Help! I need somebody...with ideas about removing paint

Does anyone know of any great ideas for removing paint from black jeans? I went to Goodwill today with Grace, and they had recently painted the doors of their dressing rooms. They had opened up one set of dressing rooms and had the other set "closed" while letting the paint dry...only the door of the dressing room I used on the supposedly dry side was not completely dry. I found this out the hard way, and now I have the strangest shade of orange on one back pocket of my black jeans. (Seriously...orange??)

I've washed them now after scrubbing the area with a baking soda paste, and a good bit of the paint has come off with that. I'm still working on it (and still keeping the jeans wet), but I thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas. I'm about to try scraping the paint with a blunt knife.

By the way, I told the Goodwill manager about what happened, and how this was the first time I had worn the jeans (ugh), and she gave me a $10 credit on my purchase. (So, on the upside, I bought 3 new shirts and 3 new skirts for me, plus a pair of white dress shoes for Grace for just over $20.) I'm just really, really, really hoping to get the paint out because I really, really, really despise shopping for new pants. Really.

So, any ideas?

The week Josiah becomes totally self-conscious about the size of his feet

On Tuesday, we drove to Athens to celebrate a couple of March birthdays (my brothers/the kids' uncles).

The birthday boys

After leaving the restaurant, the kids and I ran over to Academy Sports because they have the best prices I've seen for baseball cleats, and Josiah just began Spring Ball practices. I had him check the size of the shoes he had on (because I seriously can no longer keep three growing kids' shoes sizes in mind) and proceeded to hand him size 6 cleats to try on. None of them fit him.

Then, of course, Josiah tells me, "Oh, yeah, these shoes I have on are a little tight on me now." OK...the largest sizes I've seen in the cleats has been size 6. Josiah found a store employee and we asked her if there were any size 6 1/2 cleats in the kids' section. Um...no...the size 6 1/2 shoes are in the men's section.

Excuse me? My seven year old is now getting shoes from the men's section? Really?!?

Really.

As we were laughing about this shoes shopping experience and walking to the front of the store to check out and buy Josiah's first pair of men's shoes, Josiah sighed and said, "I guess I'd better get some age on me to catch up to my feet."

;)

The next day, I measured my socked foot against his socked foot and found his is only about an inch shorter than mine, and I don't have dainty little feet. I wear size 10. Robert's feet are bigger than mine already, but he is, after all, nearly thirteen and nearly as tall as I am already.

Josiah went to batting practice on Friday night and the first thing his coach said to him was, "Hey...What size shoes do you wear?!" (When Josiah reported this to me, I thought he was joking; he wasn't.)

So, please try not to stare. He's getting a little self-conscious as it is. He told Jason, "You know how Mom said that when I hit size 13, I have to buy my own shoes? I'm afraid at this rate, I'm gonna have to make my own shoes..."

Ummm...Did I mention he's a little dramatic?

Waking up is hard to do

If the video doesn't appear above, you can click here to see it.

And, yes, these are actual anesthesiologists--you can learn more about them here. And here's Mister Gasman, and Breathe if you want more videos. :)

I think I'm going to be singing my own version of this in the morning, 'cause it's in my head now...

Don't take my cloth away from me*
Don't you leave me here in misery
She didn't sleep
Nor did I, too,
So waking up is hard to do.

*I sleep with a cloth over my eyes, like this:

Grace at 18 months old, imitating Mommy's sleeping habits

(Thank you, Kirsten, for sharing this YouTube link!)

~~~~~

Click here to enter to win 250 FREE custom stickers or labels! This giveaway ends March 2nd at 9:00 p.m.

The way popcorn was meant to be eaten

I'm starting to think I take too many pictures of food...especially since there are photos of lasagna and enchiladas that I haven't even shared yet...but I had to share this.

This is how popcorn was meant to be eaten.

With chocolate.


I apparently have the very best Secret Sister in the world because who thought of this? It's pure genius! This particular flavor is called Zebra and it is as close to perfection as popcorn will ever be, but Popcornopolis has many more flavors of gourmet popcorn to choose from if you don't love chocolate as much as I do.

The Zebra popcorn is long gone, and I'm working on the caramel popcorn now, which is the best caramel popcorn I've ever had. I still have the cheese popcorn left, and if it's as good as the other two flavors, it'll be fantastic.

So, thank you to my Secret Sister, for the gourmet popcorn as well as the chocolates and earrings! (I have no idea if you are one of my readers, of course, but wanted to thank you regardless!)

