the trials and tribulations of being a working stay-at-home mom smile

freaking out a bit

2011-07-15T00:58:00.003-04:00

so everything's moving on at a jolly good pace, which is totally freaking me out!

i just went online & downloaded the school calendar for 2011-12 & realized that christopher's first day of school is august 15th & the kids start on august 22nd. our buyer wants to close on august 24th. that means that we need to move the weekend of august 13th at the latest! ideally, i'd like to move the weekend of august 6th so that we have 2 full weeks of sleeping in the new house before school starts so that the kids can start to get acclimated before we totally change their world again. and somewhere in there we'll have both kindergarten orientation and pre-k orientation.

but thankfully i have amazing kids. the other day, the kids and i painted their rooms. at the time i thought i was crazy for having them help with the painting, but it actually turned out really nicely. chris had found little rollers & paint trays for them, so they actually got to paint their own rooms. we had gone to home depot the day before and picked paint colors, which totally thrilled them, and they did an awesome job painting. so their rooms are done. barbara & chuck are supposed to come in this weekend to finish clearing out the house & then we'll be able to paint our room, the dining room & living room; rip out the carpet & have it replaced; buy a new refrigerator; and replace the bathroom sink. all in 3 weeks. the painting and carpeting NEED to be done before we move in. the existing carpet has been there since they bought the house in the 50's. seriously. it needs to go. every time barbara vacuums, she's vacuuming up the remnants of the padding through the carpet. i was really trying to convince christopher to go with the hardwood, but i had to be a gracious loser in that battle. oh well. i won the battle of the paint color for our bedroom, so :)

and i haven't even started packing what's left in the house. pretty much everything that we don't need is already in the new house or stored in the duplex. what's left is really just the bare necessities. i really think it's harder to move across town than across the country. it doesn't feel like you need to actually pack to move down the street. and we've been doing it so piecemeal that it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that we need to get everything else ready to go. but i can't pack the toaster, cuz we still eat toast for breakfast. i guess i could pack my cardigans, sweatshirts & sweaters. i probably won't need those for a bit :) but the kids clothes are done. i actually need to get out what i packed away from the spring to see what we need for school. crap! another thing to add to my to do list :( and i wonder why i'm not sleeping & eating way too much chocolate :)

another day, another bath in paint thinner

2011-07-10T18:52:00.003-04:00

so it has begun. we got an offer on our house, so we are officially moving. well, assuming that nothing goes wrong & we all know what happens when we assume...

but we are stepping out on faith, as my mother would say, that all will be well and the deal will go through. so we are busy getting the other house ready. it hadn't been painted in literally 50-60 years, although the bathroom was repainted by my husband about 3 years ago, and one bedroom had been re-painted in the 80's. so christopher & i spent the last 2.5 days scrubbing walls, chipping paint & primering with oil-based primer/sealer. the fun thing about oil-based paints vs latex paints is that oil-based CANNOT be removed with simple soap and water. hence my daily bath in paint thinner. oh joy! i can only imagine what my daily paint thinner facials have been doing to my skin :)

but i'm totally excited that we're finally moving forward! there's SO much work to be done before we can even think about moving stuff into the house. and most of the stuff that we don't need right now is already in storage at the duplex or the new house. thankfully, chris & i agree on most of the immediately necessary changes to the house. we've compromised on the carpeting, but now we need to agree on paint colors. that should be fun :)

as we were scrubbing the walls of what will be alexander's room with bleach, i was kicking myself for not taking pics so that i could do a before and after, but c'est la vie... by the time we're done working each day, i'm so tired all i really want to do is take a shower and sit on the couch with my hand down my pants a la ted bundy :) at least all of this work is just physically exhausting. by the time we move, i should have fabulous, ripped arms. whoo hoo! :)

how to tell if you're too drunk to paint

2011-06-23T00:55:00.003-04:00

well, in my defense, i only had one twisted tea. but it was "light" and it had artificial sweetener in it, so i didn't really like it, so i drank it pretty fast. it made the daily show & the colbert report really pretty funny :)

but when i went downstairs, i saw that the floor that i'd just primered was 99.4% dry, so i decided to go ahead & apply the final coat of grey paint. i didn't feel inebriated. just nice and happy. and i had music that i knew all the words to, so how could it be bad? :) plus, if i hadn't finished the floor, i wouldn't have opened the door to the garage & realized that the garage door was open. that would have sucked.

clue #1: my early edging wasn't the best. but i corrected that on the 2nd wall. unfortunately, now there's grey paint on the white walls in a couple of spots. but it's just at the bottom.
clue #2: my jazz scatting was really good & flowed really naturally.
clue #3: i couldn't remember where i'd put the lid to the paint. i found it eventually, but...
clue #4: i almost painted myself into a small circle on the floor. it was close, but thankfully i realized my mistake before i completed the 4th side of the circle.
clue #5: circles don't have sides :)
clue #6: i stepped on the lid. luckily that was at the end & any footprints will dry the same color as the floor. thankfully i realized it before i stepped on anything that SHOULDN'T be grey, like our beige carpet. :)

i was really amazed at how much easier painting was after a nice adult beverage. and i'm proud of myself for finishing the project. i just started celebrating a little early :) hopefully christopher will notice the finish & not the mistakes :)

mouth feel

2011-06-03T16:52:00.002-04:00

i'm starving. really really starving. and it's totally self inflicted. i'm hungry but i don't want to eat becuz none of the things i'm *allowed* to eat right now make my brain happy. i need something with a good mouth feel. something that my teeth can sink into.

right now i'm doing a "carb detox" as part of a dietary change. it's supposed to kick-start everything by letting my body know that we're going to be doing something different. it's really not that bad, cuz you can eat a lot of food. it's just that the only fruit you can eat are either oranges or grapefruit, and you can only have 2 slices of bread: one for your mid-morning snack with either margarine (i've been using butter, but shhh!), hummus or peanut butter; and one with dinner, plain. there's also this really yummy chocolate protein powder for lunch and breakfast that really helps. but the snacks are all either almonds (for which i substitute soy nuts) or veggies. i need something that feels good in my mouth.

i did break down yesterday afternoon and have 2 pieces of Hershey's cookies & creme. i just relished the chocolate melting in my mouth. but yesterday was day 2. i really wanted today, day 3, to be as close to perfect as i could. but cauliflower just kinda crumbles in your mouth. and soy nuts leave little chunks in your teeth. and neither of them have the delicious aftertaste of fudge. or cake. or even just plain bread. with butter.

but i have a good friend who needs my help. she wants to run the Chicago marathon & needs to drop some serious weight. and she needed her friends to do it with her so we can be a support group of sorts. and if it means that i can get rid of my muffintop, then all the better :) and you can do ANYTHING for 3 days. this too shall pass :)

the many ways in which i am a terrible mother...

2011-05-02T12:21:00.003-04:00

i sing opera. i have multiple degrees in vocal performance. but right now my *full-time job* is MOM. hunh.

right now i'm doing a show, and i just kinda let my home life go to hell in a handbasket :). for example:

alexander completely ran out of underwear
we haven't had any bread for almost a week (cuz i haven't had time to make any)
the laundry was literally overflowing
there are absolutely no left-overs in the fridge
becuz there's no left-overs & no bread, i had to give isabelle pb&j on rosemary olive oil triscuits
i took a 4 hour nap after church yesterday, completely neglecting the bread and laundry that were totally calling to me

instead of taking care of my family, i made a ton of new jewelry, which i sold to the girls in the opera chorus. making jewelry is a lot more fun (and pays a whole lot better than doing laundry *smile*), but i feel terrible that i let things get so far behind. i don't remember tech week being so grueling and exhausting. i literally couldn't do another thing yesterday when i got home after church (after buying beads for stuff i need to make for tomorrow night *smile*). i made it as far as the couch in the living room and then just collapsed. i even made isabelle find a couch pillow for me, cuz i couldn't make myself get up and find it for myself :)

a large portion of my exhaustion is, of course, my fault. every night i'd come home from rehearsal & make more jewelry for the girls in the dressing room. at this rate, i will totally be able to finance my trip to boston with the kids this summer (which has yet to be *approved*). but, seriously, what's a girl to do when we've got to sit in a dressing room for 2.5 hours waiting to go onstage? shopping is definitely the way to go, and i'm glad that i gave the girls an opportunity to spend some of the money we made sitting around for hours :)

so today is all about makeup work. i had 3 loads of laundry that needed to be folded, and i did 2 additional loads last night, 3 loads already today with one more to go. the bread is in its first resting/rising period. and i've got all the beads i need to make more beautiful jewelry for the girls at opera tomorrow night. :)

of course, the opera is totally worth it. i'm doing Dialogues of the Carmelites with Pittsburgh Opera, and even though we literally have 10 minutes of music to sing, and most of that doesn't even have words, it's a totally fabulous show. all of the leads are amazing, and pretty much the whole audience leaves crying every night. nice! :)

Parenting 101?

2011-04-17T15:13:00.003-04:00

i was truly blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom. true, at times, it's driven me a little crazy, or at least made my craziness more apparent, but i'm grateful that i've been able to avoid serious daycare with my 2 little ones. but when my husband & i decided to have kids, we were both old & definitely wanted them. there were no *accidents*. although, by the time you're in your mid-30's there really shouldn't be any *oopsies* anyway :).

but it really gets my goat when i read another news story about seriously irresponsible parenting. i just read an article today that makes my heart sick. a mom (34 years old, so she should totally have known better!) left her toddler to drown in the tub while she played on facebook. really? drowning isn't a quiet way to go, so didn't she hear him thrashing? or was she that far away?

and the one that really gets my goat is the one about the parents who walled their naked kids into a room so they could get blitzed on whatever. seriously? they should just be taken out back and shot!

now, don't get me wrong, i'm not a perfect mom. i'm not expecting any medals. i've done my share of letting the tv watch the kids so i can pee/bathe/eat/cook/check my email/blog etc... but i still forget to shut the door when i'm in the bathroom cuz it's just gonna open again. i'm finally able to shower without a little head poking through the shower curtain. parenting isn't easy, but it's not supposed to be. if it is, you're doing something wrong!

buying secondhand

2011-03-17T13:15:00.004-04:00

i noticed recently that all of the knees in alexander's jeans have holes in them. in fact, i sent him to school one day in jeans that were perfectly fine, and when he came home there was a huge hole in 1 knee and a small one in the other. craptastic! now, i shop pretty much exclusively at children's place. not becuz i love their clothes, which i do, but becuz i have a credit card for them & the bill goes to my mom (thanks, nana!). but i'd already gone shopping there this month cuz isabelle's on a dress & skirt kick. all of a sudden, she's a totally girly-girl. headbands & skirts with tights every day. and even though my mom would be cool, i didn't want to do that again. especially since spring is coming (someday!) and i need to go through the totes of stuff i packed up from last year to see what still fits & what needs to be replaced.

so we decided to go to goodwill. i could have gone to kmart, but their quality isn't the best. and i couldn't find the once upon a child in the north hills. i really wanted to go to old navy, but their prices are outrageous unless you catch them on sale. and at goodwill i found a great selection of jeans in his size that are heavier than what i would have found at either old navy or children's place for a fraction of the price. and honestly, in this economy you've got to watch your pennies. i spent as much for 5 pairs of jeans at goodwill as i would have for 2 at old navy or children's place. plus, they had an organ (unplugged, thankfully) that the kids sat and played on while i shopped. i definitely wouldn't have found that elsewhere :)

for some reason, shopping at once upon a child doesn't seem like secondhand. i think it's becuz they're so picky about what they'll accept, while at goodwill you still hafta check. but if i'm looking for special occasion clothes, once upon a child is my first thought. 2 years ago i found this beautiful deep plum velvet dress for isabelle that still had the tags on. originally it was $50 and i got it for $10! of course, they wouldn't take it back once isabelle'd outgrown it when i included it in the piles of stuff i was trying to sell back. oh well. we got awesome Christmas photos that year :)

for myself, my favorite place to shop is my church's rummage sale. i always help with the sorting so i get to shop early. and there's a couple of older ladies with impeccable taste that are tall, so their trousers fit me well :) a couple of years ago i got a black pin striped pants suit for $3! talk about a bargain! :) but i can't always count on the rummage sale for the kids.

when i was a kid, i hated shopping at goodwill. hopefully, my kids won't be as snobby as i was & will just take it in stride. :)

you can't unlearn the knowledge

2011-03-11T10:25:00.000-05:00

this week at my son's school they've been celebrating dr. seuss and they've invited parents to come into the class as guest readers to read their favorite dr. seuss story. well, i couldn't pass up a performance opportunity, so i went in to read "green eggs and ham" which happens to be my favorite. but i was talking about it with a client at work and one of the other clients chimes in that i don't really know who dr. seuss is and once i find out the truth about the man i won't be celebrating him anymore. now, this piques my curiosity, and thus my downfall.

i'm one that MUST KNOW. i question everything. it drives my husband mad! but my brain is unsettled if i don't know why everything. but in this case, that's really unfortunate. several years ago i was watching an episode of oprah and she was talking about Megan's Law which requires the police to make available to the public a list of sex offenders and where they live. so, of course, i HAD TO KNOW, so i promptly went to the site and found out that we do indeed have a sex offender living on my street. now what? i haven't been back to check, but i'm pretty sure he was an adult rapist, and not a pedophile or child molester, so from a mom standpoint i'm relieved. but it's still unsettling to know that there's a registered sex offender living within walking distance of my house. i know he's done his time, but there's a reason they make them get registered. and now i'm stuck with this knowledge that i cannot erase from my brain. if only i had one of those flashy-thingies from men in black!

so do i want to do the research to find out if dr. seuss is a racist prick? not really, becuz then every time i read one of my kids favorite stories i'd be thinking about it. but it brings up another question: does it matter? according to the other client, his character the cat in the hat is based on a lazy, shiftless black man. ok. does that mean he thought all black people are lazy & shiftless? i don't know. do i know some lazy, shiftless people of all races? sure! but is that how i label all people of a particular race? no. but do i really want to open this pandora's box and ruin the simple enjoyment of good stories? some of his stories are incredibly political, at least the cartoon versions. so i definitely think he had more to say than simple entertainment. but is it wrong of me to want to just enjoy his stories without delving too deeply into the how's and why's of his creative process? part of me REALLY wants to know. but once you know, it's there forever. that sucks.

welcome to Lent :)

2011-03-09T13:45:00.003-05:00

so today's the first day of Lent -- traditionally a time of deprivation. but a thought came to me today. does it hafta be? i mean, i usually struggle with what i'm going to give up for the 40 days of Lent. it really shouldn't be something you shouldn't be doing anyway, like drugs or watching porn. but what's the point of giving up something like chocolate or coffee that you're just going to pick up again on Easter? can't we give up something that will make our lives better?

this year i really want to give up unhappiness. why not? i'm tired of being depressed. i'd really like to figure out what it is my brain needs for lasting happiness. i'd really like to spend the rest of my life doing what i enjoy and being happy doing it, instead of suffering and slogging through my days. wouldn't that be awesome? i don't think God would have a problem with it :)

our government is run by idiots!

2011-02-23T11:54:00.004-05:00

it just boggles my mind that we keep electing these stupid people into office who have the power to ruin so many lives. i don't usually blog about politics, but this time i hafta make an exception.

i keep hearing about how there's a bill that's being considered that will take away funding for crucial things like Planned Parenthood. clearly congress & the senate are full of men & women who've never been down on their luck, without medical insurance & in need of good gynecological care at an affordable cost. now, don't get me wrong, i'm totally pro-life, but i don't feel that i have the right to tell you what you should do with your body. i couldn't imagine what kind of circumstance would compel me to have an abortion, and i'll do everything in my power to talk you out of it, but it's YOUR choice. i won't drive you to the clinic, but i'll be there for you afterward. but Planned Parenthood does SO MUCH MORE than just abortions! in fact, the 2 clinics i've been to don't do them AT ALL! what i loved about them is that they had a sliding scale. i had a job, but i didn't have insurance, so i couldn't afford to go to a *real* ob/gyn but i still needed to have my annual exam & get my birth control pills.

now i'm reading that they're thinking about passing a bill for birth control for wild horses. WHAT?!? i was sure that i'd read the post wrong, but, alas, i hadn't. i don't understand why horses are more important than women. how would these congresspeople & senators feel if their daughter was denied care becuz she couldn't afford it (since they're intent on repealing the health care bill too!) and had no other options. are we going back to back-street abortions with no aftercare and inhumane, unsanitary conditions? really? especially since they're planning on cutting more and more public sector funding, like head-start, is now really the time to cut funding for contraception? you can't just make a decision like that and not think about the long-term consequences. no contraception = more babies. do they just expect people to stop having sex? clearing they don't watch maury povich or jerry springer enough.

living on the edge of perfection

2011-02-09T14:55:00.002-05:00

so we're moving. it's such a pain in the butt! we've got a house that we want to buy, and the sellers are willing to wait until we're ready, but we've got to sell our house first. and in order to do that, we need to keep it in pristine condition so we can show it at the drop of a hat. so stressful! and i hate to clean. i've done so much cleaning in the past month or so that i'm sick of myself! but now that everything's clean, i find myself not wanting to do anything. chris & the kids were in youngstown over the weekend, and when i came home from work i came in through the garage and went no further than my basement computer room & craft area. i don't want to cook, cuz i don't want to mess up the kitchen. i would actually prefer to not be in my house right now for fear that i'll make something dirty & hafta clean it again!

it was a shock to see the listing online. it made it seem so real! and when i came home from the gym yesterday, the sign was in the front yard. i guess we're really selling our house. the kids keep asking for toys that we've packed to take to Miss Bea's house. as long as we're not giving them away to other little ones who don't have any toys, they're cool. :)

but the kids and i took a mental health day today. it's a beautiful day & as soon as isabelle has awoken from her nap, we're going outside to play in the snow (which we probably shouldn't do, cuz it'll mar the perfection of the yard...) and i'll bake cookies & make cocoa for when they come in. thankfully the cookies are in the freezer pre-made, so there's no mess there. just crumbs to clean up afterward, but fresh-baked cookies are always worth the effort :)

technology hates me

2011-01-13T19:21:00.003-05:00

today has been a pretty craptastic day. today we met with our realtor for the first time so that we can put our house on the market so we can move. so i spent the ENTIRE day cleaning, which pretty much sucks cuz i don't clean. but today i found myself scrubbing everything, which i hate, and vacuuming everything, which is exhausting. especially when the little shop-vac decided to stop sucking. i vacuumed my entire basement with a dirt devil on my hands and knees. needless to say, when my husband got home from school i wasn't in the best of moods :)

but for my *lunch* break (which consisted of 2 nutrigrain bars) i decided to sit & get online & list an item in my etsy shop. but my external hardrive, where all 14000+ photos are stored, decided to take today off. it's on a little vacation. totally craptastic. ALL of my photos are there. as well as all of my documents. my computer runs really slow cuz it's old, & my dad sent me this nifty little portable hard drive to free up some space on my computer's hard drive to help make things a little faster. so now it's holding my info hostage. on the bright side, we're doing shop makeovers on etsy right now, and i was thinking i needed some new photos :)

but then, i was finishing up my cleaning, and ready to order the pizza for my kids to eat while the realtor was here, and i pulled out my phone, & it's DEAD!!! i'm swimming in a sea of craptastitude! i don't know ANYONE's phone numbers. my phone is my alarm clock & keeps track of my schedule so i get where i need to be on time. how am i gonna get out of bed in the morning. i have a dr's appt tomorrow. what time is it? who will tell me when to leave? do i have clients next week? WAAAH! how did i live for so long without a phone? how do people get through the day without texting or checking the calendar to see if they're free? crap crap crap!!!

so, tomorrow will start with dropping alexander off at school, and then isabelle & i will go DIRECTLY to the sprint store to get a new phone. it won't even turn on. and when you get a new phone, they can transfer your address book, which is good, cuz i don't know anyone's numbers, but they can't transfer your calendar. craptabulous. i guess it's time to drink :)

QuiBids

2011-01-01T23:53:00.002-05:00

so, i stumbled across this website this evening where you bid on stuff & can get it really cheap. it's called QuiBids, and it's truly brilliant! i just watched an auction for a BRAND NEW ipod nano & someone bought it for $4.34. each auction starts at $0.01 and every bid moves the price up by $0.01, BUT each bid costs the bidder $0.60 and adds 3 seconds to the clock for additional bids. so even though the final bidder only paid $4.34 (plus $11 shipping), QuiBids got paid $260.40 for an item with a retail value of $199.99. so they're able to sell stuff AND MAKE MONEY DOING IT while we're able to buy stuff for a mere fraction of the cost. and just cuz the retail value is $199.99 doesn't mean that that's what they paid wholesale. amazing!

but i don't think i have the patience to sit and bid on stuff. since each bid costs $0.60, if it takes you 20 or 30 bids to finally win an item, if you just come in at the end, you're still paying $12 to $18 on top of the purchase price + shipping. and since each bid adds 3 seconds to the clock they take forever to end. when i started watching the ipod nano auction, there were only about 15 seconds left. but i watched for about 45 minutes (off & on *smile*) before it finally ended. but even if you used 80 bids, which would be $48, but managed to get something like an ipod nano for $5, you're still getting it for more than 50% off. and all the people who lost the auction just spent however much to TRY to get the item, & the price of your bids is non-refundable if you lose the auction. so losing an auction at QuiBids sucks a LOT more than losing on eBay. you're actually losing more than just your time. cuz i'm sure the people who lost the auction placed at least 10-20 bids, which means they spent like $12 so that someone else could have the item they wanted. that blows! :)

New on Ebay! :)

2010-12-30T00:09:00.002-05:00

I used to sell Mary Kay. I started cuz I wore it & I figured it'd be an easy way to get my stuff & I'd be able to support my habit. But I hated doing classes & parties, so I just stopped doing it. But I had a ton of stuff just sitting around my basement. Then my friend, Jara, told me about selling it all on Ebay. So about a week ago I finally got around to listing a bunch of stuff.

