Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Stars and the Moon

Posted by Misty Mom on 31/03/2009 1 comments

I’ve been putting off sewing other than cotton for awhile now all because I am a little intimidated by it as well as I’ve heard that it can be tough to sew. On top of that, this coming from my mum who has had upteen years of sewing experience, I find it really daunting! But I am glad that I finally took the plunge and went for it anyway.

Although it was different to sewing cotton or poplin, I didn’t think it was that bad hence, it’s true when people tell me ‘you won’t know for sure till you try’ and I did. :) I’m glad I didn’t put it off any longer. On top of that, it was also my first time trying to use ribbing as well as doing gathers!! For me, these are personal achievements which mean a lot to me since I am a newbie.

I didn’t read the instruction on how to do gathers but instead, I had flashbacks and images in my mind as I reminisce the times when mum used to sew and I remembered bits of this and that, and on how she did it. So I put 2 and 2 together, add a bit of common sense and voila, my gathers came together! :) I am one VERY VERY happy mommy!!!


My latest dress which by far is the one I am most proud of, on a personal level. Only because after 2 failed attempts of making a dress for Arianna, this one finally worked out! [I am hopeless is measuring!!!] Also, this is my first time using ribbing [that red bit around the neck and armhole], first time using knit fabric [stretchy fabric] and most importantly, my gathers actually came through!! So yes, this is really a great achievement for me on a personal level. I am very proud of this dress. :D


Arianna modelling for me. I think she’s gotten used to the idea of me making her try on stuff coz as soon as she sees a new outfit or some piece of cloth that I’m holding, she comes to me and stands relatively long enough for me to see if it fits. Smart girl! ;)

Lil Miss Lady Bug


Can’t say much about this dress except that when I first finished it, it was too loose on Arianna and then I ‘cleverly’ though I’d bring this bit in and that bit in, and then it became too small. *sigh* It’s apparently going to be Pacman’s now. *lol* Poor Arianna, I’m glad the dress above suited her well! :) Now everyone is happy. :D

Apidexin

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/03/2009 None comments

When my girlfriend mentioned one day before lunch that she had to take her ‘Api’, I didn’t know what she was talking about until she told me that it was Apidexin. Apparently this diet pill has been helping her lose weight. Despite containing some caffeine, she has informed me that she had gotten a green light from her doc to take the pill. So if you want to start a diet pill regime, check with your doctor first.

Beautifying my balcony

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/03/2009 None comments

Because we live in a unit, we don’t have our own garden but we do have a little spot on our balcony which we have turned into a mini garden. Although it isn’t very big, it’s definitely big enough to grow some plants and flowers. Sometimes, we even grow vegetables but somehow, they don’t turn out well hence, we’ve been growing one of my favourite flowers, the hydrangea. Although they may grow to be big, we constantly keep them trimmed. :)

Choosing wisely

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/03/2009 None comments

Losing weight has always been the one thing that I’ve done on and off throughout my life. Although weight gain isn’t my main problem, it does tend to get my self-esteem down and that doesn’t do me any good. Other than having a good exercise regime, healthy eating and pretty much living a healthy lifestyle, sometimes the choice of the right diet pill might just give you that extra help. But beware, you have to choose wisely.

Again with the food issue…

Posted by Misty Mom on 25/03/2009 11 comments

All this time, I’ve never really had a problem with Arianna’s eating habits. She ate what I gave her and well, all seems fine until about a week ago. I’m totally blaming this on her age as she approaches the terrible 2′s. *shudders* and the fact that she is sprouting approximately 6 teeth at the same time. Poor thing must feel rotten for most of the day and sometimes, it really does show. I guess that is the other thing that might be affected – her appetite.

Been about a month or more since she’s been having rice and pretty much what we eat. I still chop up the vegs and meat finely although the rice I leave whole and she’s quite happy with that. And funnily, she enjoys vegs more than meat, and tends to pick out the meat no matter how minute the piece is but will eat veggies. So I hope I am not jinxing it but say this out loud. *touch wood, touch wood*

Sadly, this is not so anymore. Not only does she not eat meat and vegs, she is not eating much at ALL. In fact, her brekkie is a mess. It’ll be good if I can get her to finish her yogurt. And if she takes toast, that’s like striking the lottery for me! Lunch time is another war zone. I made tuna cutlets hoping that the major change in texture would entice to eat but I had to practically coax/force her to eat it. I know this is not good but after a few mouths, she must have realised that it wasn’t that bad and had it. She only had 3 but I’m just glad she got something down. Dinner was the WORST. When I cook, I cook for 2 meals so there was some more cutlets left for her and she totally refused this time. So I gave in tried scramble eggs which is never a miss and she still refused. I didn’t give up and this time, tried toast, also another fav and STILL no go. I was so upset coz even fruits did go down well with her. In the end, I gave up and gave her some jar fruit yogurt. She was happy with that and also some pizza from my plate. Amazing how kids prefer whats not in their own plate.

The previous day, all she had was cake for lunch. :( ( See la, how can I not get worried?? I try not to take it too seriously coz I know that she is still taking her bottle of milk so that kinds of comforts me. But I can’t totally depend on that right? I so dread meal times and I hate the fact that it starts with brekkie…. :( I know that one should persist and not give up if a child doesn’t like something but there is a limit and I am sick and tired of people telling me to persist!

Not only that, I feel frustrated and disappointed that she won’t eat what I have prepared because of the effort put in. I know I can’t blame her coz she doesn’t know what is going on, but I can’t help the way I feel. Sometimes when she won’t eat, and I end up giving her can/jar foods, I feel guilty and bad, that a good mother wouldn’t be doing this but I am. On the other hand, I know that as long as there is food in the house, she won’t starve but the problem is, it looks as if this child doesn’t need food to live at all.

