All-In-One Romper

I thought it was about time I showed you pictures of Kaitlyn in the All-In-One Romper I made a couple weeks ago. She wasn't the best model for me yesterday I wish I would have tried again later. I took these right before we left for the post office.

This shot is blurry because she was running around.

She wore this to church a couple weeks ago and afterwards we all had a picnic at a local park. Some locals came walking up and a girl about 10-12 said, "Look that girl is wearing a clown suit." I was shocked she was so rude. Do children in the UK never wear colorful clothes? Personally I think it's cute. The one thing I would change if I had it to do all over again is the pleats at the bottom. Because the fabric is so bright you really can't tell if it's pleated or ruffled. I think ruffling it would have been easier.

One other thing about the romper is the sizing starts at 24 months. I didn't know this when I bought the ebook or I probably would have chosen a different pattern. It still fits Kaitlyn, but the legs should be shorter and the crotch not almost down to her knees. =)

New Clothes

A couple days ago I finished Kaitlyn's Tiered Dress by Belle Elysse Boutique. The fabric sure is bright, but I like the results. Originally I was going to put ruching between the tiers with the same fabric as the bodice. I believe I have ruled that out now. Oh, who knows I may stop being lazy and tackle it. I have yet to try ruching.

Here's Kaitlyn in another pair of Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible. I make these so much I no longer read the instructions. Maybe that's more a testament to how easy her patterns are rather then my memory. These pants have bears on them. I attached a bear from the fabric up on her shirt and zigzag stitched around it. Of course no outfit would be complete without a matching clip or bow.

If you want to know how to make it do what I did. Hehehe... I traced the design off the computer. Yep, I saw, I liked, I made. As you can see miss bear is about 3" tall and 2" wide. She has four loops for a body and three for a head. The original bear had three rhinestones glued on for a necklace. I had these pink/purple beads and they matched the pants I made for Kaitlyn so I used them for a necklace. The bear really doesn't need anything around it's neck, but it did give it that little something extra to girly-girl it up. I used a two tone ribbon on it's head; I had it and have never used it so I thought this was would be a good chance to use some.

Cheese!

Kaitlyn must have her daily cheese. Some times even if she has already had it she will beg for more. We took this video a couple days ago. Kaitlyn had cheese earlier in the day, but it wasn't enough. She is trying to get her fingers between the seal and fridge to open the door. She has been working on perfecting her door opening abilities for a couple months now. Neal said once she figures it out we will have to get a child lock for the fridge. I believe he is right. You may have to turn up your volume to hear her say "Cheese, cheese, cheese...". By the way we don't normally let her run around in a diaper, but we have had really hot days and with no AC we decided she could sport a diaper in the house. One day I let her greet Neal at the door and he started to panic with worry that our neighbors may think we let her run around like this all the time. hehehe... I told you we never allow it. LOL... Oh, do you like her special ponytail in the video? That will tell you how hot it is. She doesn't have thick hair, but I pulled it up half hazard to help keep her cooler.

Due Date

I should either have a baby in my arms right now or a very big belly impatiently waiting on the baby to come. It's hard to believe it was so long ago that I was pregnant even if it was only for a moment. To a point it feels longer then last fall. I almost feel like the last nine months was waisted time. Time when I could have been pregnant and reaching the point of having a complete family. One thing I have learned in our long journey to get pregnant again is that the first pregnancy (Kaitlyn) doesn't even come to mind when you are struggling yet again.

My realization over the last month. Now that I have two failed IVFs behind me the failure part is hard to get over. I've been having the same feeling as with home pregnancy tests (hpt). I hate hpt because when using one I always have the feeling that it will never read "pregnant", have two lines, a plus sign or whatever it's supposed to do. Using a hpt is like dooming any chances of a pregnancy. I know in reality this isn't true, but I can't wrap my mind around that truth. Now thinking about doing an FET reminds me of my last two IVFs. I'm starting to feel like they will never work. Will I just be throwing more money away doing an FET? It almost feels doomed before it starts. Especially because during the last IVF I really felt like it may have worked. I was having symptoms that I don't get before starting my period. My debate this time is not talking to so many people about what I'm doing when I'm doing it. I can't handle the fails hope.

