The Case of The Sneaky Little Seamstress

Well, those of you who read my blog yesterday know that when Tresa went her final wedding dress fitting on Thursday night that the seamstress could barely zip the last 5 inches of Tresa's dress and couldn't hook it. She told Tresa she had gained 5 pounds since the last fitting (10 days ago), that she shouldn't eat so much salt and that she was bloated. She said there was nothing she could do with the dress. There was no extra fabric to let out. Tresa was hysterical...the wedding is the 14th!

Tresa wanted to see what I thought, so I went with her today. The plan was just to pick up the dress and get the heck out of there without losing our cool. Tresa was going to take it downtown to a place that repairs other people's mistakes on Monday.

The woman was so sugary sweet when we walked in I thought I was going to throw up, and guess what? The dress had undergone some kind of metamorphosis....and it FIT HER EXACTLY HOW IT DID 2 WEEKS AGO WHEN I WAS THERE WITH HER! On Thursday, the necklace I made her was touching the front of the dress, and now it was hanging perfectly NOT touching the front of the dress and we didn't do a thing to it!

The comments we got today were that it was humid on Thursday, that she let out about 1/4 of an inch of the lining and get this one......THEY MUST HAVE PUT THE NECKLACE ON WRONG ON THURSDAY!!

Are you freaking kidding me? How do you put a necklace on wrong?

Tresa has been physically ill for the past 2 days...not eating and not sleeping and then this wonderful little lady obviously ripped that dress apart in the last two days and totally redid it so it fit her perfect again like it did 2 weeks ago. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or punch her in the nose!

The funny thing is...I told Tresa last night that the dress was going to fit perfect today. I knew that woman was going to do everything in her power to fix it before we got there, and I was right...she did! The only thing she didn't do, was admit that she had made a mistake...but I will sacrifice that for a dress that fits!

Anyway, the dress is fixed, it looks wonderful and that's all that matters. (The picture is not Tresa, but it is her dress except her dress is ivory)

One week from right now we will be downtown getting ready for one heck of a fantastic evening wedding! Woo hoo!

Wedding Dress Disaster and Other Things

I am off work today and bustin' my fanny to get coasters, lightswitch covers and cards listed. Here are a couple of pictures of the things I'm working on... and now on to the wedding dress mess!

I really thought we were going to get through the wedding without a glitch. Nope! Tresa went for her final fitting last night and her dress was so tight that the lady could barely zip the last 5 inches...nor could she hook it! "Oh my, you must have gained FIVE POUNDS!" That is what she said to Tresa! We were just there 10 days ago...are you kidding me?

So, here I have my daughter on the phone last night crying hysterically because the lady said the only way to fix it was to let it out was at the zipper. So she let's it out and now you can see the zipper!! The lady kept saying, "Have your mommy come to look." Tresa said, "I'm 34 years old...I don't need my mommy. Just fix my dress!" She really did want me there, but the heck if she was going to admit it at that moment.

To make a very long story short....the lady says there is nothing else she can do and Tresa and I are going there tomorrow so I can see this disaster! On her way home, Tresa called me and said now she knows exactly what happened. The lady had to move the straps over because they kept feeling like they were falling off her shoulders. When she moved them, she made some kind of BIG error and shortened them way too much. That pulled the bodice up to where it didn't fit right anymore.

The way we know that is that last week when we went, Tresa tried on the necklace I made her. It was just a little too long, so I shortened the chain and gave it back to her. She put it on with the dress last night and now it touched front of the dress!! Now if the lady didn't do anything, and I shortened the necklace....how the heck could it now be touching the front of the dress when it wasn't touching the front of the dress before I shortened it????

Anyway, I will take a look tomorrow, but Tresa already has an appointment on Monday downtown at Watertower Place. There is a shop there that fixes other people's messes. If the lady can't fix it tomorrow, that is where Tresa will be on Monday...paying a fortune no doubt, but the guy was super nice and said they have never met a dress that they can't fix. She is feeling a bit better.

Also, I did it! I created my new line of cards called Secret Sentiments! Here is one of them. You can see the pretty sunflower....the secret is that when you slide the paper up, there is a spot to write your own personal message! Then slide the paper back down, and there is the photo again. I am so excited. I am sure they are nothing new to some of you, but they are new to me and something a little different than a normal photo notecard. I just love them.

On a quick note....Irv was so sweet last night. I was working in my shop as I always am and he asked what I was going to have for dinner. We don't eat the same because I am a herbivore and he is an omnivore! I said I really didn't know yet...and about 20 minutes later he said dinner was ready. I went out to the kitchen and he had warmed me up a couple of veggie burgers with cheese on them and had made pirogi for both of us. Woo Hoo! It was yummy.

He then proceeded to ask me why I never tell everyone that reads my blog how wonderful he is? I just gave him "that look" and he said, "Well you don't." So, everyone read up...Irv is wonderful! He cooks, he cleans, he does laundry, takes out the garbage, puts gas in my car, washes my car, plants gardens, takes care of the flowers and goes grocery shopping with me and sometimes by himself if I am really busy. There Irv...are you happy now?