She’s active around the house so much so that I can’t keep up with her. Needless to say, I’m totally knackered everytime we go to MIL’s coz she’s like the Duracell Battery Rabbit – always on the go, never stopping for nothing at all. I get tired from just watching her. So with all this energy being used, you’d think that she’d eat her meals with passion. But she prefers her milk and water instead, o and fruits too.

One confession that I have to admit though, I do kind of give her less brekkie and small snacks in between so that she is hungry by lunch time. To me, it is a little bit cruel and maybe ‘abuse’ in a certain form but I feel that sometimes it works. These days, it doesn’t anymore and I’m just wondering if I have moulded a girl into thinking that brekkie is not important!!! It so freaked me out, I’m shaken at the thought.

While most toddlers are self feeding, I am still spoon feeding Arianna although sometimes, I let her feed herself. But with the pregnancy almost at the end, I’m just not up to cleaning after her, after meals. Apparently I have done wrong to start spoon feeding her and instead, I should have stuck to BLS [baby led solids]. This was the one thing I never did with Arianna. I hardly ever let her get messy which is why I hardly ever use a bib because I try not to get her dirty.

Perhaps this is all my fault for taking away her independance, which now makes me feel bad coz I’d love to have her sit at the table and have our meals together. But it ain’t happening just yet. :( I’ve kind of decided that with Pacman, we will definitely try this BLS and hope for the best. *sigh*

Here’s some Lavender Love…

Posted by Misty Mom on 24/03/2009 4 comments

What a lovely name to suit this gorgeous flowery poplin fabric I bought in my first ever stash of fabric from Spotlight. But sewing up this dress very nearly did me in!

Lavender Love

Took me many days and night of brain wreck to think of how to put this dress together. To some or perhaps many, this would be some simple 1hr job but OMG, no thanks to my pregnant brain, I just couldn’t figure out how my mum sewed a dress almost like this albeit a very much better one, smocking to be exact. I turned the dress over, inside out and in every direction position except undoing the whole dress of course. But still no luck. In the end, I caved in and did it MY way and this is the outcome.

Looks fine, but won’t fit Arianna. The length is nice, the chest is fine BUT the armhole is way to small. There is no way I am undoing this coz I just wouldn’t know where to start seeing that I’ve sewn the pieces together in a way that I was want to undo it. Here’s hoping mum can come to the rescue. Otherwise, there goes another practice piece.

So till today, I dare say that my weaknesses in all the sewing I’ve done is slowing adding up :

  • hardly imaginative or creative
  • measuring skill to die for [NOT!]
  • armhole failure

The only bit that I dare say is good about my attitude is that I am not giving up that easily as I would with other handicraft. Sewing has since become somewhat of an obsession which I highly doubt could be bad unless I forget that I actually live in a REAL world. For suffice to say that when I’m sewing, I’m in my own world and I think I’ve reached the stage where I can actually admit that sewing is therapeutic. Or perhaps on the other hand, its a great way to stick to a diet coz I almost always forget to take my meals!!! :P

I’d love to decor my belly like this! :)

Posted by Misty Mom on 23/03/2009 None comments

I know the blog’s been quiet lately. At the moment, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, hence, I’ve been slow at both blogging and sewing. I’ve actually started to sew a dress for Arianna. It’s the first time I’m sewing it and I’m using Poplin. If ever I go stupid, I blame the lost of millions of brain cells to trying to figure out how to sew these pieces together despite it being a blardy simple A line dress. Me is finding it very despressing!! But ahead I go for I MUST complete it by hook or by crook. And if I can’t figure out how Mum did it, I shall do it my way. *lol* :P Anyway, here’s a filler post for the fun of it.

The email said that it was tattoos on pregnant bellies but its quite obvious that no woman in her right mind would get a tattoo while pregnant and on top of that, no sane or professional tattoo artist would do a woman who is pregnant. That said, I’d love to have gotten one of these designs drawn on my belly but since if I did, I would not have been walking around baring my belly. It would have been a waste but nonetheless, I think they are cool! :)

Which is your favourite and if you could, would you get your belly painted? :)

Everyone needs to be insured

Posted by Misty Mom on 20/03/2009 None comments

When we were growing up, our parents made it a point to get us insurance because that’s what parents do. Today, we have our own family and we have been thinking about getting some sort of insurance for our family. After all, no one knows when something bad will happen and like my mama always told us, ‘Better to be safe than sorry’. Hence one of the insurances that we are currently look into is a term life insurance. We’ll have to be smart about picking the right one as we have a few other insurances in mind too.

The perfect gift

Posted by Misty Mom on 20/03/2009 None comments

Eddie and Eva just moved into their new apartment and Aunty Lynn was asking us ideas on what housewarming gift she should get for her golden son. We know how much she pampers him and since the newlyweds is just starting in life, we suggested getting them a LCD TV. In the beginning, she wasn’t too sure until she realised that they had not bought a TV yet. So we’ve done Eddie and Eva a REALLY huge favour! ;) I’m very, very sure they will be happy with the gift and so will we. We’ll be over there for everu NRL game from now on! :D

Making money from real estate

Posted by Misty Mom on 18/03/2009 None comments

The economic crisis has been on the lips of every Tom, Dick and Harry. Nearly everyone is suffering in their own way from this economic crisis be it from losing their job which is the worst thing that could happen or a major slash of their salary, which isn’t as bad but still hurts. However, in recent news, there are 2 mums in Australia who have found a great way to make money. Somehow, they have come up with a system that involves the buying and selling of commercial real estate in these trying times. I’d love to know their secret…..