My last thought for the moment... I know people stop by my site a lot because I see the footprints on my live feed. Few people comment, but that's fine because I know they do stop by. One thing that happened in the past when I posted about my fertility struggles is someone felt compelled to post negative comments, anonymous of course; coward! This blog is for me to vent and share whatever is going on in my life. If you don't like the fact that I complain about my struggle to get pregnant again then you should have stopped reading the post before you even reached this sentence. Click your back button, spit on your computer if you must spew venom, and regain your wits. I don't need to hear your negative comments. I have been in your shoes of not having a child and struggling to have one. Now I'm in the shoes you will hopefully one day be in of having a child yet still struggling to have one. Showing understanding to people still in the infertility race will in turn get you understanding later on too.

Okay I have one more thought. I just wanted to say I appreciate Hilary and all the encouragement and random comments she leaves me. It's nice when someone takes a glimpse into your life and actually takes a moment to say "Hey...". I can't leave out Christina too. I know nothing about her life because she doesn't have a blog, but from time to time she pops in to leave a little message.

My comments are open to anyone with or without a blog.

Pre-Wash & Swap

You must ALWAYS pre-wash and dry your cotton fabric before making a garment. Sigh. Tell me why I don't just throw all my fabric in the washer when it arrives in the mail? I have no idea. For a while now I've had some fabric sitting, still in the box, in our spare room. Today I decided to pull it out and make Kaitlyn the dress from an ebook I bought a couple months ago at least. With everything laid out I was getting ready to cut out the bodice when I realized the error I was about to make. I hadn't washed my fabric yet. I was disappointed my project would have to wait. I grabbed up all the fabric I have for any intended project in the future and washed it all. I also stripped the ironing board and put the cover in the wash too. Neal has starched his uniform so much there is a nice browning coat of starch all over the ironing board cover. Now that I starch my fabric before sewing it I'm only adding to the problem.


So picture me with all my intended clothing fabric in the wash as well as the ironing board cover and I now have nothing to do. I decided to pull out the remaining fabric from the purse I made a week and a half ago.

Instead of the white panel I have some green and black fabric I'm thinking about using. I cut out the front strips (15" instead of 18") then had to stop. I'm not sure I like the green. I'm now debating using the white again or adding a splash of color with some blue or orange fabric I'm planning on making Kaitlyn a dress out of. I decided I wasn't in a rush to sew up the front panel seeing how even if I did I still couldn't finish the purse until the stinkin' ironing board cover comes out of the dryer. I'm back to square one with nothing to do.

On a totally different subject if anyone would like to do a swap for a cloth grocery bag hop on over to swap-bot. I'm doing a swap for a handmade or store bought grocery bag along with two small kitchen items. The kitchen items can be something like a frig magnet, dish towel, or even a recipe. You must be signed up by July 28th to participate.

Another swap I'm hosting is for children's travel toys. In this swap you buy 4 small toys, coloring book, crayons, or any other toy or activity item for a child 1-5 years old. The sign up deadline is July 31st for this swap. I'm excited to see the fun items Kaitlyn will get for our long flight back to the States in a couple months.

Potty Training Time

I'm back to putting Kaitlyn on the potty once an hour. We started up again yesterday. For whatever reason she had to sit on the potty forever twice in the morning then by the afternoon she had no desire to try. We had one success yesterday and Kaitlyn got a sticker. This morning was a success so again she got to pick a sticker. I don't think she knows what to do with them. She usually carries them around for a while, rolls them up, and eventually gets them off their paper backing. I see bits of her sticker on the floor right now.

