Not Forgotten

Just in case anyone checks on my blog to get updated on what is happening with Livy Marie and the Sims family.... I have NOT forgotten it!

It has almost been a month since I have posted, mainly because of camera difficulties! Between dead batteries and then upload problems I have not been able to access any pictures to post. However, I believe we have the problem fixed (just in time to capture our family Christmas) and I will post soon - as soon as I get a minute to do so!

So hang in there and keep checking back!

What I am Thankful for...

My Wonderful Family!

14 y.o. Alexandra - the horse lover, the responsible older sister and my friend!

12 y.o. Curtis - my handsome son who is tough yet sensitive and is just like me! 10 y.o. Anna - who has a love of poetry, music, art and my snuggler!

5 y.o. Olivia - the one to make me smile & laugh everyday, who gives love to all!

3 y.o. Maria (soon to be 4!) - my baby, my animal lover & the one who is loved by all!

Thank you God for such precious gifts! I am truly blessed!

Laugh then laugh some more!

You have all heard the saying, "Laughing adds years to your life!" well if this is true, then I am going to live way over 100! Last night my friend, JoAnn and I went to see Anita Renfroe at the Grove City Church of the Nazarene. I wish I would have taken all my girlfriends! She was hilarious! I laughed the whole 2 hours we were there! If you have never heard of her, she is a christian comedian and you MUST check out some of the YouTube videos of her. She is known for the "Mom's William Tell Overture" (what a mom says in a 24 hour period in a 2 minute song!) but she has other music spoofs that are just as funny. I loved the Carrie Underwood impression video, "Think Before I Eat". Anyways if you ever get the opportunity to see her, it is a must! She performs at the Woman of Faith conferences and is often on the ABC Good Morning America show. I just read an article on her and it said that she has 3 kids (grown) and one is a girl. Funny, she never mentioned her, just her two boys. It also said she home schooled them some. I will have to dig into that further and see what "some" means. This surprises me since the lyrics of the overture has to do with getting your kids on the bus to go to school. One of my favorite topics she covered last night where that her husband could never have an affair, except to the GPS's woman's voice. That voice is always so calm and polite, even when her husband makes a wrong turn or misses an exit! She said she is in the passenger seat yelling at her husband that he missed the turn, and "the voice" is just going on calmly saying "recalculating"! If you have a GPS unit, I know you are laughing right now! Anyways that is just an example of Anita's humor that produced tears from laughter! We all need that good laugh and she delivered last night! Loved it!

Other happenings over the weekend.... I started to decorate for Christmas! I know it is not even Thanksgiving, but I figured I would get done what I could before and concentrate on shopping afterwards. I did purchase a few gifts this weekend, but a few does not even begin to make a dent in my list! Bill and I have a shopping date planned for tonight hopefully we will get more done! You cannot even imagine what is like to buy for 5 kids plus other family members (well I guess if you have 5 kids or more, you can imagine, but you know what I mean!). BUT I am determined not to let the stress get to me this year! I will stay Merry all through the holiday! I will not get overwhelmed and let scrooge into my head! I will make this a memorable Christmas! I am DETERMINED! We'll see!

Idea for Thanksgiving... get a jar and some slips of paper and just lay them out on your kitchen table. Have the family write down everything they think of that they are thankful for, for the next few days. Then you can spend some time reading them on Thanksgiving. I think the kids will get into the challenge of who can come up with the most. I know we will fill a jar! I will share what they come up with at the end of the week! This idea came from the Family Man, a home school dad who has a weekly newsletter. He is such a "sensitive" dad that Bill think his wife writes it all for him. Regardless, the words of wisdom of how to lead your family in a Godly way are very valuable and we have gotten some great ideas from him! He sells a game called "To Bethlehem" that my kids love to play - it is quite quirky, but cute!

Sorry there are no pictures to this post. I promise some for tomorrow!

That is why we RELAY!

From the mouth of a "babe" as the saying goes: here is the dialog I had with my nephew, Mitchell, who is 8. (Remember I am watching my cousin's kids because her father in law just passed away from cancer - see last post. A year ago they loss my cousin's mother in law to the same type of bladder cancer. So they have been through a lot!

