things i'm crushing on

so i've mentioned before. i totally love my sponsors. and i always am checking them out to see what's new in their shops. along the way i bookmark things i want to get from them or have already bought from them. come join me as this summer i spotlight a few of my amazing sponsors.
check out who i'm crushing on today here

series of unfortunate events:the final chapter

okay where were we.

ah yes, seeing gray after the water.
read part one.
read part two.
well much to my dismay, the black crayon did not in fact come completely out, but at least it wasn't coming off onto the clothes like it did to that first unfortunate load of laundry.

i didn't read to the boys that night.
i went to bed rather early and feeling rather defeated.

the next day was just like every other NORMAL day. i finally got to clean the house. boys had only one more day till school got out for the summer and i was determined to start the summer with a clean house and try to keep it on a schedule.
when i had a few hours left before the older boys got home, i started to try to write the pattern to the bag. i mean, circumstances had put it off already for a whole week, now was the time to get it out before the weekend. it would be perfect that way.

i had in fact felt like my bad luck was done and over with. kids come home all is well, no homework is to be done. so i treat them to letting them play video games right after school. they are giddy, i really just need one more hour and then i'll be good to go with the pattern.

the oldest of the noise makers wants to install and play a game on my i touch. now i know everyone and their dog. (or so it seems i guess) has an i phone or i touch...i held my ground NOT to get one for a long time, but i was given one for mothers day. why did i hold my ground not to get one for so long?
because of this conversation:

"mom, can we get the blah de be blah game for the i touch? can we can we can we? PLEEEEEEEEEASEE!!!...pleasee!!!!!!"
to which the next two boys chime in "oh can i have a turn i want to play i want to play please please please i want to play let me play is it my turn?!!!!!" but just imagine it as a broken record sort of thing. katie even chimes in with a "i want a turn!" she doesn't even know what she wants a turn on but she'll chime in anyways.
to which i answer (repeatedly mind you) "NO. it costs money. nope, it costs money. uhuh it costs money."

till i finally break and say "but you can do some that are free i guess. here let me sign in and i'll get you in the app section."

the boys high five and put a slash in the air as in "oh yeah boys 1, mom negative bazillion."

oh, and here's also where the stupid button was hit.
as in how can you be soooooooooo stupid to let your 10 year old into a section where all he has to do is hit "buy now" twice and... well there you go, you bought it.

next couple of events go in regular motion...

kid behind me doing who knows what (well i know now) on the i touch, with my back to him on the computer finishing up my pattern writing. i finally finish the pattern. as i'm getting ready to shut everything down. i get a little notice saying that i have new mail from i tunes...
i think "hmmm do they tell you every time you get a free app as well?" um duh no.

i click on the email.

now the next series of events happen in slow motion.

i read :
transaction $99.99 fish pearls
transaction $4.99 fish pearls
transaction$4.99 fish pearls

things start clicking in my head and slowly i turn around to face the 10 year old about to lose his life. and as if he could sense the anger coming from my corner of the room, he looks up with a deer in headlights look.

"what?"

yup you got it, me when i turn around and go ape poop on the kid

i sputter "what? how? what?!! what did you just buy?!!! what are FISH PEARLS?!"

child about to lose his life "what? how did you know about the pearls? they were free."

"first off, i'm your mother and just understand this right now because i won't remind you again, I KNOW EVERYTHING AND WILL KNOW EVERYTHING. even when i don't let you know i know, or you think i don't know about it...I WILL.
and second off when did 99 bucks equal free? give me the the i touch now."

at this point the kid feels really bad. says he didn't know they cost money. but i'm not going to let him off the hook. i tell him he owes me the money and we'll go to the bank and take it out of his account tomorrow. that's if the house doesn't burn down or the car explode or who knows what else will come our way tomorrow.

i call the husband and leave him a message along the lines "get this, your kid just cost you $111 plus tax which comes out to $116 in pearls...for a fish game on the i touch."

he calls back and says "okay seriously? have you been making the bed?"
he knows my philosophy in not making the bed.

i do have to say that apple was great to us, and after explaining to the people at apple they reversed all charges. thank you apple!

i got in my car a couple days later and went to my in laws and waited for the husband to be done with his army stuff. i didn't want to tempt fate any more by myself. at least this way i could conquer what come may with others around.
we had a lovely time.
and i started to write and post my story.

we drove home yesterday night with the husband...only to find ALL of our garden plants, dead.
i had forgotten to take them in when we left to escape my bad luck.
with the frost at night and the heat in the day. they didn't stand a chance.

sigh.
we're buying all new plants tomorrow.
and i'm making my bed.
and staying away from the plants.
per the husband's request.