Do you like the top and bow I drew on her picture? Hehehe... Neal said she looked to much like a boy in the picture. I have to agree she does. By the way, she doesn't normally potty at the bottom of the stairs. I took this picture a couple weeks ago. Kaitlyn was taking forever wanting to read every "bathroom" book she owns. I finally picked up her, the potty and whatever books were on her lap and brought her downstairs.

Swap #2 Done!

I mailed my second swap off yesterday. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of everything because I had to return two movies and was cutting it really short. I handed the movies to the cashier within minutes of them needing to be back. I made everything I listed below, except the notebook cover. Even though the swap had a long swap time I didn't want to drag it out. I gave myself until yesterday to send it off. The tissue holder came out looking great, but did have a couple kinks. I made the ends a bit different on the inside because I didn't want rare edges. Basically I sewed less then 1/8" on the outside of both ends then turned it inside out and sewed the ends almost 1/4". I know by almost 1/8" I made it shorter then the pattern and it did make it tight. However if it hadn't been tight then your tissues, or mine really, would have been floating. The width was to wide. Your supposed to leave the edge raw and put a ribbon over it. I easily could have put a little hem on both edges with all the extra fabric. It wasn't terribly big, but it was baggier on the sides then I would have liked. I didn't leave the seams raw, but used a wider ribbon on top and folded it around both raw edges. I most certainly don't want my tissue holder fraying while I'm desperately trying to get a tissue out. I figured the width issue my have to do with the kind of tissues I was using. At the end of the tutorial she says to use a certain kind of tissue. It might be a bit wider and shorter then the one I used.

Reusable Grocery Bag Swap

I never did post a picture of the grocery bag I made for the swap last week. The lady I was swapping with had in her profile that she is collecting coasters for stocking stuffers. I pulled out two different fabrics and decided to give reversible coaster making a try. Now tell me why I couldn't find a tutorial in time to make these?

The back coaster was my first attempt and the front my second. My first attempt was horrible!!!! Besides the fact I used burgundy thread which matches the other side I didn't fold it right. I cut out eight 5" squares with the intent of making 4" coasters. My mistake happened when I cut eight 4.5" of fusible fleece. I meant to cut the interfacing at 4" so it would give me a line to fold the fabric in and wouldn't cause bulk. It was tedious folding the sides under 1/4" (yes it took a while to notice my mistake). I sewed 1/8" all around the sides then sewed 1/4" spiral all the way to the center. I was very disappointed in the outcome. Here I had three more to go and didn't like the first one. I didn't want to scrap the whole idea, but wasn't sure what to do. It was when I started turning under and pinning #2 that I realized my mistake. I ripped off all the fleece, cut 1/2" off making it 4" and ironed it back on. Instead of folding the sides under I turned the right sides together and sewed around the edges of the fleece while leaving an opening to flip it. The results were so much better. For starters I had the 4" coaster I wanted instead of the crude 4.5" I got with #1. Another change I made was using burgundy bobbin and sky blue thread on top. I've never mixed my thread on a visible portion of a project, but it actually worked out great. I sewed 1/8" around my 4" coaster closing my opening as I went around. I then finished it like I did my first by sewing a spiral pattern 1/4" all the way to the center. I successfully made four coaster and sent them all off with the reusable grocery bag to their new home.

I'm now working on a handmade purse swap with extras.

• So far I have a mini make-up bag which Moki refers to as a pencil bag. If you notice in the pictures the two she shows are different sizes. The instructions make the smaller bag. You would need to make the 10x7 inch strip several inches longer if you want to put pencils in it. It does make a cute little bag. I think it will be a good size to put a compact, lipstick and/or other small items into. I hate digging for those things and even more hate reaching into my bag only to come out with lipstick on my hand because the top came off.
• I've also made a tampon bag for the swap. Heaven help me I can't sew in a circle. All I wanted was a barrel shaped bag with a zipper. Again I couldn't find a tutorial. I even searched for anything dealing with pencils (hence the make-up pouch). I cut out a 6x6.5 inch piece of fabric and attached a 7" zipper to the longer side. I really thought sewing a zipper into such a small barrel would be the hardest part. Boy was I wrong. I had to guess on how big of circles to cut for the end. I knew it would be a bit to much fabric, but I went ahead and cut out 3" circles knowing I would have to cut some off after sewing it on. Pinning it on was a nightmare and sewing it on was worse. I finally got it on, but in the end it wasn't round like I had hoped. Hehehe... I decided I really didn't care because it did the job.
• I still have a tissue cover by Craftapalooza and mini notepad cover by Knitting After Hours to make.