Upon the mention of a doctor in a totally unrelated subject Mitch pipe up and saids: "I am going to be a doctor or surgeon, so that I can cure cancer. I HATE cancer! So I will be a doctor that fights it!" To which I reply, "I hate cancer too. That is why we participate in Relay so we can raise money to find a cure!" Mitch pipes up, "I want to go to every Relay and raise a lot of money." So we all brainstorm on ways we can raise money, "We can sell cookie dough, candy bars, etc." the conversation dies off as he gets back to playing his DS!

Cancer has effected us all. For those who might be reading this and do not know my background, I loss my mother to cancer in 1995. I do everything I can to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society so they can do research to find a cure. I am determined not to hear the words "you have cancer" nor have any of my children hear them either. One of the ways we do our part is participating in the Canal Winchester Relay For Life, actually Bill and I have chaired it for the first 3 years. Last year our little town of 5000 people raised $118,ooo! Our goal was only $35,000 because we raised $33,ooo the year before. WOW! This town really cares and came together for a common cause. If you do not know about Relay For Life please find one in your area and go experience it in 2009! I promise you will not be disappointed! Also if you know of anyone who is suffering from cancer or you would like more info on cancer please check out their website: http://www.cancer.org/. There is a wealth of valueable information on that site!

Last year at our Relay, I celebrated my 98 y.o. grandmother who is a survivor of breast cancer for 30+ years. My aunt accompanied her and she too is a survivor! It was a wonderful evening and I was glad I got to share it with them! Here are some photos of our event! Now, GO GET INVOLVED and DO YOUR PART!

In Memory of Mr. Vicchiarelli

Just a short blog today to honor the memory of my cousin's father-in-law. He was suffering from bladder cancer and after being treated for months, things were not looking good. He decided he did would beat the cancer before it beat him. Cancer is a terrible thing and some just cannot cope and put up the fight. More reason to find a CURE now! My cousin's family has been through so much with the passing of her mother-in-law right before Christmas last year. She too passed away from bladder cancer. I am watching their 3 kids for a few days and they seem to be doing ok, too busy playing with their cousins to mourn right now, but it will hit them soon. So if you could say a prayer for the whole Vicchiarelli family that God gives them strength to face the hard days ahead.

One of my memories of Mr. Vicchiarelli took place at my cousin's house during a cook out a few years ago. We were having a political discussion and I mentioned that I did not think a woman would make a good president. "They are too emotional." (thinking of myself once a month and how I can fly off the handle - not a presidential quality). He quickly put me in my place and let me know that he knew of a lot of women that he worked with in the past that could do the job. "If they can run a company they can run our country!" Of course he was right!

So may he rest in peace and no longer suffer!

New addition!

I am off to a holiday open house today at my friend Tonya's. She is having a few people set up their merchandise and invited over 100 people to come and do some early Christmas shopping! Hopefully this show goes better than the last, but I do not have my hopes up. Here is a new bag that I designed. It is very much like the small tote, but it is wider. In fact I had planned on making it even wider than it is (like a long clutch) but changed it at the last second. It is so cute in this Groovy fabric that I called it the Pixie! The inside is done in a olive green corduroy and is supper soft. It can be yours for $38! I also finished the bag I did my first zipper on. It is a small messenger bag done in that same green corduroy with a creme quilted material for the inside. It is a great sturdy bag and just the right size. It sells for $45. I quickly sewed up a few other things for the show as well. I love the daytimer purse done in the blue and kahki paisley. That is also my first wristlet complete with zipper! My girls love the headbands, so if I do not sell them they already have dibs on them!

Last night we watched our friend's kids overnight. Total we had 9 kids. Sounds like a lot but it is quite easy since they all get a long so well and just go off and play. I would recommend to everyone to find another family that you can swap babysitting with. Alex is old enough to babysit, but it is nice to be able to leave them with someone overnight and Bill and I get some peace and quite for a few hours in our own house. Speaking of kids, yesterday at lunch my children had a funny discussion on how many kids each of them were going to have when they grow up. Anna said she would like a lot, Olivia said two, Alex said she is going to adopt because she does not want to go through childbirth. To that comment Curt piped in "What's the big deal, you should want a lot of kids!" Just like his dad he was trying to lay a guilt trip on her! Bill laughed and then agreed with him. I said it was a typical male response to which Bill always replies, "I would have them if I could." NO HE WOULDN'T!!! He is a baby when it comes to pain! I told them I hope they all have a lot of kids so I can have a lot of grandbabies!

I conquered the ZIPPER!

