The GMAT and Bad Grammar

We moved into our somewhat renovated house about a month ago. We moved into it before it was finished so we are living in a construction zone. Wonder what that is like?sband I will answer the most important question first. No we do not wear hard hats. We just live in only two of five bedrooms, one of two kitchens, one of two living rooms, and one of two bathrooms. Half of our house is semi demolished and needs new flooring and paint. We don't have baseboards or door casings or doors hung up for that matter. The garage is an unorganized pile of tools mixed in with unpacked boxes and other useless things. the yard we wanted is a jungle of dry and poky weeds. Turns out renovating isn't as fun as someone thought it would be nor as easy as it looks on HGTV.

Husband was working on it when he got off work until late at night. Because we were living with his parents about 45 minutes away, I never got to see him. One day I went to the house to help and Husband decided that we were moving in. After we moved in, Husband decided that living in a safety hazard was OK and that studying for the GMAT was more important. So the GMAT has taken over our lives and I have nothing to share with you about my house or the improvements that have been made. 

Someday, after I learn how to measure for a door casing and operate a chop saw to get mitered corners....and after I learn how to replace electrical outlets and light fixtures and light switches...and how to hng doors and get things painted, I WILL post pictures of before and after.

Until then, I don't havr a computer with internet.  It is one of those things you do to save money to spend it on the house you are working on. Even when you are not working on it. i am using my phone ( and burning my hand) to write this. So I excuse myself for making typos, misspelling words, and having improper grammer.

When I am able to post those before and after pictures I will do so with better English skills.

Saving Steam

So I haven't posted in a while. And when I did, I kind of cheated a little. I wrote a whole bunch of posts in one day and scheduled them to be released on different days so that it would seem like I was a dilligent blogger. And then nothingness for days. Weeks. Maybe months? It isn't that I don't have anything to blog about. It is just that I don't have much time for writing about the projects I have been working on and events that have happened. In addition to not having much time, I don't have the steam.

We purchased a new house in December, and have been majorly renovating it ever since. I am sure you want to see pictures and hear all about it, and I have wanted to tell you all about it. There is so much to tell. December seems to have been a long time ago. Lately, I have been more anxious to get into this house of ours - we are paying for it after all, we should be living in it dontchya think?- and so I have been helping Doug at the house. We are usually there until at least midnight. This means that I am tired. Not as tired as having a newborn tired, but still...tired. Tired Jess = ditzy Jess.

I have been getting a steady stream of orders for Petit Lambie - YAY!- for which I am very grateful. But twice now, I have made mistakes. I wrote the wrong size on a hat label (even though I had made the right size) and the customer thought I had made the wrong size. After encouraging her to try it on the baby, and finding out that it was the right size, I was relieved and began to be extra conciencious about getting labeling right. I recently had two orders on the same day, and created and shipped two different hats. And I got the labeling wrong. I cross shipped the orders. So the lady who ordered blue newborn got brown 6-12 months and vice versa.

Obviously I can not keep track of labels and envelopes while sleep deprived and perhaps a little high from paint fumes and paint remover fumes. So, Petit Lambie is semi-closed. Just for now.

This means that I am not currently accepting custom order requests. I am only shipping items I have already made and in my inventory. Hopefully this also means that while I am at home with Jaden during the day, I can take naps when he does & get some sleep & save some steam for the scraping, sanding, repainting, flooring, and installing that needs to go on at my house.

If I can even focus to get the house done. I am so deflated with this whole process and every time I go to the house, I get overwhelmed at the scope of what has to be done. Especially when that means I have to undo and redo stuff that I had already done.

 I had researched how to repaint kitchen cabinets both on the internet and by interviewing Home Depot employees. I determined that I would clean the cabinets with a degreaser, sand them, and then spray paint them (with a professional paint sprayer, not cans of spray paint) for a flawless finish. Well...after days and days and hours and hours, a numb arm and aching back, my kitchen cabinets were pristine white. Yay! And then my white turned yellow. Um...not yay. So I called Home Depot and asked what the matter was. I wasn't supposed to have to do anything else. I used Behr Ultra Premium Plus awesomeness & since it is paint and primer in one & supposedly the best paint ever invented in the history of the world, I was supposed to have Ultra Pure White cabinets that stayed white. However, a different employee at Home Depot said that the stuff doesn't live up to all the hype the company markets & the person who advised me to use it hadn't been working in HD long enough to know that. So, he said that I would have to use this orange goopy stuff that strips paint off, clean the cabinets with TCP, sand them, prime them with 2 coats of this other super good primer (supposedly this stuff will seal the grease and oil based varnish on the cabinets and give me a clean base to paint) and then paint them with 2 coats of oil based paint because it provides an easy to clean hard finish. I totally cried in the Home Depot as the guy was telling me that I had wasted two gallons of paint and three weeks of my time and that I was going to have to undo it and start from scratch.