the end.
please let it be the end.

monday we have a sponsored giveaway. yay!

guest blogger: anna of noodlehead

so glad all of you are laughing at along with me on my misfortune.
i'll be writing the last part of my unfortunate events series later today to post for tomorrow. but for now here's a tutorial by the sweetest mid western gal i just met a couple weeks ago, my friend anna:

hello V & Co. friends, I'm Anna from Noodlehead!
I was so excited when Vanessa asked me to share a tutorial with you guys. I'm a mom to two little girls and got back into sewing when I realized how fun it was to sew for them (even if they don't like what a make them all the time).
My husband and I were doing some tune ups on my daughter's bike earlier this spring - you know, new tires, paint the handlebars, fix the seat, fun stuff. So, when we were out tire shopping I saw the cute bike baskets at the store. I was like "oh, we have to get her a basket, it would be so fun" and he's like "you should just make one". So here we go!

It's perfect to hold a water bottle, some bouncy balls, a necklace, maybe a stuff animal buddy you just can't leave home without!

There are so many cute details you can add to these Bike Buckets, so go on and get creative!!

Check out the full tutorial HERE at Noodlehead!

Thanks Vanessa for having me over, it was fun!

a series of unfortunate events: chapter 2

find part one here
part 2 of 3.
"you okay?" the husband asks as he picks me up from the passenger pick up zone.
"no, but i will be. this will be funny someday i swear."
"you look..." he looks at me and decides to forgo the rest of the comment that will surely get his life taken away from him.
"hmmm okay well, are you traveling home tonight? it's kind of late."
i have three more hours of drive home from the airport without the husband...he was doing army stuff for 10 more days, and with all the kids that had spent a whole 5 days with "sugar grandma".she thinks everything is better with sugar.
"no, i'll stay the night. then we'll leave early in the morning so the kids can make it to school a little late."

and so things go to plan.
and i thought" okay that was unfortunate about the trips home but we can move on."
yeah right.

we get boys to school and katie wants a bath. i want a shower.
we have enough hot water for one bath.
then the water goes luke warm and then to freezing.
"what the...why?"
i let it sit for half a day thinking "okay maybe it didn't have time to fill up or something."
i don't know, i'm not the one who knows all that crap.

by the end of the day nothing. still cold.
next morning i call the husband leave a voice mail. he gets back to me by around 4 pm.
"well you are going to have to reset itvand then have to probably empty it...blah blah blahblahbladeebeblah blah..."
my eyes glaze over. "uh huh."
"vanessa did you get all that?"
"nope, but you can give me step by step as we are on the phone right?"
"sigh okay."
"but i got the first thing down, i'll call you right back."

and we got off the phone.
and i went and started to unscrew the cap on the drain valve, that was first right? "hmm okay well anyways after i get the cap off i'll call him back."
but it wont budge. hmmm weird.
i get a wrench to unscrew it.

they the next set of events happen in FAST FORWARD motion.

the cap, before i can unscrew it anymore, makes a hissing noise, pops off and shoots like a bat out of hell, pings and ricochets off of five different surfaces, and lands who knows where because i'm now focusing on the ton of water spraying out at me and on all over the pantry and now starting to flood like the titanic my laundry room and seeping into the kitchen.

image of me when the cap ricocheted off and the water started spraying everywhere.

i manage to get the phone somehow.
dial redial and continue to squeal yell and cry into the phone.
"what's going on?! what happened?!...
VAN.ESS.A. i can not understand a single word that you are saying. slow down. what is that horrible loud noise? are you taking a bath?"

me:
"WATER.EVERYWHERE.CAN'T.STOP.IT.FLOODING."
kids walk in from outside to see what the commotion is all about. oldest son yells "MOM! what'd you do?!!!"

the husband:

"oh dear heavens what'd you do? turn off the valve on top! turn off the valve on top!!!!"

"EVERYONE stop yelling at me!!!"
as aprox 80 gallons of water is shooting out of this thing and i feel like i'm in the titanic i try to turn the shut off valve that hasn't been touched since the last time my husband did something with the water heater and can i just mention he seals peanut butter lids and sippy cup lids with an iron grip so you could only imagine what the valve is like.
i can't budge it...at all.
i hang up the phone in all the commotion, and i take off my shirt to try to get a better grip on the shut off valve.

i finally stop the water. well the water that was shooting out of the broken valve. the water works are in full swing out of my eyes.

i look around at the damage. my laundry room and kitchen are covered in 2 inches of water. a granola bar floats by as i hit the redial button.