In all honesty...I am very lucky...but then so is he...he's married to me!!

High On Life

I am just so happy today! Last night I clicked on The Queen of Cups Runneth Over's blog to see how she was doing. Queen is a SAHM (stay at home mom) and a couple of days ago she was having one of those days all parents have from time to time. She was a bit stressed, and I had left her a comment on her blog telling her to hang in there and I gave her a tiny piece of parenting advice.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at her blog last night to find it was about me! It was so sweet that it brought me to tears. You can read her original post and my comment here, and then the one she wrote yesterday here. It made me feel so good to know that I helped in some small way.

Then I get up this morning, open my personal e-mail to find an e-mail from a very dear friend of mine that lives in Washington. Nancy and I have never met in person. We met online through an ad on Craig's List. Funny story. You can read about it here. Nancy has been battling cancer for two and a half years. She was having another scan on Monday, so I knew that the e-mail would be the results of the scan. Imagine my joy when I opened her e-mail to huge capital letters that said, "I AM IN REMISSION!!!!!!"

More tears.....

Lastly, when I received my invitation to Tresa's "Girls Night Out", I just knew I had to make something similar. It was the cutest darn invite I had ever seen. I don't make invites and I really have no interest in making invites, but I put the invitation on the shelf above my computer where it was always in sight. Occasionally I would take the invite down, admire it, think about what I could make like it and then put it back when I couldn't think of anything.

My etsy shop, FourDogDay, is photo notecards, bookmarks and tags. I don't do anything printed on a computer, nor do I want to. Well this morning I took the invitation down yet again, admired it and WOW a big glowing light bulb went on! It was kind of like the V-8 commercials, only I wanted to hit MYSELF in the head! How silly could I be? I don't have to make invitations...I can make photo notecards like I have in my FourDogDay shop, but I will use the style of the invite! I don't want to share too much just yet until I try it this weekend and see how it looks, but let me tell you....I am SO psyched!!

So, what a day it was...and all of that happened right before bed last night and before 6:15 this morning! I am so high on life right now!

Do you ever get just crazy excited about little things that happen in your life?

Mommy Can You Hear Me?

Raising children.....

Before you read this blog post, understand that I am not saying that my way was the best way or that my way was the only way...I'm just going to share with you what worked for me. Was I the perfect mom....absolutely not..but somehow in spite of my shortcomings, I managed to raise three amazing children.

There are a million things that go into the raising of kids, and over time I'll talk about many of them, but today is just about listening to our children. I don't know about you, but when I have something to say, I want to be heard. I want people's undivided attention. I might be happy, sad, angry, lonely, overjoyed, overwhelmed, depressed, elated, sick or tired or any number of things and if I want to share my thoughts with you, I want and need you to listen to me.

I grew up in a house full of girls and it wasn't always easy to be heard. I learned to talk very loud, to interrupt and to talk "over" people just to make conversation. Even as an adult I find myself doing that occasionally. Old habits die hard. I'll catch myself and return to being the good listener I long to be.

If I wait my turn and then try to join the conversation and I am continually brushed off, interrupted or ignored...after a while I think screw you...I didn't really want to talk to you anyway!

Have you ever felt like that?

Children are no different. They have the same long list of emotions that we have and when they have something they want to share...they want to be heard.

It seems parents are always "comparing notes" on child rearing. I can remember when my kids were in high school, most parents saying the same thing, "My kid won't talk to me." Well, remember that person a couple of paragraphs ago...the one that brushed me off or ignored me when I wanted to share my thoughts with them? How long do you think I will keep trying to communicate with that person before I finally say to myself, "Forget it! You have no interest in me or in what I have to say!"....and then rarely speak to the person again? I think the same thing applies here.

Life is so full of excitement and discovery for young children. They always seem to have something to tell us. In fact, it seems that some of them never shut up. Did you have one of those? It can be very trying for a parent. We're trying to cook dinner, answer the phone, someone is knocking on the door, we need to check our e-mail, pay the bills, get to work, do the dishes, change the laundry, feed the dogs and on and on and on...and there is that child that always seems to need to tell you something.

How many times have we said, "Not right now" or "Can you tell me later" or "Mommy is very busy"? How long do we think that little one will keep trying before they finally decide that we really aren't interested in what they have to say? Then little by little they stop sharing their joys, their fears, their accomplishments, their sadness with us....and then they become teenagers.

Suddenly more than ever we want and need to know what they are doing, how they are doing, what they are thinking, where they are going, who they are going with....and they won't give us the time of day. Sometimes that happens just because they ARE teenagers and that is what teenagers do....but I don't think that is always the case. I think it often comes from years of not being heard.

From the time my kids started communicating...I listened. It really didn't matter what I was doing, there was nothing more important than what they had to say. I wouldn't hesitate to stop whatever I was doing whenever a little voice said, "Mommy" or "Hey Mom". I was excited or concerned or interested in everything they had to say no matter how busy I was.