Saving up steam for that sort of stuff is going to be important. Apparently, it takes a lot!!

Fun at Universal Studios

We went there. And I had lots of fun. There were things to keep everyone occupied. When everyone wanted to see a behind the scenes thing from Terminator, Jaden and I went shopping. I was able to see what I would look like if I were to color my hair blue. And how heavy it would be if I piled it all into a three foot behive. There was a hat store that carried character wigs. For a moment, I was a Marge-Jess hybrid.

I think it makes me look taller!



Jaden got in on the shopping action and got a cool new pair of shades in the super hero department.

And most of us got all wet on some rides. We went to the Popeye village place. There was a big boat that I thought Jaden would have fun in. He did. The most fun part about that boat/playground was that you could watch other park patrons ride in a circular raft down a man made river. And while watching them, you could squirt them with water. Mwohahahaha. So, I went on the ride. And I got wet. But not as wet as Husband and his siblings. They went on the Jurassic Park roller coaster. This is the splash they had to go through

And this is how they felt about it

I am glad I did not go on it. I would have gotten my hair wet. The rest of me was already wet from the river rafting ride. Had it been a warmer day, I probably would have gone on the river ride a few times, as well as the dinosaur water bomb ride. But, it wasn't a very warm day and I didn't want to be more wet and more cold. I guess I was saving that experience for another day.

I did, however, want to go here

Hogwarts!



I guess I am in to Harry Potter more than I thought I was. I haven't even seen the last few movies. Though, I have read all of the books. I was just so excited to go to the Harry Potter attraction, I was willing to stand in line for an hour to ride the ride. I had forgotten that I drank an entire 32 ounce Diet Coke before standing in this line for an hour. I had forgotten that my bladder is small....I don't know how I forget that. It should come as no surprise that I have a small bladder, but somehow, every time I have to go potty I am surprised at how often I have to go. Couldn't it just grow for about an hour? Are there any bathrooms anywhere close to where you have to stand in line for eons? No. So I just ran ahead to the single rider line and got on the ride as quickly as possible.

The ride was cool. It just about un-did my Dramamine (in addition to having a small bladder, I also get motion sickness in any sort of moving thing, unless I am driving. So I have to take Dramamine when I fly, and especially when I go to amusement parks. Dramamine makes me sleepy, hence the need to drink excessive amounts of Diet Coke to get my caffeine fix, hence the little bladder problem. I do not like this whole getting older thing) The coolest part about the ride was having a dragon blow fire in my face. And getting off of it before I threw up. Really, I don't know how Harry can ride a broomstick without throwing up.

The other highlight of the wizarding world? This stuff.

It is so delicious! I would go back just to buy some more.

We ended the night by eating here

YUM! and I write that very loudly. Because I had to say it very loudly. That place is loud. And fun. And yummy. Kind of like our day at Universal Studios.

Turners go to Africa {Bush Gardens, Orlando}

If you want a wild ride, go to Bush Gardens in Florida. This thing is crazy. I chickened out. I wanted to go on the safari kind of wild ride.

But Bush Gardens is not kid friendly. I read an article online that said so. The author of the article had a two-year-old and said there was nothing for her toddler to do at Bush Gardens. Other people commented on the article stating that there was in fact things for kids at Bush Gardens. So much commenting by other people that the others in my family were convinced that there would be something for Jaden. There wasn't. Bush Gardens doesn't really have any activities for children who are under the age of 3. They have to be 3 to go into the Kangaroo zoo. They have to be 3 to go in the kiddie playground, and they have to be 3 to go on the Safari ride.

However, there is a train tour of Bush Gardens that we could go on with Jaden.



This is how Jaden enjoyed the one thing he could do at Bush Gardens

He totally missed out! On our little train safari through Floridian Africa, we saw

Girraffes. I took this with my phone. I am pretty impressed that it could get this great of a shot!