What a thrill! Over half of it sold, which is really awesome! And it was really exciting waiting at the end to see how much everything sold for. I've got another half hour or so for the final batch to finish up so that I can see how much I made. I've got some stuff that I listed this evening & more stuff that'll I'll try to do tomorrow, plus relisting the stuff that didn't sell yet.

Now I'm looking around my house for more stuff that I'm not using that I can sell! I had no idea how easy it would be to sell on Ebay. The only downside is that now PayPal has a hold on my account. They're holding each deposit for 21 days to make sure there's no issues. I guess there's a lot of disputes with Ebay purchases, so even though I've had my Etsy shop open for over a year & have had no problem with my account, they feel the need to check now that I'm also selling on Ebay. Oh well. Thankfully I had a good holiday season, so I've got a cushion to take care of the shipping fees until they release my funds. But it still sucks. Especially since they're not just holding my Ebay deposits. I've never had a problem with my Etsy sales, but they'll be affected as well until I increase my Ebay seller profile.

Well, I've got 20 items that I'm waiting for payment on, and as soon as the last of my auctions finishes I'll send out revised invoices to all of my customers & get that money! Whoo hoo! :)

sadness

2010-12-22T21:12:00.002-05:00

i so thrilled with my new sewing machine & the embroidery capabilities. but any software i want to install requires at least a mac operating system of 10.5. right now my computer runs at 10.4.11 and it WON'T ALLOW ME TO UPGRADE!!! seriously!?! i'm so frustrated. whenever i try to install an upgrade it tells me that my harddrive does not meet the requirements for installation. there's enough space available. it's a macintosh. i don't know what the problem could be. maybe they just don't want me to have what i want. poopey-heads! :(

defiant use of urine

2010-11-18T19:49:00.003-05:00

i just don't understand it. my daughter uses urine as a weapon. defiantly. it really drives me bonkers. if she's pissed off, and getting completely naked doesn't get her what she wants, she'll pee on the floor. sometimes she just pees while she's still fully dressed. the other day she peed on the couch while she was watching a movie & by the time i found out, it was cold, which meant it'd been a while since it happened.

it's almost like she's a dog with that extra store of urine so they can mark their territory. she can pee on command, as long as it's her desire & not mine. and she can hold it all day. there was one day that she hadn't gone to the bathroom all day. it was after dinner when i realized she hadn't gone all day & i finally forced her to go potty.

i know you're not supposed to *force* them to pee or it'll become a control issue & they'll be scarred later in life. i also know that you're not supposed to *punish* them for having accidents. but if i tell her she can't have something & her response is to pee on the floor, then that's not an accident.

and i'm so glad that we found a little spotbot for cleaning the floor from these incidents. if i had to pull the big carpet shampooer upstairs everytime we had a DUU then i'd be exhausted! we had 2 this evening: she peed while standing on the stool IN THE BATHROOM washing her hands, and again standing in her rocker picking pajamas. the ones in the bathroom just really blow my mind. she's peed on the floor IN FRONT OF THE POTTY. now, when she was sick & had unhappy poopey that was all over the bathroom carpet, that was different, cuz i really do think it just came out of her bottom. i'm just glad that one was IN the bathroom, cuz i could just take that carpet & throw it in the washer, where i'd have had to use the carpet shampooer in the hallway or her bedroom.

but i just don't know what to do to get her to stop DUU'ing. she still doesn't get what she wants, despite the stripping or peeing. and she gets a spank on the bottom (which is usually conveniently naked *smile*). and she hasta help clean it up (except for the unhappy poopey). but i'm tired of cleaning up pee pee! and i can only imagine what our house would smell like if we didn't have a shampooer. bleh!

joy & sadness

2010-11-11T01:06:00.002-05:00

i am SO in love with my new sewing machine. it's absolutely amazing. but i'm also sad. it won't use coats & clark embroidery thread. i love c&c cuz it's cheap. my kenmore was totally cool with it. and when i was at joann's today, i discovered the c&c embroidery thread. i don't know how i could have missed that entire display of thread in all the years i've been shopping at this same store, but... :) so i bought 6 or 7 spools of it today, and the first spool i attempted to use caused me to take apart the bobbin case AGAIN! it looked like there was 1/2 a spool of thread tangled up in there. what a mess! and what sadness, cuz i have to upgrade to better thread. at joann's that's much more expensive, but at the store where i bought my machine, it's really not. when i finished cleaning out my machine, and started the embroidery design again, this time using good thread, there was no problem. and it's a fabulous piece of work -- it totally looks like i bought it! :) i'm so excited, cuz i'll be taking my bags to a whole new level. yee haw! :)

my new toy! :)

2010-11-08T23:08:00.004-05:00

over the summer i went to see my dad, cuz he had some pretty major back surgery, & my sister was there at the same time. she had this fabulous bag that i knew i couldn't afford to have her make for me (she does AWESOME work & she's totally worth it *smile*) so i decided to make one myself out of denim. i ended up making 3. and i love doing it, so i started doing it to sell. i don't know what it is about making these bags & wallets that i love. it's actually a pain in the neck to take apart all of the jeans so i can use ALL of the denim, including the seams, instead of just cutting them. but i love the process of it. instead of being a normal person, i do it more patchwork style like a quilt, and cut up the denim & sew it back together. it's awesome to see it come together into something completely different.

so the ones i made for myself were a lot of fun, and it didn't matter that my little kenmore machine had some issues. it really doesn't like to sew lots of layers of fabric in general, and it really hates sewing more than 3 or 4 layers of denim. even with the right needle & the right heavy duty thread. i've broken more needles than i can count & the thread would break constantly. so i started thinking about getting a new machine.

now, my sister, being a *serious* quilter, has a viking sapphire. the last time i went to visit her i wasn't even allowed to touch it. when she told me how much it cost, i totally understood why! i knew that my husband would have a fit if i even thought about something that cost that much money. but then i got an email from a local sewing machine shop that they were closing one of their stores & liquidating their inventory. my mind started going to the bad credit card place *smile*. so, of course i stopped in and saw the machine i *really* wanted, that was on sale for $1688. not bad for a machine that has an MSRP of $3000. but still definitely in the heart attack range for my husband. and it had a lot of features that i really didn't need, but would be really nifty to have if i were a quilter, which i'm really not. so i went back and told the lady what i do & what i was looking for. she introduced me to my new baby, the babylock sofia 2. LOVE IT!!!

it's a little machine, but it's got a lot of power. and it does embroidery, which i wasn't even thinking about, but am so excited about now! such a fabulous machine. so awesome, that i didn't even realize what time it was. i finally got a chance to play with it this evening around 8pm once everyone (including my husband *smile*) was asleep. the next thing i knew, it was 10:45! hunh? where'd the time go? :)

sewing on this machine was like a dream. it's got so many decorative stitches. i haven't even learned how to do the embroidery on it yet. i had a lesson at the store for almost an hour just to learn the basics of how to thread & wind the bobbin & access the nifty stitches & whatnot. the girl suggested that i play with it for a couple of weeks until i'm comfortable & then come back to get a lesson on the embroidery side of things.

i sewed for 2 hours or so, once i got the bag i wanted to do designed & pinned together. i had not one broken thread or mishap at all. it was so fabulous. of course, i've only had the machine for mere hours (i bought it this afternoon) but i'm already convinced it's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. why didn't i do this sooner? :)

one thing i'll hafta get used to is not using the presser foot. there's a stop/start button that really is easier to use. and an adjustable speed regulator. i don't even know where the presser foot plugs in at! :) it also ties off the thread & pulls it to the back & cuts it for you. i feel so lazy now! the only thing it doesn't do is wipe my butt for me! :)

i had to stop, cuz i still have the rest of life to do tomorrow, so i do need to go to bed sooner rather than later. and i've got tech week for lucia starting tomorrow night, so i won't have time to play again until maybe friday. but maybe i'll be able to sneak in some time during the day this week. :) do i really need to finish the laundry? :)

I HATE VOMIT!!!

2010-11-02T14:07:00.004-04:00

i really hate vomit. i hate doing it, i hate seeing it or smelling it or seeing someone else doing it or cleaning it up. but unfortunately, it's one of the joys of motherhood. ick! someone (either alexander or christopher) brought home these germs & i'm really sick of it!

alexander threw up the 1st time at school a week ago today. and then he was sick last wednesday night. i guess when i was cleaning up, i didn't wash my hands well enough, cuz i was then sick all that night & into the day on thursday. bleh! but i discovered that i am blessed with two of the best friends a girl could ask for. both my friend kellie & my friend michele came over into my germ infested home to help me with the kids while i was on my deathbed. how awesome is that?! i am so grateful, cuz i really had no idea what i was going to do with them while i couldn't get out of bed, except to throw up. i'd told alexander to climb up on a chair to get down the cereal & bowls so they could eat in front of the tv (with no milk!) and i told them that they had to be quiet cuz mummy wasn't feeling well. of course, just before that i was a scene from the exorcist with my head spinning and my demon eyes glowing as i ordered them out of the bathroom so i could worship at the porcelain goddess :) i think that helped them figure out that mommy was a little bit sick.

luckily, i've been doing frequent shots of pepto, which has kept BOTH ends happy. alexander hasn't gotten sick since saturday night. but now isabelle has diarrhea, which is the other component of this virus (which we think is rotavirus). i'd thought she'd been vaccinated against it, which would explain why we've been dealing with this for a week now & she hadn't gotten sick. but maybe it's too strong for a mere mortal vaccination. maybe it's SUPER VIRUS! able to leap tall daddies in a single bound! with the power to lay low anyone in it's path with either vomit or diarrhea! make way for SUPER VIRUS! but whatever it is, i hope it passes soon. i've always said i'm better with poop than with vomit, but when the pooper isn't wearing diapers anymore, it's a slightly different story :) getting poop out of panties is not for the faint of heart. what i wouldn't have given for a pair of rubber gloves! and to make it worse, we were out shopping, so we were in the bathroom of a sewing machine shop. they had sewing machines piled everywhere! including the bathroom! but thankfully they also had clorox disinfecting wipes, so we were good :)

anyway, i must go do battle with my can of lysol. there are surfaces that have yet to be disinfected yet today! GERMS BE GONE!!!

bleh...

2010-10-19T15:58:00.002-04:00

well, it's been a crappy week already & it's only tuesday!

first, my husband is sick. that just sucks just in general, cuz he's a terrible patient. most men are, but he's so high energy (i.e. ADHD *smile*) that it's impossible to keep him in bed. when i left this morning to take alexander to school he was in bed asleep hunkered down under the covers. when i got home, he was outside moving boxes out of the basement to take to the duplex. still feverish. still nauseous. stupid man!

of course, i'm sick, too. i've got a sinus infection that makes my head ache something awful. and i've still gotta get up & get the kids up & dressed & fed & get alexander to school. i was proud of myself cuz i went to the gym anyway, even though i felt like ca ca. amazingly enough, the workout felt good. it kinda cleared my head a little, which was awesome.

but then i got home and found out that i didn't get chosen for my first juried craft show. i really anguished and agonized about which photos to send, cuz you only get to send 3 thumbnail size pics. and i've got over 13,000 pics on my computer, most of which are jewelry. that was a really tough choice! i'm on the waiting list, and my sister made me realize that it could be worse. i guess i won't sell off all my inventory of beads and start panhandling or anything :)

but on the upside, we got a great package from grampa yesterday containing fabulous movies for the kids, and some movies for MOMMY! i was so excited, cuz usually the box contains nothing for the parents, and tons of stuff for the kids. but my dad is letting me borrow the complete 1st season of the tudors, and i'm totally stoked! my friend kellie are planning to have lunch dates to sit and watch them while the kids are in school :) yay me!

and i'm anxious about my first jewelry party. my friend kellie is hosting it at my house, and i'm really excited about it. i'm working on making new displays for it & trying to get my inventory ready. i just need to know that people are coming! i'm terrible at throwing parties. for my 21st b-day party i was so convinced that no one was coming that i was pretty toasted before the 1st guest arrived! oops! :) i'll try to control myself a little better this time :)

...on corsets and choral interjections...

2010-10-02T22:21:00.002-04:00

well, i'm just back from dropping my family off at grandma's house. i have to sing at church tomorrow and then opera rehearsal, so i didn't get to have a sleepover. oh well. but since i had the car to myself on the ride home, i took the opportunity to work on the opera i'm working on -- lucia di lammermoor.

i'm really excited about it, cuz it's my first repeat opera. unfortunately, the last time i did it i sang alto & now i'm singing soprano. for most of the show, it's not a problem. but occasionally the chorus has a random interjection that's in 4 parts, and my brain goes to what i know, and not what i'm learning. it's amazing what your brain remembers! :) and of course, i'm practicing in my car, which has always been my favorite practice space, so i'm not looking at the score. i've got my handy note-cards with me & using passing headlights to see the words i can't quite remember, but i've got no way of seeing the notes. so most of the time i'm cool with what i'm singing, but every once in a while, i'm not quite sure if i've done the soprano part or the alto. oh well. i guess i'll find out in rehearsal tomorrow :)

and i had my costume fitting on friday before rehearsal. this show is awesome cuz we've got fabulous corsets that are REAL corsets. they hook in the front & tie in the back. 8 years ago, when we last did this show, we had a fabulous dresser in the ladies dressing room, and she could really yank on those corset strings. i felt like i was in gone with the wind or one of my books holding on to my bedpost so my maid could get me into my corset. and we looked FABULOUS! it's amazing what proper foundation garments can do. :) but i was surprised this time, becuz it's been 8 years & 2 babies since i last did this show. it's the same production, so we have the same costumes, but i don't have the same body. but once i put on the corset & had the dresser cinch it up tight, YEE HAW! :) the do have to do some alterations, but they told me that if they don't let the skirt of my gown out a little bit, christopher will never let me do another show :) sometimes it's not good to work in the same company of your husband. :)

I AM NOT A HOARDER! :)

2010-09-29T21:55:00.010-04:00

it's rummage sale time again at my church. it's really my favorite time of year. i volunteer during the set-up week, since i can never work or go to the sale since i work. i've fallen into a routine with the ladies -- everyone has their section that they sort. my section contains sweaters, pants & skirts. it's really an awful section for me to work, cuz my weakness is sweaters & cardigans. i love them. and every rummage sale, i come home with an enormous pile of *new* sweaters. but every rummage sale, i go through my stuff & the kids' stuff and get rid of stuff. i really don't understand how i can get rid of so much twice a year, and still have so much stuff!

but this year is a little different. we're planning a move, and so christopher is all about getting our house ready to put on the market. since we're planning to live in the house while we're trying to sell it, it needs to be ready to show at any moment. and that means that we need to downsize the amount of junk we've got. that means *I* need to reduce the amount of junk i have. but as i'm going through my stuff, yeah, i've got a lot, but no where near as much as i thought i did.

there was a trunk in our under-porch storage area that i've had since i graduated from high school. i had it shipped over to the states from germany when i started college. it went into storage every summer in ithaca & has gone everywhere with me since. i really had no idea what was inside. but what i found really surprised me -- there was really nothing inside! lots and lots of moldy junk (since we had a water problem under the porch), but nothing of any real importance. i mean, i found a lot of sentimental crap, and i did find my passport (which expired in 1993), and pictures of my brother & sister from high school, and a fabulous letter to charlie peltz, orchestra conductor & sex maniac extraordinaire. :)

i'm a sucker for pictures. i found a photo album of pictures of me taken in a random park. really odd. i also found 2 composites from my fraternity in college. totally awesome, but i really don't remember some of the older girls in the fraternity. and the hair! my word! :) we thought everything was so important back then. and some of my fraternity sisters are still really good friends, even 20 years later :)

but most of the stuff that was in the trunk that i thought i absolutely had to keep got thrown out. letters from high school friends in texas about people that i don't remember. posters from shows i don't remember doing. really random stuff that i don't remember why i decided to keep it. it actually feels good to let go and stop allowing myself to be defined by the things i own. now, if only i could feel that way about my shoes.

i have an entire collection of heels on a special shoe rack in my bedroom that christopher built for me. they're all arranged by color. i have an entire row of red shoes and one of purple shoes. i'm searching for the green shoes i see in my head. i only have 1 pair of orange shoes, but they're flats, and i'd love to find a pair of pumpkin pumps. :) but i only wear them on sundays to church. i don't go anywhere any other day that wearing clickety-clickety heels would be appropriate. i definitely couldn't stand up in them all day at the salon. and i'd look weird wearing them to drop alexander off at pre-school. so why do i need so many pairs? it always seems that i wear the same ones all the time anyway. but i love to look at them. christopher tried to get me to keep them in the basement, but i need to be able to see them. on sunday mornings, sometimes i'll lie in bed and look at them while i try to decide what i'm wearing. OOH! i just bought a new pink silk cardigan at the rummage sale that i think would go with my pink slingbacks for church on sunday with a white shell & a black pencil skirt :) nice! i love it when inspiration just hits me :)

who's that girl?