Of course I don't have to make any of it, but thought I would. There actually wasn't a limit to how much you add to the purse. The only rule is 50% of what's inside must be handmade. By the way the purse I'm sending is the black and white one two posts below.

On The Phone Again

Kaitlyn talked with Nana tonight. Notice how she already looks like a teenager chatting on the phone.

Sometimes I will see her with her hand to her ear while she talks; she's pretending to be on a cell phone when she does this. She makes me laugh.

Disappointed

I made a purse yesterday from the free pattern you receive when signing up for the You Can Sew This newsletter. I expected it to be a small purse; all the pictures I've seen made it look small. Last night I was going to Neal's graduation from Airman Leadership School (ALS) and had to dress up for it. Yes, dressing up was mandatory. I thought The Debut purse would look good with my dress. I pulled out my black and white fabric and got to work. Before I sewed it together I found myself starring at 18" long strips. I thought, "this can't be right. The purse is supposed to be small." I double and triple checked that the measurements were right. Sure enough I was supposed to be making a mammoth purse. The only real problem with the purse and ebook was I simply didn't expect it to be big. Needless to say I finished the purse and put it away. I ended up taking a small blue purse a roommate bought me on her Thailand Trip. It small and flat enough I could probably slip my passport in it. It has a long strap that makes it look like it should go around your neck. I tucked the strap inside and opted to carry the small bag. I haven't given up on The Debut purse. I'm going to try it again, but this time I think I'll make the strips 13-14" long rather then 18".

Look at all the hair Kaitlyn has. It's getting thick. I believe it really helps I have kept it cut short so all the hairs catch up with each other. A couple days ago I saw a woman I know from MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers). MOPS isn't meeting over the summer so it's been a while since I have seen her and her daughter. Her little girl is Kaitlyn's age or older and has thin stringy hair. Trimming it REALLY short would help, but the child just doesn't have much. It seems like there are three different types of hair growers. You start really growing hair at: birth (I mean a lot that you don't lose), after 12 months or 24 months. If I couldn't have a child with hair at birth then I'm thankful she at least started growing hair at 12 months.

Pictures

My little firecracker on the 4th of July. She rode her first fair ride. I wanted it to be the merry-go-round, but she wouldn't sit still so her and I both went on a faster ride that spun us around.

I didn't end up making her an outfit for the 4th. I cheated and bought this dress from the BX then made her a big bow so she would stand out from the other 20 girls all wearing the same dress. Actually I never saw another child in the dress, but I could have.
How many times do I have to tell her the stroller is for the baby (her doll)??? She will take the doll out, if one happens to be in it, and say "baby" just before she sits down. She looks so funny when she leans back because it's so narrow her shoulders are pushed together.

We see this face almost every time we pull out a camera.
See what I mean.
What does she think she's doing?! This is an all new thing for her. She usually stands on the arm of the couch to reach the bookshelf you can see on her right. Of course the first book she pulls down isn't enough she most do everything in her power to clear the shelf. Friday she decided to just STAND UP on the back of the couch to reach those books. The child is going to make me go fully gray before she's five.

Brrr... Yesterday was cold enough Kaitlyn spent the morning curled up in her quilt.

