll still need to place holes on the inside side of each page when I finish other pages and want to secure them all together.

DIY: Reheatable Rice Hand Warmers

Padre called me this morning and asked if I wanted to go to a football game with him.  My first question was "How cold is it supposed to be?" To which he replied (not his exact words) - pretty darn cold.  It has been a while since I've been to a football game (just before CJ and I started dating) so I decided to go.  Ever since (about 2 hours), I've been thinking about how I'm going to keep myself warm.

I'm going to need lots of layers: multiple socks, long johns under my jeans, thermal shirt plus hoodie plus down coat, gloves, scarf, ear muffs.  Then I thought it sure would be nice to have those heated hand warmers too, but they are so expensive.  But wait, on Pinterest the other day I saw some of those reheatable rice hand warmers that I could make myself.  The pin that I saw was actually a link to someone's Etsy where they were selling them so I decided to do a Google search and I found this site.  It's not as though I needed a site to help me, these are pretty simple.

1. I started with a fleece scarf that Big Sister made me years ago for Christmas.  She actually made me several scarfs in several colors, this is just the color I use the least.






2. Then I cut out two pieces (for two hand warmers)  to the size I wanted.








3. Next, I folded each piece over and sewed along the edges leaving a small opening.







4. When they were both sewn I turned them in-side-out.

5. Next I filled them with rice making sure not to fill them all the way, about 75% full.









6. Then I pinned back the rice.








7. Finally, I sewed up the side with the opening and then sewed another line along that edge just for extra measure.


Now I have two hand warmers that I'll heat up in the microwave at the last minute in an attempt to keep my hands warm during the game.

Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favorite recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies; I got it from a friend in college.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening (or butter or margarine or applesauce)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or 1 tsp nutmeg + 1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups flour

Direction:
1. Cream together shortening and sugar.
2. Mix in egg.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients.
4. Spoon on to ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake at 375 for about 10 - 12 minutes.
*Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Nutritional Information (one serving is one cookie):

New Job (Kind Of)

On Monday October 10th I worked for Company A and assumed I'd be working there for some time (not necessarily because I liked it there).  That evening after work I got a text from a co-worker: Do you know what the mandatory meeting is about?  I figured that Boss At The Time was freaking out over something small and was calling everyone into a meeting to threaten to replace us all with contractors . . . again.

I checked my work email to see what my co-worker was talking about and noticed that the email came from HR, not Boss At The Time.  I also noticed that Boss At The Time was not included in the people who received this email.  To be honest, my first thought was that Boss At The Time was getting fired (finally!) and I was very, very happy about that.

I got into work the next morning and this mandatory meeting was all anyone could talk about.  Through this talk we also realized that Hearts, another co-worker, wasn't included in the email.  This was a surprise and didn't fit with my theory that Boss At The Time was going to be fired.

We got into the meeting, almost the whole department was there and the COO was there and another guy who I didn't know was there.  Just a few minutes into the meeting I found out (other co-workers already knew) the other guy was the CEO of Company B.  Company B acquired (for lack of a better term) Company A's Programming Department and everyone in it.  Everyone in the meeting automatically had a job with Company B (whew) and everyone not in the meeting was laid off (Boss At The Time = yes!, Guy Who No One Knew What He Did = too bad, he was a nice guy even though no one knew what he did, Hearts = that's the suck).

So on Tuesday October 11th I worked for Company B assuming that this was a great move away from Company A whom I was beginning to loath.

Some background: I'd worked for Company A for just over two years.  I started as a Software Tester and a few months later became the Software Project Manager (which actually entailed everything I had been doing, everything the title implies, plus some - it's a smallish company).  As the Software Project Manager I worked really hard to keep that department organized - a nearly impossible act if you know Company A's Marketing Department.  But I think I succeeded at least a little.  It was a lot of hard work but as of October 10th we were coding more with less bugs and much better communication inside and outside of the department.

All of that seems to have died as of October 11th (RIP sanity).  Company B is a very different situation than what we've been used to.  Communication is horrific, cowboy coding is at an all time high, more bugs are getting through (maybe because we push things without testing?), tension and stress are high, and, once again, I'm exhausted from just thinking about all my hard work that has gone down the drain and the fact that even though I pretty much have the same team as at Company A, I'm going to have to start from scratch to get us where we were on October 10th.

So, if you see me around and notice that I look half dead and my hair is falling out, you'll know it is because I've lost the last year and a half of my life and I get to do it all over again.  Fun.

DIY: Receiving Blanket and Burp Cloths

It seems like everyone is having a baby and that's only a little bit of an exaggeration.  A little while ago it also seemed like every sewing place had flannel on sale, so I bought some and that's only a little bit of an understatement.