2010-09-10T16:55:00.003-04:00

i've spend a significant portion of today in the kitchen. so much so that i have my practice disc of lucia di lammermore set up in the kitchen cd player & my music stand with my opera score set up right next to it. i never imagined a life where i'd bake my own bread and granola on a regular basis. and i've actually even graduated from using my bread machine to making the bread with my kitchenaid stand mixer & kneading it by hand. hunh?

any of my roommates from undergrad could tell you that the kitchen was never my domain. i was always the last to take care of the dishes or cleaning up of any sort. and i think joanna had just about given up on me ever actually washing the silverware. she once commented that i was the only person she knew that could wash dishes without getting my hands wet :). and here i am now with 2 kids, baking artisan bread on a weekly basis and making gourmet granola on request -- special with nuts just for my husband to take to school for breakfast.

even though i never actually had clear picture of what the future held for me, i know it wasn't this, and it's taken me a while to be comfortable with it. my husband and i are still in the process of redefining our roles. i don't think i will ever be a typical housewife/stay at home mom. i was raised by a mother who routinely tells people to "bite me." it really does make you feel better, even if you don't say it out loud. my husband, on the other hand, was raised as one of 8 by a good catholic mother who took in sewing. so we have very different images of what a mother should be doing during the day. my vision includes surfing the web and tending to my online business. his vision includes pearls & and apron, meeting him at the front door with his nightly scotch. :) needless to say, we've still got some work to do to find the middle ground. but we're getting there.

luckily, he's progressive enough to realize that he's got to adapt as well. his mother once mentioned to me that his father never changed a diaper for any of the 8 kids, while christopher will often be the one to offer to take care of that duty. and he's awesome with vomit. my therapist thinks that i have an actual phobia about vomit. thank goodness i didn't have morning sickness with either of my pregnancies. but last night when alexander threw up at the top of the stairs, christopher didn't even think to tell me to clean it up myself. before we had kids i told him that i would do poop forever if he'd take care of the vomit. and there were many instances with isabelle especially where i was called upon to get poop out of all of the nooks and crannies. gotta love that runny breast-fed baby poop! it tends to get everywhere. not so much of a problem with a boy, but a completely different situation with a girl. ick! :)

but i'm excited, cuz i start rehearsal for my next show on monday. it's always nice to slip into a different personna every once in a while. i get to dress like an opera singer and go somewhere with other adults and sing in a foreign language. and i've heard they're the same costumes from the last production of lucia, which involved fabulous corsets. the kind of corsets that go from right under the boobs to your hips & require you to perch on the front of your seat with perfect posture. and last time we had an awesome dresser who really tied us tight into our corsets. we looked fabulous! i can't wait! yay me! :) i just hope our lucia this time is as fabulous as the last one. without an awesome lucia, both vocally and acting, the mad scene really sucks.

working out

2010-09-07T15:14:00.003-04:00

ok, so i've been going to the gym & working out like a fiend. not becuz i really care, cuz my clothes fit for the most part, but mostly becuz my dr. told me that if i can commit to working out 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes of cardio i can get off my meds. awesome! but for the past 2 weeks, i've taken alexander to school & gone directly to the gym 4 days out of 5, and i've actually GAINED A POUND!!! really? what's up with that!?

now, i've been going to the gym and doing at least 35 minutes on the elliptical machine (cuz 45 minutes is too blasted long!) and then either walking on the track if kellie's with me, or doing some weights or something. and i'm trying to make better food choices cuz if i'm doing the physical part, i might as well get skinny, right? but i still feel fat and sluggish, and this morning i actually had to cut my workout short cuz i thought i was gonna pass out. thank goodness i'd packed some apples for isabelle & i for afterward, cuz otherwise i would have gone straight to the drive-thru at mcdonalds :) i would have gotten a smoothie, but they're SO good with a small fry. and the calories cancel each other out, right? :)

so i'm starting to think there's something else going on. i need to see my dr. anyway to talk about this mysterious non-carpel tunnel pain in my hand, so i'll mention this to her as well. i know my dad's pre-diabetic & my brother's hypo-glycemic & i'm a hypochondriac, so... :) either i'll be fat & medicated or skinny and neurotic, so we'll see what happens...

joining the 21st century

2010-08-30T22:23:00.004-04:00

well, my mp3 player died a bit ago. and then while we were on vacation earlier this summer, i killed my husband's as well. so i've been in need of a new mp3 player, and i've had my eye on an ipod. i'm a mac user, so ipods just made sense. i have a dell as well, but the only reason it's still connected to anything is for music downloading and mp3 player syncing.

so my brother has recently found not one, but 2 ipods -- a nano & a touch. i totally covet the touch, but could only manage to get him to sell me the nano. really, the nano is more than acceptable for my needs. and it's the color i wanted, so it's even better :) . but in order to add all of my music to this ipod, i need to transfer everything from wma format to aac format. i'd had the brilliant idea a bit ago to simply upload all of my music from the dell to a thumb drive and then transfer it to the mac. that worked partially, but on my mac, anything that wasn't in mp3 format at least was ignored. and i couldn't figure out how to change the settings in itunes to get it to recognize anything else. so now i'm faced with the option of downloading itunes to the dell & converting everything from there. unfortunately that'll take another 6 or 7 HOURS! i have about 95 hours of music on my computer & i've converted 9.5 hours so far... what a process! i hope it's worth it. :)

but i'm excited to have a working mp3 player again. i've committed to going to the gym every day. i have to get up every morning to take alexander to school, so isabelle & i will go straight from there to the gym and get in a nice workout. i've managed to drag my friend kellie along with me for the past week, but there will be days (like tomorrow) that she can't go. and working out without conversation or music is really difficult. and my favorite fabric artist is making a custom qpouch for me with an armband so i can wear it while i work out. i'm hoping she gives me a discount since i gave her the idea for the armband (hint, hint *smile*).

ok, maybe i'm misunderstanding some of the numbers my computer's telling me. it's still gonna take forever, cuz this computer is about 8 years old, which is about 250 years old in computer years :) . i'm hoping that i'll be able to get to bed sometime before tomorrow :)

now that i have a new ipod, i need to get a new computer that will allow me to upload photos and be on the internet at the same time, and a new camera that will let me take photos indoors. it seems that all of my electronics have issues :)

sleepytime songs

2010-08-05T22:17:00.002-04:00

i'm a singer, so when i put the kids to bed, i sing songs i know, and they just happen to be in multiple languages. i didn't really think that was odd until i realized that my kids sing along with me in my multiple languages. and they have names for everything:
the daddy song: "can't help lovin' that man of mine", from showboat
the mommy song: "adieu" and "prison" by faure
the isabelle song is made up by me, but sung to the tune of "silver bells"
the alexander song is also made up by me, but sung to the tune of "top of the world" by the carpenters
the german song: "gretchen am spinnrade" by schubert
ninghe: "cancion de cuna para dormir a un negrito" by montsalvatge
the new song: "someone to watch over me" by gershwin
the summertime song: "summertime" by gershwin

i've also sung random songs from shows that i'm working on. i've done bits from carmen jones, and most recently "uzh kak po mostu mostchku, pa kalina vim da sochkam, vainu, vainu, vainu, vainu!" from eugene onegin. they never actually asked for that one, but... :)

now christopher, he has a completely different idea of what sleepytime songs should be, and they tend to be more participatory in nature, which i totally don't think is the point. and his songs tend to me more camp-song in nature. oh well. we can't both be musical snobs :)

alexander is incredibly musical and can already match pitch and sing along in the right key, an octave higher (especially when he's singing with daddy). i have visions of marketing us as a mother/son duo for "amahl & the night visitors" soon. i love the mother's role, and he'd be an awesome amahl. at least until his voice changes :)

isabelle, on the other hand, doesn't do as well. i can't remember alexander at this age, cuz it seems like he's always been musical and sang well. i feel bad for her, becuz there are times when alexander won't let her sing along with him cuz "she's bad" he says. i keep trying to tell him that she's still little & singing with him will make her better, but he's not buying it. oh well. it would really be a shame for her to be the only completly unmusical member of an incredibly musical family. i can't really say she's getting better, though. just louder :) but just becuz she doesn't sing well doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy it. she doesn't realize how bad she is. i just hope there isn't a music teacher somewhere down the road who decides to burst her bubble in a really mean way. not everyone can be the fabulous mr. laret :)

switched at birth

2010-07-27T09:57:00.002-04:00

my sister & i were switched at birth. or actually, before birth, since i'm the oldest & she's the youngest & we have a brother between us. but we completely don't follow the traditions of birth order. as the oldest, i'm supposed to be the go-getter, aggressive, ambitious one. and as the baby of the family, she should be flighty and ditzy. instead, i'm the one who was called "chocolate fluff" in high school, and she's the one with the cojones to ask her boss for a promotion, outlining exactly what she'd like her new job responsibilities to include! way to go!

congratulations, Michelle! i'm so proud of you! :)

SpongeBob is an agent of the devil

2010-07-24T17:28:00.003-04:00

really, it's my fault. i'm the one that taught alexander what channels have his shows. but it's not my fault that nick decided that preschoolers don't need to watch tv after 9am. last summer i had until 10am with preschool programs, but not this year. and now that he knows what channel spongebob is on, he won't watch anything else. craptastic!

now, don't get me wrong. i'm not one of those moms who feel that all tv needs to be appropriate for my kids just cuz i don't feel like making sure they're watching something appropriate. i fully believe that i should be able to watch the daily show at 2pm during nap-time. but i do personally dislike spongebob. i don't think there's really any redeeming qualities beyond the entertainment value. which is fine! but not for a 2 year old and a 4 year old. if i'm gonna let the tv babysit my kids while i work on the computer, i'd much rather have pbs sprout or even disney, but lately it's spongebob or nothing. when i abscond with the remote and refuse to allow him to watch spongebob he just turns off the tv, which is fine. i'm tempted to block that channel, becuz really there's nothing on nick that we watch (except spongebob) since they stop doing preschool shows like dora and wonderpets after 9am. but i think my husband would be upset, cuz he actually enjoys spongebob. and since it's geared more to his age group, that's ok. :)

i can't think of any other shows that i really abhor. caillou is really whiny and he's not my favorite, but i can't really complain. at least he's age appropriate. spongebob lives alone, away from his parents, so he's obviously grown. he doesn't have his drivers license, but he's taking the class, further evidence that he's at least in high school, if not an adult. he's got a job, which again points to him being over 16. all reasons that a 4 year old should not be watching him. plus he doesn't always do the right thing. at least in the other cartoons we watch that aren't at all educational the characters make good choices so at least they're learning good decision-making skills. but spongebob tends to do the wrong thing with alarming regularity. very distressing.

if i block the channel, i'll also be able to avoid icarly, which is also not age appropriate but beloved by my 4 year old. i don't even think he knows what's going on with that show. but clare likes it, therefore he likes it :) and my son has always had a thing for older women :)

...and drumroll please!

2010-06-22T10:46:00.004-04:00

i have a clean bill of health. at least from my thyroid operation. i had my blood drawn yesterday and i got the results today and everything is good! i was convinced that it wasn't. i guess that means that i'm exhausted cuz i'm staying up way too late making jewelry. and i'm fat cuz i've been eating lots of candy and snacking inappropriately. and i'm constipated cuz i haven't made granola in forever and need to up my fiber intake. and i'm scatterbrained cuz i'm a ditz. it would have been so much easier for it to all have been explained away by an under-active thyroid! :) well, i guess i just need to go back to work on myself and start writing everything down so that i can stop forgetting stuff! :)

but i have been working really hard on stuff for my upcoming show. it's at a retirement community, and i'm not sure if it's open to the public, or just residents. but i've got all of my displays. i ordered some online, and christopher is working on my necklace & bracelet displays. they're beautiful. he does such nice work. :) and i'm happy with the number of earrings i've got done, i just need to make some more necklaces and bracelets. but i don't know how many spots i'll have available on the displays chris is making. i'll hafta go count to make sure i have enough. i'm just waiting for my sign & earring cards to come in the mail, and then i'll be set! i'm getting really excited. i really love the stuff i've been making. it seems that working in the middle of the night really helps my creative juices flow. either that or the chocolate :)

my original plan was to simply duplicate a lot of the things i've already done and then augment that with some new designs, but instead pretty much everything is new! i've got a ton of pictures take already, but i've got a ton more left to do. it's rainy today, and that's usually a great day to take pics, so i'll see what i can get done today. something about the way the light difuses through the cloud cover makes for really great photos. we're also going up to our campsite, and i always get great photos up there. but we don't have electricity, so i don't know how i'll be able to recharge the camera. ever since i dropped it in the river, the battery just doesn't last as long. hopefully chris is planning on doing some work and will take the generator :)

toilet paper fetish

2010-06-13T18:07:00.007-04:00

my daughter loves toilet paper. i don't know if it's a typical toddler thing, cuz alexander didn't do it, but isabelle loves to unroll toilet paper and tear it up. the first time she did it we were in youngstown at my mother-in-law's house. i was doubly horrified, 1st cuz she was doing it, & 2nd cuz christopher & my m-i-l were just standing there watching indulgently. my question to them was "how is she going to know not to do this at home if it's ok to do at grandma's?" the answer is, she doesn't!

i got the kids down for their naps this afternoon and was sitting on the sunporch working on a new necklace design. when i'd finished, i put it on to see how it looked and went upstairs to look in the bathroom mirror. what i saw horrified me! first off, isabelle was sound asleep, completly naked at the top of the stairs. but she was lying in a position that would indicate she'd fallen asleep in the process of going down the stairs. i'm not sure how that's possible.

but then i went 'round the corner and saw the bathroom. the sight that met my eyes was the stuff of nightmares! toilet paper EVERYWHERE.

i spend a lot of money on toilet paper and unfortunately, this isn't the first time that isabelle has unrolled a brand new roll of toilet paper. if christopher didn't complain about the really cheap stuff, i wouldn't worry about it, but once you start getting decent toilet paper, you're paying some decent money for it. and losing an entire roll just breaks my penny pinching heart! the last time she did this, i made her help me roll all the toilet paper back onto the roll, but i don't think that's possible this time. what a shame! but at least she just plays with it and doesn't eat it. then i'd have a whole different kettle of fish to worry about!

whew!

2010-06-09T21:23:00.003-04:00

well, i guess making that list really did help. i feel much less overwhelmed, and i've been creating like there's no tomorrow! i got my fabulous earring displays in the mail yesterday from Wudl's Woodshop, and they are perfect. i was able to put all the earrings i've made on it, and found out that i've got an entire display filled! whoo hoo! so i spent last night making necklaces and bracelets that go with the earrings i've already got made. i think i'll make more necklaces and earrings tonight and then work on filling my other display tomorrow or friday so that i have time to make sure i've got enough necklaces and bracelets to go with the earrings. and i still need a necklace display. i found something really nifty on etsy, and i sent the picture to my husband to see if he could make something similar. we'll see what happens. he's almost done with school (tomorrow's the last day with the little whipper-snappers) and so he'll be a little less stressed, which is nice.

i also made a list last night after making my jewelry of the findings i needed so that i could get them ordered. i need them to get here before too long or i won't have anything to create with. that would be bad. and i ordered my earring cards, thank you cards, and my new sign from B Blonski Designs, so they should be here soon. she makes fabulous stuff for little etsy sellers like me, and i'm really excited to see my new sign. i was thinking about doing like a scrapbook thing, but i decided to go ahead and have something printed so it looks professional. and it'll match my earring cards and everything *smile*

i feel so much more in control of everything. of course, it's taken me forever to get pictures of all the stuff i've already made. most of it won't get listed in my etsy shop, but i want to have pictures anyway, just in case. some of it is stuff that i can re-make, so it doesn't matter if i sell it before the show, i can always make another. but the stuff that's one of a kind i'll definitely not list, but i still want a picture for posterity. i've already taken over 300 pics, and i haven't even taken pics of all the earrings i've already made. by the time i'm done with this show, i'll probably have over 2000 new photos on my computer. if i think it runs slow now, just wait until i'm done! :)

i seem to be having a severely ditzy moment :)

2010-06-07T23:53:00.004-04:00

i've got so much to do, i don't know where to start! i've got a big craft show coming up in a couple of weeks, and i figured that it would be easier if i got started early instead of waiting until the last minute. but becuz i've got so much time to do everything, i don't want to get busy!

i was always the one pulling all-nighters in undergrad, freebasing jolt with no-doze to get my papers written. and they were always better that way! i don't know why i work so much better under pressure than if i plan it out and take my time.

my original plan was to simply make another pair of all the earrings i've already made, and an extra pair of the most popular. easy. simple. incredibly boring. i just couldn't bring myself to do it. i have a really hard time making the same things over and over again. i don't even like to make the same thing in different colors. i get bored so easily, and i think i allow that to distract me from my purpose and plan. well at least i still have a couple of weeks to make it happen!

and i did the important things already -- i ordered my earring displays and they should arrive tomorrow or wednesday, and i ordered my earring cards. they'll both arrive in plenty of time for me to be sure they're what i need and order more/different if i need to.

but i need to order supplies so that i can continue making stuff, for both this event & my shop. i haven't posted anything new in a couple of days (sorry, michelle! *smile*) and i really have no excuse, cuz i've made like 30 new pairs of earrings and 3 new necklaces in the past 3 days. i even have pics of 2 of the necklaces waiting to be uploaded onto my computer. but in order to do that, i have to shut down firefox & tweetdeck, cuz they don't play nicely with iphoto. iphoto kinda takes my computer hostage when it's working, which sucks.

things that i really need to do:
take a serious look at my findings and place an order with artbeads and/or lima beads SOON
make more gold earrings, cuz i only have 6 pairs.
make more necklaces
make some bracelets
take a look at my current inventory and duplicate some of it
figure out what i want for necklace/earring displays & either order it or get chris to make it
get tags on things so i can replenish my displays at crafted treasures & the salon

making the list really puts things into perspective. there's really not that much to do, outside of creating more jewelry. and unless i place my order, i won't be able to make anything, cuz i'll be out of daisy spacers and sterling headpins. i don't know why my stores don't carry enough 14k gold stuff. it's so hard to find and i don't understand why. it's much cheaper to get online, but it's easier to go down the street and get it. the one thing i don't need are beads :)

christopher blames my meds for my lack of decision making abilities, but i'm just a ditz. i'm scattered and very easily distracted. and easily tempted away from my main purpose by pretty baubles. which reminds me -- i need to check out maudies' shop to see if she's done any more pretty beads that i need :)

my baby's growing up!