~~~~~

Click here to enter to win 250 FREE custom stickers or labels! This giveaway ends March 2nd at 9:00 p.m.

A sewing project fit for a princess

After months of telling Grace to put real clothes on seeing Grace clip a baby blanket around her chest to create a long "dress," I decided something had to be done. She has dress up clothes; it's just that she thinks the skirts aren't long enough.

She wants to look like a princess. And princesses wear long dresses.

I looked around the house for some princess-worthy fabric, and the best I could do was some silky blue fabric with dragons on it. (Grace didn't mind. It seems like she said something about it looking like what the Little Mermaid would wear...)

I knew Grace loves "spinning dresses," so I made a pattern using newspaper to create three panels that would flare out at the hemline. (Three panels were as much as I could easily make with the bits of material I had on hand. I sew by hand, so this needs to be kept simple--no piecing together lots of pieces, thankyouverymuch.)

I pinned my pattern onto the fabric


and cut the fabric a little wider than the pattern because (1) I wanted to allow for the seams and (2) the pattern was a little shorter than Grace would like the finished dress to be anyway.


Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I marked on the "wrong side" of the fabric with an ink pen. This is for dress-up clothes, remember...

I pinned the sides of the three panels together and sewed all the sides. Next, I wanted to run elastic across the top of the dress so I folded over and pinned the fabric for this. After I sewed this, I ran the elastic through. The safety pin is your friend with this step. It gives you something to hold onto while you pull the elastic through quite easily. I used baby elastic because that's what I had on hand.

Next, it's time for the first fitting! I had Grace try on the dress at this point to see how long the elastic needed to be around her to keep the dress up. She immediately accessorized. And twirled.


Then...my least favorite part of sewing projects: pinning the hemline. Ugh. But I managed to get the hemline pinned properly, all the while reminding myself that this dress was dress-up clothes (and therefore doesn't have to be perfect). That didn't stop me from repinning several times, but it made me feel better when I started hemming.

I wanted to add a simple strap to hold the dress up properly, knowing that with all of the spinning and flitting around that was sure to happen, Grace needed a little help to remain modest. :) I used one of the scraps of fabric and made a strap that would be a kind of halter-top style.

Again, the safety pin is your friend, both in turning the strap right-side out and in running elastic through.


The finished project (not ironed, because...did I mention this is only for dress-up?)


and the happy girl!


The dress was an immediate hit with Grace, and she typically wears it from the time she wakes up until I make her put on clothes every day. ;) Grace says she likes the colors of her new dress, and loves the "necklace" part. So far, she hasn't tried to wear it out of the house...so far...

~~~~~

Click here to enter to win 250 FREE custom stickers or labels! This giveaway ends March 2nd at 9:00 p.m.

Sticker Giveaway!

You may have seen the button on my sidebar for Uprinting.com, an online printing company. And you may have signed up to receive my blog posts because I promised that I would have more giveaways coming up soon...Well, now I have a new giveaway to offer! And, now that Uprinting.com has changed the way they do giveaways, shipping is once again FREE!

Not only does Uprinting.com print business cards, wall graphics, and a bunch of other things, they also print stickers! This giveaway is for custom printed stickers or labels...250 of them! And it is absolutely free, with free shipping.

Custom stickers are a great way to promote your blog or your business. Use them as address labels, event stickers, or more! Use your creativity and come up with a sticker design that is uniquely you!

For hosting this giveaway, I will also be given 250 custom stickers. I'm probably going to make some dual function address labels that could also be used to label our many, many books so we'll know which ones are ours (an idea I got from my friend at Yes They're All Ours).

This is the image I created the last time I hosted a Uprinting sticker giveaway, using the 2" x 4" format:



What would you do with the custom stickers/labels if you won?

All you have to do is leave a comment to have a chance to win. And if you subscribe to my blog by email or by a feed, you can leave an extra comment for another chance to win! This gives you a total of three possible entries for this giveaway. I must have your email address to be able to contact you if you win--if I don't know you IRL, you can email me with your email address by clicking on "Email Me" from my Blogger "About Me" page. (I don't always see the email address you enter when you leave a comment.)

250 Stickers/Labels for One (1) lucky winner

• Sizes:2” x 3.5”, 2” x 4”, or 3” x 3”
• Paper:70 lb. Label Matte
• Specifications: Full color front, blank back; 4 Business Day printing
• Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
• Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

So, how would you use 250 free stickers or labels? Customized address labels? Favorite photo? Business or church logo? Something else? Leave a comment and let me know!

Hurry! This giveaway ends at 9:00 p.m. on March 2, 2010. The winner will be picked randomly from the comments at that time.

Overheard

Grace [casually looking at me over her cereal bowl one morning]: Mommy, Scar is like Cain and Mufasa is like Abel.

Keep in mind that she's three--she'll be four next month. Josiah explains everything to her, including, it seems, the correlations between the Bible and The Lion King movie. And sometimes he's actually correct with his deductions. :)

~~~~~

Josiah [shamelessly pleading]: C'mon, Dad--can't I have just one Bible story?