I am making a bag for my friend Trish's business and it requires a zipper. I have always heard horror stories on zippers so I have stayed away from them. Many people request them in their custom bags, but I did not feel talented enough to venture there. Well, I did it! I started with this little accessory bag and I will admit I had to rip a seam or two out until I got it right. But in the end it worked! Then I moved onto a exterior pocket zipper. I was amazed, it really did not take me all that long to do and I did not have to rip any seams out! It looks good! (Sorry the picture is not that good, I will post another one when the bag is done) Next, I have to put that same exterior pocket into the one I am making for Trish. Wish me luck!

Now comes the story of why I am making a bag for someone else's business. In another post I mentioned my good friend Trish who is creator of Two Peas In A Pod Homegrown Designs and my mentor. She has been designing bags for about 2 years now and is a very talented seamstress. Check out her website :http://twopeasinapoddesigns.shutterfly.com/ and see some of her work. Anyways, she sells some of her product at Canal Winchester's local coffee house, Harvest Moon and offered to sell my bags their as well. Basically her company now has a division called Livy Marie. On Monday I hung 12 bags at the shop and now I wait to see if they sell! In return for letting me do this, I agreed to make one of her customer's custom design bags. I feel honored that she thinks my sewing is good enough to do a bag with her name on it. However, there was the issue of the zipper, but now I think I can do it. I will try to get up to the coffee shop and snap a picture of all my bags on display. Until then, if you are in Canal please stop by the shop and see my display!

Puppy Love

Mercedes loves the warm weather too! She is getting to go on a lot of walks and runs everyday! She is so precious! Alex has taken to her the most. She really has command over her - most of the time. That should not be surprising, if she can control a horse, she should be able to control a dog. Plus she has watch enough dog whisper episodes to get the jist of what she should be doing to train her. The only problem we have with her is her barking at people, whether they are visiting us or just walking by. How do you train a dog to bark at a robber, but not everyone else in the world?! Her bark is LOUD too! She wants me to go play right now, so I am off to play tug of war and fetch!

It is that time of the year!

God has blessed us with a beautiful week of Indian Summer! The temperature has been in the 70's and the sun has been shining every day! The leaves have all changed colors and a lot of them are still on the trees. It is just breath taking at times how pretty it is in central Ohio. With all that being said Fall is NOT my favorite time of the year. That honor goes to Spring when everything is coming alive and we get an extra hour of day light. I just hate that it gets dark so early and that WINTER is right around the corner, literally. This is suppose to be the last day of nice weather and the cold is coming this weekend, maybe even snow.

Ok, I cannot believe I just blogged about the weather, but here is some snap shots of my kids playing in the leaves yesterday.

At a loss for words!

I will not write a post about the election results. It saddens me too much to think that our country chose to elect a man with no experience leading anything to now lead our country.

So if I look at the postitive... the election in 2012 will result in a republican president for sure (after Obama messes everything up), our school levy failed and I will not be taxed a huge amount in the coming years and the gambling casino failed. Yea!

Look at this picture of Alex SEWING! I have rubbed off on her and now she cannot stay away from the machine! She is sewing PJ pants for her siblings. Curt was in desperate need of some and I have been wanting to make them. I bought a bunch of flannel when it was on sale. She has now whipped out 4 pairs of them in a few days. Next step is to teach her to cut and interface my fabric for purses! Speaking of purses you may have noticed I have not posted any pics of recent productions.. that is because I have taken a break from making them. After not selling them at that show, I did not feel a rush to make any more. I hopefully will be selling them soon at CW's local coffee shop and will make some new bags. Until then, if you want one for a Christmas gift let me know!

Happy Voting Day!

Go VOTE! As Bill and I waited in line this morning at 6:30am I was overwhelmed with a patriotic feeling! What a privilege we have in America to be able to choose who will lead our country. So many people were waiting to do just that so early in the morning! Do you all remember the last presidential election and the long lines (and problems) to vote? I waited until the evening to vote then and we had to wait for almost 2 hours. Well I guess voting first thing is not any better. Maybe if we went in the middle of the day it would be better? I hope NOT. I love seeing all the people voting and taking part in such a critical decision. Don't get me wrong I would rather not stand in line, but instead of complaining, I looked at the postitive side... WOW that is something new for me! So reguardless of who you are voting for feel proud that you are living in a free country where we can choose who leads us. (depending on who wins, we may not be the smartest country - but at least we are free). Then go say a prayer thanking GOD for living in this country and all the service men and women who fight for our freedom! By the way, it took us only a half an hour to vote. When we pulled up to the polling place the line was super long - outside the building. After standing in it for 10 minutes, we realized that we were not in our precint line. We live in a small precint, so after finding the right line, we were able to vote and be done in no time! It pays to live in a small town!

Alexandra

My baby is 14! WOW! Alex's birthday was Saturday and I am the one feeling quite old. My dad, Lin, Aunt Jo and my grandmother (isn't she the cutest!) came down to visit and take Alex out to dinner! We went to Smokey Bones so Alex could have a pulled pork sandwich - her favorite!

Another year and she will be able to get her drivers permit. In another 4 years she will be graduating and going to college. 4 YEARS! That is not very long at all. God gives you these precious gifts and you get to mold them into young adults, then you have to let them go. That has to be the hardest thing to do. Just think, I have homeschooled her for 8 years and she has been with me everyday - all day most of that time. I am one lucky mom. I have witnessed her growing up (she still has a long way to go) and have not missed much. She is just about as tall as me (another 1/2 inch to go) and almost wears the same size shoe! Her spiritual side is just as big. She has been through a lot switching churches when she was 12, but she understands more about faith and religion than most kids her age. She has a big heart and a willing attitude to serve others. As you can tell I am very PROUD of her.

This is her love of her life, Shelby. She has been obsessed with horses for as long as I can remember. Over time we have just gotten more and more into the "horse" thing, going from 1/2 day horse camps to full day horse camps to joining a horse club to joining 4H and spending a week at fair watching horses and now to leasing a horse from a friend. You know what is next... owning our own horse. I must admitt I love being with horses too, just not having to go out to the barn every other day, but for Alex we do it. It is amazing how she is with horses. She has no fear and shows her dominance over them with no problem. She would rather be with a horse than anything. What a blessing. While other 14 y.o. girls are off on the emotional roller coaster of boyfriends and getting caught up in how they look, Alex is consumed with her horse. She could care less about boys and her looks (we are working on that however - off to get her hair styled today!). I hope it continues... at least through high school. Horses are expensive, but in many ways it is worth it. It has built up her self esteem and taught her responsibility. It is just one of the things that has helped her developed in to the beautiful young lady she is!

Ok on to Trick or Treating! What a beautiful night to be out. Everyone sat outside to hand out candy. It was the first time I saw many of our neighbors! Alex was a bratty toddler, Curt was some masked man, Anna was a horse rider, Olivia was a ghost and Maria was a barbie cheerleader! I am all about not spending any money for costumes, so besides Livy's $4 muslin and Curt's $10 mask we succeeded. They look mighty cute too! Our neighbor always makes his kids some cool costumes. This year his son was an alien. He made this huge head out of foam! It was the best costume on the streets!

Want to buy a BAG?

That is the question... Saturday every one's answer was NO. At the open house I only sold one bag... and that was to my good friend Malinda! Thanks for the generosity Malinda - she felt bad for me. We split a table together at the show. She sells Avon (if anyone needs a catalog, let me know and I will get one for you!). She said she did not need all her space and I could have half... well in the end I got a little corner of the table, she just about pushed me off! Luckily I did not need much space and I am just teasing her! The turn out was slow in the beginning but it picked up as the afternoon went on. Thanks to Trish for stopping by to see my display (see her comment in the post below!). I still had fun hanging out with the girls and meeting new people - a BIG thanks to Melissa Weller for putting it together.

Here are some medium totes I stayed up late on Friday finishing for the show. The black swirl one is the one Malinda bought for her sister. That was definitely a popular one. Alexandra also likes it, so I suppose I should WHIP one up for her birthday this Saturday. My oldest baby is going to be 14! WOW!