2010-06-03T09:33:00.002-04:00

i'm so excited! isabelle made it all night with panties on and kept them dry! she's been wanting to wear panties to bed for about a week now, but i was hesitant cuz her nighttime underwear was always wet in the morning. but she keeps taking it off during the night because "her bottom's itchy" as she says. so last night, after i found her bottom naked for the 2nd time, we talked about it, and she said that if she had on panties, she'd keep them dry all night, and she did! i was so excited this morning when we woke up and she was dry. now all we need is for alexander to do the same! :)

i know boys are different. he's always been a heavy sleeper and a heavy wetter. he's getting better, though. there have been nights when he's woken up at 2 or 3 to go potty. but those nights are few and far between. and doctors don't consider bed wetting a problem until they're 5 years old. we've got a couple of months to work on it with him. but if i only hafta buy nighttime underwear for one of them, that's a huge savings. since we used cloth diapers for both of them, this is a huge expense that we were totally not prepared for. but at least it's only 1 diaper a day instead of 10 to 20 :)

thyroid update

2010-05-26T07:20:00.003-04:00

i had my post-op appointment yesterday and am exstatic to report that the biopsy showed NO CANCER!!! it was completely benign, which is amazing and awesome. everything is healing well, and everything is going well. thank you to everyone who kept me and my family in prayer and sent your positive energy my way during my surgery and recovery. :)

things you can't do with a hole in your throat :)

2010-05-17T19:41:00.002-04:00

it's amazing what you can't do with a hole in your throat. i don't know what i was thinking!

1. you can't drink from a glass w/out a straw -- trying to get that last 1/3rd is incredibly hard!
2. you can't fold laundry -- i'm so used to holding things with my chin!
3. you can't see things on a high shelf
4. you can't sleep on your tummy
5. you can't mediate violent outbursts by your 4 year old
6. you can't wear anything but v-necked shirts

but seriously, everything's going well. it's just so darn itchy! i can't wait until the bandage things come off so i can scratch for real! and the 4 loads of laundry i did today really were a challenge :)

God is SO good!

2010-05-17T09:03:00.001-04:00

first off, thank you so much to everyone who sent up prayers and sent good thoughts and positive energy my way for my surgery. i was so covered in prayer, that there was really no way anything could have gone wrong! i had probably the best surgical team in the world. seriously! they took it upon themselves to discuss my case beforehand to decide what would be the best thing for me to make sure they saved my voice. i'd gone to the voice center and had some recommendations from the voice specialist that i really thought i was gonna hafta fight for, and they'd already taken all of that into consideration and come up with a plan that was best for me, and not just easiest for them! totally awesome!

so, needless to say, everything went fabulously. my surgeon ROCKS! if you're in the pittsburgh area and need to have a partial or total thyroidectomy, i HIGHLY recommend Dr. Adrienne Melck. she looks about 12, but she assured me she's not *smile*.

and i thought they were smoking crack when they told me that i wouldn't need anything stronger than regular tylenol after the surgery, but they were right! it's 4 days after the surgery, and i've only taken 1 dose of tylenol today! even the day after, i didn't take it every 6 hours because i simply didn't need it! WOW! i've had 2 babies, 1 the regular way, and 1 cesarean, so i know pain. this is awesome!

and i went to church and sang today, which was amazing! when my surgeon came to discharge me, i asked her when i could sing, and she told me to rock on! it felt so good to be able to sing bedtime songs to my kids. tuesday night, it was all i could do not to cry when i thought that might be the last time i could sing. my kids would definitly not understand why mommy couldn't sing at bedtime anymore. it's such a big part of our lives. i'm so grateful that i didn't have to give that up!

but my voice is tired today. they told me that it'll get more fatigued more quickly now as the healing begins. but just being able to sing at all is a blessing! i really couldn't imagine my life without it. and i'm glad that i don't have to! *smile*

thank you!

2010-05-12T04:48:00.002-04:00

i just wanted to thank everyone for their prayer and well wishes. we're about to leave for the hospital, and the surgery is scheduled for 8am. i feel so completely covered in prayer that i'm really not nervous. i know that everything will turn out the way it's supposed to *smile*. plus i got to take a shower and brush my teeth and take my meds, so we're all good! *smile*

...and the countdown begins...

2010-05-10T09:01:00.001-04:00

well, it's 2 days til my surgery. i'll get the call on tuesday to let me know what time i'll need to be at the hospital on wednesday -- probably at the butt-crack of dawn. i've had all of my testing done, so now there's nothing to do but wait. and unlike childbirth, there's no joy at the end of this tunnel. and i don't have to have a bag packed *smile*. but i am hoping that my new bag from my sister gets here in time. she did kinda promise that i'd have it in time to take to the hospital with me *smile*.

once i met her, i googled my surgeon. she looks like she's 12, but she's done extensive research in thyroidectomies, so i feel a little better. and she's Black, so that's kinda cool. she's canadian, though (i think), so i didn't want to say african-american *smile*. she was really straight-forward in the consultation, and that really put me at ease. she didn't sugar-coat anything, but wasn't brusque and unfeeling either. and apparently they do a lot of these.

i also went to the voice center and had my throat scoped to take a look at my vocal cords. that was really nifty! it was awesome to see my cords working, although i could have gone without having something shoved up my nose and down my throat *smile*. but now i know how everything works, and i'm hoping it'll all work the same way after the surgery.

there's only a 1% chance that they'll nick either of the nerves that control my singing during the surgery, but there's a greater chance of jacking things up with the breathing tube, so i have to be firm with the anesthesia team about what i want, and hope that they do what's best for me instead of what's easiest for them. i can't go on disability if they mess anything up and i can't sing! *smile*

and i'm really excited cuz my mom will be here today! it's always a good time when nana's here. the kids are over the moon that nana's coming. they just don't know why. but i feel so much better knowing that she'll be here with them while chris and i are at the hospital. especially since it'll likely be all day, and not just a couple of hours. plus, what sitter would show up at your house at 5am and stay until 6 or 7 pm? you'd hafta pay an arm and a leg! :)

ice cream for dinner? smile

2010-04-25T18:23:00.000-04:00

of course! i strive to be the cool mom who gets her kids to eat! i was talking to my sister today, and she was making sweet potato ice cream, and i thought it sounded delicious, so i'm making it, too, but as a side dish for dinner. the kids are over the moon at the thought that we're eating ice cream for dinner, and i even let them help making it. alexander's bored already watching the machine go around and around, but i had to tear isabelle away. she's being patient, she told me *smile*. well, i hope they like it. it smells delicious! lots of brown sugar and cinnamon. yum!!!

shopping with children -- the husband edition

2010-04-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

so, i do about 95% of the shopping for our household, for the things that we use everyday from food to clothing. and i pretty much only shop before rest time, cuz the rest of the day is pretty unpredictable. if it's not done before 3pm (preferable 2pm) then it doesn't need to be done. my husband takes care of all the outdoor and home repair stuff. but every once in a while he decides that we all need to go to the store together for whatever we need. usually it's a big lots shopping spree, but tonight it was a trip to target. after dinner at the restaurant (eat n' park *smile*)

now, i love target. they've got the big carts with 2 seats for bigger kids, and that's awesome! i'm all about confinement for my 2 little ones. and when we got there, i found an appropriate cart and got them both strapped in, and they started whining about getting out. i'm a firm believer in confinement, but my husband told them that if they were good they could get out. i stopped to check out the jewelry (for inspiration *smile*) and the next thing i knew, they were both out of the cart, and the madness began!

i really don't know what he was thinking. our children have not yet grasped the concept of looking with your eyes and not your hands. they don't understand that we need to use our inside voices when we're inside. they don't understand that they can't just go look at something just cuz they want to, even if we're not going over there. they want to look at what they want, and not what's on mommy's list. hence the need for confinement. but my husband's got isabelle on his shoulders and alexander by the hand, and they're both talking a mile a minute while i push this ginormous cart that's completely empty. i found everything on my list while he went to look at bikes and toys and whatnot, and was forced to explain that they both already have bikes, so we're not taking the princess tricycle home. did i mention the need for confinement? *smile* by the time we were ready to check out, he was ready to leave them both in the store. it was after 9pm -- past their bedtime on a late night -- and we were both frazzled. they were both jazzed by being up late, even though they didn't get any popcorn, and they wanted to sing all the way home. needless to say, they're both asleep and i think my husband is too. they're exhausting on a regular day, but let us try something new and different, and i need an adult beverage! maybe next time he'll remember why they need to be confined in the store!

prosthetic vocal chords

2010-04-20T17:11:00.000-04:00

i had no idea that i know someone who's had a complete thyroidectomy and has a prosthetic vocal chord. wow! she had the procedure done some years ago (in a military hospital, as she was active duty AF), and could barely speak for over 2 years before she was implanted with a prosthetic vocal chord. I would never have known, cuz her voice sounds fine to me. i should have asked her if she can sing with her prosthetic *smile*

but it kinda made me feel better, cuz if there's only a 1% chance of nicking one of 2 nerves that controls vocal production, then knowing someone to whom it's happened makes the chances of it happening to me that much slimmer, right? *smile*

i still need to make an appointment with the voice specialists to get scoped so they can see the condition of my chords prior to the surgery. i also tried to get my surgeon to do the procedure at Magee, cuz they've got excellent food, but no such luck. hopefully i won't hafta be there over night. if they only need to remove 1/2, as they plan, then i'll be able to come home that evening. i'll only need to stay overnight if they end up needing to remove my entire thyroid. and based on my recent ultrasound, there are no nodes in the right half at all, and the radiologist said the other side looks beautiful. my friend who had a complete removal said that she had nodes on both sides and they were exhibited very rapid growth. in the 6 months or so that i've been traveling down this path, mine haven't grown at all. every ultrasound i've had shows them pretty much the same size as they were when they were found.

my word can she scream!

2010-04-19T22:01:00.001-04:00

isabelle is a screamer. i mean, a serious screamer. she reminds me of the little girls i saw on a 20/20 about young girls who were severely schizophrenic. *smile*

now, i know that she's just 2 and is just finding ways to express her anger. she's not schizophrenic. or possessed. usually i just tell her that when she's ready to settle down and use her words to come find me. but christopher tonight stayed with her until she settled down, which really prolonged the situation for an extra 1/2 hour. it gets to the point where i'm really surprised she has a voice. i don't know how anyone can scream for 1/2 an hour or more 3 or 4 days a week and not have serious vocal issues! wow! she'll be a great gospel or musical theatre singer *smile*

but i can really see how parents can have their young children diagnosed as bipolar. one second she screaming like she's possessed, and the next minute she's cuddling with me asking for the babies she's thrown all over her room. absolutely exhausting *smile*

God is good, but life kinda sucks :(

2010-04-14T09:24:00.000-04:00

God is good. all the time. but i'm not ready to commit to "paper" what's going on right now. it's like writing it down will make it real. not that not writing it down makes it any less real, and i've got so much stuff to do to get ready. it always takes me a bit to process things so that i can function without my eyes leaking constantly. good thing i have to sing at a funeral today -- i'm supposed to be a little emotional :) what a time to go off my meds!

The Diary of Anne Frank

2010-04-13T23:35:00.000-04:00

i'm an old soul, and i love masterpiece theatre, or masterpiece classics as it's called now. and i was really looking forward to the latest interpretation of The Diary of Anne Frank. of course, i read the book in school, and i've seen a couple of other made for tv versions, but this was by far the best. i actually sobbed at the end. it was amazing.

it came on on sunday evening, but i missed most of it becuz we got the kids to bed late. so i'm glad that pbs is available on demand. my husband and i watched it in utter silence this evening. and even though knew that i was going to cry at the end, i just couldn't turn it off. it was just so well done and so moving. bravo, pbs!

my favorite french :)

2010-04-13T11:07:00.000-04:00

today is a really crappy, sucky day. the sky is grey, & that totally reflects my mood today. i've gotta go see my pcp about being off my meds & the surgeon about my throat-ectomy, so i'm not thinking it's gonna get much better. i'm trying to change things by wearing all black with cheerful jewelry :)

but here's my poem for today:

personne m'adore
tout de la monde me deteste
je croix que je veux manger les miner
les miner qui sont grande
les miner qui sont petitie
et les miner qui agiter dans ma bouche

i've been saying this for years, but i finally looked up the last 2 words i didn't know in french. i feel so much better now! :)

...the next step...

2010-04-07T00:21:00.001-04:00

well, it's been 3 weeks since i went off my meds, and i'm not so sure it was such a good idea *smile*. bleh. so i called and made an appointment with a psychiatrist, cuz my therapeutic team and i agree that my mental health should be cared for by a mental health professional who is more capable of deciding which drugs, if any, will be the most beneficial for me. i'm kinda nervous about it, though, cuz going to a psychiatrist means that you're crazy, right? i mean, everybody's medicated and everybody's in therapy, but the only person i know who goes to a psychiatrist is my brother and the crazy people on tv. when i spoke to her this evening, she actually asked me if i was 1) in the witness protection program & 2) had ever been hospitalized for a mental illness. there have been times when both of those options have seemed like a good idea *smile*

prozac, for all it's suckiness, is awesome, cuz it doesn't drop you into the abyss immediately -- it kinda lowers you slowly into the abyss so that you don't realize where you are until all the light has been sucked out of the world and you are in utter darkness trying to feel your way to the surface. i definitely need to be medicated, cuz i'm starting to think like my brother *smile*. we'll figure it out.

i also have an appointment next week with the thyroid surgeon, cuz they ultimately didn't like the biopsy they did of my thyroid. but if you're gonna have cancer, thyroid's the one to get. it has a 100% cure rate, it doesn't spread anywhere and it won't kill you. of course, now that i've said all that, i'll be the first to die of thyroid cancer. it'll take over my body completely and i'll have to have a complete body-ectomy. *smile* i still think i'll end up with one of those throat things like the asian guy on south park *smile* but in the big scheme of things, as long as i have some anesthesia, i don't really care what they take out. nothing could be as bad as the biopsy! (famous last words...)

in search of sanity

2010-04-01T23:52:00.001-04:00

after i had isabelle, i finally realized that i needed some help and found a fabulous therapist. and after working with her for a while, i finally admitted that i needed to be medicated. and it helped for a long time. it did what it was supposed to do and helped me through the darkness. of course, it also helped that isabelle stopped screaming all the time, alexander started going potty and both of them could walk and talk *smile*. but for a while, the meds were all that were keeping me out of jail. there were still days when i had to put myself into time-out *smile*

but i switched from zoloft to lexapro, and more recently from lexapro to prozac. they all made me twitchy, and the lexapro actually made me think i had some sort of neurological disorder, cuz my hand would twitch periodically like i had parkenson's or something. but the prozac just sucked. i had all of the side effects with none of the relief (see "prozac sucks my butt"). so i talked to my therapist and my pcp, and we decided that maybe it was time to take a break. i had to realize that the things in my life that annoy me and drive me crazy will be with me forever (or at least til they graduate from high school or college *smile*), so i really needed to figure out how to deal with it, since i can't medicate them *smile*. so i've been off my meds for a little over 2 weeks.

for the most part, i feel great. i've been doing a lot of breathing, but my children and husband are all still alive, and i'm not incarcerated or on a 72 hour hold somewhere *smile*. but then i have a day like today that makes me question both my fragile grasp on my sanity and my decision to go off my meds. today sucked. i think i cried for an hour. my kids were great, though. they kept coming into the kitchen to give me hugs, and allow me to hug their special toys, which was really great. but i had to call my union in NYC cuz i didn't pay my dues on time. and the guy was really MEAN!!! i mean, obnoxiously out of line and i really wanted to go through the phone and beat him to death. but unlike before i went on my meds and the girl at sally's caused me to throw a brush at her, i just called my mom who proceeded to talk me off the ledge. of course, when i told my husband about the incident later this afternoon, it made me cry again, but only briefly, so that was definite improvement.

i don't regret going off my meds. and i don't think that i'll never go back on them, perhaps, at some point if i need to. but i like being off them right now (with the exception of this morning *smile*). before i started therapy i was in a research study for post-partum depression, and one of the questions they would ask was if i felt that people were being overly mean or critical. they were looking to see if i was suffering from paranoia. but i don't think it's paranoia -- i think that when you're medicated you just don't care that ppl are mean! *smile* now that i'm off my meds i'm more aware of how mean and evil people can be *smile*

i've also come to realize that i'm a hoarder. i did talk to my therapist about it in my last session & her eyes got really big a couple of times *smile*. i prefer to think of it as selective collecting *smile*. but when i watch those hoarding shows, i totally understand the hoarder thought process, which is a little frightening *smile*. i'm much better now than i ever was when i was single, mainly becuz christopher limits the amount of space in which i can expand my collections. so i've become a somewhat organized hoarder. but we're thinking about moving, so i've gotta get it under control so that we can do something with it. i like to see all my stuff all the time, so putting it all in storage so we can show the house will be painful *smile*. and christopher already knows that he can't help me clean and/or organize. all he can do is fuss at me until i do it, albeit grudgingly *smile*. as long as it gets done, right? *smile*

rest in peace, miss bea :)

2010-03-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

it's been a rough couple of weeks. a very good friend of our family passed away a week ago today. her funeral was yesterday, and of course, i sang. it's always so much harder when it's someone you knew, and knew well.

miss bea was one of my husband's ladies. he did some work for an older couple we used to ring bells with and they recommended him to her to do some odd jobs around the house. she was a widow with grown children, most of whom didn't live nearby, so she kinda became a surrogate grandmother. when chris was doing work for her, the kids and i would sometimes go with him, and then we'd take miss bea out to dinner with us. or we'd invite her over to our house for dinner once in a while. she invited us out to dinner to meet her family when they were in town. she was just a really nice lady that was really easy to talk to who really loved our kids.

so when she fell and broke her hip and was in the hospital, her daughter called us, cuz chris was more than just her handyman. and when she slipped into a coma after the surgery, we went to sit with her at her house while her children held the vigil waiting for the waiting to be over.

but it wasn't until the calling hours that i truly realized how much our friendship meant to her. chris and i walked in, and a complete strange came up to me, gushing, and said "you must be kym! the jewelry designer, right?" we had no idea that miss bea talked about us to any and everyone *smile*. but because of the close relationship we had with her, they had alexander and isabelle listed in the obituary as her "very special grandchildren" *smile*. i'm just glad that we were friends and able to share that special part of her life.

i was also very touched, when her daughter, katherine, gave us one of the quilts she'd made for her mother to remember her by. it was one that hung at the top of the stairs and was admired every time we came over.

we basically spent all day yesterday with the family, at the funeral and lunch after, and then at the house just talking. the house seems so empty without miss bea there. she will be missed.

OUCH!!! what pain!

