Motivation

Lately my motivation for certain things has been minimal.  I seem to get them done, but kind of last minute.  At the end of the day I am finding myself wondering how or why I didn't get more accomplished.  I know that some days it is because I spent time doing things with my kids (which can never be wrong) like taking them to the park, playing outside, etc., but other times I feel like I spent it reading/browsing things relating to my hobby.  Maybe this is the hard part with 3, learning to balance things. Or maybe it is because I had 2 months where there were big projects that I had to do and getting them done made me feel accomplished, so now I'm back to the everyday things and so even when I get them done, it's just not anything special.
I guess it is time to try find new motivation for the same old things!  Especially because I know that as my kids get older there will be many more outside activities that they will be involved in and that means even less time spent at home.

The Kirby

So the Kirby door to door salesman finally got to my house.  I think they stopped once before but I didn't really even give them a chance because it was not a good time.  Probably had toys all over and my kids running around still in their PJ's (hopefully and not just their diapers :)

The way it was approached was that I would get the carpet in one room cleaned for free and all I had to do was share my experience with a friend. 

Well it was a bit more then that...it was a 2 hour demonstration about the Kirby vacuum and how amazing it is.

I had about and hour to pick up the house from the time the salesman first came and when he returned for the "scheduled appointment" in which they asked that I vacuum before they came back.  I of course vacuumed and knowing that when he started the whole sales pitch, right off the bat he had me thinking how dirty my floors still were.

Now don't judge me by the dirt in my floors!

This picture is a view of how they show you the dirt in your carpet.  They have this filter thing that they put on the vacuum and then after only 10 seconds or less (sometimes more) of vacuuming an area they pop it off an put on a new filter, kindly laying them back on the floor in a display sort of way.

In the mean time they are also showing and telling you all the reasons you need to have a vacuum this great.  Such as reducing allergies, carpet and furniture lasting longer, etc.

They even have you get out your vacuum so they can do the '50 passes' test. 

They dump baking soda on the floor then vacuum 50 times over the small area with my vacuum, then they pull out a black filter for the Kirby and vacuum up the rest of the baking soda. 

and of course they just set them back on the floor in the same manner so that you can continue to see all the DIRTY filters piling up.

They then pull out the accessories and show you how you can basically clean everything in your house.  It can even unclog the kitchen sink!

They even vacuumed a small portion of the bed (again with black filters) claiming that what was on the filter was bed mites and their feces (majorly gross if I didn't think that there was also some of the white sheet fibers in it)

Of course by this point they have already introduced the price of the machine and then dropped it once or twice or even three times.

Finally they get to the shampooing part. 

So I did get my floors cleaned after two hours of sitting and listening to the sales pitch.

Luckily I had the excuse that my husband was out of town at a work seminar and that I wouldn't be able to talk to him until that evening.

So despite the great appeal to have my floors really clean and a vacuum that can clean everything, I kept telling them I couldn't make a purchase till I talked to mu husband.

I will admit that I WAS SOLD. 

And, had I been someone to make large purchases without consulting my husband or taking time to look up reviews, I would have probably bought.

They (I say they because a "manager" would come by and see how the salesman was doing and then a managers discount onto the already reduced price.  Or there was the person on the other end of the phone calls, but I am not sure who that was...the person who was okaying then next step or the next price adjustment.) 

So despite the fact the Kirby seems amazing, I don't like that the attachments require a whole setup change to the vacuum.

I am also not a fan of the smell that existed after the shampoo and it took more then the claimed 20 minutes to dry.

I will also say that I didn't expect much of my vacuum.  I think I paid $40 dollars for it and that was 3 years ago. 

But it does the surface like I expect. 

Anyway the next time I went to use it I decided to change the bag.  I should have taken a picture because I have never seen a bag so full. 

I thought they had a "shut off" mechanism that stopped them before they got so full. 

Literally the bag was firm to the touch the entire bag, top and all.  The only area not filled with stuff was the part that was attached to the vacuum. 

I will say that it did a much better job at vacuuming with a new bag.  Probably why the see able filter thing the Kirby does allows full suction for the demo's.

The salesman left probably thinking that he wouldn't hear from me, but once I talked with my husband and he looked online at some prices and also talked to his dad (who bought a used one last year), I called him to tell him we would pass at this time.

Maybe if they come back in a year or two I will have more money in the savings account and a few items paid off and will spend the $$ for the "once in a lifetime" vacuum.  Maybe.

Until then I will remember to change the bag in my vacuum a little more often!

Oh, and if you were wondering where my kids were during all this...part of the time they were downstairs playing, part of the time sitting on the couch with me, and part of the time playing outside.

Dish Towel Bib

I originally saw this tutorial for a kitchen towel bib on pintrest and from this site:
http://createeveryday.blogspot.com/2008/01/dishtowel-bib.html

I of course pinned it and then when I sat down to make it found that it was going to be a little difficult.  That is because I live in a small town with only a little walmart fabric department and unless I ordered the knit ribbing online or waited until I traveled to a bigger city, I couldn't do it as fast as I was in need for.  Plus I am not the greatest at sewing.
I decided that I would just use some old t-shirt colars/necks that I had since one of my other sewing projects is a t-shirt blanket and I would be cutting them off anyway.

So I grabbed a 6 pack of barmop towels from wally-world (cost around 6 dollars). 
I wanted the slightly smaller towel (thus why I chose a barmop and not a kitchen towel) and I wanted just plain white. I am trying to keep all my towels and linnens I purchase white so that I can just hot wash and bleach one load rather then trying to seperate darks, lights, etc.

If you want to use an old t-shirt neck, you will need to cut it off from the t-shirt.  I cut the t-shirt right along the seam.

Now to make your bib:

1. Cut out a hole in the towel. 
I used one of my kids play kitchen plates that was about the size of a DVD. 
Because my towel was smaller then a kitchen towel I put the circle about 2 inches from the top, right in the center. (they towel had a crease from how they were folded when purchased and I use that as a middle point of my plate then folded the towel back over to cut.)

2. (follow the picture instructions)

Set aside the towel now the hole is cut, and cut the nick ribbing to the length needed.

3. 

I found that some of the neck ribbing was stretchier then others.  If it doesn't seem to stretch you may want a little longer, and if it is easy to stretch you might want a little shorter the the 14 inches. 

4.

 5.

6.

7.

I used a zig-zag stitch (setting of 2 length and 2-3 width) on some and a hem stitch on the others (I wanted to see if one stick held up more then the other). Or you could use a serger if you have one.

 8.

9.

10.

11. You are all done!

Here are my bib models. 

They were jealous that their little sibling was getting something made, so I let them wear them around the house. Even though I didn't make it for them, the bibs would be good for their size too!

I would say that from start (cutting the t-shirt neck out) to finish it took around an hour to do all 6 bibs.

If you are looking to make one of these bibs, I hope this helps.