Eric is the winner of a CD of my family’s recipes. He bid an amazing $25 for it. Thank you so much, Eric. I know you’re going to love these! This brings the total raised for The Oral Cancer Foundation to $248.29. We’re getting closer to the goal!
Hurray! and many thanks to Cindy, who has bid $5.00 on these lovely notecards! They will be going to live with her in Prince Edward Island. I really appreciate it, Cindy! this brings the total raised for The Oral Cancer Foundation to $223.79!
The auction for a copy of my family cookbook on CD ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. CST. Eric has a bid of $25 on it. Anyone want to make it $30? I am doing this 10 week auction both to raise awareness of oral cancer, and to benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation.
My husband, the famous FabGrandpa, is celebrating his 10 years of survival this month. Don’t you want to join the party? Just donate your spare change!
Many thanks go to Alice, who sent me a bid of $20 for the 3 Gluten Free Cookbooks that I had up for bids in my auction to benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation. Now I can get those sent out the door, and her generous bid brought me closer to meeting my lofty goal of $500! This bid, plus a donation of spare change from a paypal account, brings the total to $218.29! Whooo Hoooo!
Now there is only one item left that has no bids, the Art Greeting Cards. Any takers on those?
UPDATE 1/23/2011: The Art Greeting Cards have a new owner! Thank you, Cindy!
No, really. I have been doing an auction here at FabGrandma since November, to raise money to benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a large “DONATE” button over there at the top of the right side bar. You will also see a meter over there that says I have raised $197.50. That figure is not counting this weeks auction item, which is a copy of my family’s cookbook on CD (unfortunately, it was written before I was gluten free, so the recipes are not GF).
When I started this auction, I had a puny goal of raising $100. The first item up for bids brought that, so I raised the goal to $200. When I got to $190, I decided to raise the goal to $500. So, what I am asking you to do, is look in your paypal account, and send me the spare change you have in there. So, if you have, say $45.67, send me the 67 cents. Any amount from 1 cent up to 99cents will be appreciated. It is easy to do, just click on that donate button over on the side bar.
I will be sending one big donation to The Oral Cancer Foundation at the end of January, to celebrate FabGrandpa’s 10 years of survival of oral cancer. We want you to join in this celebration by asking your doctor or dentist to screen you for oral cancer at your next appointment. Join the party! Find out if a killer is hiding under your nose.
My friend Chris posted this link to an Associated Press news article on Facebook this morning. The article makes it sound and look like Wal-Mart really has our best interests at heart. And because Michelle Obama lent her support to their efforts, well, then, Wal-Mart must love us all, right?
“Less clear is whether the food initiative will help Wal-Mart persuade reluctant cities to let it expand. Wal-Mart executives have noted that city officials have seemed more willing in recent months as they look for ways to create jobs.”
And in this part of the story, I read it as “cutting jobs” because that is where corporate America goes first when they try to reduce their bottom line:
“Besides the changes to its products, Wal-Mart said it would reduce prices on fruits and vegetables by $1 billion a year by attempting to cut unnecessary costs from the supply chain.”
If you have ever shopped in Wal-Mart, you have seen the size of all their fruits and vegetables. They have the BIGGEST onions, apples, and carrots I have ever seen in a produce section. I don’t buy my produce there if I have an option of another store to go to. So, yeah, while they might have the lowest price per pound, you come out the other end of the check out line having spent more money. If your cabbage is only 25 cents a pound, but the smallest one they have is 14 pounds, you’re gonna go home with a $3.50 cabbage when you only needed 50 cents worth. THAT is not in the best interests of the customer, in my opinion.
Oh, and they are going to reduce the cost of healthier foods for us too:
“The company also said it would work to reduce prices on healthier items made with more expensive ingredients:”Our customers often ask us why whole wheat pasta sometimes costs more than regular pasta made by the same manufacturer,” said Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of sustainability.”
I have found that whenever a product is labeled “gluten free” it tends to be priced higher than a similar product that is exactly the same but does not have GF on the label. I have often wondered how NOT putting something in a product can cause it to cost MORE? whether it is reduced sodium, no MSG, or wheat free, it usually means higher price.
“Wal-Mart said it plans to reduce sodium by a quarter and cut added sugars in some of its store-brand products by 2015. It also plans to remove remaining industrially produced trans fats and develop a logo for products that meet its criteria for health.”