2010-03-04T23:47:00.000-05:00

so, today was a really great day, and a really crappy day. it was awesome, cuz i met up with my local street team, steel town etsy, and they are fantabulous! i'm so lucky to be affiliated with such talented crafters and such wonderful people. but after i got all hopped up on caffeine at starbucks, i had to go have my ultrasound guided fine needle biopsy of my thyroid nodule.

now, first off, "fine needle" is relative. i was imagining something akin to a acupuncture needle. boy was i wrong! it was a regular needle. not as big as something they'd use for an iv, but definitely not what i'd call "fine". but it wasn't the needle stick that sucked the most -- it was the fact that once it was in, they had to wiggle it around to collect cells to biopsy! OUCH!!! but i survived it, and the doctor took it to look at it and came back to inform me that they were fine, but he needed MORE CELLS TO SEND TO THE LAB TO BE PROPERLY LOOKED AT -- meaning they had to stab me in the throat again! &%*&$$&^#$@@!!! of course, i had my husband come with me to "hold my hand," not realizing that i'd literally need someone to hold my hand! he and the doctor both like to crack jokes to lighten the tension, but i challenge any of you to try to laugh with a needle in your throat! i could barely breathe or swallow, cuz i discovered early in the procedure that movement of the throat area causes the needle to shift more than necessary. did i mention, they don't use anesthesia for this procedure? :) apparently they used to, but they discovered that it hurt more when the drugs wore off than if they just stab you in the throat repeatedly without. i wish they'd given me the option to find that out on my own! :)

but granted, i'm grateful to know that the cells they found were fine and i don't have to have surgery or anything. they'll just keep an eye on them with a repeat ultrasound in 6 months and go from there. but it's been 9 hours, and my throat still hurts! i've gotta take some ibuprofen before i go to bed. i knew going in that there was a 95% chance that they were benign, so i wish i'd had the option to just leave them un-biopsied if i knew how painful it would be! at least they give you an epidural for childbirth! :)

prozac sucks my butt

2010-02-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

i don't think it's working. i haven't felt this listless or despondant since before i started taking my meds. even zoloft worked better than this. it's been less than a week, though, and i know it takes time, but this sucks. i don't even have the energy right now to scream at the kids *smile*. all i want to do is eat (even though i'm not hungry) and take a nap. i just sat and watched an hour of curling and still have no idea what was going on. the rock was in the house, but they hit the button and pushed it into the 8 ft ring. hunh? but i can't help thinking that it wouldn't make sense even if my brain was working. i feel like a combination of the wind-up doll commercial and the claritin commercial, before they take the film off the camera *smile*

i've got so much stuff to do, too. i hafta find isabelle's bathing suit and pack for a 2 day vacation. and i need to make granola. and write a letter to my husband's principal so she'll let me sell jewelry at his school. and make more jewelry so i can keep up with my posting comittments. and figure out how to pay my bills and/or sell more jewelry so i can pay my bills *smile*. but i just wanna take a nap. this sucks :(

i also am bummed cuz i can't find a good video of measha brueggergosman singing at the olympics. i found one on youtube, but it sucked and i don't know if it was the video or my computer. there was another one that was clearly taken with someone's cell phone that really sucked, but this one was pretty good. she rocked my world! especially her hair! i wish my hair would have done that before i let it lock.

and i also wanted to blog about the ice dancers from russia. i really liked them, until i saw their "aboriginal dance" which just made me want to scream! i mean, seriously! i don't know what made them think that it was representative of anyone's native people,, but it looked more like cavemen. i missed it so i watched it on demand and was amazed. how could anyone be that clueless? and her, with her mouth open the entire time just made her look like a dunce. i was embarrased for them.

i survived chuck e. cheese! :)

2010-02-22T19:40:00.001-05:00

...and when i first walked in, i wasn't sure i would!

i had never been to chuck e. cheese until last night. i could have died a happy girl never having set foot into a chuck e cheese. but my friend kellie had her daughter's b-day party there yesterday, so off we went -- all 4 of us -- to that mouse's pizza parlor.

at first i'd just planned to go by myself with the kids. but christopher counselled me against that. i truly had no idea. i am so grateful that he came with us. i really don't know how i would have managed without him with both kids. neither one of them is old enough, or tall enough, to go anywhere there by themselves. there's a section of games designed for them, but it was packed. the place was full of kids from 5 weeks (obvously not partaking of the festivies *smile*) to adulthood. i was absolutely flabbergasted when i walked in the door.

and they are a serious wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am birthday party provider. we were late, cuz the kids didn't wake up from their naps as early as i'd hoped. but when we got there about 1/2 hour into our designated party slot, the pizzas were ready and the kids were being called back to the table. they were given 2.5 seconds for pizza and an additional 3.8 seconds for partying with chuck. then the candles were blown out and the kids were lead away, pied-piper style, by the mouse himself back into the play area. i really didn't understand that, cuz while they were away with the mouse, the "party hostesses" cut the cake, but there were no kids to serve it to. icame back to the party table cuz isabelle has discovered she's hungry again, and the party hostess comes to tell us that we've got to move from the designated party tables cuz it's time for them to set up for the next groups! i don't think any of the kids (other than isabelle *smile*) got cake, cuz none of them came back to the party area until after we'd moved everything to a different table. and there wasn't really any partying with the birthday girl, cuz everyone was off with their cup of tokens playing games. there were 2 parties in our time slot, clare and one other boy, and 3 parties in the time slot after us.

the cake was wonderful! very rich chocolate made with hershey's chocolate. and the sandwich ring they had for us parental types was very good. but the pizza sucked! it was obviously not made with love and straight from a box. but once the kids got over their initial shock of being in such a loud place with so many kids, they had a great time. when we first got there, both of them were hugging my legs. but we practically had to drag them out when it was time to leave.

i don't want to go back any time soon, but i know i will have to return eventually. we have more tickets to win so we can get a prize. of course, the good stuff is like 4000 tickets, and we've got 43, so it'll be a while *smile*

it's beginning to look a lot like ... carrots?

2010-02-20T20:47:00.000-05:00

well, as many of you know, my sister, michelle, loves carrots. so when i had to decide what to make her for Christmas, i made her a carrot :)

in my shop, all my polymer clay key keepers are stars. the only other shape i "mass produce" is a flower. but for friends and family i make custom ones, depending on who they are and what they love. and i'm totally into doing custom orders, so if you know someone who'd totally dig getting something original, let me know -- i'd love to make something! :)

my mother, step-mother and neighbor all love the Lord, so they got crosses, in different colors depending on what they like. well, actually gloria hasn't gotten hers yet cuz she's in the phillipines so i just haven't mailed it yet. but i didn't want to make a cross for michelle -- i wanted to make her a carrot!

and i was so excited when alexander came down into my craft area and asked me why i was playing with a carrot -- that meant that it really looked like a carrot. i was very proud of myself for the color mixing and design, cuz i didn't have a carrot cookie-cutter. i guess i could have looked for a mold or something, but that wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun :)

of course, i had to wait until she got it before i blogged about it, since she reads my blog -- i didn't want to spoil the surprise! and when i talked to her this afternoon, she was so excited about her carrot key keeper. now i just hafta make one for myself! :)

another day, a different med...

2010-02-18T15:24:00.000-05:00

well, today was my 2nd day on prozac. i was nervous, cuz when i switched from zoloft to lexapro it sucked. the first day was ok, cuz i still had enough zoloft in my system to carry me through, but the lexapro hadn't kicked in yet. the 2nd day, my husband came home and i was lying on the floor in the living room, cuz i just couldn't get up *smile*. i can look back and smile now, but at the time it was a bit of a tragedy. i don't know if the transition is going better this time cuz i'm in a better place, or if it's just a different type of drug. my pcp explained that all of these drugs are "cousins" and they all do the same thing, just a little bit differently. i can't get over how one drug works well for one person and not for another.

i don't know if prozac is the right drug for me. it didn't work for my mom. but it works great for my friend and her husband. but depression sucks, and i've got so much going on right now that i can't just sit and cry all day long :). my kids demand to be fed regularly, and i can't just feed them toast, cuz i hafta make the bread. why did i start doing that?

but there is no rest for the wicked today. the kids have been upstairs for almost 2 hours, but there is no rest in sight. hopefully tonight will be an early to bed night. but we need baths, so we'll see. i guess they know i'm not really going to beat them :)

strangers make you eat dog food...

2010-02-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

i've been talking to my kids lately about staying with me and the dangers of being taken by a stranger. it's really interesting the responses they come up with.

isabelle thinks that strangers make you eat dog food. and sometimes cat food. she also thinks that you can't eat people cuz they're hard to chew.

alexander just doesn't want a stranger to take him cuz he wouldn't be able to cuddle with teddy at sleepy-time. he's the one i want to get implanted with a microchip cuz he talks to everyone.

i've also already had the chat with them, mostly at bathtime, about who gets to touch/play with their private parts. mommy & daddy get to wash them, and dr. greene can touch them if mommy or daddy's there. but they're the only ones who get to play with their own girl/boy parts. this is especially important in the bathtub, since they bathe together. isabelle is fascinated with alexander's boy parts. i had to break her heart the other day. we were talking about how she's doing such a good job going potty and keeping her panties dry while she's awake and how when she gets bigger she'll wake up when she has to potty. and she said "when i get bigger, i'll have a boy part like alexander and i can stand up to potty!" she just crumpled when i had to let her know that she'll always hafta sit down to potty and she'll never have a boy part. i remember my sister going through something similar and now she's a lesbian. should i worry? :)

but it's pretty sad that at 2 & 4 i've already had to talk to my kids about abduction and molestation. i checked the megan's law website and there is a sex offender on my street. i'm pretty sure he's an adult offender and not a pedophile, but... it's a very different world now than the one i grew up in. although a lot of these things still happened, they just weren't discussed.

snow-pocalypse

2010-02-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

if my husband doesn't go back to school soon i may end up in jail. the snow will end one day, right? God never commanded anyone to build a snow-ark, right?

a snow holiday

2010-02-10T15:09:00.000-05:00

we've been in our house for 5 days now. except for our little snow holiday. we went across the river to harmarville on monday night and randomly picked a motel. it was the calm between the storms -- the roads were relatively clear from friday/saturday's storm, and the tuesday/wednesday storm hadn't started yet. actually, even monday night some of the roads were pretty bad. i had to go back home after we had dinner cuz i'd forgotten my meds and i was slowed down by an accident and 2 bobcats removing snow from the roads. with all the snow we've had to clear, i think they're running out of places to put it! :)

it took christopher 2 solid hours to clear our driveway on saturday. i don't think i could have done it. and it was really too much even for a snowblower. and of course, being the guy he is, he went out after he did our to help a couple of other people do theirs. :)

but we've only gotten about 8 inches of additional snow since yesterday, although it's still snowing. i have no doubt that tomorrow will be another snow day for christopher. i feel bad for the kids, though, cuz it's too much snow for them to go play in. although chris did build a snow cave for them on sunday. they haven't been out to play in it since then. it's really cold and windy with blowing snow and they just sink down in it. the 22 inches we got over the weekend was too deep, so i have no idea what they'd do in almost 3 feet of snow! :)

the school delimma

2010-02-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

well, i thought i had more time to figure this out, but clearly i don't. alexander is 4 and will be going to pre-school in the fall and then kindergarten the year after. but our school district is quickly going downhill and we hafta figure out what we're gonna do.

option 1: private or catholic school. this option could get really expensive really fast. the catholic school in our area is really good, but if you don't tithe enough, they add the difference to your tab every year. and even if you do tithe enough, it's still expensive. there's a great scholarship program for "children of color" here, but it doesn't start until 4th grade. but the fabulous thing about it is that they pay for everything from grade 4 on. but the competition is stiff and it's all about grades and financial need.

option 2: moving! in the long run, it would really just be cheaper to move into a better school district. but looking at the stats of the better school districts in the area they're pretty expensive and pretty un-diversified. according to one list i looked at, penn-trafford school district has one of the top 10 elementary schools in pennsylvania, but has 0.0% african american students. i don't want my kids to be "the only" (like i was a lot!), but i do want them to get a good education. i looked at another list that ranked schools by the amount of money allocated per student. some of the schools that were near the top were some of the worst in the state, so obviously that list was bunk!

but the final point is that our school district sucks. they're going to a "super-school" the year that alexander will be starting kindergarten, and i don't really want all 1200 elementary school students in one building with my 5 year-old. although people are fleeing penn hills like rats from a sinking ship, so there will probably only be a fraction of that number, but still! but moving makes me sad a little. it's be awesome to get a bigger house, cuz we're kinda outgrowing our little house, but i'd miss our neighborhood and our neighbors. most of the "better" school districts are farther out from the city and it's either new development, which is kinda sanitary with no mature trees, or kinda rural, where it would be impossible to run next door to borrow a cup of sugar. there's pros and cons to everything. we just have to figure out what's important and go from there.

be careful what you wish for! :)

2010-02-06T10:35:00.000-05:00

my kids had been really sad cuz we didn't have any snow and they couldn't go sledding. so we were all thrilled when we went to bed last night and it was snowing. we were supposed to get an additional 8 inches of snow overnight and then another couple during the day today. i think mother nature flunked her math
class!

i can't wait to get the kids dressed and go outside. unfortunately christopher's having a hard time making a path for us, so we'll see.

although, it may actually be too much snow to go sledding in. i don't see how we'll get the kids up the hill if the snow is up to MY knees! :) too bad we don't have any snowshoes! :)

oops! it's a guy!

2010-02-04T22:57:00.001-05:00

i love to read. i read a lot. usually i borrow books from my friend kellie, but she only reads regency romances, and i like other stuff, too, so sometimes i hafta go to the library. of course when we got there today, alexander found out they don't have a thomas table and wondered why we were bothering *smile*.

but i went today, and when i look for books, i tend to look for certain publishers and book cover types. most of the books i like (that aren't regency romances *smile*) are by red dress ink or kensington. they tend to be the larger paperbacks. roughly the same size as a hardback book, but paperback. in the book world they're called trade paperbacks (i think. it's been a while since i worked at borders *smile*).

so i went today in search of new reading material. and i don't read the back cover blurb, either. i just look for an appropriately sized paperback book with an interesting looking cover and title and go. especially when i'm with the kids. i usually get between 5 & 10 books in about 10 minutes, so that i don't have to worry about the book sucking -- i've got something else to choose from. but i don't think that red dress ink even publishes men, and i didn't think kensington did either, BUT I WAS WRONG!!! i was on my way to the car when something said "look at me..." i looked and saw that one of my books was written by not 1, but 2 MEN!!!

as a general rule, i don't read books written by men. oh, sure, i know that some of my romance novels are probably written by men who use a pen name, but i don't need to know about that. there's a couple of science fiction/fantasy writers i like and a couple of african american authors i like, but they are few and far between. actually the only ones i can think of right now on the spot are eric jerome dickey (who i stopped reading a couple of books ago cuz i didn't like him anymore) and robert heinlein.

so i'm going to stretch myself and START with my men book tonight. we'll see how it goes. that's what i get for judging a book by it's cover :)

new month, new joys, new stress :)

2010-02-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

well, it's february. the taxes are done, and i faxed mine to my student loan holder to apply for the income based repayment plan this afternoon. that's a huge monkey off my back! :) i love obama!

the taxes were a huge pain in the butt. we filed married filing separately, which meant we weren't able to claim things like student loan interest and the earned income credit. really weird things. and chris's refund is MUCH smaller than last year. but what we'll be saving in student loan payments more than makes up for it, so we're good. and i don't owe as much as i thought i would. only 1 of my 3 jobs withholds any taxes, so i thought i was gonna be totally screwed. but i claimed every deduction i could as a self-employed individual and suprised myself. i'm even getting a refund from PA! :) now i hafta figure out what i need to do to be legit with my jewelry. in for a penny, in for a pound :)

but today was also the first day that i'm in a new retail location with my jewelry -- Crafted Treasures in Monroeville. i'm very excited about it. i've been working feverishly for the past couple of weeks making more inventory and displays and figuring out what i wanted to do. i'm not completely ready, but there's an open house on saturday, feb. 6, so i wanted to have stuff there so i can take advantage of the crowd. i got a primo spot, right up front between the front doors, so it's the first thing you see when you come in and the last thing you see when you leave. i'm very nervous, but very excited as well. we'll see how it goes! :) and i realized as i was setting up that i made some pieces saturday night during miss america that i didn't take pictures of! crap! :) but how exciting to have a black miss america? as soon as it started, i said to myself "we've got a black president. how about a black miss america?" and there she is! :)

and in addition to having pink eye (again!), i went and got my thyroid ultrasounded and i have not 1, but 2 nodules that are ginormous. okay, maybe ginormous is a (slight) exaggeration, but they're big enough that they want to stick a needle in my throat to test them. although "ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration" does sound better than "jab me in the throat with a huge needle". :) but between the student loan people, pilates, the dentist and my pcp today, i didn't have time to call and make the appointment. it's on the top of my list for tomorrow. if i have to have my throat amputated and get one of those voiceboxes like the guy on south park, i'd rather do it and get it over with :)

death & taxes

2010-01-31T15:00:00.000-05:00

this year's taxes are going to be the death of me. i just spent almost 2 hours on the phone with turbo tax -- 45 minutes on hold, and the rest chatting with a really nice girl from iowa -- about the problem we're having trying to do our taxes online this year. what a pain in the patootey!

we're filing married filling separately this year so we can get a reduction in our student loan payments. and it's not as bad as i thought it would be -- christopher's still getting a decent refund and i don't owe as much as i thought i would. but there's some kind of glitch in the turbo tax online software that won't let me in to edit the state return so i can efile the whole thing. i've been done with the federall since forever, and i've just been waiting to figure out what's up with the state! incredibly frustrating. but my new friend from iowa hooked me up with a download of the state return so i can finish christophers, but she also clued me in to the fact that it'll be cheaper to buy the desktop version cuz you can file 5 returns with it, whereas online you have to pay for each return individually. i think i need to make a trip to target this evening! *smile*

and just becuz my life had been flowing along so smoothly, i now have pink eye! what a joy! my eyeball hurts so badly that i just want to take it out and throw it against a wall! i just can't catch a break!

calgon -- take me away!