Sunbeam to the Rescue

I bought an iron Friday night and got to work. I finished the cloth grocery bag for the swap, Kaitlyn's All-In-One romper, and my place mat handbag. The purse actually turned out well. It's plan, but works for me. I put three pockets on the inside; a big one on one side and two smaller ones on the other. I made the smaller ones big enough for my cellphone in one and a pack of gum in the other. I'm not sure what I will put in the bigger pocket, but I did find today that my keys fit in there nicely. Originally I was going to make a smaller pocket for keys so they will be easy to find. Don't you hate dropping your keys in your purse then having to dig around to find them? I really hate that!

Iron No More

My iron gave up the ghost. I was just getting to the All In One romper when I noticed the iron wasn't getting hot. I guess it's time to buy a new one.

Slacker!

I really need to get on the ball. Three evenings ago I bought the ebook by Sew Sensible for the All In One jumper. Don't ask me why since buying the cheap fabric I have been obsessing about getting the ebook for the jumper. Well now I have it, the fabric is washed and cut out yet there it sits.


I know it's random fabric, but Kaitlyn doesn't care. When I finally put it together she will prance through the BX with it on causing everyone to stop and give her plenty of "ooh" and "aah". Thanks Aimee' for making me look good. =)

My second project newly waiting on me to complete is a place mat purse. I wish we had better options on base, but the pickings are few. I really want to try it so this milk chocolate place mat will be my ginnie pig. I forgot to look through their handful of fabric options to see if anything would match or give a nice contrast. I just happened to be buying this brown and gold fabric anyway and thought it would work for the lining.

Project #3 is a cloth shopping bag for my first swap on Swap-bot.com. Have any of you done swaps on Swap Bot? I'm a bit nervous of people swapping junk. Does anyone know of a good group of people who swap handmade items like throw pillows and handbags? Is Swap Bot the way to go for such swaps?

Baby Shower

I just got back from the baby shower. I was surprised that even though most of the women in our small church showed up they didn't all bring a gift. I walked in and wasn't sure where to put my gift down because I didn't see other gifts and I was the last to arrive. Halfway through I noticed a small group of gifts mixed in with other things. It was almost like the whole thing was an after thought. I guess to a point it was. It was my first time meeting Tonya (guest of honor) and her two little girls. Her oldest daughter is a month older then Kaitlyn and about three inches taller. She is a big girl. I had completely forgotten that Tonya has a second child until last night. I hated to go to the shower and take nothing for the 19 month old so this morning I whipped up a small purse and stuffed a pillowcase dress in it for her. Thankfully I do have extra of those laying around. As soon as she pulled out the diaper clutch she knew right what it was. Her eyes lit up and she started opening it up and checking it out. Assuming she already had a wipes case I bought a second one anyway. I wanted her to know what it was right off and figured she could always leave it in the car as an "oops, I forgot diapers" back up so the extra case would come in handy.

Here are the modified Boutique Bottoms without my screaming child in them.

They turned out so well I thought about keeping them for Kaitlyn. I really like how they look with a pillowcase dress.

Pillowcase Dress & Boutique Bottoms

I thought I would add my second project from today on here. I made Boutique Bottoms by Sew Sensible to go with a pillowcase dress I made. Both of these are for a baby gift. Kaitlyn was a bad model hence her head being cut out of the picture and it being blurry. It's hard to snap before they do sometimes. =) I made the pants a little different then the pattern calls for. Usually you don't put elastic or the cuff on the bottom; I did so it would match the pillowcase dress. If you look through my blog a little bit you will see maybe five other pairs of Boutique Bottoms, but made with a ruffle and no elastic.

Diaper Clutch Again

I forgot to add my favorite part of the diaper clutch. After making it I debated if the flap should have been shorter and was thinking about shortening it next time. My other debate was having enough room for a diaper and wipes, but not a changing mat. Then I saw it. The long flap makes the diaper clutch the perfect size for slipping under the baby.

The yellow fabric is the changing mat I keep in my small diaper bag. Notice the clutch is at least an inch longer. If something were to get onto the clutch you could throw it in the washer on cold and dry it on low.

