Runaway October » ’08 Resoltuions

Yay! Welcome back to me!

Katie — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:37:50 +0000

Okay, so after a 7 month hiatus, I am back. If you ever want to get comments on your blog, just stop blogging for a really long time. I hope to be back blogging regularly now. I overhauled the whole blog, got rid of unnecessary “features” and setup a new gallery tool. Be sure to check out the pictures, by clicking on the links either above or to the right. I update with pictures of the boys regularly.

New Year by *Sally M*

On another note, 2009 has come to a close. It was a year of ups and downs for us, like I’m sure it was for most other families. We were taken to court by one of my daycare clients, and nice guys always finish last. My husband bought me a wonderful new home! He also plowed through massive layoffs at his work and even ended up with a promotion. We were surprised with an unexpected pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. We made new friends, lost family members, and all in all I think we weathered the storm nicely. We can only hope 2010 is as good… Well, maybe with a little less of the downs, of course.

As is typical for me, I hope that I can use my blog to stick to my New Years resolutions, which are pretty typical for me, just look at the one’s from years past. But this time I have a whole house to decorate and make homey. On a budget. I also convinced Matt to buy this little pretty for my Christmas present…in pink of course.

Cavallini 2010 Daily Planner

My hope is that I’ll have plenty of space to schedule things ahead of time, so that I don’t end up scrambling the day before a birthday or 4 weeks before Christmas again. My plan is to make Christmas presents throughout the year, and maybe setup a couple crafting get-togethers. So if any of you are interested in meeting to have some good food, a few drinks and make batches of Christmas presents with friends, let me know.

I have lots of new recipes to try, crafts to make, sewing to do and I hope to do a bit of canning. And by a bit, I mean I think I’ve been bitten by a canning bug. I found a new source for cheap, fresh produce and homemade jam and jellies has never sounded better. I still need to set up and decorate my “craft room”. I’m kinda ignoring the fact that half of it is supposed to be for Matt’s computer stuff. We debate over the name of it constantly. Matt originally named it the S.O.R. — Server Operations Room. I’ve decided it’s the Sewing Machine Operations Room — S.M.O.R. That’s a much nicer name, don’t you think?

So those are a few of the things I’ll be working on this year. Wont you join me?

And remember, a blogger lives for comments. Please don’t be shy. If you drop by, lemme know you were here! To do so, just click on the link below that says “Leave a comment/# of comments” and type in whatever your heart desires.

Thanks for reading!

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Life Fail!

Katie — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:14:08 +0000

Sometimes it’s so nice to just wipe a slate clean and start over again.

Last years resolutions were hit or miss.

1…) Stop cussing, completely. Negative
2…) Smile more. Kinda sorta, I guess.
3…) Spend more individual time with Declan and treat him like an adult. Yes and no.
4…) Create and add some items to my Etsy shop. Nope.
5…) Do more craft projects — for myself and with the kids. Yes!

So, once again I’m going to set some resolutions and think about them randomly throughtout the year and feel bad when I don’t hit them 100%. Yep. Sounds about right.

1.) Stop cussing, completely — How did I end up wih such a potty mouth? While I admit that Declan telling me my ass is too big makes me giggle, it’s also quite embarassing in public.

2.) Detoxify the house — This one is difficult because my mom buys her own cleaning products and calls me, jokingly, a treehugger for my choices. It’s just so easy to have things build up under the sinks. Thankfully I clean so infrequently that it’s not a real issue to toss everything. I’m also going to start “No ‘Poo“ing my hair again. I tried before while working but couldn’t handle going out in public during the really wonky phase. Here’s a great LiveJournal community for it. We have an on again, off again relationship with the healthier beauty products, mainly because of finances. I think it might be time to just suck it up and buy what I know is best for the family — not best for my bank account.

3.) ETSY — Seriously, why can’t I get this going? I’ve decided not to do anymore swaps, so maybe that will make it easier? Wih the purcahse of a new sewing machine (50% off clearance sale) I’m definitly going to complete more projects, but I’d like to make a little extra cash too.

4.) Try to cut back on HFCS and MSG — With that combination it leaves next to zilch to buy. Thankfully Matt is on board with me and we’ve both done some research into the issue. Frankly it scares us.

Alright, I think that’s enough babbling. And the boys are waiting on me to watch a movie.

Thanks for reading!

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As Declan would say…

Katie — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:22:03 +0000

“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?

[singlepic=105,250]

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

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My progress thus far

Katie — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:07:31 +0000

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 D aring 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!

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2008, here I come!

Katie — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:49:30 +0000

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.

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2008 Resolutions

Katie — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:00:35 +0000

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!

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