2010-01-28T20:35:00.000-05:00

some days, when alexander wakes up, i know that we're in for it. today was one of those days. the fact that it's 8:30 and both kids are in bed asleep kinda says a lot. the fact that he didn't take a nap today was just a minor portion of today's specialness. he woke up in one of those moods today. almost like in his sleep he was abducted by aliens who decided to see how many of mommy's buttons could be pressed simultaneously before my head explodes. *smile*

it started as soon as he woke up. he hadn't even made it all the way downstairs before he started whining: "mommy, i'm hungry!" which, of course inspired his sister to join in the refrain. today was not a day that we had any concrete plans, and i, frankly, was feeling completely uninspired to really move from bed. but i've got the whining twins downstairs demanding food, so...*sigh*

but feeding them didn't make it better. instead of cereal (cuz we were running out of milk) i made toast and scrambled eggs. but every other second there was something wrong that caused the throwing of napkins and shoving away of bowls and spoons. if not for my meds today i would have found myself in jail for baby-maiming. *smile*

lunch was marginally better, and by the time we finally made it to the grocery store, i just ignored everything except what was on the shelves, prices, and how much cash i had in my pocket. but when we got home and he decided he didn't want to nap, i decided that it was a battle i wasn't prepared to fight today. he was actually decent while isabelle was asleep. we cuddled on the couch and read our new national geographic magazine (thanks, grampa! *smile*) and learned about new animals and stuff.

but come dinnertime, the aliens regained control. by dinner i'm usually done cuz i've dealt with it all day, but christopher is fresh from his other battlefield and ready to pick up the baton. sorry, alexander. daddy wasn't in the mood to deal with the bouncing, humming child not eating his dinner. and then when the after-dinner hitting and cup throwing commenced, it was all over. after the smoke cleared, alexander was crying and in his pj's and isabelle was angelic and coloring. it was about 7:15 when i kissed alexander goodnight, and he hasn't been heard from since, which is amazing. and isabelle followed shortly after, cuz her juice tasted funny. i convinced her that if she just went to bed, that in the morning everything would be ok. *smile* i wonder how much longer that'll work? *smile*

i am not a hoarder -- i just like to have a lot of stuff smile

2010-01-25T14:57:00.000-05:00

my husband is convinced that i'm a hoarder, just becuz when we started dating i had piles of stuff and paths through my apartment. i'm really not. i just have issues with getting rid of things. and i like to acquire things. my current acquisitional obsession is beads and my online store of choice is lima beads. they're awesome! they're having a month-long sale where they posted a crossword puzzle at the beginning of the month and every day's clue tells you what's on sale. you could print out the crossword puzzle and do it ahead of time so that you knew which days to shop. it's been really amazing and really bad at the same time. their prices are awesome and the quality of stuff is awesome, so i've been doing a lot of shopping lately. good thing i've got a major project i'm working on where i need a variety of product, cuz i've got a huge variety of beads now *smile*.

beads are really the only thing i'm collecting at the moment. i've really let go of my shoe collection, cuz i've realized that i only wear my heels at church and the rest of the time i rotate between 3 pairs of birkenstock. and with clothes, i donate regularly to my church's rummage sale so that i have space to replace. i do a lot of shopping at the rummage sale as well. i like to help out, cuz then you get to shop ahead of the actual sale and get all the good stuff. and i figure that if i'm paying "full" price, then it's all good (but is there ever really a way to justify $3 as full price for a suit or suede jacket? *smile*)

i'm so tired of being sick and tired

2010-01-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

there really is no rest for the wicked, or the weary. i got lucky today, becuz it's sunday, and usually i'm at church in the morning. chris is used to being in charge today. so i called off from church, ate breakfast with my family (our sunday morning tradition), and went back to bed for several hours. what an amazing feeling to wake up after 1pm! i haven't slept that late in YEARS! chris took the kids to mass and then they came home and had lunch. apparently, alexander checked on me at one point and saw that i was still sleeping, so he didn't bother me. amazingly i didn't even hear him come in. since having kids, i've developed mom-senses and can hear the tiniest thing. but not today. i guess i really needed that nap *smile*

after my mega-nap, i worked on our taxes for a while and the kids played with play-doh. they're napping now, and i really should be doing more jewelry stuff to get ready for my big adventure. i've only got a week left to get all my signage and everything together. chris built me some beautiful displays, and i'm really excited about the whole thing. it's coming together nicely *smile*. i just hafta remember to take pics of all the new stuff before i take it to the shop. i like to have photos so that i 1) remember what i've made & 2) have a reference if someone likes it and wants something similar. you can't really copyright jewelry designs so i'm not worried about that. i'm always taking pics of stuff i like and doing something similar. or at least planning to *smile*

laundry and the stench of pee

2010-01-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

i do a lot of laundry. but my laundry duties have been compounded by leaking girl & boy parts and pink eye. amazingly, isabelle, at only 2, is much better about not leaking than alexander. friends have told me repeatedly that boys take longer than girls, but i just have a hard time grasping that concept. but alexander has always been a heavy wetter. nighttime and naptime have always been an issue. naptime has gotten better, and he's dry after his nap 5 days out of 7. but there are still times at night when he soaks through his nighttime pullups.

isabelle on the other hand really loves wearing her tinkerbell, dora or princess panties and tries really hard to keep them dry. she is SO much easier. she just decided one day that she was ready to wear panties and that was that.

but the laundry situation this week has really gotten out of hand. with alexander's pink eye, he's already spread it to his other eye, so we had 2 days of quarantine. but that meant changing his bedding and my pillowcase (cuz he snuggles with me in the mornings), as well as all the towels and washcloths and that's a lot of extra laundry. and even their laundry bags smelled like pee, so they got washed too. the sheets aren't really a big deal, but his spongebob comforter and blankets take up an entire load all by themselves! and of course i don't want to go to a laundromat to use the huge washers. what would i do with the kids? *smile*

i finally got all of the regular laundry folded, plus the extra load of towels, and i've got a load in the dryer and one in the washer of just his bedding. i've got to get clean sheets on his bed before naptime. one more thing to remember!

...the icing on the cake...

2010-01-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

and to top it all off, i have a sinus infection. i went to my favorite place today, med express, and got an official diagnosis of why i feel so craptastic. i really wish moms got sick days, cuz i could really use a day in bed tomorrow *smile*

but i am really excited cuz i have a new jewelry venture coming up. starting at the beginning of february i'll be selling my things at a store called crafted treasures here in monroeville, pa! i'm super excited about it! it's like a perpetual craft show that i don't have to do anything for *smile*. look for more info on my other blog. i've got a ton of stuff to do to get ready for it, lots of stuff to make and inventory and get tags on and stuff. and i have to get my husband to agree with me on my design and display choices. this was much easier when it was my project by myself *smile*

HELP!!! i'm being held hostage!

2010-01-21T10:29:00.000-05:00

by my children, of course. more specifically, my son who has pink eye.

pink eye sucks. especially in a kid, cuz he doesn't understand the need to wash his hands constantly and not touch things and not rub his eyes. it started in his right eye and has spread to his left eye. we spent the entire day in the house yesterday and i can't do it again! my friend michele is coming over today so i can go to the store and replenish our meager rations. God bless her!

of course, we didn't leave the house at all yesterday, which sucked as well. and they really want to go somewhere today, but i'm waiting for a call from the pediatrician to find out if we're still contagious since he spread it to his other eye. hence my call to michele. I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!

i missed pilates on monday, cuz it was a holiday so we did something together since chris was home. and i was in quarantine yesterday. i wanted to go to the gym and just get on the elliptical machine or something when chris got home, but i went to the store instead. maybe today.

and of course the stuff i blew out of my nose this morning was a color not to be discussed. but mommies don't get sick days, so...can i call a temp or something? *smile*

gotta take a shower so i can go out in public. bleh!

oh! the pain!

2010-01-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

i do pilates twice a week. and when you skip, it hurts. i took off the week between Christmas and New Years, not intentionally, but becuz we were at grandma's house the monday after Christmas and something came up that wednesday. so this week, when we went back to our regular schedule, i went back to pilates both monday & wednesday.

mondays always hurt, but when you've taken a week off, they hurt more than usual. but it's just regular pain. sometimes we use little hand weights, but most of the time it's just stability balls. they get heavy, but it's nothing compared to wednesdays. on wednesdays we use the body bars. we all rush to class to get there early cuz there's only five 6 pound body bars, and you don't want to get stuck with a 9 or, heaven forbid, a 12 pound body bar. you'd think that 6 pounds would be nothing, but today my shoulders and obliques are KILLING me!!! oh my goodness! it makes me realize that i missed the wednesday before Christmas as well *smile*

my pilates instructor is awesome. she's this little 5' bundle of energy. i don't think she weights 100 pounds. but she's ripped. and she can do all the exercises and talk at the same time. there are some times that i can't even breathe. and i've been going for over a year and still can't do all of the outer thigh workout. she's seriously hard-core *smile*. but even she, herself, has said on occasion: "this is when i would stop if i were on my living room floor" *smile* she also does a class called bodies in motion, which is jumping up and down for 45 minutes, and one called cardio variety, which almost put me in the hospital. it reminded me of the time my mom went to an aerobics class and ended up in the emergency room. the one time i took cardio variety i literally had to stop and go outside holding onto the wall becuz i was gonna pass out. i felt the heat rising and i was going down if i didn't stop jumping up and down. *smile* needless to say, i haven't been back *smile*

but even though pilates hurts, i really like the way my clothes fit. and since i can't afford another new wardrobe, i've got to do what i can to stay in the clothes i've got and still feed my candy addiction *smile*

...and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

2010-01-05T20:17:00.000-05:00

finally, the holidays are over. it's amazing how much more work they are when you have children. the whole mystique of santa and waiting for them to go to bed before everything can go out under the tree. and the meshing of traditions -- i've always been a shaker and my husband never had anything under the tree until Christmas eve, when they did the exchange between the siblings, and Christmas morning when santa's gifts arrived. but the kids were great -- i allowed them to shake and squeeze things (but not the coughing, sneezing baby from grampa & gigi *smile*) and they quickly grew tired of it when they realized that Christmas was still DAYS away. the torture! *smile* but we managed to have a wonderful Christmas morning, and they adored all of their gifts, even the ones with lots of tiny pieces that we're kicking ourselves for letting them open (obviously we would never have bought tiny legos! *smile*).

and now that the holidays are over, and christopher is back to school, we can finally get back to our regular lives -- watching tv all day (pbs kids, mainly) and eating when mommy remembers to feed everyone *smile*. actually, my days are pretty scheduled: mondays are gym days, so i do 30 minutes on the elliptical machine before my pilates class and then a group of us let the kids run wild in the "basketball room". tuesdays are usually laundry or groceries. wednesdays are pilates and spinning (which kicks my butt! *smile*). thursdays are either laundry or groceries. and friday is my free day. of course, sometimes the schedule alters cuz i may have a client or a doctor's appointment, but for the most part, we're pretty regimented. i also have to squeeze in a trip to my allergist, but that's changing since my friend lisa is no longer my shot technician. the girl that gave me my shot this morning hurt me so badly that my arm still hurts almost 12 hours later! needless to say, i am not gonna be her guinea pig and i'll be getting my shots at my pcp's office from now on. if i could get a stash of needles i'd try to get lisa to do it for me in exchange for free haircare, but there's probably some laws against that or something *smile*.

but the cookies are almost ready and i've got to get the cocoa going so when the kids come in from sledding they'll be ready. we're probably the only family that routinely goes sledding after dark *smile*. actually, i just looked outside when i went to take the cookies out of the oven and saw alexander out there shoveling the patio! i'd bought the kids snow shovels at biglots thinking that they could "help" daddy shovel the driveway sometime, but i never thought they'd use them *smile*. i wonder why they're shoveling the patio? i'll find out when they come in. *smile*

so much to do ... why am i playing online? :)

2009-12-17T16:34:00.000-05:00

i'm so glad that my family is used to getting their Christmas gifts late cuz i haven't even started them yet, so there's no way they'll get there in time *smile*. i have so much to do, and i just don't feel like doing it. right now i'm uber-stressed with everything else going on. one good thing is that my stress has alerted me to another problem -- i have a 9mm nodule on my thyroid. yay! what fun! now i have to go and have it ultrasounded and get blood work done to find out what's up. the good news is that your thyroid has a little bit to do with a lot of things, so it may be the underlying cause of a lot of my issues. but it'll be a while before we figure out what's up. always something to keep me on my toes *smile*

and i wish the men in my life wore jewelry. it would make my life a lot simpler *smile*. i can't even make they key keepers, cuz they don't carry their keys like that. i guess i could make key rings, but why? *smile* i had a really great custom ordered handmade gift for everyone, but i underestimated the popularity of my favorite fibre artist and they won't be ready until after the new year! i was really bummed, cuz that meant that i actually had to do something. *smile* they're still gonna get their special custom order gift, just REALLY late, so i won't mention what it is, but i know they'll love it. *smile* but since i've been trying to go to bed at a decent time and do what i can to reduce my stress level, there's just not enough time for creating. how old do the kids need to be before they can cook their own meals? since isabelle came into my room this morning naked as a jaybird, i know they're old enough to dress themselves *smile*. and she's good at doing buttons, too *smile*.

but i've got to get off the computer so i can get dinner started so we can go get a tree tonight. yay! finally my house will start to smell like Christmas *smile*

third day's the charm :)

2009-12-11T22:48:00.000-05:00

well, today was day three of panties for isabelle. and i told her on wednesday (day 1) that if she made it all day without peepeeing in her panties that we'd go to the store and buy the princess panties we saw. needless to say, wednesday was not the day. she pooped in her panties, and then when we went out to dinner (i know, i know, what was i thinking! *smile*) she peepeed and had to ride home in wet panties and tights, which really upset her. so thursday was better, but not all the way. today, however, was wonderful! we went out shopping and i had not 1, but 2 changes of clothes for her, extra panties and dora underwear just to cover our bases. but we stopped and pottied everywhere we went, and she kept her panties dry all day. so tomorrow while mommy's at work, isabelle will get to go to the store and buy princess panties.

i'm so glad to finally be able to stop buying dora underwear all the time. it was really a pain in the neck. i prefered the dora underwear (pampers) to the cinderella underwear (pull-ups) becuz they don't open on the sides and seemed to conform to her body a little more. sometimes the sides of the cinderella underwear would open on their own, which kinda defeats the purpose *smile*. but, with the dora underwear, she wears a size 6, which they only sell at target. and even when every other size of everything that pampers makes is on sale, size 6 dora underwear is not. very frustrating.

christopher didn't understand the need to call things certain things. diapers were cloth diapers and the occasional disposable. underwear are pull-ups. we started that with alexander, cuz even though he's potty trained, he's a really heavy sleeper and heavy wetter, so he wears "night-time underwear" at night. he's pretty good at naptime, though. but panties are panties. she gets really upset if you call her panties underwear. they're totally not the same in her mind. she loves the fact that she can do it all herself. for some reason, she had a hard time getting the dora underwear up over her bottom. but with panties she's all good. it also helped that we were sick most of this week, so we stayed in the house and she had on dresses. much easier to just pull up your dress and potty. and we had her little potty downstairs so she could potty and not miss her show. oh well. but only pee pee goes in the little potty. poopey goes upstairs in the big potty. mommy doesn't like cleaning poopey out of the little potty, cuz it's icky *smile*.

so we'll see what happens tomorrow with daddy being home. i don't know if he has plans to leave the house, cuz that'll make a huge difference with him and her pottying. he doesn't like to take her potty in a store cuz they have to go in the mens room. i guess it wouldn't be bad if it was like the women's room and was all stalls, but with the urinals, it's a different story. plus the men's room always seems to smell *smile*. well, we'll figure it out.

RIP sniff

2009-12-08T11:28:00.000-05:00

well, my creative microphoto mp3 player died. i did what i could on line to try to revive it. creative has a resuscitation program, but nothing worked. i'm very sad. i really loved my little mp3 player. and now i don't know what i want to do. i have all the accessories for it, but i don't know if i want to get another one. they're a little old and they don't make them anymore, so they don't sell *new* ones. i looked on ebay and there's actually several available, but they're all used, and do i really wanna pay $80 for a used mp3 player?

but we had some good times, divazen and i. it was perfect for travelling, since i like gospel and showtunes and christopher likes bluegrass and johnny cash. and while traveling through the barren flats of western ohio on our way to columbus, it was great, cuz the only radio stations seem to be country. bleh! *smile* and with my nifty speaker system it was perfect for labor with isabelle. especially since there was a remote that i could use from my bed. my labor & delivery playlist was my favorite :).

so now, i have the delimma of what to do. should i just abscond with my husband's mp3 player that i got him for his birthday last year? or should i just buy myself a new one for Christmas? my Christmas gift is actually being delivered today, but it's not really a gift for me -- it's an oven and curling iron set for work -- so i don't think it really counts. but do i want another creative zen, which i really like, or do i want an ipod since we're a mac family anyway? the only reason i still have my dell computer up and running is to rip cd's and upload music onto our mp3 players. it would be nice to be able to do everything on the same operating system. but 8mb ipod's are expensive. i can get a 8mb zen for much less than an 8mb ipod. bleh.

let me finish mourning my divazen before i commit to replacing her. she was a good friend :)

early Christmas music and other random thoughts smile

2009-11-21T23:22:00.000-05:00

so, i turned on the radio the other day and was thrilled to find Christmas music! already! and it's not even thanksgiving! :) I'm so excited. i listen to Christmas music year-round anyway, so it's nice to be able to just turn on the radio and have it for my listening pleasure. what bothers me, though, is that the day after Christmas, it's nowhere to be found. couldn't they wean me off it slowly? i mean, in the stores, they've started adding it every 3 songs or so, but even they make me go cold turkey. it really sucks :)

but today is alexander's birthday. 4 years ago right now i pushed him into the world. amazing! i can't remember a time that he wasn't here with me. my life without him seems just a fond memory or like something i read in a book--similar to my life, but not really something i can relate to. but we had an awesome day. his nana, grandma and aunt amie sent him money, so he & daddy spent it all at big lots :). meanwhile isabelle and i went dress shopping. she's been on this dress kick lately, and we didn't really have any with sleeves, so we had to go shopping. when i was revamping their fall/winter wardrobe she wasn't into wearing dresses, so i made sure she had jeans that fit and long sleeved shirts, but no dresses. so now she has some, but she's wanted to wear a dress every day this week so far. we need to make a trip to once upon a child :)

so alexander's birthday party is tomorrow. he's SO excited. he's invited 7 kids, 6 of whom are coming, and christopher has really outdone himself thinking up games and activities. i just hope it turns out the way they hope and everyone has fun. with alexander's track record lately he'll spend his entire party in time out :)

and i made my first sale of the Christmas open house! i'm so excited! check out audrey's blog for all the info on how to enter the contest to win this beautiful red jasper & pearl bracelet, as well as 13 other beautiful prizes (including one from the quilted house!). for the open house, i'm offering buy one get one 1/2 price on everything, and with all orders of $15 or more (not including shipping) you get a beautiful keychain! you even get to specify the color! i've only got 2 for sale in my shop right now, but i've got many more in progress, and i'm having a great time playing with color combinations. :) i've added some beautiful sterling silver and 14k gold items to my shop, i've also got several special orders in the works, and we haven't figured out what we're doing for the laret family Christmas gift. we've been doing a handmade gift exchange for the past couple of years, but we haven't decided what it'll be this year. at this point, though, it had better be something quick and easy :)

life doesn't get any easier

2009-11-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

well, i'm tired. that's really nothing new, cuz i'm always tired. but i've hit a new level of tiredness, cuz i'm trying to do so many things--play with my kids, feed them regular & nutritious meals in a timely fashion, take care of the house, work a little to pay my bills, take care of the house (do we really need clean clothes EVERY day?) and make jewelry in my spare time. there's not as much spare time as my many projects demand, so i've been stealing time from my other duties to do jewelry, which hasn't been going over well with my husband. oops *smile*. but i've got so many projects going on!

the holidays are coming up and i'm participating in a Christmas open house (check out the button on the right hand side of my blog). there's 13 other etsy shops participating and you can check out the particulars either on my other blog or on Audrey's Country Crafts. the open house doesn't start until november 15th, and audrey won't have all the info up until then, but each shop is have a special promotion during the open house (i'm offering 1/2 off your second item and a free gift for purchases over $15 *smile*). and we're each donating a giveaway prize, so everyone has 13 chances to win! my giveaway is this beautiful pearl & red jasper bracelet. who said that 13's an unlucky number? *smile*

so in addition to that, it's the holidays, so i'm trying to make sure i've got enough stuff in my shop to make some money this holiday season. plus i've got the stuff i'm doing for blossoms of verona. she's got her grand re-opening on saturday, 11/14, and so i'm trying to get another set of stuff ready for her, too. and it's different than the stuff i've got in my shop. so many design ideas floating through my head simultaneously!

and to top it all off, my husband expects the children to be dressed and fed every day! too bad they can't live on fruit snacks and sponge bob yogurt *smile*.

but i'm in my pj's and my snuggie, ready for another evening of creating while i do laundry. there really is no rest for the wicked. or is it weary? either way, if the shoe fits...*smile*

shopping with children--not for the faint of heart...