OK, on to a more humorous topic. Whenever there is an entertaining story to tell, it usually comes from Olivia! She is such a funny 5 y.o.! I came home from my walk tonight and was immediately greeted at the door by her. She was demanding I come and sit at the table for a family meeting! She even had water poured for me in a little tea cup. It appears that someone ate the candy corn off her brownie that she won at Trunk Or Treat last night. She gathered the family around and wrote our names down on paper. She proceeded to question each of us to determined who ate the candy corn. She would put an X through their name if she did not think they did it. This discussion went on for a while. We could not agree on how many candy corn there was on top, but did come to the conclusion that Curt and Anna each had one, but there should of been some left over. Olivia commented on how all this is very "sub-spicious"! She even put on her "inspection goggles" and investigated the brownie. It was also found out the Alex ate a corner off the brownie, but no candy corn. They also all pointed the finger at me, but I reassured them that although tempted, I did NOT eat them! It ended with everyone apologizing for nibbling on her brownie, including her dad who ate her first brownie the night before without asking! Then she gave what was left to Maria and she had a piece of pumpkin pie! Too funny!

M & M - Mercedes and Maria

A Little bit of This and That!

It is 10:40 on Thursday and I am up trying to get a few more bags done for this weekend. I thought I would take a break and write my blog tonight. I know I will not have time tomorrow, for Friday is a busy one!

Can anyone figure out the message my 12 y.o. son wrote on or frig with magnets? I love it! He was very proud of himself for being so creative with all the different letters.

Check out these adorable jeans I have jazzed up! I got this idea from my good friend, and mentor, Trish Preston! Although I do not have the fancy sewing machine that does all this gathering for you, I still managed to get the ruffles done! Trish, has offered use of her machine to make these, but I think her machine is not free for a moment (she also has a thriving handbag business... you can check it out her blot at http://twopeasinapoddesigns.wordpress.com/). So, thanks Trish for letting me steal your jean idea. I made the animal print one for my cute little niece, Maya, who is 2 and a half years old. Unfortunately they are quite long, so I will try to sell them, if not she will have jeans to grow into. Kathy, I will get her a new pair soon and get them in the mail! The other two, my girls picked out the fabric. I figured if they like it other 3 and 5 year olds would too. These are both up for sale and will be at the open house this Saturday in Canal. If they do not sell, my girls get some new jeans - win/win situation!

Mercedes' Picture of the Day:

Mercedes Shining Glow

Meet Mercedes Sims! Ever since Sidney died, we have had a void in our house. It was nice not to have to think about taking care of a dog, but it was also lonely. You could often find Alex, Bill or I on Petfinder or Craigslist looking for a puppy. We would find the cutest ones, but I always said not now. It just seemed like so much work! Our friends recently purchased a yellow lab puppy and I watched as they put so many hours into training her. The energy from them is enough to wear anyone out! So I started talking to the troops about getting an older dog that already has some of the training done. They agreed as long as I would promise we would get a puppy at a later date. We were thinking about adopting a "cell" dog from a humane society. Those are the dogs that are shipped to prisons and the inmates obedience train them, then they are sent back and put up for adoption. However, we never did go and see any, because Bill came across an ad for Mercedes on Craigslist. It was hard not to get a dog from the pound or rescue, but in a way we rescued the family we got her from. She came from a family that had 3 small kids (3, 2, 1 y.o.) and one child had a heart condition. The kids were taken care of by the dad as the mom works and he even admitted he was not a dog person. So Mercedes added a lot to his plate! On Monday night Bill and I made the hour trip down to Chillicothe to "check" her out, knowing quite well that once we saw her we would bring her home. That we did! I had visions of when we first went to pick out Sidney at the pound, how she jumped 4 feet into the workers harms. That should of told us what we were in for... a dog that can jump to great heights! When we got out of the car Mercedes was barking and running around ... I did not think that was a good sign. But once I approached her and she started to love on me, I was hooked! So home she came!

She is such a wonderful dog and addition to our family. She is a 1 1/2 y.o. Weimeraner. She is full of energy, which is a good match for my 5 kids! She knows her basic commands and listends quite well. There are a few things we have to train her on, not to bark at every little thing and to drop the ball if she wants us to throw it again! The kids are busy taking her for walks and playing in the backyard with her. They even strap on their roller blades and run with her! (we got that from the "Dog Whisperer") Bill has taken her to a field every night and played catch with her. I am sure she is not use to all this exercise and by the evening she is very tired. She is crate trained and we have had no problems with her at night. I bring her downstairs in the morning to let her out and play with her. When I stop playing with her, she goes upstairs and sniffs Bill's face until he gets up! He has actually been to work on time the last few days! Alex shows her the most attention and is really on top of the training! It is nice to have another set of "hands" to help us out with her. Mercedes has settled in well with all of us and has already become PART OF THE FAMILY!