Jason: No, it's already past your bedtime. We'll do it tomorrow.

Josiah [calling from his pillow in the darkness]: Please? Maybe just a short parable?

Jason staggered away from Josiah's doorway trying to suppress his laughter. The next day, I questioned Josiah about the conversation. He elaborated for me.

Josiah: Well, some of the parables are really short...He could have picked one of those, couldn't he?

~~~~~

Grace has gone through a phase where is apparently trying to make blueprints of our home in her mind. It started one day when she was standing in the living room and heard Robert bump against his bedroom wall while he was doing something in his room. She looked at the wall, looked at me, and asked, "What's on the other side of that wall?" I told her it was Robert's room, and she thoughtfully replied, "Hmmm...I thought it'd be Josiah's room..." That sparked her fascination for days and days of questions about "What's on the other side of this wall?" At the tale end of this thankfully short-lived fascination, we had the following conversation at bedtime.

Grace [gesturing to one of my bedroom walls]: What's on the other side of this wall, Mommy?

Me [tired]: No, we're not going to play that game right now.

Grace [completely seriously, and sounding quite a bit like that Seinfeld line, "Oh, I'm stressed!"]: Oh, it's no game!

~~~~~

Grace [standing in front of me and pretending to read from the book she's holding]: Hello, my name is Rachel and I'm a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe 54. Are you in need of any assistance today, ma'am?

Grace had previously recited the line from the movie Up with the name Russell, but changed it to Rachel since, of course, she's a girl.

~~~~~

I shared a very small corner of a chocolate bar with Robert while he was working on math at my side.

Robert [taking the smallest bite off of his piece, gesturing at what's left, and whispering]: $2.99.

Me [playing along, like the Wendy's commercial, and gesturing at my own larger piece of chocolate]: $2.99.

Oh, he cracks himself up. And, despite all of the TV and movie quotes you may hear from my children, they really don't watch a whole lot of TV!

~~~~~

Jason [coming into the bedroom and finding me on the computer]: What'cha looking at?

Me: Oh, just some grammar stuff.

Jason [If he were the type to roll his eyes, he'd be rolling them at this point]: Yeah, I look at that stuff all the time when I'm online.

It's that time of year when I look towards next year and track down the textbooks and other materials we'll need to purchase. I've discovered a new (new to me) website called DirectTextbooks.com that searches eBay, Amazon.com, and about 200 more booksellers online for prices including shipping. (DirectTextbooks.com has more than just textbooks--and, in addition to searching by author, title, and keyword, you can search by ISBN if there is a particular edition of a book you are needing.) I've been hanging out there as well as HomeschoolClassifieds.com a lot lately...and I've already bought next year's math and social studies books for Josiah (3rd grade) and science and social studies for Robert (8th grade). Whoo hoo!

~~~~~

During the wait for baseball evaluations today, Josiah found himself in the midst of two other seven year olds who were talking about "fighting"--you know, the rough-housing that boys gravitate towards in every spare moment.

Josiah: Trust me--you don't want to fight me. I've had training.

He went on to explain that this "training" had come at the hands of from his older brother, Robert (age 12). At least he can put a positive spin on the abuse he's suffered brotherly fights they've had over the years.

~~~~~

One evening, Jason called both boys to the kitchen table and announced they would play a game.

Josiah [bursting with excitement]: Are we going to play the drinking game?!?

Now, before you call the authorities on us, the "drinking game" is a competition the boys had for a day or two until I discovered what they were doing and put a stop to it--they were timing how quickly they could drink a cup of water; I didn't want them to continue this competition because, knowing them and how competitive they are with each other, it was very likely they would be compelled to repeat this over and over again in a very short period of time which could be quite dangerous.

So if you've happened to hear Josiah mention the drinking game, this is what he was talking about. I can only imagine what he tells his Sunday School teachers. (Whatever he's said, it's not true, Stacey!)

And I can't wait to see what kind of young man he grows into...