2009-11-03T15:27:00.000-05:00

...at least not with my kids *smile*. my sister & mom can really appreciate this, since they've shopped with me recently, but alexander especially likes to push the envelope. he's almost 4 and likes to make sure that the boundaries are still firmly in place. i swear! but today was the icing on the cake. i just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me! *smile*

we had to go shopping today becuz they needed new pj's and isabelle needs pants (which is another story altogether *smile*). so we went to the mall with our friends kellie & clare & erin. gymboree was fine. children's place was okay. lunch was showing signs of needing a nap. so when we got to burlington i knew that i had no hope of keeping them in the stroller. fine. we found some jeans for isabelle and found some pj's for both of them and we're checking out. i know that my time is limited. even though i didn't force alexander to stay in the stroller the whole time, i knew that he was at the end of his rope, patience-wise. but he flips out while we're putting on our jackets to leave and knocks over my bottle of water, spilling water all over the place. i desperately wanted to thwack him in the back of the head, but i'm well aware of all the eyes on me. sheesh! i really just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me! when i was childless i used to look at those mothers with the uncontrollable children with pity and think about what poor mothers they were. clearly, if they were better mothers, they would have more control over their children and they'd be well behaved like my brother, sister and i were. how little did i know *smile*. but i was proud of myself, becuz even though i was embarrassed to the soles of my feet, i did what i would have done at home, and once he calmed down a bit, i took him out of the stroller and made him help me clean up the mess. i was so angry, but helping to clean up helped me to calm down, too, so that by the time we were done i wasn't afraid that i'd have to kill my child (don't call cys*smile*).

of course both of them are asleep now, and i have a moment to breathe before i have to deal with them again. thankfully there are still some things that isabelle doesn't follow in her brother's footsteps in. she flips out, but not as regularly and not as extremely. although until i saw her have a temper tantrum, i didn't think that children really threw themselves down on the ground kicking and screaming like you see on tv. the first time i saw her do that, i just looked at her and told her that when she was ready to settle down and behave like a sane, rational human being that i'd be in the living room. i had to leave cuz i was gonna laugh! amazing!

on being a SAHM...

2009-10-30T10:55:00.000-04:00

i had a revelation while i was away on my mini-vaca with my sister and my mom. a lot of people who don't have children don't really realize what it takes to be a stay at home mom. my sister said as much to me while we were at her house and i was restraining my thrashing contortionist son. she really thought i had it made--that my life was perfect. i only had to work part time, and even though money's tight, i got to be at home all day with my two wonderful children and had time to create beautiful jewelry for my etsy shop. spending 2 days in her house disabused her of that illusion *smile*

i have 2 kids, and they couldn't be more different. but they're both a lot of work in their own way. isabelle is probably the most independent 2 year old you'll ever meet. and it's so frustrating cuz you have to help in a way that makes it seem like you're not helping even though letting her do it herself takes twice as long and you're already late...and alexander vacillates between wanting to do everything himself and not wanting to do anything himself. and you need to be able to know which day it is. and he's very high-energy. i don't want to label him as anything, but he needs a lot of directed activity, or he'll find a non-desirous activity to occupy himself *smile* and he's a master at breaking toys (and non-toys he just happens to be playing with *smile*), not becuz he's destructive, but becuz he wants to know how stuff works and why it moves or doesn't move. cheap plastic made in china just doesn't cut it for my son. he'll destroy it in a day. and not becuz he's malicious, but becuz he's so enthralled with it that he wants to know the entire parameters of it's ability. thank the Lord for tonka *smile*

so it was kinda gratifying to see my sister and open her eyes to my reality *smile*. i don't know what i would do if i weren't medicated. i'd either be in jail or western psych *smile*

big lots, blankets, beads and blessings

2009-10-29T22:29:00.000-04:00

well, the kids and i just got back from a mini-vacation to rochester to visit my sister and mom. we had a blast. i got to do some of my favorite things in the world: go to a marvelous bead store, visit a foreign big lots and be blessed with family. *smile*

the bead store we went to was called Let's Bead! it was absolutely fabulous! i spent way too much money, but they had some beautiful sterling silver chandelier findings, and i just couldn't resist them. the shop was easily twice the size of my favorite bead shop here in pittsburgh, Your Beading Heart, and had a fabulous selection of everything imaginable, and at decent prices, too *smile*. but at YBH i can bring the kids and sit them in the classroom and they get to watch PBS kids while i shop. i was ecstatic that they fell asleep on our way to the shop so that i could shop unhindered by little curious fingers *smile*.

my other favorite thing to do is to visit foreign big lots. every time we go somewhere we make it a point of finding a big lots store that we haven't been to. each big lots is different, and while they have some of the same things, each store has it's own unique charm and personality. even here in pittsburgh, my 2 regular big lots are different. so we went online before we left to find a big lots near the bead store so we could do it all in one fell swoop *smile*. yay! i love big lots shopping sprees. although, i really didn't splurge on anything--just what i'd normally be buying for my weekly grocery shopping anyway. oh well. it was still fun becuz i did find a snuggie!

now, i am a cold person. starting in late september i usually start wearing gloves and a hat. and i wear a sweater over my flannel nightgown to bed, with a hat and an extra quilt on my side of the bed at night. so a snuggie was right up my alley *smile*. earlie in the day on wednesday i'd gotten an email from a friend via facebook that there was a website where i could get a FREE snuggie, so i think i may have another one coming in the mail, which would be awesome! *smile* my sister is worse than my husband about using the furnace, so i was plenty warm last night snuggled in bed with my two personal heating devices (named alexander & isabelle *smile*) and my snuggie! when i found it at big lots, i pointed it out as a joke, but when my mom bought it for me i was thrilled. and of course, we all had to pose in it, which my sister posted on her blog *smile*. so much fun!

which brings me to my last "b"--the blessings of family. it was amazing to be able to spend a couple of days with 2 of my favorite women in the world--my mom and my sister. michelle & i planned this trip as a destashing/trading expedition. we have this elaborate ritual of trading stuff we're not using for stuff the other has that we want. this trip centered around her polymer clay stuff, which is my latest obsession. whenever i go to rummage sales or yard sales, i'm always picking up quilting stuff, which comes in handy for this purpose. i'm really excited to work with the clay and i've got so many ideas i want to try out! *smile* but i can't do it tonight, cuz i'm exhausted! what should have been a 4.5 hour trip took 7 hours cuz we stopped at every restroom (and bush) between rochester and pittsburgh. i'm so grateful that alexander's a boy and can "potty like daddy" when there's no potty available. i don't know what i'm gonna do when isabelle's wearing panties *sigh*. we'll cross that bridge when we get to it *smile*

Third Presbyterian Church Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-22T23:55:00.000-04:00

Third Presbyterian Church Pumpkin Patch
corner of Fifth & Negley in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh
5701 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232 | 412-661-4710 |

i'm actually fairly active at my church, especially since i'm not a member. and today the children and i helped out at the pumpkin patch. they do it every year as a fundraiser for their mission trips to haiti and other impoverished parts of the world, mainly north america. but they're very active in haiti, and a couple of members go twice a year. i really wanted to go this year, but when i mentioned it to christopher, he looked at me like i had two heads *smile*.

but i digress...today we went to the pumpkin patch, and i was unprepared for how much work there was to do. the shift started at 10 am, but i told michelle, the assistant pastor, that i couldn't be there til 11, so i was already an hour behind. the first thing i had to do was roll the pumpkins. most of them were on pallets, but we got so many this year that there were quite a few that weren't. if they stay in the same position on the wet ground they'll rot, hence the need for rolling. i estimate that i personally rolled about 100 pumpkins today, in a wide range of sizes from tiny to huge *smile*. and while the rolling was going on, i had to keep my kids from killing each other and help customers.

and i had some interesting customers. my first were two women who were looking for 3 almost identical pumpkins of 15" across. yeah, right *smile*. pumpkins that're that big are also really heavy, and who do you suppose they expected to carry these ginormous pumpkins? that's right--me! so i definitly got my workout today. between rolling them and lifting them, i don't think i'll need to go to the gym for a while *smile*. i also had a woman who wanted 50 mini pumpkins. thankfully she didn't need my help for anything *smile*.

my least favorite chore was moving the rotting pumpkins to the pile to become compost. ick! especially when you grab it in the wrong place and your hands are covered in pumpkin ooze. or one of your mini helpers knocks over the cart on which rotting pumpkins have been placed and hey explode all over the church yard. double ick!! *smile*

all in all, it was a fun day. we had wonderful weather for it, and the kids got to pick the biggest pumpkins they could carry *smile* and amazingly isabelle picked a short, fat pumpkin and alexander picked a tall thin pumpkin. go figure *smile*

so if you're in the market for a pumpkin in the pittsburgh area, be sure to stop by 3rd church. all the proceeds go to a very worthy cause *smile*.

for the love of power tools :)

2009-10-21T22:27:00.000-04:00

when i was in junior high i took both wood shop and metal shop, not becuz i really cared, but becuz that's where the boys were *smile*. but while i was there, i discovered a love of power tools. i could do a pretty darn good puddle weld with the oxyacetylene torches *smile*. i made a pair of shelf brackets and a bookshelf that i still use *smile*.

when i was a single girl, i had a tool kit with all the requisite screwdrivers and nails and my own power drill. i could put anything together, but don't ask me to sew on a button or hem a skirt. that's what safety pins and double sided tape are for *smile*. but when i got married, i married a man who really uses power tools, so i put mine away and was content to let him do all the work. i never had to put together another shelving unit, or take out the garbage, or worry about changing the oil in my car.

but then i started making jewelry, and i wanted real, professional looking display cases. and since i didn't want to spend the money buying them, i decided to make them. but my husband didn't have time to do it when i needed it done, so i rediscovered my love for power tools. what a thrill! *smile* i tried to talk him into letting me use his table saw, but he said no *smile*. plus, it's more of a table and storage area right now, so he'd hafta clear it off to use it anyway. i only needed to cut dowel rods, so i guess it would have been a little excessive, but it would have been a lot of fun *smile*

meet your new family...

2009-10-14T00:41:00.000-04:00

my dad has been really into geneology lately, which is really awesome, but kinda hard cuz his family isn't really who you would think it to be. apparently, his mom was married to one guy, but had a baby with someone else. oops *smile*. but luckily, she knew who the real father was, and in the past year or so, my dad has done some research and found his real father's family, with all of his half-siblings and everything. kinda cool. but also kinda weird. apparently his family was not what you would call, um, chaste *smile*. or, um, faithful *smile*. there's another "other family" somewhere back there on his mom's side, too. really weird. it's the kind of thing you read about in a book or see on tv (thankfully not jerry springer, though), but i had no idea that it was my family's history. i wish i were a writer, cuz this has the makings of a great novel. too bad it's true *smile*. i don't think non-fiction sells anywhere near as well. well, we could change the names to protect the innocent and sell it as fiction, right?

and on a completely unrelated note, i will be revamping my heavenlycreationspgh blog to highlight my jewelry more fully. i'm gearing up to sell my jewelry at blossoms of verona, here in pittsburgh, starting 10/25, and i've got a fabulous new line of sterling silver and 14k gold that i'll have available there. but i'll take pics of everything and have it on my other blog, so stay tuned and i'll keep you posted *smile*. and my holiday earrings are moving quickly on my etsy site! the autumn and "boo-tiful" earrings are still available with free shipping for a limited time, so grab them while you can! *smile*

a happy accident

2009-10-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

so i've been incredibly absent minded lately. it's gotten really bad. the last time i made granola i forgot everything that made it healthy (wheat germ & flax seed) and used a bit of garlic oil. luckily it was a very small batch. so i was extra diligent this time to make sure that i added the flax seed and wheat germ and only used canola oil. but i forgot the brown sugar this time. luckily i was very heavy handed with the maple syrup, so it actually turned out ok. i'd found a new recipe in parents magazine at my allergist and it called for 1 tbs of vanilla. it was really good, cuz i didn't add any chocolate (i usually use special dark cocoa powder *smile*) and with just the syrup and no brown sugar it was very lightly sweetened, but the plentiful chunks of pinapple, craisens and mango made it really delicious *smile*

my love of shoes

2009-10-09T20:32:00.000-04:00

i love shoes. at one point in time i had over 100 pairs of shoes, most of them black. i've really downsized in recent years, mainly becuz my husband refuses to dedicate as much storage space as i'd really like. and he keeps asking questions like "why do you need all these shoes? you don't even wear them. don't you have a pair of black shoes like those?" clearly he's a man, and will never understand my need for blue reptile print leather pumps *smile*

but i think i've passed my love of shoes (some would say addiction *smile*) on to my children. alexander really only has 1 pair of shoes--tennis shoes--that he wears constantly. but he does have a pair that he wears to church at Easter & Christmas (and whenever we're at grandma's house for mass *smile*) but he needed a new pair cuz they didn't fit. we were at a fabulous resale shop called once upon a child where i take their "gently used" clothing and get cash to buy them "new" clothing. while we were there, i found not 1, not 2, but 3 pairs of stacy adams in his size. anyone who doesn't know who stacy adams is has never bought fabulous mens shoes. they're right up there with florsheims. i didn't even know they made stacy adams for boys! i was so excited. and i found the most adorable pair of rain boots for isabelle. she wanted to carry them home herself.

so today, we're watching lightening mcqueen, and they both want to put on their new shoes. and alexander is tap-dancing in the kitchen on the hardwood floor (i don't know where he got that from *smile*) and asked me if he can wear his new shoes to bed *smile*. a boy after my own heart *smile*

FREE SHIPPING!!! smile

2009-10-05T11:14:00.000-04:00

well, i've decided to put my halloween and autumn earrings on sale from now until october 27th. all of my "boo-tiful" and autumn inspired earrings are available with FREE SHIPPING! they sold really well at the craft fair over the weekend, so i don't think they'll be around for long *smile*. the ghosts are my favorite. they're just so cute.

they're all glass beads with titanium fishhooks and stainless steel headpins. the boo-tiful pumpkins are embellished with crystals.

take a look at my shop, cuz i don't think they'll be available for long!

whoo hoo! yay me!

2009-10-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

i am so excited! i did a craft show/flea market/bake sale/basket weaving & apple butter making demo/farmers market today *smile*. and it went really well. the last thing i did, i only sold 2 pieces, my stuff kept blowing over, i'd lost my voice & i was placed right in front of the speakers *smile*. there were some challenges today, cuz i still had to work (and managed to do 5 clients), but i sold quite a few pieces, and passed out a lot of business cards, and even got the business card of a woman who owns a floral shop who was interested in perhaps carrying my jewelry! *smile* whoo hoo!

but like i said, the day was not without it's challenges. when i got there at 8am to start setting up, and found out i was supposed to bring my own table. that was info i could have used yesterday *smile*. but luckily i live nearby, so i called my husband and had him get the table out of the shed and transfered all my stuff from my car to his truck so i could take the table. but then, by the time i had everything set up, i had to go to work to do my first 3 clients. i barely had time to fill my friend michele in on prices and stones before i had to dash off to become a super-hairdresser *smile*. thankfully all of my clients were on time and uncomplicated so i was able to finish up and go back to my table.

while i was sitting at my table, i had alot of people approach, which was awesome, and i had to find the balance between over-bearing walmart greeter and uncaring ulta associate. i also had to resist the urge to lower my prices just becuz. people weren't trying to get bargains, but i still sometimes just felt that insecurity in my artistic ability. but when i sold an earring and necklace set for $35 and the woman didn't even blink, i knew i was okay *smile*

it was just amazing to do it. and now i really want to do another. but i'm afraid that if i do an actual craft fair with other jewelry makers that there'll be too much competition. i like being somewhere unconventional cuz people don't have anyone else to compare me to. but we'll see. a lot of these are on saturdays when i've got hair to do, or on sundays when i've got church. but i definitly want to try to do at least one holiday craft fair/flea market/bazaar/bake sale type thing. whoo hoo! *smile*

on a completely unrelated note, my computer room is in the basement, and right now both of my children are awake, which is always a challenge. but alexander had been pottying and came down to the basement all naked. when i asked him why he was all naked, he told me "cuz i like to" *smile*.

absentmindedness--a new disease?

2009-10-02T00:18:00.000-04:00

i think i may have a terminal illness--absentmindedness. right now it's 12:20 am and i am blogging becuz i forgot that i put bread dough in my bread machine at 8pm. for those of you that don't know, i make all the bread that my family consumes. well, we buy hot dog and hamburger buns, but dinner rolls, special occasion bread, foccacia (my favorite!) and sandwich/toast bread is all made by me. it's awesome, cuz i get to control what my family eats, but it sucks, cuz i have to make the bread, sometimes twice a week. and for anyone who's never made bread, it's a process. luckily i have a bread machine, so all i really have to do is remember i've put dough in and it's all good. unfortunately, i forgot. but i can't let the dough sit overnight, so i have to let it rise for an hour and at 1am it will be ready to go in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. *sigh*

but doesn't your bread machine bake? you ask. of course it does. but for anyone who's baked bread in a bread machine, you know that the size of the loaf is not conducive to toasting, which is really frustrating. so i take the extra time to make dough, and then put it in bread pans and bake it myself so that i get appropriate sized loaves for toast, grilled cheese and pb&j. *smile* i also then get to put flax seed, wheat germ and sweet potato in the dough so that's there's a little more nutrition. i also altered my recipe to add whole wheat flour. i don't think my kids have really ever eaten squishy white bread *smile*. i think i even use whole wheat flour in my foccacia. i usually make whole wheat pizza crust, too, but lately i've been lazy and have been making white, cuz the whole wheat you have to bake for 12 minutes before you put the toppings on and then bake for another 20 minutes. the white crust you only have to bake once you put the toppings on. i don't know why you have to bake the whole wheat twice, but that's what my book tells me, so that's what i do. but even my white pizza crust looks like whole wheat cuz i put in flax seed and wheat germ. and i did remember them tonight even though i forgot them in my granola *smile*.

well, only an hour til the whole process is complete. and i won't even have the energy to slice it warm with real butter. that's the best *smile*

rummage and granola

2009-10-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

so i love rummage sales. my church does 2 a year--spring and fall--and i help out with the set up every time. it's awesome, cuz if you set up, you get to shop early and get all the good stuff before it goes on sale *smile*. my biggest weakness is cardigans. i have SO MANY cardigans, and they're totally awesome! i love "old lady" cardigans with pearl buttons and "mr rogers" cardigans (for christopher, of course *smile*).

but this year as i was making a final perusal of the sale goods, i came across 2 boxes of fabric that the ladies had missed. yay me! i found a ton of fabulous quilting fabrics and some muslin and really fun halloween flannel (unfortunately not quilting flannel, but i have other uses for it *smile*). there were some great patriotic fabrics and some autumn fabrics and some really great traditional-y quilting fabrics. i'm very excited, cuz when my sister came to visit for isabelle's b-day, she really decimated my quilting stash. of course i did buy some of it with her in mind, but i think i might make her come see me to get it *smile*

and i made granola last night. i really shouldn't do anything important after 9:30 pm. i'm absentminded during the day after a good night's sleep, but at the end of the day, forget about it! *smile* i totally forgot to put in both the flax seed and the wheat germ and forgot that we were very low on canola oil. so i pulled down our little carafe of olive oil, not knowing that my husband had put garlic oil in there once upon a time. so as i'm stirring, i'm wondering why it doesn't smell like it usually does. so i add more cocoa powder. it wasn't until it was baking that i started smelling the garlic. you can't really taste it, but still! i can't eat this fast enough. good thing the children like it too--they can help me eat it so i can make a batch that's nutritious and non-garlic *smile*

google analytics

2009-09-29T00:37:00.000-04:00

i have gotten addicted to analysing my site traffic. it's completely fascinating. i was telling my mom that i'm an artist with the soul of an accountant, and it's totally true! *smile* the numbers fascinate me.

i'm new to twitter, but i'm amazed at how responsive it is. i put an item up for viewing and immediately there's tons of new hits on my etsy site. wow. now i need to do the research on what time of day it's best to post to get the optimum response *smile*. again, the accountant in me.

i finally figured out how to do google analytics on my blog as well. i love seeing where people come from when they come to my site, and seeing how many mac vs pc users there are.

now, i don't know how accurate these things are, becuz i get slightly different results from google than i do from craftcult on my etsy site, which is kinda frustrating. but i can't just do it for a short amount of time. i need to have a wealth of data to examine in order to determine what my best strategy is *smile*. is it too late for me to go back to school to become some sort of market researcher? *smile*

absentimindedness and bag bonanza

2009-09-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

so i'm incredibly absentminded. christopher blames it on my meds, but i think it's becuz i've got so many balls in the air, i can't remember which is which *smile*. so when i got home on monday and saw a package where the mailman and the ups guy leave my packages, i started racking my brain trying to remember if i'd actually bought any of the stuff i've got in my many online shopping carts (my cart at firemountain is always full *smile*). so imagine my surprise when i saw that it was my pay it forward from teresa of sewing trials. my sister had told me about her pay it forward, so i entered hoping to get something, and boy did i ever. *smile* and it came just in the nick of time. she sent me a wonderful set of shopping bags, and i'm one of those people they know at my grocery store, cuz i always come with my own shopping bags. now i have enough to have some in my car at all times, just in case. and it was my first dress rehearsal for the opera, and i needed a bag to use to take all my makeup and shoes and various accoutrement downtown, so they definitly came in handy *smile*. i also needed one to take my hair stuff down for the opening night party, in case anyone needed my professional assistance getting ready for the party. they were the perfect size to hold my blowdryer and flatiron, plus my clips, sprays, and combs. totally awesome!

there was also a set of wallets and notecard holders, complete with notecards and envelopes in one, and notepads in the other. and both had pens! i can never find a pen when i need one, so these are definitly going in my purse! and the little wallets are perfect for carrying feminine supplies that you don't want the world to see. awesome. and they close with a little button/tie closure. very cute and such a great fabric! *smile*

there were also some flannel scarves, which i have a feeling may become blankets for isabelle's babies. it's getting colder and even though she doesn't feel that her babies need clothes (she strips them naked as soon as they come out of the box), they always have a blanket *smile*. but there was one with music notes on it that is perfect for protecting a diva's instrument *smile*

thank you so much, teresa! your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated!

now i really need to get my butt in gear and figure out what i want to do for my pay it forward. i won my sister's as well, so i think i need to do 8 people. i need to confirm that, and i really need to wait until the opera is over, as well as the flea market this weekend at mt. hope church (frankstown road in penn hills, 10/3 from 8am til 3pm *smile*). but once life slows down, hopefully i'll have time to do something in time for the holidays *smile*

finally, a break smile

2009-09-23T23:02:00.000-04:00

so tonight was final dress for pittsburgh opera's eugene onegin. i'm so glad! it's been a really long week, and it's only wednesday. ususally the final dress rehearsal is on a thursday, but becuz the g-20 is here it pittsburgh, they're basically closing down downtown pittsburgh. major pain in the butt. but it's really nice cuz we have 2 nights off instead of only 1 between final dress and opening night. i'm really exhausted. when i come home from rehearsal i'm wired, so i can't get to bed before 1am, but my kids still get up at 8. oh well.

i've been using my time productively, though. i've been making more jewelry for the flea market i'll be at on 10/3 at mt. hope church in penn hills. i've got some really cute holiday earrings, both halloween and Christmas that are just adorable. and i'm really into making long necklaces lately. i don't know how well they'll sell, cuz since they take a while to design and make, and i'm using a better quality of supplies, they're kinda expensive. i got a fabulous sterling silver rose toggle clasp from my sister, and i really want to keep it for myself, but i may end up using it on a rose quartz and apatite necklace i'm designing. i'll keep you posted *smile*. i also made myself some fabulous chandelier earrings to wear on stage, but i left them in the dressing room, so i can't take a pic. i want to make a matching necklace but i'm not sure i have enough crystals left, but when i do, i'll have someone take a picture of me in costume so you can get the full effect *smile*

i'm hoping to stay home all day tomorrow and do some stuff, including taking some pics of my latest creations outside so i can get them posted to my etsy shop, but i think it's supposed to rain all day. i'm not really in the mood to get wet, just to take pictures, so we may have to wait a couple of days *smile*. but we'll see. i like using the rocks and trees in my backyard, but i may have to get creative if they weather channel is right. *smile*

busy busy bee

2009-09-20T23:29:00.000-04:00

well, i've been very busy lately. between rehearsals for pittsburgh opera (eugene onegin opens on saturday, sept 26th), making jewelry, doing hair, and taking care of my kids and husband, i've been a busy little beaver.

onegin is going to be a fabulous show. we did the studio run on friday, and it was amazing. they really spent their money wisely on the leads for this show. the tatiana is amazing! just amazing. i can't think of words to describe the beauty of her voice. for most of the rehearsals she hadn't been singing, but during the studio run, she finally let 'er rip, and it was so worth the wait. the men, for the most part, have been singing full out most of the time, but it was nice to finally have an opportunity to hear their arias and things we're not on stage for, and so don't get to hear during our rehearsals. and i think we sound pretty damn good ourselves. we've done an amazing job memorizing our russian, and i get to be a featured chorus dancer and am doing a pretty good job dancing our complicated waltz choreography while singing in russian *smile*. and it was very nice of the management to invite us to the opening night party again. now i have to decide what i'm wearing, whether i need to buy new shoes, and what jewelry i'm making for myself to wear *smile*.

but i've been working really hard on my jewelry as well. i'm doing a flea market at my friend michelle's church, mt. hope, here in penn hills, pa, on saturday, october 3rd. it should be a good time, but i'm not sure how much business i'll do. i've started making some new designs that're simpler, but a lot of fun, so i'm hoping they'll do well. but i've also gotten into using a higher quality of materials, which makes my stuff more expensive. so we'll see. even if i just get ppl interested in my stuff and get them to come to the website, that'll be cool. but i'd also like to sell some things *smile*. i made some earrings for my friend kellie's niece who has a very serious allergy to silver and gold, and she's ordered some more, which is cool. and i'm getting a lot more hits on my etsy site, which is also cool. i know it's slow in the beginning, and it's all about getting my name out there right now. it's working. blah *smile*

and i just had a glorious weekend. chris had an event to go to in youngstown this weekend, but i had work, rehearsal and church, so he took the kids with him to his mom's house and left me home alone all weekend! i had forgotten how quiet our house could be *smile*. it was the first time i've been away from isabelle overnight ever, and i missed them like crazy, but it was nice to have a break. of course i was late for church this morning cuz my alarm clock, alexander, was in youngstown, but it all worked out *smile*. i'm going to miss them a lot this week, too, cuz i've got rehearsal monday, tuesday, and wednesday for onegin, and i won't be home til after 11 each night. oh well. it's a nice paycheck, even if it isn't steady *smile*

duchess

2009-09-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

when i first started dating my husband he had a dog, and they were a package deal. not being a big fan of dogs, i really grew to love duchess. she was a really well trained dog, cuz my husband did a really great job with her, and she didn't jump on people or lick or really even bark. plus as she got older she really just laid there so it was perfect when we had the kids, cuz they could pull her ears and her tail and we didn't have to worry that she'd bite. if she was tired of playing, she'd go hide under something. of course that backfired when alexander was little, cuz he could crawl under and get her *smile*

but duchess got really sick this spring, and christopher had to put her down. it was a very sad day. so for his birthday (today *smile*) i commissioned a quilted wall hanging from my favorite fabric artist, Michelle Wescott, artisan in chief of The Quilted House and thequiltedhouse.etsy.com. she did a fabulous job. we did his birthday yesterday, cuz i have rehearsal tonight, and when he opened his gifts, i think i saw a tear in his eye. michelle did a fabulous job.

knowing her as i do, she had gifted my family with a wall hanging for christmas entitled "the family that sings" which included duchess. seeing that every day helped me know that she would be the perfect artist to creat a memorial to duchess. especially since we decided to not get another dog until the kids are older (or ever, if i have any say *smile*). but if we do get another dog, there will never be another duchess. she was really the perfect dog for our little family, and i'm so grateful to Ms. Wescott for creating the perfect memorial to her. *smile*

crafts with kids

2009-09-11T14:16:00.000-04:00

so, i've decided to embrace my role as a stay-at-home-mom a little more and include my kids in more of my activities. so today i decided to do some paper mache. amazingly, it was isabelle, who just turned 2, and not alexander, who's almost 4, who was totally into the project and was mommy's little helper.

i decided to m ake a paper mache head so that i could use it to display my headbands, cuz everyone thinks i need to put them on my etsy site. so when i was at a bead shop yesterday and the owner was totally gushing over my headband, i decided it was time *smile*. when family and strangers say they're cool, i'm like "okay...", but when someone who does beading for a living thinks they're totally awesome, then i really hafta think that maybe i've got something really great on my head *smile*.

so i set everything up in the backyard with a drop cloth and lots of newspaper that the kids helped me rip and my paste and the balloons. originally i was gonna do 2, but one popped, so we only ended up with one. and once alexander realized exactly how messy it was gonna be, he decided he just wanted to watch *smile*. needless to say, isabelle and i were pretty much covered in paper mache paste. it's very itchy when it dries. and then, of course, i decided it was really too big to be a realistic head (even for me *smile*), so i let some of the air out of the balloon and then had to reapply most of the paper. oh well. i'm pleased with how it turned out. now, when it dries, i'll hafta figure out how i'm making it not look like newspaper (scrapbooking paper and decoupage?) and how i'm doing hair (i'm thinking yarn *smile*). we'll see how it turns out in the end.

it was pretty fun doing this with the kids, although it's interesting that alexander's the one who doesn't like getting dirty. i swear i have my brother and sister's children, cuz that's totally my brother. although i was always clean as well. okay, maybe he's mine *smile*

my husband is the best! smile

2009-09-03T19:45:00.000-04:00

my husband is awesome! he managed to go down the chipmunk hole to retrieve my lost earring! i think i'll let it soak in some peroxide for a while *smile*

but on a happy note, i got my first commission! i'm so excited. a good friend's niece is allergic to both gold and sterling silver, so she commissioned some titanium earrings for her 10th birthday. there was some sort of kerfuffle at rio grande (which was the only place i could find titanium earwires), but they came in today and i'm having a lot of fun designing earrings for young girls. i definitly see a new section in my shop coming soon. and as soon as i get them done, and have some daylight, i'll post some pics *smile*

the perils of outdoor photography, or down the rabbit hole smile

2009-09-02T19:54:00.000-04:00

well, i finally figured out how to take great photos of my jewelry. when i first started i was taking them at the campsite, which was awesome, cuz there's all kinds of trees and stuff available. i'm not so lucky at home, but i've managed to make do and still take some great shots. while my mom was visiting this past week, i made some really great jewelry that i was really anxious to take photos of tonite before i lost the light, but unfortunately the branches i use extend over the ivy in our back yard. i guess there's a lot of small animals that live in the ivy, cuz one of my earrings fell in and down someone's hole. i hope they enjoy it! *smile*

one of the great things about having my mom here is that she really forced me out of my box, so to speak.

she was kinda like my creative advisor and really helped me create some fabulous earrings using color combinations i wouldn't have thought of myself.

she really helped me see things in a different way that i think really worked.

now i've got to get my kids to bed (another reason the chipmunks will be enjoying some jewelry *smile*) so that i can get them posted to etsy. my sister (thequiltedhouse.etsy.com) says that you should post something every day. i'm lucky if i get a couple of things every couple of weeks *smile*

my quilt

2009-08-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

sorry it took me so long to post this, but i finally had a chance to take pictures of my quilt on my bed. we're gearing up for company this week, so we're doing some cleaning, so it was a good opportunity for photos *smile*

so here it is:
it's hard to take a picture of the entire thing on the bed cuz it's so big *smile*

i was particularly proud of the center blocks.

i am just really proud of myself. it turned out so nicely. it's not as warm as i'd like, but come winter i'll put our old quilt inside and voila! instant warmth *smile*. the next quilt i make, though, i'll have to research batting a little better. i was suprised how un-warm it is. it was really warm when i was making it *smile*

surgery

2009-08-21T22:54:00.000-04:00

it seems that today was the day for surgery. my favorite aunt, aunt rainy, had a lump removed from her breast today, and i performed my first bottom-repair surgery on my son's teddy bear, teddy. both went well and both patients are recovering in stable condition *smile*.

my aunt's surgery made me realize that we have a history of breast cancer in our family. hunh? why did it take her lumpectomy for me to find out that she's not the first of my mother's sisters to have this problem? wow. it's very sobering, cuz i thought we were fine. my next-door neighbor is a breast cancer survivor. she's awesome. but i didn't think i knew anyone else. now, i don't think any of my aunts actually have or had breast cancer, but there's a definite history of female problems in our family. most of my female cousins have had hysterectomies because of fibroids and other "female complaints". my sister and i are the youngest of our generation, but thankfully now they have more advanced treatments. at least for some things. but for some reason none of this is talked about or discussed. of course, my mom's one of 10 and most of her siblings were very prolific, so my siblings and i have 40+ cousins in our generation, plus all of the 2nd cousins and their children *smile*. obviously it's hard to keep all this information current. but you would think that something important like a possible cancer diagnosis would be important enough to be passed down.

thankfully, though, aunt rainy is recovering peacefully and the procedure went well. we can all be grateful and thank God for that *smile*

the good and the bad

2009-08-19T00:30:00.000-04:00

well, i guess i am a true artist becuz instead of rejoicing at having made a sale, i'm sad cuz i sold my favorite pair of earrings and now i have to make myself another pair *smile*

i mean, i can't really be sad cuz i'm sure she's enjoy them, and i can always make another pair, but they were truly my favorites. and they went with everything from jeans to dresses and everything in between. but now i have to really get on the stick and add some new items to my shop cuz my listings are dwindling down. *smile* but all in all, i guess it's a good problem to have.

wow have i been busy

2009-08-18T07:54:00.000-04:00

wow. i hadn't realized how long it's been since i've blogged, but i've been really busy lately. we went on a fabulous vacation through beautiful, scenic ohio, and then up to our campsite, which is where i learned to take good pics of my jewelry. since then i've been busy re-creating my etsy shop (heavenlycreationspgh .etsy.com) and ordering new business cards and working with michelle and her etsy shop (thequiltedhouse.etsy.com) to create cross marketing opportunities.

the pics that i'd taken of my stuff before was really kinda crappy. i had totally convinced myself that i needed at least a nikon 400 dslr in order to correct this problem. but i discovered that my little nikon, that christopher rescued from the allegheny river, can take some pretty awesome shots with a little know-how *smile*. here's one of my favorites:
it's amazing what natural lighting can do *smile*

so after the campsite, i experimented at home. i hadn't realized all the features my camera has that i'd never even thought about! of course it also didn't help that the only instruction manual i could find is in spanish. *smile* but here are some more of my favorite pieces, some of which aren't even listed on my etsy site yet:

these are some of my favorite earrings, cuz they're so simple. they go with practically everything *smile* they're peach shell, with white shell donuts and red aventurine.

these i gave to my friend kellie for her birthday, but i love them so much i really need to make another pair. *smile* they're olive jade with swarovski crystal. just the perfect length to give a splash of drama without being overwhelming *smile*

i love amber! and i totally thought i'd never be able to work with it cuz it's hard to order online and know what you're getting. but i found some fabulous amber at a local bead shop and made this beautiful bracelet with white shell and silver daisies.

this is my all-time favorite bracelet. i honestly don't know if i can sell it cuz i don't have anymore of the brecciated jasper. there's a matching necklace that i don't really like anymore, so i guess i could make another one, but...i found the jasper on clearance at joann's and bought all they had. *smile* i love the boldness of the stone with the delicacy of the shell donuts and squares.

check out my shop cuz i'll be updating it regularly. i've got a ton more great stuff to add now that i've got awesome pics *smile*

new bootylicious design

2009-08-06T01:51:00.000-04:00

well, we just got back from a week-long driving vacation through beautiful, scenic ohio and what do i do? i stayed up late making another pair of cloth "big girl underwear" for isabelle, cuz i had an epiphany about my design flaw. so here it is almost 2am, but i'm so excited cuz i got it done so she can wear them first thing tomorrow, and they have baby elmo on them. *smile*

i'm really excited cuz this fabric does not specifically say that it must be used for non-commercial home use, so i think i can legitimately sell items made from it. and it's really gender non-specific. and hopefully when i see my neighbor tomorrow (really later today *smile*) i'll find that my pul film has come from wazoodle and i can see if that will make my life easier. it was shipped on 7/28, so i don't see how it could possibly not be here, unless they were walking it down from canada *smile*. but i think this will really work. i just need to see how they fit and whether or not i put in enough absorbancy. i'm tempted to get some sham-wow cuz it's amazingly absorbant and i wouldn't have to use a lot, so i'd get the absorbancy that i want without a lot of bulk. we'll see...

knowledge is bliss...

2009-07-30T00:09:00.000-04:00

well, i've learned a lot along this journey of cloth training pants creation. i've learned that not all fleece is created equal. apparently fleece is waterproof, but only if you buy the good stuff that's only available online. and microfleece is fabulous--at wicking moisture away from the baby, not keeping it inside. and they don't sell it anymore at joann's. i've also learned that there are a lot of options as far as waterproof barrier fabrics, and i'm excited to start playing with some. i've ordered some polyurithane laminate film which should be here soon that should make my assembly easier. right now i'm taking apart the old wraps that don't fit anymore, but i'm having to piece them together to make them the right size, which is very time consuming and kinda annoying. as much as i love quilting, this is not my idea of fun *smile*. and i realized that the "licensed" flannel that i bought (spongebob, scooby doo, etc) is for "non-commercial home use only." so i guess if i'm gonna be good and don't want to be arrested or sued, i can't sell it. but what if i didn't show pictures of it but just suprised ppl with it? *smile*

i made a pair of scooby doo nighttime underwear for alexander and he loved it. it fit really nicely and the pooch in the front was totally not a problem *smile*. unfortunately i have to figure out how to eliminate that for isabelle's *smile*. and i need to figure out how to make them quicker. my machine doesn't like to sew lots of layers of fabrics, which is unfortunate, cuz once you layer the inner lining, the 6-8 layers of absorbancy, the wicking layer, the waterproof layer, and the outer cover, you've got a pretty thick piece of something to sew in places. and of course i can't convince my husband that spending $1000 on a new sewing machine for another "hobby" is a good idea *smile*. i'll figure it out. my plan is to do it on the side for a while until i perfect my pattern and then put them online and when i've started making money THEN spring the idea on him instead of the way i usually do it--tell him in the beginning and then when it's a lot of fun and i'm spending far more than i'm making have to confess that maybe it wasn't a well thought out plan to begin with *smile*.

it would be nice to have a little extra income that i don't have to leave the house to make, but it's pretty time consuming. each pair takes a while to make--especially when my bobbin thread keeps breaking cuz my sewing machine is cranky. but i keep seeing viking freesias on ebay. if things go well, maybe i'll ask for one for Christmas *smile*

anyway, my final design is really adorable. i'll have to post pics next time, cuz i didn't take any yet, and they have all been worn and peed upon, so they're a little stinky (probably, tmi, but...*smile*)

the trials and tribulations of being a working stay-at-home mom *smile*