Random Tid Bits

1. Lately every shirt Mica puts on is too short in the sleeves and the torso. I had him try on all of his shirts just when it started getting cool. 

This is the last time he wore the shirt below. It fits Isaak perfectly. I may stop by Old Navy to pick up some shirts this weekend. Mica's closet is looking bare.





2. I've been feeling down in the dumps lately.
   
   Maybe it's the lack of sunlight. I forget to take Vitamin D3.
   
   Months ago I got a cold, it went into asthma. All day I feel pretty good, but at night it kicks in. I just can't seem to kick it! I imagine I'm not doing well on sleep.
   
   Government everything has me nervous. CREATE JOBS and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. All I see is jobs going away: The National Endowment for the Arts funding and other art program funding is going bye bye. It may not effect you. It certainly effects my family and friends. I went to art openings, and it's like a cloud of sadness in the crowd. What happened to the government supporting the arts? In the Great Depression they hired artists to stimulate the economy. Artists and acting jobs are being cut. Journalism is degraded, not trusted and cut. Three main stations are slanted one way, and another station is slanted the other way. Science isn't trusted it seems. Parks funds are getting striped down, and freedom of speech taken away. Teachers are bashed, and not respected. Health insurance was a mess, now it's in major limbo. Many health care workers will loose their jobs. Don't try being a freelancer, or work in a small business like my husband and I do. If you are in the military, dig for oil, build walls, work in the food industry, or work on cars you're ok. Good for you!

I'm beginning to hate the terms, "Left Wing" and "Right Wing" because they are used so negatively. It's like a title when you want to slam someone, "That ghetto person", or "That left wing freak over there." We're people! The only time I use race is to describe a person in a good way. I said just last weekend, "I just love that really dark skin that person has. It's so neat looking." I've referred to Albinos being really interesting too.


3. My kids have a lot of Muslims that go to school with them. Guess what? Many of them are nicer than others. The ones that come from Africa have a real sense of family. They do things together. I respect them for that. Think what you want, but we've had more white so called Christians attack people than we have Muslims. It's really hard when my kids see the news and ask questions about what's going on. Quite frankly I was nice and quiet. Now I feel like shouting from the roof tops. 




4. Around Christmas a really nice guy called a fire in that was at a local plant nursery in town. He got a $1,000 gift card from them. He proceeded to donate the money to nonprofits because he was that kind of a person.
   
   Two weeks later he was working at his job at a gas station. A guy came in when he was closing. The guy wanted to buy chewing tobacco. The nice worker said, "Sorry man I already have the cash register closed for the night. You'll have to go somewhere else to buy it." The not so nice guy waited out back for the cashier to leave. He ran him over with his truck, and killed him. The nice man has a young daughter he left behind. :(
   
   The punk left the scene. He went on to sell houses - a real estate agent. Well the prick was found! His truck had specific markings on it that were caught on film. Way to go Omaha Police Department. The police have gotten such a bad wrap; understandably so. I thought I'd give them credit where credit is due.  


5. I told my kids this weekend, "I want you both to know that no matter what your views are when you are older, no matter what religion you are or aren't we'll love you regardless. You need to be able to back up what you feel. Sources certainly help. The US was and should be about freedom of speech and thought. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us." 

WW: Let Me Take Your Picture {Linky}

Me: "Hey boys let me take your picture."

Me: "Come on just stand there normal."

I always loved Isaak's shirt, which was originally Mica's. I got it from a company called Dogwood. The presidents were in a band. On the back is a list of them.

CafePress T-Shirt Review

I had a wonderful chance to review something from CafePress. I found it to be a challenge to pick something out. They have so much to choose from!

I decided to go with creating custom t-shirts.

Since Mica will be eight in a few months, and Isaak just turned five I made them age appropriate shirts.

Here are my designs that I created in Illustrator. I made their ages in the g of each shirt.

I love personalized gifts for any holiday; like for Father's Day, it's coming up soon! They have a lot of different t-shirts and sizes to pick from. I love that they have many sizes to choose from. Many of the age t-shirts that are out there already are too small for my long torso kids.

Create your own (t-shirt) - I chose to create their organic t-shirt. It was a little more cost wise, but on sale. I love how soft they are!

Here's a few things about CarePress' organic t-shirts:

• 100% organic cotton jersey
• 4.3 oz. 100% ultra-fine combed organic ring-spun jersey
• Unisex design looks great on boys and girls
• Reinforced shoulder construction maintains shape through multiple washings
• Not intended for sleepwear

When I uploaded the designs I had a hard time getting a teal color. Instead I went with green and blue. The boys like both of those colors. Uploading images on CafePress was super easy. I had no problems at all. They take high resolution jpgs.

Isaak giving a high 5.

Mica wouldn't smile. He would however act like a crazy 8.

I was given a $40 gift code. I did have a difficult time getting the code to go through. It showed that I had a code, but only for a $0 amount. 

I tell you what though, I called them on a Saturday and their customer service was wonderful! She totally took care of it for me. I just love that their was someone to talk to on a Saturday!

They also didn't tax anyone living in Nebraska, which was nice! 

The shirts came much faster than I anticipated. I was thinking it would take awhile considering they were a special order. Nope I had them in less than two weeks!

Like CafePress on Facebook.
Follow CafePress on Twitter.
Check out CafePress on their site. They sell all kinds of things!

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I did receive a $40 gift certificate to help with this review.

WW: Vikings {Linky}

I painted these viking shirts. Finally I figured out how to put rivets on them. :) You can see part of the process here if you are interested.

Isaak's shirt is a bit big.

Here's Daddy acting like a mad viking:

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Camping Shirts

Last week my sister and I made turkey shirts for our little turkey children. The boys couldn't wait to wear them. Even though it's not November yet, they wore them on Saturday. Mica doesn't like to wear Halloween shirts very much. He says, "I don't want to wear that because it will scare the girls." How considerate.

I went over to finish the camping shirts with my sister Terra on Saturday night. Here's how they turned out:

I think they are pretty cute! Terra sewed felt, while I cut felt.

Isaak was a punk and wouldn't let me take pictures of him with his new shirt on.

We're thinking of making snowman ones to. Hey we're on a roll. 5 turkey shirts, 5 camping shirts, what's 5 more? I think they'll be cute because they'll have buttons on them. I had the idea of putting yellow on some parts of the snowmen. Then writing in fabric markers, "Don't eat the yellow stuff!" I love the mixture of cute with crude. My Dad would be so proud! My Mom on the other hand would be like, "No Alissa!" HA HA! Their schools wouldn't like it. My husband thought it was tacky. Dang it's funny to me.  We'll probably just have cute snowmen with no additional concept.

Turkey Shirts

My sister Terra and I made turkey shirts for our little turkey children last Sunday. 

I bought the shirts and felt. I wanted to make monster shirts, but here it is almost Halloween and they never got made. They still could have worn monster shirts, but the boys wanted turkeys instead.

Our little nephew Emerson (cousin to the boys) is getting a light dose of chemo for 2 tumors he has on his kidneys. He has Trisomy 18. He is such a little cuddly child! I feel for him! I planned different crafts for the 4 and 7 year olds (my boys and a few of my other nephews, Emerson's brothers) to keep us busy. Emerson was supposed to start chemo in the middle of October, but the date was set back because he got a really bad virus. He starts chemo really soon now.

Turkey shirts is what we made. I have other crafts lined up for next month; if needed.

Here's how they turned out:

I came up with the idea (minus the hat - Mica wanted a pilgrim hat to be on the turkeys). I worked on cutting the felt and my sister sewed. I can't sew with a machine. I just never really learned how to thread the machine. My sister can sew anything. All my sewing is done by hand. It's probably way harder and more time consuming to do, but it's what I know how to do.

My sister came up with an idea for a camping scene t-shirt. We went back to the store and bought blue shirts, cut brown sticks out, cream marshmallows and fires for underneath. The fires are so fun! There is a blue outer felt flame, then red, orange and yellow one for the center. We're not done with those yet.

My sister found a way to put the fire felt and the turkey tie over a long sleeve romper for little Emerson that has an NG feeding tube. She cut out little holes for the tube to connect. That will make feeding him so much easier!

Gobble Gobble

Zuma

I have to say that I'm not a dog lover. The lick, they smell, they get in my face, many ride people's leg, many bark and I'm allergic to them. Are they cute? Yes. Isaak loves them. I pretend to love them to.

I got two shirts for Mica and Isaak from the discount store Zulily. We just got them last Thursday. They are from the store Zuma.

Usually I have little problems with my boys posing to take pictures. They love to get their pictures taken.

This day, Mica wasn't cooperating. Usually if they are not cooperating, it's Isaak that's trying to run away. You can see what the photo looked like unedited.

Regardless me not caring for dogs and Mica's antics, the shirts are cute!

I got Isaak a pair of jeans to, but they are right now too big. I on purpose got them larger, so they would fit next year. The jeans came with a dog key chain; that Isaak insists on sleeping with. They have Zuma the dog on the button and an orange Z on the back pockets!