As my children grew, the things they shared with me of course changed. They shared a lot. I knew a lot. Sometimes I knew more than I really wanted to know. Of course, there were still things they kept to themselves, but they knew that they could come to me with anything and I would listen. I may not have always agreed, but I would listen. It didn't matter if it was four in the afternoon, or four in the morning....I listened. I have shared many, many laughs and many, many tears with each of my kids over the years.

Today my kids are 25, 28 and 34. I talk to Tresa every single day and have since she went away to college. Michael, Matt and I talk, e-mail or text every couple of days. My kids know that they can still call me any time of any day, and they do because...they know mommy will always hear them.

Weddings, Zits and Broken Nails

I noticed last week that my finger nails were all the same length. How on earth did that happen? I have bad nails and even though I'm not a girly girl, I do at times suffer from the dreaded "Nail envy". I see these women with these lovely nails all filed so perfectly, shiny, polished and healthy looking...cuticles all pushed back. You know the ones I'm talking about...maybe you are one of "those women".

I look down at my hands and wish I could bring back the wearing of gloves! My cuticles are dry, jagged and I'm constantly nibbling at them. I tug and pull until I tear the little sucker right up to my first knuckle, then they bleed, then they heal and then we start the same game all over again. My nails are short, never the same length and are full of ridges. (I know that means I'm lacking something, I've just not figured out what yet.)

I use to wear clear polish all the time and sometimes colors, but I discontinued using it because I am working at not putting chemicals on my body if I can help it. I even stopped coloring my hair about 2 years ago. Really! Right now it is a lovely grayish-blondish color.

So, I noticed that my nails and cuticles are looking almost presentable...that made me start to wonder what the odds are that they will still look like that for the wedding in two weeks. My guess is somewhere between slim and none. It would be nice, but not very likely.

Sunday I was working on my new tile coasters and light switch covers...both require lots of glue and the constant use of your fingers to smooth and press and stick the fabric down. Over the course of the day, I had to have washed my hands at least 30 times...no lie!

When I washed them for the last time, I finally had all of glue off my hands, but my poor nails were stark white, caked with layers of yukky kind of dried glue! I was able to get it all off with nail polish remover, but the day had taken quite a toll on my nails. They were super soft and not lookin' very good.

I think the Goddess of Nice Nails is with me right now because the next day, they all seemed pretty happy once again and that made me happy but still wondering how long my good fortune will last.

Then I looked in the mirror and noticed this little red spot on the side of my nose...OMG NO...not a ZIT in the making!!! NOT FOR THE WEDDING!!

Out came the alcohol and my super duper stop the zit in it's tracks treatment has begun!!! Where the hell is that Goddess of the Clear Complexion when you need her?

Marvelous Music Monday

Did you ever love a song so much that you could listen to it over and over and over again? Of course as a kid there were many...Bobby's Girl, Do Wah Ditty Ditty...but back then they were records and you can tell the ones I loved because they are so worn they look white!

Are there any songs that just touch you so deeply that you kind of can't believe that it makes you feel the way it does?

Back on November 25, 2008, I talked about listening to Pandora when I am at work. If you want to read that post, click here. I listen to Pandora at work because it gives me a variety of music without the ridiculous DJs.

Once in a while while I am listening to Pandora a song will pop up that is THAT song for me. The one that just blows me away. I was like that with Dave Matthews #41. I could just listen to that song 100 times a day and never get tired of it. The song that I can't get enough of right now is "Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I had never hear of this musician before and I had never heard this song before. I believe it's on the soundtrack to the movie Finding Forrester.

Israel "IZ" was born in Hawaii. Sadly, he died at the very young age of 38 due to complications of obesity. Click here to read about his life. His voice is just so gentle sounding and the lyrics to these old songs are so simple, yet so meaningful.

Enjoy this amazing song and have a great day!

Girls Night Out

Well last night was Tresa's Girls Night Out. We had a wonderful time. We met at the greatest little restaurant called Think Cafe on Western Avenue in Chicago. The food and service were awesome. We passed on dessert at Think Cafe because we were headed to Webster's Wine Bar on Webstern. They have some fantastic desserts there. Bernadette and I had the bread pudding and it was unbelievable. Tresa had the flourless chocolate cake and it looked and smelled amazing! After everyone's fill of wine and dessert, Bern and I headed for home. I was the designated driver...in fact, I am always the designated driver because I don't drink! It was a wonderful evening.

The guys on the other hand started their party way too early and were already feeling it by 7:00. They went out for dinner and then to Second City. My understanding is that many of them crashed at Tresa and Chris's condo when they dragged themselves in at 5:30 this morning. Silly boys!



As long as I am on the wedding thing again today, I wanted to share another very old photo with you. This was taken at my oldest sister's first wedding :) back in about 1955. I love it because it is one of the only photos that include some of my aunts and uncles and cousins. My parents are on the left. Don't you love my mom's hat? Next to my mom is her mom and her mom's boyfriend of many, many years. The young man in the front row on the right is my brother, Jack and then my sister Karen is the junior bridesmaid on the right and that is yours truly on the left. Take a look at my feet! Think I was bored? My hair was not curly back then...my guess would be "spoolies". Remember those?

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone!