Runaway October

"Phew!" with a dramatic swipe across his forehead.

I’ve actually been pretty busy of late. Remember those 17 loads of laundry stuffed on the couch that I mentioned? ALL folded, hung, sorted, organized and put away!! After 3 weeks it was hard to come up with excuses for why it was still there. But I’ve also completed 2 more aprons - one for Grandma Betty’s birthday, along with matching placemats and one for Nicky’s birthday. I finally got a new ironing board cover made. It’s super simple but took a day because of the nooblets… I mean the kidlets. (Does anyone remember Sixlets? Those were awesome!) I started a third apron for Ann today. Next up is my bag for the Market Tote Swap. I have the idea all worked out in my head, I just hope I can transfer it to reality easily.

So after all that’s done I’m going to start working on some smocking and shirring and posting items to my Etsy shop. I promise. No more swaps or birthdays and whatnot. I’ve found some gorgeous designer prints mixed in with the cheapy cottons at JoAnns and have totally scored bolts of them with 50% off coupons. I’m afraid to cut some of them up.

I’ve also been comtemplating getting a cottage license to sell the aprons that I’ve been making. The thing is it’s $100 for a year but I’m not sure if I could cover the cost with any profit I make, ya know? The license gives me the right to make and sell anything by Sew Liberated, formally Montessori by Hand, where as now I can only make and give such as all that I’ve made so far. It takes me about a week of fiddling to make an apron because of… interuptions. The hardest part is choosing the fabrics - I always worry that someone will get their apron and go "WTH was she thinking? This isn’t me at all!" I’m debating on just going it alone, or using someone else’s patterns. Any thoughts?

Here’s Grandma’s Apron. The reverse is a very pretty white Poppy print.

Well, honestly not the greatest.

• Did I cuss? Yes. Did I give up? NO!
• Did I smile more? Dunno, no one else but the boys were home with me.
• Did I spend more time with Declan? We did some laundry together, but nothing special.
• Did I do any crafts? Nope. I did try a new eggsalad recipe though, with a few touches of my own everyone really liked it. I also signed up for the Daring Baker challenges. Seems I missed out on January, but hopefully I’ll get in on February’s challenge. Yay! I am really excited about that.

I also had my final 10 week visit with my wonderful and adorable Midwife. Everything is good, Rowan has doubled his birth weight and then some, etc etc.

All in all it was un uneventful day. Tomorrow a have a little guy coming to play for awhile so that he’s used to us when he starts daycare with me on Tuesday. Exciting!

Well, here we go!

I’ve graduated from the world of MySpace blogs and here I am. Decidedly unhappy that I can’t have a custom theme until I set up my own domain but oh well, no need to get picky over little details.

My main reason for starting a freestanding blog was to help me stick to one of my New Year’s resolutions - to do more daring cooking adventures and complete more crafts. I’d even like to get some stuff completed and sold through my Etsy shop. I’m contemplating changing my shop name though. Such tough decisions.
Today breakfast was Sausage/Egg/Cheese/Potato/Onion breakfast burritos. Nothing new or fancy but tried, true and delicious none the less. Lunch was homemade macaroni from a recipe off the Carnation Evaporated milk can. It was alright. I was hoping it would be like the Outback Mac&Cheese, but alas, no such luck. Someday I’ll get it.

I spent a bit of my super early morning nursing and reading others resolutions, courtesy of decor8. Bad idea. Now I have 6 million I would like to add to my own list and whittling it down is hard. So here it goes.

1…) Stop cussing, completely. No “shoot”, no “Christ on a pony”, no “son of a biscuiteater”. The sentiment is the same, so technically it is swearing, just not using the actual word. This is going to be a super tough one.

2…) Smile more. I have one of those faces that in it’s normal state can be mistaken for a scowl, which in turn makes people think that I’m surly. Really, I’m not. Also a smile can make a persons day.

3…) Spend more individual time with Declan and treat him like an adult. This was great inspiration for that and it truly makes sense. If we want our children to grow up as respectful adults, we need to model that behavior always. Some days I go to bed and cannot think of a time that I sat down and played with Declan, or did more than fill a simple request for a glass of water. Poor little man.

4…) Create and add some items to my Etsy shop. It’s been open for almost 2 years now and I’ve never put a single item up for sale.

5…) Along with number 4 goes do more craft projects - for myself and with the kids. Declan is getting big enough that a little structured craft time would be fun for both of us. Also, sending home neat little crafts with my daycare kids would give me a great sense of satisfaction.

Of course there’s the mandatory ones - Lose weight, make more money, get organized, buy a house, get rid of debt…. blah blah blah.

So, that’s the long and short of it.

Good Luck on your resolutions and have a Happy 2008!