There were other animals, too, but these were the coolest. Jaden and I spent most of the day shopping and waiting for the others to be done riding their rides.

If I had it to do over, I would never take a toddler to Bush Gardens. It is not at all friendly to kids younger than 3.

As Promised

A few weeks ago, I posted this about customer requests for bear hat photo props. In that post, I said that I would get the hint and make some bear hats to put in my Etsy shop. It is a good thing to have a blog. Blogging makes my written thoughts permanent & I can actually be reminded of some of the good ideas I've had. Without blogging, some of my ideas get lost in the sea of ideas and to-do lists floating around in my brain. Anyhow, I read my blog and was reminded to make a bear hat. So I did.

I even went a little bonkers and made a matching diaper cover. They look so sweet together on a newborn. At least from what I have seen in other people's pictures. I would love to have the opportunity to take pictures of my crocheted creations on actual newborns. I am working on making a newborn of my own (no, I'm not pregnant. We're working on that) but until I have a newborn, I am willing to make trades with photographers.

 I'll make you a photoprop if you'll allow me to have copies of the pictures you take using it. Your photos will be featured in my Etsy listings with a link to your photography website. It is a win-win for both of us. You, Photographer, will get cute props and advertising for FREE. And I, crocheter extrodinairre, will get pictures of cute models showing off my stuff. Please contact me for more information.

Turner Invasion Part 2 {Epcot & Hollywood Studios}

Ta-dah! The big thing that looks like a golf ball.  I always thought that the entire park of Epcot was inside of this big round building. I don't know what led me to believe this. Maybe because I thought the building was bigger than it looked in pictures and on TV. Maybe because I had heard that it was like going around the world, and since people usually mean Earth when they say 'the world', and since Earth is round, I thought that they had somehow made it so you could go around the world inside a round world-like building.

Here I am, about to find out that I was wrong about the giant golf ball

I discovered that there isn't a world in that building. It is a ride. A very slow one. An educational one. Not only did I learn that the world didn't somehow shrink into an over-sized spherical building, I learned that the phonetic alphabet was invented by the Phonecians.

I also learned that Disney had made little replicas of cities from countries around the world and you could pretend like you had travelled far and wide by only walking a few miles for one day.

France

Saudi Arabia

China

You can even go under the sea at Epcot. The highlight of the day for me was their Finding Nemo feature at Sea Base. Jaden just loves Finding Nemo. We watch it every.single.day. Often, the first words out of his mouth right after he wakes up in the morning are "Fish? Nemo?" That is his way of asking to watch it. I had the most fun watching him have fun!

Sea Base had a tank with two dolphins swimming around. There were also real live sharks! They were in a different tank. But they were big and mean looking.  That was as close to Sea World as we were able to get this trip :( They also had a little tank with NEMO! Jaden was so happy to see his little friend in real life.



Then we went to Disney Hollywood Studios. This street looks like something out of a very big, very crowded city, no?

It is just a movie set. Pretty darn tricky!

We arrived just in time to see a stunt car show. We got to see how chase scenes in movies are choreographed, executed, and filmed. It was pretty amazing. Stunt drivers are waaaay talented! They did some awesome stuff - including a car jump off the top of a semi-truck and a finale where the car jumped out of a second floor window into a wall of fire. Wow. We even got to meet Lightening McQueen.



While the older boys went on this ride

I went to see this show





Beauty and the Beast! The whole thing in 30 minutes. Like watching the movie on VHS in fast forward mode, but in real life. We - my mother-in-law, Jaden, and I- also saw The Little Mermaid, which was also a super speed condensed version. But, I got to see my favorite Disney Princess of all time. Ariel!!

Day two of our vacation was packed with tons of stuff. I traveled all over the world in just a day, ate some amazing Indian food, watched two musicals, and talked to Crush the Turtle. And it was warmer on this second day of vacation. No hoodies needed. Yay!

Turner Invasion of Disney World {The Magic Kingdom}

Our memories began at The Magic Kingdom.

Jaden got to see the real-life version of his Disney Christmas character, Pluto.

Being in Florida was not as warm as we wanted it to be. It was a little overcast and slightly chilly. More like a Utah spring. But spring is better than winter!