"did you turn it off? vanessa, honey, it's okay...no it's not your fault, well it might have been your fault...no that's not what i meant... but lets talk about what happened."

i replay the incident play by play. between sobs and gasps for air. apparently the pressure from the broken valve sent the cap flying, and the broken valve also made it that we didn't have any hot water either.
thank heavens it happened with me right there and not when we were all out of town blah de blah...

i get the head of the fire dept guy over (who also did our remodeling of the french doors the summer before, and who is also my handy man when the husband is gone.) who goes to the house of guy who owns the already closed store, who gets me a new valve, and all is well.
all he said was "you probably need a new water heater."

thank you captain obvious.

we say our good byes...

i go to check the dryer so i can start cleaning up and fold up some laundry and try to get some kind of order in our lives.

only to discover that apparently one of my kids had a black crayon in their pant's pocket.

"you have got to be kidding me. of course."
i then spend two hours cleaning out the dryer drum with a magic eraser.
my dryer is still gray.

to be continued...
next and final chapter:
"my new $116 dollar pearls"

a series of unfortunate events

wow thanks for the love on the bag!!! you've sent it to be the #2 best overall selling item over the first weekend and let me tell you that's huge. thank you!
some of you already have finished them and are showing them off on the flicker group! ah! i'll have to do a look at you guys go soon, it's be somewhat chaotic over here so we'll be doing that and we'll be doing another link up party as well. probably in a couple of weeks.
i have a few more patterns up my sleeve but everything needs to be paced, as we are now in summer vacation mode. yup, you read it right, my kids are now home 24/7.
with me...right under my nose.
so, much will be done outside of the home just to keep some kind of sanity in my life.
i'm just sayin that these next few months may be more about my fam and a little less about crazy crafting. but you never know the crafting usually finds itself in there as well.

okay.
so about last week.
lets just say i was in a series of unfortunate events movie. or so it felt. i'll set the scene of the first unfortunate event:

it's sunday and i've just spent a weekend at quilt market, i'm still off my high of the whole thing, i'm in the airport after checking in bags and i'm sitting reading a book. i'm a little parched and think to myself:
"i have a long day of travels ahead of me, might as well treat myself to some diet coke WITH caffeine."
so i go to the McDonald's right around the corner from my gate and i think "wow how lucky! it's right here! i didn't even have to go very far, my luck is so good this week!"

as i walk away from getting my drink (which by the way they didn't have any medium cups left so they bumped me up to a large just like that), i pass the bathroom...and think to myself:

"hmmm might as well go now, just in case so i can sit and read and sip my drink till i have to board on the plane."

so i get in line, and my turn happens. i walk in the stall, look around and think:

"i don't want to put my drink or my bag on the floor...ewww..."

so i put the bag up on the hook and place the drink on the toilet paper roll container. as i get ready to hover over the toilet because ewww i don't ever sit down, the lady in the stall next to me flushes and opens her door and slams the door shut. now this next series of things happens in slow motion: door slams my drink wabbles and tips and falls what seems like forever and hits not the floor, no it hits me on my back and as it hits my back, it explodes diet coke, and ice all over my back.

me when the diet coke hits my back

i'm pretty sure none of it hits the floor, nope it just hits me on my back and which proceeds to now run down my back. "oh....that.did.not.just.happen"
now let me point out. i don't buy expensive clothes. like ever. because well i have kids, and i don't have a bazillion dollars to just replace an expensive item that gets ketchup, boogers, or whatever else kids put on me on a daily basis. but i did it a month ago, i got on the jcrew website and bought myself a cute little somewhat expensive (in my world) cardigan to wear with no children around at market.
yup, you got it... i was wearing that said cardigan when the diet coke kamikaze-d itself onto my back.
of course.
okay wardrobe gods you got me, i bought something somewhere other than walmart or kmart. i'll go back to buying my high end clothes at target.

i wipe up and mop up as much of the diet coke that i can off of me, take off the cardigan, rumage through my carry on bag and luckily find one of back up shirts.
get on the plane...
have a layover,
get on a plane again.
finally get back to my state,
go and sit at the baggage claim,
only to have everyone's bag BUT MINE show up. i even waited till the little turning thing quit turning.

i go to the lost and found to see what happened. and there's my bag sitting there mocking me.

i look at the woman in the lost and found dungeon and ask her "why?" she answers "because these were left behind and no one picked them up."
yeah see my bag made it home an hour before me. yet i sat for 45 minutes wondering why my bag wasn't showing up...when all the while it was 10 feet and one wall away the whole time.
and this ends the first chapter of the series.
to be continued...
next chapter:
"the titanic is sinking..."
we'll talk soon.