One of my fabric fabrics was a dinosaur fabric.  The store where I got it didn't have any of the dinosaur paw print fabric left so I went with a plain green fabric for my second fabric.  This is what I made:

1 receiving blanket, 3 regular burp cloths, and 4 burp cloths made from cloth diapers.  The steps for all were really simple (I don't do complicated things . . . yet).

After the fabric was cut, for anything I wanted to add an applique to, I added that next.  I probably would have done more but I didn't have enough fabric for more.  I chose a gray thread for this project because there are some gray rocks on the dinosaur printed fabric and I thought gray thread would bring the color of the rocks out nicely.

Receiving Blanket

Regular Burp Cloths

Next, for the receiving blanket and the regular burp cloths, I sewed the front sides of the fabric together leaving a small unsewn section.  Then I turned it right side out, ironed the sides flat, and sewed around the edges one more time.  Easy.  Each has dinosaurs on one side and plain green fabric on the other side.

Cloth Diaper Burp Cloths

For the other burp cloths I ended up being really glad that I bought the diapers that didn't have the three defined sections.  Without those sections, I could cut the fabric any size I wanted and wouldn't have to worry about it fitting perfectly into that middle section.  I simply cut the fabric, pinned it to the burp cloth while folding the edges under, then sewed around the edges.  Couldn't be easier.



Now all I need is a friend or family member to have a baby boy (is everyone having girls this year? really?) so I can gift these fabulous dinosaur products to him.

DIY: Placemats & Napkins

As part of my kitchen beautification I made double sided placemats & napkins.  They were both pretty simple; I used the same basic steps for both.

1. Iron Fabric.
2. Cut Fabric to length.  I did the napkins 14 x 14 and the placemats 16 x 8.  I decided on the size of the napkins based on how much fabric I had; I'd read that 16 x 16 or 18 x 18 were good sizes for napkins.  I decided on the size of the placemats by taking one of my plates and putting in on my rotary cutting mat to see what size felt right.



3. Fold over opposite edges and iron flat. (This could have been done by folding and pinning but I didn't have pins at the time.)
4. Sew folded edges.  I chose pink thread because I thought it would stand out nicely against the green napkins.

5. Fold over remaining opposite edges and iron flat.
6. Sew folded edges.

At this point we have a completed napkin.  It isn't a great quality napkin but it is complete.  I think next time I'll make the napkins bigger (maybe 18 x 18) and also fold the edges over at least twice to give the napkin a more finished look and to prevent the fabric from freying in the wash.

Also at this point we have the two separate sides of the double sided placemats.  The next steps are to sew the sides together.

7. Place the backsides of the two sides of the placemats together.  At this point I would have loved to have had some pins, but I did not, so I had to wing it.
8. Sew the two sides together.  In the picture you might be able to see two lines of thread on the place mats.  One is from steps #4 & #6 and the other is from step #8.  I liked the added detail of having both.

Voila.  Double sided placemats.  I did have some trouble with these.  Apparently I don't cut and/or sew straight so the two sides of my placemats didn't line up really well with each other.  Next time I think I'll start by sewing the outside sides together, then turn the place mat right side out, then sew along the edges.  Lesson learned.

Once my placemats and napkins were made all I needed was a center piece for the table and the kitchen beautification would be complete.  I originally wanted a white candlabra with maybe pink candles but I ended up finding a vase, green candles, and white pebbles for pretty cheap (thanks in part to some coupons) at Jo-Ann, so I went with that.

Bonding Rabbits

Locke (picture on the left) and Samus (picture on the right) are officially bonded!  This is a huge relief to CJ and I because we wondered if Samus would take to Locke since she has an aggressive side and it is also a relief because now we can keep them in the same cage which means we only ever have one cage to clean.

Even though everything seems peachy now, we didn't get off to a great start.

Day 1: The first time Samus and Locke met at Locke's previous owner's apartment he walked right up to her and licked her on the nose.  We thought this was a good sign because he obviously liked her from the beginning and she didn't attack him when he walked up to her.  A few minutes later told a slightly different story.

Locke continued to like Samus and he wanted to be around her and he was very interested in mounted her but it didn't take long for her to realize that she didn't like any of that which is when she started mounting him and growling at him (yes, rabbits kind of growl) and nipping at him.  No long term damage (or even short term damage) was done.  CJ and I knew from all of our bonding research that first meets don't always go well and that is not a sign that the rabbits will never bond so we took Locke home with us.

When we got home that evening we decided to put the rabbits on a "date".  That basically means we put both rabbits in a room that neither are familiar with (so one doesn't feel more territorial than the other) and let them figure each other out.  This first date did not go well.  Hair quickly flew all over the room and we had to quickly separate the two, which ended the date.

That evening we set Locke's cage up in Samus's room but on the complete other side of the room (its the room over the garage, so its a good size room) where she wouldn't be able to see him very well but might be able to start getting used to his sent.