But I found this article by the American Heart Association, that says:
“The American Heart Association is working with federal agencies to identify strategies to reduce the amount of sodium in the food supply. The association is encouraging food manufacturers and restaurants to reduce the amount of sodium in foods by 50 percent over a 10-year period. Over the next three years, the association will focus on helping Americans lower the amount of sodium they consume via three strategies”
That makes me think that Wal-Mart is just trying to make us think it loves us. It is laughable to think they want to cut sodium by 25% when most processed foods have 300% too much in them. “Healthier” does not always mean “Healthy”.
And, it may just be because I am diabetic and gluten intolerant, butI think if they would take sugar and wheat out of products where they aren’t needed, they would be taking a huge step in the right direction towards helping us all be more healthy. Since I started eating a gluten free diet in 2007, my blood sugar has been kept in better control, and my intake of sugar and salt has been drastically reduced, simply because I can no longer eat products that contain wheat. I am not able to use prepared, processed foods as much, and I cook more fruits, vegetables and plain, non-breaded meats and fish. When I do make cook something that is battered or breaded, and that is not often, I prepare it myself using gluten free ingredients.
Do you ever feel like we “think” in our sleep? I know I do. I woke up this morning with the feeling that there was something wrong with the flower girl dress. The first thing I had to do today was get out my seam ripper. Again. I think this relationship I have with it has gone way beyond Best Friend to “It’s A Complicated Relationship”. It is definitely a love-hate relationship going on–IT loves me so much it wants to me to spend all my time with it, and I HATE it so much I feel like I could stab its eyes out with a seam ripper.
I had to take apart the seams I sewed up yesterday on the sides because while I was sleeping, I thought that I had put the lining on wrong. Well, the fact that I had stitched it to the any part of the dress yet at all was a mistake. So, rip rip rip. After that, I went back to the sewing machine, and sewed the side panels to the front of the skirt. OK, so that was easy, and I was ready to pin the bodice to the skirt, and sew it together. Except that when I started pinning, there was not enough skirt, or way too much bodice. How in the heck could that be?
I picked up the pattern instructions and read them again, for the 40th time. It didn’t tell me anything about where I went wrong. Then as I was sitting there, just looking at the pictures in the instructions, it hit me. I didn’t have enough seams in the skirt. Which meant I didn’t have enough PIECES of the skirt.
I took out all the pattern pieces again, and looked at them carefully, and sure enough, THIS piece says CUT 4! You see, it had a skirt side front and a skirt side back. To correct this error, I had to cut 2 more pieces of the skirt, and 2 more pieces of the lining. Then I had to rip out the stitching on the skirt and lining that already been done. Where I stand right now, is that the dress is LESS complete today than it was yesterday. And I am thinking of breaking up with my seam ripper.
I didn’t work on the flower girl dress at all yesterday. Today, I picked it up and got as far as putting the front skirt together, adding the waistband, and sash. I also spent some time looking up a tutorial on how to install an invisible zipper. While I have made plenty of totes with zippered pockets, and plenty of those little zippered cosmetic bags, I have never had to do an invisible zipper for a garment. Back when I worked in an office and made skirts for myself, I found a cute pattern for an a-line skirt with side pockets that did not require a zipper. I made tons of them to wear to work–it was easy. But this dress requires that invisible zipper, sooooo I am learning a new technique. And I am not looking forward to it, because I can already envision myself picking out the seams at least once.
Pass the tequila, please, and that lime too!
In case you are wondering where I have been, and why I haven’t been showing you all sorts of fabulous sewing projects, it is because I have been working on this dress:
My niece, Stefanie, is getting married in June. She asked me to make a dress for her flower girl, and I, apparently in stupor that day, said I would. If you read my blog much, you may have noticed that I don’t make clothing much. There is a reason why. I don’t like to. but, since Stefanie is so sweet, and my sister’s only child, I figured I could make her flower girl dress and never have to ever make one again. If you sew at all, you may also notice that she picked the MOST. DIFFICULT. VERSION. At least for me, it is.And it doesn’t help that I am 300 miles away from Stefanie–if I have questions or need to discuss something, it is through Facebook or phone tag.
The fabric for the dress is slick as the proverbial “Owl um, Snot” and is lined with an equally slippery fabric. I picked it up from Stef and my sister in November and it has been sitting there on the sewing table, preventing me from doing anything else, since then. I finally put my big girl panties on on Saturday and cut it.
Today I sat down to sew. I got the bodice done, but not before I had to pick out the stitching twice on one side to get the shoulder strap positioned right. Tomorrow I start the skirt, and try to install a zipper without it looking like dog doo.
Stay tuned–if this thing doesn’t drive me to drink, I should have it completed by the end of the week.