I can't tell you how tempted I was to make the clutch cutesy. I kept wanting to add ribbons, bows, buttons... Over and over I reminded myself this is for the mom not the baby. Yes it carries baby items, but mom doesn't always have to have a baby-ish diaper bag with her. Actually the girl I made this for finds out today if it's a boy or girl. If she is having a boy it's okay the clutch has pink in it because he doesn't have to carry it.

One other thing about this clutch is I had to put a lining in it. The stripes were visible through the pink. I have a baby shower tomorrow and plan on making another of these today. I'm again using a stripe fabric (different though) and must add some white lining to it.

Diaper Clutch

Tell me why it's so hard to measure sometimes? It's as if my mommy brain takes over and suddenly I'm unable to think clearly. I was trying to make a diaper clutch out of two flat quarters and wouldn't you know even with using a cutting mat, large ruler and rotary cutter I still didn't get the measurement right. I really don't know what my problem was. I didn't have any other fabric to match what I just messed up so I went for other scrap fabric. I had found some I was wanting to use on a diaper clutch for a young mother. I figured it was "cool" enough a 19 year old would like to carry it around. Since I couldn't decide on a back up plan (read "fabric choice") for my diaper clutch I decided to tackle Stephanie's. It came out really well. I followed the tutorial from Blessed Roots. Once I finally decided I do know how to cut fabric it came right together. I didn't put a button on it. I'm still doing a bit of a debate, but I think I will use Velcro. Being a mom of a rambunctious 18 month old I know how important it is to change a diaper then chase down your child. Fighting a button is just out of the question. With Velcro you could change the diaper and have the clutch back together and ready to go before your child has the chance to bolt. The picture above is the one Blessed Roots made. I only used two colors on mine; the interfacing is all that's different.

It's Easy Being Green

Last night I tackled the task of making a cloth grocery bag. We really hate using plastic bags because you can't recycle them. Sure you could re-use them once or twice yourself, but when your done with the bag, it's done. I heard someone say once when you throw something away it really doesn't go away. Your trash gets buried somewhere.

A while back we started requesting paper bags. Sure they are not as easy to handle and they take up more room in your car, but they can be recycled. Instead of being such a selfish, "right now", always easy, nation we need to really think how our actions may be effecting our environment.

We've done the cloth diapers so why not try using cloth grocery bags??? Almost five years ago I needed some sturdy fabric to cover something with so I searched the clearance fabric at Walmart. I walked away with some pale green fabric for $1 a yard. I bought more fabric then I thought I needed and was surprised when the project took even less then expected. For almost five years about four yards of the fabric as been stowed away until yesterday. For the body of the bag I used this tutorial by Wisdom Of The Moon. I didn't feel the bag handles in the tutorial were the best choice; they were not made to be strong being simply tacked onto the top. I decided to use this tutorial from Making Something. The bag turned out great. I love how the bottom of the bag turned out. Because it's all one piece it should hold up better. I made the handles out of the same fabric. I cut two 4"x22" strips. I folded them in half, ironed, opened it up and folded each side into the fold, then folded it back in half and ironed. It made the handles 1" wide. I then sewed four seams down each handle 1/8" apart. I did the same thing to the top of the bag. Oh, give me a moment I'll see if I can get a good picture of it.

I didn't take a picture of the bottom corners, but you can kind of see they are folded up just like the instructions said they would.

Here you can see the four seams I put in the top and handles of the bag.

Here you can see how generous the size is. Maybe I should have loaded it up for a better idea. I really see now why Sara said she wanted to make some smaller bags for canned goods. Maybe I'll stitch that one with red thread or put a strip of random fabric on it so the baggers at the commissary will know it's for cans. By the way you all should really check out Sara's blog. She has a lot of helpful tutorials on there. I've had a lot of fun clicking through all the blogs she has linked from her site.