Although, winter is the best time to go to Disney World. We went in the middle of January and there were no lines. For example, there was a zero wait time for Splash Mountain. The last time I went to Disney Land, Spencer and I stood in line for an hour and a half to ride Splash Mountain. In January? No line. We practically just walked right on. Three times in a row! Lines for other rides were longer, but I don't think we came across one that had a wait time much over 30 minutes. There were hardly any people there, which made it so that we were able to do everything we wanted at The Magic Kingdom in just one day. We ended it with the best fireworks show ever, and when we got back to our hotel, Jaden was out. This is how he ended most days of the vacation.

Getting Ready for Toddler Travelling

I haven't travelled very far with a toddler. I haven't taken a toddler on an airplane before. I have been on planes with parents who have brought their babies/toddlers on a trip. And sometimes those babies have screamed for the entire duration of the flight. I did not want to be one of those parents, or for my toddler to be one of those toddlers. Mostly because babies on flights are not typically crying tears of joy, and I didn't want Jaden's experience on the plane to be a miserable one. When the baby aint happy, aint nobody happy....at least on airplanes anyway.

I read a bunch of articles about making travelling easier on little ones. The only thing that I seemed to be able to control was providing Jaden with something special and something familiar. I chose to do this by making a special travel sack.

Since I'm not tricky enough to come up with my own sewing pattern, I turned to blogland for a tutorial on how to make a hobo sac and found a fantastic one at Dana Made It. Here's how my travel sack turned out.

I used some of the same material I made Jaden's toddler bibs out of,  Cars on white from the Ready Set Go collection from Robert Kauffman. Such super cute material! And it is 100% organic cotton. I really love this fabric.

After it was made, I stuffed it with Jaden's favorite toys.

And then I let him play with it for a few days so he could get used to it as being his. I thought I would get him occupied with it once we had boarded the plane and settled in our seats, but Jaden was more interested in other things, particularly what was outside of the airplane window.

He wanted to see who else was on the plane. There was another toddler in the seat in front of Jaden. He spent a few minutes baby chatting with his airplane friend through the crack between the seat and the window.



He finally settled in Daddy's lap and played some games on the Nexus.

Once the flight took off, things went pretty smoothly. He wouldn't drink from his sippy cup and experienced a little discomfort in his ears, but he did well after only one or two little screams. He even eventually became interested in the toys his sack was holding for him and occupied himself for the flight. Travelling with a toddler wasn't as bad as I had anticipated! (so far, so good!)

While we were in Orlando, we pushed him everywhere in a new stroller. We already had two strollers, but one was way too big, and the other was a basic umbrella stroller. I wanted something compact to carry and comfortable for Jaden. So we bought this one:



source

It was perfect for our trip. It folds and unfolds pretty easily. When folded up, it was small enough to fit in the trunk of our rental car, and to take with us on the monorail and other people moving transportation in the parks of Disney World. With a padded, reclining seat, tray, and sunshade it had all of the comfort Jaden needed. The basket and the parent tray also came in very handy for carting around toddler essentials (diaper, wipes, sippy cups) and jackets for when it got chilly. Having it was a huge factor in the success of our vacation.

The most important thing I learned when travelling with a toddler is to be prepared in advance for every situation. Bring something that is familiar and special to them. Make sure they are comfortable and well fed. Make sure that some of the activities planned are kid-centric. And always always pack at least one extra set of clothing wherever you go.

Jaden's travel sack now goes with us wherever we go. He loves having it in his lap when we are in the car. Overall, he's a pretty good traveller these days!

Turners Invade Orlando

My brother-in-law, Sean, is going on a mission for our church. In April, he will go to South Africa for two years to teach others about our faith. So my parents-in-law thought it would be a good idea to take a family vacation before he leaves. We didn't know about these plans until Christmas morning, when we were all handed a gift and told to open it at the same time.

This was Jaden's gift

This was Doug's gift

And this was my gift

There seemed to be a common theme....DISNEY!

Yes, indeed. Disney. But not Disneyland, as I had initially thought. DisneyWORLD. In FLORIDA. WOHOO!

I was beyond excited. I was exactly like the little kid who has his suitcase packed weeks beforehand in that commercial. Yeah. I packed. Several times. I was so totally excited to get out of the Utah coldness and into the warmness of Florida and to go to Disneyworld. My next few posts will be about the adventures we had over one week of family vacation. That way I won't be writing one very long post about it. And that way you'll keep coming back to my blog. (hehehe. that is the evil plan)

More Cuteness

*drum roll please* Introducing *keep the drum roll going* Petit Lambie Petti Rompers!