Day 2:  CJ and I went about our normal work day while we left Samus and Locke on their different sides of the room.  I set up vet appointments for both rabbits - Locke needed to be neutered and Samus needed her yearly check-up.  When we got home we let each rabbit out separately to give them some exercise but had to be careful to keep the one that was out away from the other in its cage (Samus tried to nip at Locke when he came close to her cage).


Day 3:  Locke and Samus did not enjoy their car ride to the vet (rabbits notoriously hate car rides, it is one way you can bond them - put them together in a situation they both don't like so that the lean on each other for comfort).  Samus's check-up was quick and Locke spent most of the day at the vet's office having and recovering from his surgery.  Again, for their exercise, we let them out one at a time.

Day 4:  Instead of letting them each out one at a time for their evening exercise we set up the fence in a manner that left a no man's land between the two rabbits.  This way we could let me out at the same time (more exercise for each rabbit) plus they could get close enough to each other to see and smell each other clearly without being able to nip at each other - which was particularly important for Locke because we didn't want him getting hurt while he was still recovering from his neutering.

Day 10:  By this time Samus had progressively gotten used to Locke being on the other side of the fence and Locke was recovered from his surgery, so we moved Locke's cage to be closer to Samus's - right next to Samus's - but just at night.

Our intention was to get them spending more time close at night.  In the morning when I would feed them I'd move Locke's cage back to the other side of the room to give Samus some break time.  We left the no man's land set up up for when both rabbits were out of their cages.

Day 11: This was Samus and Locke's second First Date.  CJ and I were very worried that it would go like their first first date but we were very pleasantly surprised that it went very well.  There was a little trouble at first with Samus still feeling territorial and aggressive for which she got sprayed with water.  She learned pretty quickly and started running away from Locke when he would get close to her for which she received praise (running away is a lot better than being aggressive).

When Locke wasn't annoying Samus they spent a good deal of time ignoring each other, exploring their surroundings and pooping in order to mark their territory.  I think we planned to only have them in the same room as each other for about 20 minutes (which is was we read was recommended) but it went so well I think we were in there for close to 40 minutes.

Spraying with water for discipline was new for all of us when we brought Locke home.  When it was just Samus in the house we would just clap loudly or thump on the floor and say "no" when she did something wrong but we figured with two rabbits in the house, if we did the same thing the one who wasn't being bad might think that they were being bad.  We decided that spraying water at the bad one would keep that distinction for the good rabbit to know that they weren't doing anything wrong.

Day 12: Samus and Locke's second date went even better than their first, I don't think either rabbit was sprayed with water but the territorial pooping continued.  Samus was becoming much more patient with Locke, allowed him to get close to her a few times, and she even laid down and made herself comfortable (a very good sign).  The laying down didn't always last very long though because Locke would come up behind her and start sniffing her butt, which she clearing didn't appreciate (and still doesn't) so she'd get up and move.

She also figured out that there was a box that she could jump on to get away from him because he couldn't quite make it that high.  After a while it seemed like she would jump up there just to say "nanny nanny boo boo I can make it and you can't" which we thought was a good sign that she was being playful with him.

This date was also planned for about 20 minutes but ended up lasted about an hour and 20 minutes.

This was also the night that we decided to keep their cages right next to each other during the day as well as at night.

Day 13:  While I was trying to catch Samus for their third date CJ was teaching Locke that he could jump up on Samus's box.  He's put Locke on the ground, then pick him up and put him on the box then put him on the ground then pick him up and put him on the box.  Locke figured it out quickly and by the time Samus jumped up on the box to tease him, he followed her right up.

The rest of their third date was very similar to their second and they seemed to be doing really well together.

Day 14:  CJ and I decided to stop the official "dates" (which we thought would end up taking a week or two) and just allowed the two rabbits to have their exercise time together in their room while being pretty closely supervised.  They spend a good deal of time in each other's cages eating each other's hay and food but never seemed to both be in the same cage at the same time.  Everything went really well.

Day 16:  We let the rabbits have their exercise time together in their room (and the loft area) with significantly less supervision while CJ and I watched TV.

Day 18:  Samus and Locke spent their first night together.  This was something else that CJ and I were worried about because over the last few days they hadn't spent much time together in the same cage.  We spent the night in the loft area so we could hear if anything went wrong.

This is the best picture I got of their first night together.  When I went in to check on them before I went to bed I found them cuddling but didn't want to take a picture a disturb them.

They only spent the night together, the next morning when we gave them breakfast we put Locke back into his own cage for the day.

Day 22:  Everything was going so well that we decided to leave Locke in Samus's cage with her while we left for work.  When we got home they were both in one piece and didn't appear to have any injuries.  We decided that this would be their regular routine and we considered them officially bonded - about 2 months sooner than we guesstimated.