It's Alive!

I'm so excited to announce that the Granola Strolla website is finally live.
Check it out and let us know what you think.  It's still a work in progress as we get our prototypes made. 

5 things I can't believe people spend money on

Ever see something and go "why do people buy that crap?" Yeah, me too.

5: Shake weights.  Now lifting weights is too much, we need them to shake for us.  Not to mention it looks like your jerking off your man.  Hell, why not just jerk off your man.  He'll be happy and it's a great time to ask him for anything you want.

4: BowFlex. Just because Chuck Norris endorses it doesn't mean you need to use it.  Oh god...now Chuck Norris is going to come to my house and punch me with his third fist.

3: Snuggies.  I don't want to use a blanket, what can I use that has arms and keeps me warm?  Oh yeah, a sweater. Maybe I'm old fashioned because I love the feeling of snuggling in to a cozy knit blanket.

2: Hummers.  Those damned monstrosities that some people feel the need to drive.  Hey, if you're in the military and need to drive a car through a war zone they're great, but they aren't needed for driving around to show off your complete lack of genitalia.   Nothing says "I have compensation issues" quiet like driving a vehicle that gets no gas mileage and can barely stay in one lane. 

1: Car Testicles.  Do you really need giant blue balls hanging off the back of your truck? Who thinks that's cool or sends a message other than "hey, I don't have testicles so check out the giant blue ones on my truck"?

A WIC coupon is not a license to treat people like crap!

I'm not normally profane by any means (at least not on this blog), so you'll understand just how upset I am when I say:
FUCK YOU STOP AND SHOP!  My using WIC does not mean you can treat me like I'm some idiot or a worthless piece of shit.

It's hard enough to be on WIC.  It hurts our pride, but we know it's the best thing for Garrett.  We do our best to make sure we get the items that are WIC approved (most stores have WIC written on the code on the displays so it's easy to figure out what is covered). I section everything on conveyor belt by what WIC coupon I'm using so everything is together. 

Sometimes things get mislabeled or even misshelved, but instead of an apology I get this look like I must be a piece of shit and I've made their job a pain in the ass (although most of them have that "I hate my life" look). 

Today it was milk.  A fucking quart of milk.  They had 3 milk brands and all were WIC approved.  We've checked with the WIC office before and they told us if it is labeled as WIC approved we can get it. If something is labeled and they don't honor it we have to lodge a complaint with them.   So I grab the milk.  The woman at the register gives me this look and huff and says "You can only get the store brand. The other brand is WIC approved but you can't get it."
"If it's WIC approved then I CAN get it."
"Um, No"
"Get me the manager"

She huffs at me again and rolls her eyes like I'm being the biggest bitch in the world.  The manger comes up and I explain it to him.  They've already taken the milk I was going to get and put it back.  Ben had run to get another one but grabbed the wrong size (the milk section was a mess).  So the manager sends back the bagger to get the milk this time.  A quart...remember we're getting a quart.
I take the pen and write down the names of the people I'm dealing with.  Suddenly the manager gets this tone with me...
"I didn't do anything."
"Excuse me?"
"I didn't do anything why are you writing my name down?"   Oh guy...prepare for a new asshole...
"Really, first off I was writing down the names so when I call and they ask me who I dealt with I can give them names.  Second off, now I will call corporate to lodge a complaint because at no point did you apologize to me or my husband when we both said your employee made us feel like crap.  No, you continue to stand here and give me that look of annoyance like somehow I am worth less than you because I'm on WIC."


The manager was silent.  So bagging lady comes back...with a fucking GALLON of milk.  The manager looks horrified and sends her back.  Still no apology to me or Ben for the way we've been treated. 

So we finish with the WIC and proceed to get our other groceries.  We got 4 boxes of cereal because there is a sale where you get a free coupon for milk.  I reminded Ben about it and he asked the woman at the register...
She gave him such a dirty look and said "it prints on its own".  And then practically ignored him. 