Fall camping in NY

Only God can create something so beautiful! I said that I would write about their camping trip so here is the scoop. They could not of asked for better weather! It was in the 60's during the day and not too cold at night (well too cold for me to go!) The timing was perfect to catch the leaves changing color. This camping trip is done every year. Bill arranges to go with his brother - in - law and a group of his friends. They are all die hard campers - some only take a sleeping bag and a tarp to sleep under (at least that's the legend!) Bill will usually take as many kids that want to go with him. Curt and Anna love it so they always go and it appears that Olivia is now a lil' camper too. Alex does not like it anymore (after the near death boat ride back to their car one year) so she opts to stay home. This year I was making plans to do some shopping and visiting some parks with Maria and Alex, so it totally surprised me when a few days before departure Maria announces she wants to go. She wavered quite a bit, thinking that Alex and I were going to make cookies and not leave her any, but we assured her we would. So Bill sets off with 4 out of the 5 kids. The kids are great for the 5 - 6 hour car trip. They pack a few play things and they always listen to audio books. This trip they listen to Ramona and Her Father, The Egypt Game and Rabbit Hill. You get so involved in the stories that time flies!

Every year Bill comes back from camping with some big story to tell. Like the boat ride I mentioned above (sometimes they canoe to their sites and on the way back a storm picked up quickly and about tipped them over) or some encounter with an animal (raccoons getting in the tent or a bear rolling the camping kitchen box down a hill). One year the story was about it snowing on them (that was the year Bill sucked it up and slept in his brother's camper!). This is the first time they came back with out any big story. The kids still talked my ear off about every little detail and I LOVED IT! I love hearing them get so excited over the rocks they found or about the talk around the camp fire. Everyone that goes just loves the kids being their. They always tell Bill what good kids we have, in fact Bill said someone from another camp site down the road stopped and told him what good kids they were. I think Curt and Anna collected some fire wood for them or something like that. They are all right... I do have fantastic kids!

The kids love going to the Bear Caves while they are there. I do not know if they are called that because bears occupy them at some time (I do not want to know), but they are huge rocks that the kids can climb on. Of course Curt and Anna spent hours exploring the forest by the camp site and finding all sorts of things. They took hikes by the creek as well. It is nice to hear that they spent 4 days in nature and not hooked to some game system. Although I did notice one picture with Anna sitting around the campfire playing DS. I was told that was banned from there on out! I think in this world our technology has taken over kid's lives and they forget how to just go outside and create their own adventures.

So I am thankful for my dear husband for taking them on these wonderful camping trips and letting them just be kids!

Fall Fun & another bag done!

I have to admit fall is not my favorite time of the year! Yes, I love the colors and getting to wear my good ol' sweatshirts, but it also means winter is right around the corner! As time goes by we never seem to get all the "fall activities" done that we use to do. No time for apple picking, pumpkin patches, and our annual Halloween party. How sad! My poor little ones are getting jipped out of fall fun. Luckily a coworker of Bill's has some apple trees and gave us this large laundry basket full!

So we are pulling out the apple recipes. Curt has become "Curt the applesauce man". He is in charge of making applesauce! Got to love it! He is really getting into helping out in the kitchen - he will make a great husband one of these days. Of course to make our sauce all you do is feed the apples through the "apple peeler, corer, slicer" and then cook them for 5 hours in the crock pot with a little water and sugar. The first batch he made was with 12 apples and filled half the crock pot... to his surprise it only made enough for one serving each at dinner. So this time he filled our extra large crock pot using 20 apples and it made a nice batch. We served it over our ginger honey pork chops last night and it was soooo good! If anyone else has a QUICK and EASY apple recipe post it in the comments!

I do manage to do some fun things with Livy and Ria. I got a great idea for a fall game from Amy Anderson's great web site for preschool activities. A few minutes to cut felt into a scarecrow and to make a spinner and you have game that will keep them busy for at least a few minutes! Love it!

The day ended with me finishing up a bag! This is one of my favorites and definitely is popular with my daughters! Too cute and up for sale! I am hoping for a bag a day from now until next Saturday's show. I really do not think that will happen, but I can dream! I have some larger hobo bags to produce and some large weekender bags and those take me much longer to produce. I will be lucky to get two of them done by then. It is about time I teach Alex how to sew - she is just about 14 so does that count for child labor? Ha!