Now I'm off to make another bag. Another project I recently made was a diaper clutch for a baby gift. I'll have to show that one to you later.

Hail Marry, for Fabric!

Yesterday a guy from the Base Exchange called to say they just marked all the fabric 50% off and to come quick because the word seems to have gotten out. They don't have wonderful stuff left, but I could most definitely find something to use it on. Kaitlyn will probably end up with a lot of floral clothes. =) Oh yes, back to my hail Mary to get to the BX. I couldn't drive my car to base (more on that later) so I had to bike Kaitlyn and I, in the name of cheap fabric, the four miles. I was almost on base when I came up to some construction. In the UK they don't have little guys stand in the road with "stop/go" signs they actually have lights set up. I'm on a blasted bike how can I go through a one lane construction area while the light is green without getting run over?!!!! For heaven's sake it was scary. I took the notion to use the side walk. I wasn't supposed to do that, but I thought it would be safer. The only problem was the sidewalk only went halfway through the construction area. I needed to cross the street to get on the sidewalk there, but that is when I noticed the "construction" was actually them working on the power line. I really did a dangerous zigzag through the area until I made it. I was a half a mile from the BX and it started to rain. Thankfully it was a drip here and there so we didn't get soaked. Oh, I need to show you our ride... Okay I can't pick out my bike online, but its a Diamondback brand. Here's Kaitlyn's ride.

So I'm dragging my child through the sprinkles for the sake of cheap fabric. I did buy some fabric, had some lunch, checked the mail for the road tax disk (more later), then started the dreaded ride home. Of course there was crazy traffic trying to leave the base. Everyone was stuck before and after the main roundabout trying to get through the construction lights. I did another hail Mary to get to the front of the line. I simply didn't have the nerve to try going through the construction again. I turned down the first street I came to and asked someone if there was another way around. She kindly told me where to turn and I took off. It really was out of the way, but I was grateful to be on the other side of the construction and safely on the bike designated sidewalk. One thing I left out is just after leaving the base I looked back and Kaitlyn was slumped over in her seat. My crazy fabric shopping/bike ride cut into her nap time. I had to lay her over in the trailer. I guess I didn't have to, but I did it because she didn't look comfortable. Before we made it home it started to sprinkle on us again. I kept praying the whole time that my legs wouldn't give out before we made it home and that the rain would wait until I could get Kaitlyn in. Just as I was getting home the rain started getting a little heavier. I was able to get her in with only a few wet spots. By the time I put the bike away and collapsed the trailer the rain had stopped. I fed the dogs then went for a much needed shower.

Why couldn't I drive my car you ask? Picture smoke coming out of my ears right now. In the UK you must pay road tax. They tax EVERYTHING here. Or most everything. You cannot pay the road tax until you are two weeks out of it expiring. I wasn't on the ball and ended up turning in the check and paperwork five days before the deadline. They told me it takes 7-14 days to get the disk in. We are now on day eight and so far nothing. In the US you could probably get away driving with expired tags, but here I go on base where they routinely check those things.

Tomorrow is the big 4th of July party on one of the local bases which is open to the community. There is no way I could bike all the way there. Neal has to volunteer for three hours so it looks like Kaitlyn and I will have to ride with him. And yes we do have 4th of July parties in the UK. We celebrate being liberated from these people by inviting them to our party. Hehehe... We never stay long because it gets crazy crowded with British nationals. It's one of the few times they can go to a fireworks show.

You've Got Mail

Now that Kaitlyn can open our entryway door our mail isn't safe. If I can tell she is playing with an envelope I either go get it or ask her to bring it to me. Not all our mail is for us. We still get stuff for the last two tenants. I hate that we have a mail slot. At least in the US it's illegal to put something in someone's mailbox. Here in the UK we get everything shoved through our door. It's cheaper to pay someone to go door to door putting fliers through the mail slot then postage. We don't pay for the newpaper nor do we like it. I was perfectly fine letting Kaitlyn throw it around.