Now really, did we deserve to be treated like crap because we are on WIC?  Would it have been hard for the manager to apologize because the cashier made us feel shitty? 
Tomorrow we call WIC and the Stop and Shop corporate office to lodge complaints.  Using WIC is hard enough for people.  It doesn't give anyone the right to treat you like you are less of a person for it.

My sleeping beauties.

I love my guys, but it seems that I love taking pictures of the two of them sleeping.  Must be something about them snuggled together.  It's pretty cool to see how Garrett has grown. I had a bunch more but convinced myself I didn't need a ton of pictures of my boys sleeping and deleted them.

Always crafting

I'm working on an awesome project involving a vintage telephone table.  I had some fabric left over so I made myself a headband.

Headbands are great for those foggy Boston days when I've had no sleep and need my hair to not look like Medusa.

What happened to the small fabric store? A find in Portsmouth

I admit it, I get most of my fabrics at Jo-Ann's.  They carry a great selection at great prices and send me a ton of coupons.  But I honestly miss a good local store.
I've gone from looking for designers named Michael Kors and Elie Tahari to designers named Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry.
There are some amazing fabrics out there that you just can't find at your big box store.  Enter The Portsmouth Fabric Company (hey, they're just as old as I am).  Nestled in an alley off the main road I almost missed them but I keyed in on the sign that had FABRIC in large letters.  Sure enough I wasn't disappointed. While the store is small the selection isn't. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable and the prices are very reasonable for some very high end fabrics (plus there is no sales tax in NH).

Can't wait to use all these nifty fabrics

I came away with a small haul of over half a dozen various fabrics (each in about a yard).   I know it's a bit of a drive for Boston but I'm a very tactile person and I love feeling my fabrics before I use them for a project.  They even have an online store and ship all over the world.
I can't wait to use the fabrics I purchased there. I just wish I could find a shop like this closer to Boston.

Why buy when you can make it?

One of the other moms at Early Intervention showed me a blanket she had purchased for her daughter.  They run $25 and her daughter loves her blanket, I had some left over minky fabric from another blanket so I decided to make one. 

Forgive the quick cell phone picture

What you'll need:
patterned fabric
softer plush fabric (I used minky)
contrasting thread
a piece of ribbon (optional)

Figure out how large you want to make the blanket and how large you would like the tabs to be.  I made my blanket 16" x 16" and the tabs 1" wide x 5" long. Cut 1 set out of your patterned fabric and 1 set out of your soft fabric. I made 12 tabs, 3 for each side. I used a 1/8" seam allowance but you can do whatever you are comfortable with.  Just make sure you account for your seam allowance when you cut your fabric.

A ruler and rotary cutter make this part easier

This is the tedious part, sewing together those little tabs. Place a patterned strip and a soft strip right sides facing and sew 1 short side and 2 long sides together.

Now turn it right side out.

Ben helped turn them while I sewed

You can leave the top seam unfinished because that will be hidden in the finished blanket.  I started tying all my knots in the tabs.  You can do it later but if your tabs are shorter it may be rough.

Pin the tabs to the blanket the the unfinished ends together.

I did 3 on each side.

I wanted my minky side to be showing on the tabs when it shows on the back so I pinned them with patterned sides together. Just remember, the side you pin face down against your pattern will be the side that shows when the blanket is facing up.

The left one shows how I sewed, the right is how it will lay when finished

Sew the tabs in place with a 1/8" seam allowance. You only need to go over them once because we'll be securing them more later.
I added a piece of ribbon in a loop to one corner just like the original blanket.  You don't have to do it, but it makes it easier to clip it on to something.

a fun contrasting color, left over ribbon is easy to find

Now place the minky on top of your patterned fabric right sides together.  Make sure all of the tabs are laying flat against the patterned fabric.

make sure the tabs are inside like this

Now sew with a 1/4" seam allowance so you get the ends of all those tabs again.  Leave 1 1/2" open for turning.

Turn your blanket right side out. Instead of doing a plain topstich I used the zig zag stitch.  You could always use a more decorative stitch because it will show with a contrasting thread.

All done, much cheaper than buying it and much more personal to give as a gift.

Lila approves of her new blanket.