Scrubs to Skirt-Upcycled Toddler Skirt

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and in my usual, take care of everyone else and leave my kid until last fashion, I whipped up this little skirt for my daughter about 30 minutes before we left for her play groups Valentines party! I found this Scrubs shirt at the thrift store for $0.50 and I knew I was going to make it into a skirt for her the moment I saw the big pockets on it! Sadie LOVES pockets! I think most kids do!
     

Start by laying your shirt out flat..you can iron it if you want to first, but I didn't have time...

Measure you child from their waist to hemline and add 2 inches-Make marks at that measurement all the way across the shirt and cut.

It should look like a big rectangle now.

Measure the elastic for your childs waist plus one inch, I won't go into detail here but instructions to make a casing on your skirt can be found right here at my friend Jodi's blog!

And voila! Skirt is done! No hemming, no side seams, nothing! A skirt with two big pockets to keep all her Valentines cards!

Hope your day was filled with LOVE!

Team Ashley: An auction for Ashley of Lil Blue Boo

Let me first start off by saying that I am so honored and greatful to be a part of an amazing team that is putting together an auction for Ashley of Lil Blue Boo! So many people have been there for me the last few months in ways that would blow your mind! It is time for me to pay it forward.... I want to share what is going on with helping to raise money for her growing medical expenses. Even with insurance, cancer is so expensive to treat and because Ashley's cancer is chemo resistant, she is starting to look to outside sources across the country to kick cancers butt! So Team Ashley has put together a special auction to benefit her! We can't quite share yet, but let me say you will NOT WANT TO MISS this auction! The auction will take place February 27-29 and we have over 70 vendors so far! What can you do to help? Spread the word! We need promotions daily/weekly/hourly if you feel like being a pest to all your friends! Hehehe....Really though! Do you have access to a radio show? Do you write articles for a newspaper/magazine/column? Do you head up a group or are involved in a group for cancer support? Then we need you to share the word! Don't do any of those but have a Facebook page? Share it!
If you are unable to participate in the auction but still want to donate, there are a few things you can do! For only ONE DOLLAR, you can download this awesome Thank You card for your children to fill out when they receive gifts! It's a sheet of 4 cards on it that you can print off as many times as you like...the dollar , 100% of it goes directly to Ashley! The card is made by the brilliant Stephanie Corfee Artist! How awesome is that!

 Or order this awesome hoodie from Evy's Tree

 You can also get your official "I donut-ed" tee shirt and all proceeds go directly to Ashley's medical expenses...

Want to donate but don't need/want any of the above items?  Just click the DONATE button on my sidebar to donate to Ashleys medical bill funds. Any amount is helpful! Don't forget the upcoming auction too! You may find yourself wanting something from there! Please share this post and spread the word!
To read more of Ashley's story, please head to the Lil Blue Boo blog, and look up Cancer Chronicles. You will find yourself, laughing, crying, and transforming your own life all in a matter of minutes! Ashley is an amazing gift to this world and we at Team Ashley are looking to raise a tremendous amount of money to get rid of her medical expenses and also to let her take the time to be with her family but keep Lil Blue Boo going by making sure her employees get paid!

We made it...now purge!

Were here...in Southern California...I can't say I'm totally thrilled about it...still trying to find that silver lining...I'm glad to be away from the mess of up north, but just find myself missing Arizona...California is so over crowded and I find myself in a sea of people, cars and cement everywhere I turn...it kind of gives me anxiety to be honest! Maybe all that will die down after the holidays. Our trip was a bit more safe and less "exciting" if you want to use the word than our move up north! No crazy trailers flipping, no accidents, no storms...just a long sad drive. The is the last picture I took of our time up north..its the porch light we left on of the back door at the house we were in. This photo makes me sad.

We left on Friday night and drove for a bit into San Miguel and stayed there.....if you ask me this was one of those 'pay by the hour' hotels! I swear it was! But, it's all there was....ain't no Hilton in the middle of nowhere! LOL!

We got up and left first thing Saturday morning! I have never been in 21 degree weather before, so when my car thermometer read that I was like, Whoa!!!!!!(forgive the blurry photos, I took them with my ipod)

I do love road trips though! I love looking at nature and the scenery! It's actually a nice trip driving up and down California...just not with a big yellow moving truck and five kids and a dog!

I try every day to find things to keep my spirits up! On the drive, the moving truck was packed full and we were down to our last few things..one of them was this cubby that goes on my kids' bookshelf that has all their Yu-Gi-Oh cards in it! The cubby was packed in the back and toppled right over onto my third sons head! Hundreds of cards were all over him and the cubby was sitting perfectly on his head! We couldn't stop laughing!

....and then we drove it all to storage! Yep,, all of our stuff except for a few days worth of clothes, our electronics and a few toys are in storage....I told the Mr. today....it will be interesting to see how little this 'stuff' means to us once we've been living without it for awhile! It's amazing how much you can actually do without! My challenge to you today, especially with Christmas coming is to go purge a few things! Clean out a closet, a toy box, a drawer, something! Seriously, you will feel soooo much better!

I'm glad were here safe and sound! Now just to move on with our life and figure out the next part! Job, house, school, etc.....it will all be in time...I spend A LOT of time crying......a lot of it is the not knowing part...not knowing if we'll get back to Arizona, not knowing if we'll stay here..not knowing where we'll live, not knowing where the kids will go to school..etc etc...I know, one day at a time! I'm trying..I'm trying! I have a lot of amazing people looking after me and my family..I can't tell you how much these angels have taken care of me and relieved so many burdens off my shoulders lately! Thank you again for your support and love!

.........and a kick to the head!

Well, it seems it is now time to go ahead and fill you all in.....we are moving yet once again.................................................................................................................yes..........that M word has become the most dreaded word in our household. Monterey was supposed to be a step up from Arizona and it seems as though nothing is working out for us...I won't get into crazy details and bore you to death but,,,,,,,EVERYTHING from the moment we found out we were moving here and the accident we had all the way to right this moment...the job, the schools, my business, grocery shopping, finances.......the list goes on and on and on........it wasn't supposed to be like this, but you can't stay somewhere if you can't pay your bills.When people or jobs aren't able to come through as arranged, how does a family survive?...I am heartbroken, for my family, my kids especially. I have always been the 'stable' one that EVERYBODY looks up to and relies on,and at this very moment, I am grasping to hold onto anything that remotely seems stable...the routine, I guess is the only thing thats stable, wake up, do breakfast, get kids to school, try to work and homeschool whoever is off school that day, pick up other kids, dinner, bed, do it again....at least I am able to give my kids that much..at least they have me here , right?! I spend most my days crying, as this has been mine and the Mr.'s worst nightmare, moving here.....like I said I won't bore you with details but how can EVERYTHING in your life at one moment seem to be the biggest mistake you ever made? And none of it really seems to even be to our own fault...thats a hard one....
Ok Ok what does this mean for Night Owl..well it means that until we find a place to live I don't know how much sewing I will get done or be able to even do....as of this very moment we have to be out by the 17th of December and have nowhere to live...We have a place to go but nowhere to LIVE! How does this happen? How do you go from owning investment property and driving nice vehicles, and owning a business, to your family of SEVEN moving in with your parents???????? Hello, somebody wake me up please..............................I know we will find a place, but the thought of having to move all of us in 2 weeks to my moms,and putting everything we own into storage just sickens me.....It has REALLY been pissing me off lately to see everyone decorating for Christmas and setting up Christmas trees....I feel like a big baby not being able to do the same for my family....was that brutally honest..it's pissing me off? I sound like a whiny baby when I read it or say it...but after all, I'm the "mom who does it all"...I'm the mom that organizes the school parties, that takes the kids to see lights, that decorates and bakes endlessly, that still runs my business, etc etc etc................................right now I'm packing to move somewhere that I DONT want to be and I can barely afford to buy food to feed us much less a Christmas tree or Christmas presents.....Yah I'm a little pissed!!! I made the decision to go back to Riverside instead of Arizona though as that is where our family is.....thats where my boys' dad is, that's where our support is..my friends, the kids old school they love so much.....Disneyland...........hahaha...the silver lining is in there somewhere......anyways...just pray for us...we dont know where were going we dont know what tomorrow holds..all we know is that we have each other...I know my kids will be fine..I know we will do our best to have somewhat an ok Christmas for them....we will make it work..we always do....times are hard, money is extremely short, emotions are on edge, I have been through worse...believe it or not..LOL..I really have..all I know is that I do bounce back. My kids do end up ok....in the long run, not sure but for now, they are ok......
We made one trip down to southern california this weekend with one moving truck already with half our stuff. I want the kids to finish out school here and then we will move the next day with the remainder. The Mr. will do his best to find a job there, and we will continue our search for a house so we can move into our own space and not my parents by the time we have to go. (Rubbing my face out of anxiety while I type)........big breath...........ok, anyhow, so at this point youre asking...Trisha what can I do????? Pray! Cross fingers and toes! Whatever it is you do..thats what we need....I want to be settled by January 9 when the kids are set to go back to school so that I know where they will be going the remainder of the school year...I want to be able to not have to pay more than one entire month on a storage bill...not too much to ask, right?! THEN.......when that's all said and done, please please please support me..as of Dec. 17 Night Owl is all we'll have to make ends meet....I dont know where I'll be able to set up , but when I find a place the best thing YOU can do is support me and spread the word....for those have ordered I usually throw in two business cards..or if you have ordered from me and have a small collection of cards, share them with your friends, with other people while youre out and someone comments on your daughters clothes....etc etc..thats what I need right now.is to know that you support me and will stick by me and refer me..if you know of a local boutique in your area that sells handmade please put me in contact with them..take your daughters clothes in to them and share with them, tell them that you would love to see me in their shop....anyway, any how that you know of to keep this business alive...is what I ask............
I am again humbled by the outpouring and outreach of my friends, family and this small community even up here where I live now to help us in any way they can....people are so wonderful when it comes down to it...Anyhow, sorry for all this rambling...I didn't cry once while writing it...maybe I'm just accepting and ready to move on to the next phase..I will be sewing up a storm until I have to pack the machines away.....I look forward to moving on and starting over and looking back one day at this time in my life and laughing............I will laugh, right?! Thank you again for all your love......