Petti Rompers are adorable outfits for little girls newborn through toddler ages. They look beautiful in photos and are fun to run around in during hot summer months.

No outfit is complete without accessories. Petit Lambie is now also carrying infant headbands.

Visit Petit Lambie on Etsy for more colors and styles.

New Inventory

Petit Lambie has grown so much this winter. I opened shop in 2010, and after one year I had only made two sales. When we moved out of our condo and into my in-law's, I didn't think twice about packing away my supplies and inventory. I didn't expect that I would need them. Then, suddenly, I had four orders in one week. FOUR! My business had doubled in one week, and I scrambled to obtain the supplies and materials necessary to create the items ordered, make them, and get them shipped in a timely manner. The next week brought more orders, and the next more and more. I am happy to have been wrong on this occasion and am grateful that my newsboy hat was liked by so many.

Petit Lambie is profitable enough that it funds itself now. Husband is especially grateful for that! And it has also done well enough for me to expand. I am happy and excited to experiment with new ideas and offer new products.

Here are some of the first new things I've added to my shop.

Basic Crocheted Beanies for Newborns

When I opened Petit Lambie, I was creating hats to be used exclusively for newborn photo shoots. However,  my popular newsboy hat was being ordered by mothers wanting their sons of all sizes to wear them for stylish warmth in the winter. So, I have decided to make photo props and hats essential for every newborn layette. Crocheted beanies. Simple. Stylish. Cute!

Basic Beanie in Sky Blue

Basic Beanie in Pink

Check out my Etsy shop for more colors & information. 

DIY Eye Makeup Removal {A Pinterest Project}

Once upon a time, as I was perusing Pinterest, I came across the idea to make my own eye makeup remover.

kristanlynn.com

Someone had found a recipe for eye makeup remover here in blogland and shared it on Pinterest. (My cousin's friend also has a recipe for eye makeup remover. Visit her blog,  A Lighter Journey, for her recipe and many money saving ideas!) What a good idea! I usually avoid washing my face before bedtime because my mascara and eyeliner get smudged all over the place and I find it in my pores the next morning. (gasp! I know. Some people say that a woman ages seven years for every night she doesn't wash her face. I don't believe those people -gasp again! I know. But if it were true, I'd look like I was 100 years old....and I don't think I look like I'm quite that old yet) Nevertheless, no matter how I try to avoid it, I always end up washing my face at night. I get into bed and get all snuggled up and then...dun dun dun...my eyes begin itching. The only way to make the itching go away is to get out of bed (and get cold again) and wash my face.

It hasn't always been this way. I used to purchase Clinique's Take the Day Off Makeup Remover, but have avoided the price of it lately. And so, I've been in the conundrum of black pores vs itchy eyes for quite a stretch. I decided that making my own eye makeup remover would be the solution.

Until I thought of a different problem.

Cotton balls. Those little white balls of fluff shed and the fibers get in my eyes. I don't like using cotton balls. What else should you use with eye makeup remover?

These!

Alli Crafts is a crochet blog with lots of useful free patterns. These are Alli's eye makeup remover pads.  These are my answer to cotton balls. I modified the pattern to reflect my own personal preferences and tastes (I really dislike the look of the double crochet stitch in anything) and made some of my own. I also used Kristin's formula for home made eye makeup remover. And now I can wash my face at night. No itching eyes. No straggly strands of cotton balls stuck in my eyes. No black pores. (and no looking seven years older every morning...if you believe in that sort of thing)
YAY!! I can get in bed, snuggle down in my covers and not have to get out and get cold anymore.....or at least for a few hours until my alarm clock wakes me up.

Here is my own eyemakeup battle remover kit

These little eye makeup remover pads work really well. I find that when they are made out of cotton yarn, they are soft and not at all abrasive to my skin. They also wash well, so my mascara doesn't stain them. I just throw them in my washing mahine with my towels. So far, so good.

I made a bunch of them (more than pictured here) because I....want to do laundry more often.

I also made coordinating washcloths. I think the pattern is really pretty and modern. Pretty, modern, and functional.

So, thank you, fellow Pinner, for putting this miracle answer to my every night problem on Pinterest. I am so glad you did!