Hey, I remember doing those!

Who loves pointless surveys that provide useless personal tidbits? This lady right here.

Thanks to Rach over at Waffles & Cereal for providing me the means to play all nostalgic about the days when I spent hours doing Myspace surveys to keep my eyes open at work.

A is for age: Twenty-seven.

B is for breakfast today: half a bowl of Lucky Charms. Lily stole the other half.

C is for currently craving: a regular bra. I hate nursing bras. Wait, that was probably TMI...awkward. We'll go with a nice, quiet, bubble bath.

D is for dinner tonight: Carino's. My hubster got the hook up for free food, yo.

E is for favorite type of exercise: Playing freeze dance with Lily. She can't contain her wiggles so I always win. ;)

F is for an irrational fear: dirty dish water. If it's turned a different color, has icky food floaties, or feels slimy, I'm not having it.


G is for gross food: Biscuits and gravy. Let's be real, it's sludge for breakfast.

H is for hometown: Idaho Falls, ID.

I is for something important: Education. Or ice cream.

J is for current favorite jam: It's not my usual cup of tea, but that "We are Young" song by Fun. It's snappy and gets stuck in my head.

K is for kids: Love, love, love kids. If I could afford them, I'd have a houseful.

L is for current location: My living room.

M is for the most recent way you spent money: Dog food. That stuff is getting expensive. I wonder if I could make my own dog food?

O is for occupation: student in college / stay at home mama.

P is for pet peeve: Leaving the lights on.

Q is for a quote:

R is for random fact about you: I read 10 books last week. My husband is considering therapy options, as he thinks it's downright freaky that I like to read so much.

S is for favorite healthy snack: avocado slices on crackers.

T is for favorite treat: Ice cream.

U is for something that makes you unique: My dreadlocks just turned three years old on the 27th of July. Since I often pull the dreadlocks card though, I'll give you another one. I can say the alphabet backwards better than I can say it forwards. Result of working in a library once upon a time.

V is for favorite vegetable: It's all about the zucchini.

W is for today’s workout: Bathing two children.

X is for X-rays you’ve had: none that I can recall.

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: Lily's dance class. You can't top that kind of entertainment.

Z is for your time zone: Mountain.

Well that wraps it up! I have to say, it felt pretty good to waste time for a bit. :)

More baby toys, because they're soft and squishy.

So, my world is full of babies lately! Yay babies!!

I have a brand new itty bitty niece who just came into the world. So very exciting! Finally, I am no longer the only "kid" with kids! A weird thing to be excited about, but it works for me.

I also have a friend who is just about ready to bring her darling boy into the world. She had the coolest shower, which I had to miss to go out of town with my mom and sister to do her wedding dress shopping. Another thing to squee about which I can't get into here because this is a baby post, not a wedding post. Two totally different types of squee-worthy madness.

Anyway, You know how it's now cool to have an activity at your shower instead of games? Or is that only the showers I'm attending? Seriously, crafty is the new mom middle name, because every shower I go to these days has me making a hair bow or some such thing. Well, this shower that I had to miss chose to do the best. freaking. activity. ever. They tie-dyed onesies. HOW COOL IS THAT?! That may be the hippie in me talking, but that is so fantastic. I really wish I could have been there. Ah, regrets.

Even though I missed out on all the fun, of course, I had to make the new mama a baby gift. Baby gifts are so darn happy. I had so much fun with the last baby toy gift I made, I decided to try some new ones.

After much searching and getting sidetracked by pinterest, I found this tutorial from Make It and Love It. It's a soft block and rings. Lily calls the rings a chewy chain. The tutorials are nice and clear with some great pictures. I have been itching to do something in black, white, and yellow. I have seen such cute baby gear in those colors lately.

I added in a crinkle toy because they are so quick and fun. (You can find my post about that tutorial tryout here.) I have started hoarding bits of ribbon from wherever I find it since I started making these crinkle toys. I have a whole ziploc bag full of ribbon bits. Ha.

The block was quick too, until I got to the hand stitching part. I hate hand stitching. It feels like I am cheating on my sewing machine. Plus, I'm no good at it. It took me longer to stitch a one inch whole than it did to sew the whole rest of the block.

I found a genius way to make a rattle at a {day} with lil mama stuart. Take one easter egg, add beads, presto. Instant rattle. Oddly enough, I could find an easter egg, but my bead box had deserted me and so I used pennies. Yup, they were the closest thing I had handy that could make noise. I glued the egg shut so it wouldn't open. So the block makes a rattle sound, but it's surrounded by soft squishy goodness. I stayed up way past bedtime making Sage her own block. She grabs onto it, squeezes it to death and throws it across the room.

The chain was a little more difficult than I anticipated. Trust me, totally worth the effort.

I had a duh moment and sewed a ring shut before I connected it. Try not to do that. Also, keep the rings skinny, you won't be able to sew them shut otherwise. That part is a bit tricky. However, once you're done, you have a washable, chewy toy that is perfect for little hands to hold onto. I'm making one of these for Sagey Poo too.

Instead of a card, I wrote a quick note in a book. Mama and baby will see it each time they read together! Another great pinterest idea. I was going to include a little poem about the gift being handmade, but ran out of time. That's always something to do next time. With three more friends and family who have babies on the way, I'll have lots of practice making toys and gear!


I have linked this post to...

It's nerdy blogger dance time!

My watermelon cake was featured in a linky party! Woot!




To see my post about my watermelon all fruit "cake" go here.

Totally made my day. Head over to Homestead Simple and check it out! And a big thanks go out to them, for hosting and featuring!

With that said, I'm thinking...

...that I want to start a weekly linky party here at Jubilant Jessi.

Anyone interested or know what that is?

A linky party is a great way to connect bloggers. You link up a post of what you have been up to and can look at all all the other posts left by lovely bloggers such as yourself. If you have noticed when I do something remotely creative, I put several buttons of places I have linked that post to.. that's a linky party. I'm probably not explaining this the best way I could, but hey, that's what google is for. If you're confused, chances are you can find someone out there who explains it better. Haha.

Anyway, I always love surfing link parties. All of my favorite blogs have been found through them. It's where I get my major dose of inspiration (next to pinterest) each week. I think it would be fun, but I am worried about the time constraints with school coming up in a month (gag, snort, die. Not ready for school yet).

Anyway, something to ponder and stew on for a bit. Let me know if you're interested and/or would like to join in.

Also, show Homestead Simple some love for featuring me and hosting a great party! :) :) :)