Monday, November 16, 2009
Pretty as a Peacock
Our Pretty as a Peacock Baby Mary Janes are being featured in a charming blog http://cavanjenleah.blogspot.com/2009/11/shiny-shoes.html. This is such a sweet blog created by a first time mama, in love with her little one! One of the most unexpected, yet really cool things about having an online business/presence is meeting and interacting with folks from all over the country (and a few worldwide)! For many, a major factor in their choice to buy handmade is because they know there is an actual person behind that product, putting their best effort into creating a quality, unique item. I have started buying more and more handmade items; the quality is usually superior to mass-manufactured goods, I've always sought out unique items, I know that I can contact the person who created the item if I have questions or concerns, and I'm supporting another entreprenuer! Buy handmade!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Our newest creation is being featured...
Our newest offering, The Privileged Pooch Dog Cart Cover, is being featured in a charming blog: http://lydiaandpugs.blogspot.com/, check it out for all things pugtastic.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Heather's Helpful Household Hints
I do not purport to be any sort of domestic diva, but in my daily battle against 2800 sq ft/3 boys/1 dog, I have picked up a few weapons.
Problem #1: Laundry Mountain!! My wonderful hubby assigned himself the task of washing and drying the laundry, and then piling it up in a giant mountain on our bedroom floor (or whatever bare spot of floor he could find).
Weapon #1: I had the husband buy a simple countertop from Home Depot and install it over the tops of our washer and dryer. I then purchased a laundry basket for each member of our family and lined them up on the countertop. Now, as he takes the laundry out of the dryer, he sorts each person's out to their basket and then (usually when the baskets are brimming over) they take their basket and fold and put away their own clothes. This isn't such a wonderful solution if your children aren't able to fold and put away their own laundry but it still helps keep things much more organized. I cannot tell you how much easier this has made the whole laundry problem!!
Problem #2: Constant crumbs and scraps on countertops, generated by children preparing their own breakfasts and snacks.
Weapon #2: I actually saw this solution on Jon & Kate Plus Eight (before they imploded). The stores sell tiny handbroom and dustpans, so I purchased one for less than $2 and designated it for counter top use ONLY. It is also useful in transferring chopped veggies to the pan and can be easily washed with dishsoap.
Problem #3: The Dreaded White Tile Kitchen Counter tops. Now, I am extremely grateful to God for our home, including our tile counter tops, but they are tremendously difficult to keep clean.
Enter Weapon #3: The semi-ugly vinyl tablecloth. I keep a vinyl tablecloth on our kitchen island and direct ALL food prep to the island. The tablecloth lasts through several months of cooking, cleaning, and sanitizing before it needs to be replaced. It is not the prettiest thing but has saved me HOURS of cleaning time because there are no grout lines for junk to get caught in or stain. So, until we are able to replace our tile with the quartz that we desire, the vinyl tablecloth will do. On a side note, disposable plastic tablecloths are wonderful to put down on the dining table when the kiddos are playing play dough, painting, coloring, etc. I will stop in to Party City a few days after a holiday and pick up a stack of disposable tablecloths for a quarter each, and let the celebration continue all year!
Problem #4: ANTS, ANTS, ANTS, I'm so sick of ANTS!! These are obnoxious little water ants who come inside in the summer and aren't considerate enough to limit their travels to the pantry, but show up in the bathrooms, bedrooms, closets. AAAHHHH!!!!
Weapon #4: My mother gave me this recipe for Natural Ant Bait/Killer and it is a very inexpensive and natural way to get rid of them for good (at least for the season)!
ANT KILLER RECIPE
1/2 Cup Water
10 oz Caro Syrup
2 tsp Boric Acid (can be purchased at any drugstore, it's used for an eye wash)
Heat over low until well blended and let cool completely. Put some drops in various places in the path of the ant trail, either directly on the surface they're on, or on pieces of paper or bottlecaps.
IMPT NOTE: The amount of ants will greatly increase for about a day as they all come to drink, but by day two the amount will have markedly diminished, and day three should see all ants gone from the area! Apparently, the ants take the boric acid laced sugar back to their nest and the colony eats and dies, thus keeping them from returning to your home. Note, this works on ants not aunts, sorry! ;0)
I hope you're able to benefit from one or more of these weapons and would love to hear about your weapons against house destruction.
Problem #1: Laundry Mountain!! My wonderful hubby assigned himself the task of washing and drying the laundry, and then piling it up in a giant mountain on our bedroom floor (or whatever bare spot of floor he could find).
Weapon #1: I had the husband buy a simple countertop from Home Depot and install it over the tops of our washer and dryer. I then purchased a laundry basket for each member of our family and lined them up on the countertop. Now, as he takes the laundry out of the dryer, he sorts each person's out to their basket and then (usually when the baskets are brimming over) they take their basket and fold and put away their own clothes. This isn't such a wonderful solution if your children aren't able to fold and put away their own laundry but it still helps keep things much more organized. I cannot tell you how much easier this has made the whole laundry problem!!
Problem #2: Constant crumbs and scraps on countertops, generated by children preparing their own breakfasts and snacks.
Weapon #2: I actually saw this solution on Jon & Kate Plus Eight (before they imploded). The stores sell tiny handbroom and dustpans, so I purchased one for less than $2 and designated it for counter top use ONLY. It is also useful in transferring chopped veggies to the pan and can be easily washed with dishsoap.
Problem #3: The Dreaded White Tile Kitchen Counter tops. Now, I am extremely grateful to God for our home, including our tile counter tops, but they are tremendously difficult to keep clean.
Enter Weapon #3: The semi-ugly vinyl tablecloth. I keep a vinyl tablecloth on our kitchen island and direct ALL food prep to the island. The tablecloth lasts through several months of cooking, cleaning, and sanitizing before it needs to be replaced. It is not the prettiest thing but has saved me HOURS of cleaning time because there are no grout lines for junk to get caught in or stain. So, until we are able to replace our tile with the quartz that we desire, the vinyl tablecloth will do. On a side note, disposable plastic tablecloths are wonderful to put down on the dining table when the kiddos are playing play dough, painting, coloring, etc. I will stop in to Party City a few days after a holiday and pick up a stack of disposable tablecloths for a quarter each, and let the celebration continue all year!
Problem #4: ANTS, ANTS, ANTS, I'm so sick of ANTS!! These are obnoxious little water ants who come inside in the summer and aren't considerate enough to limit their travels to the pantry, but show up in the bathrooms, bedrooms, closets. AAAHHHH!!!!
Weapon #4: My mother gave me this recipe for Natural Ant Bait/Killer and it is a very inexpensive and natural way to get rid of them for good (at least for the season)!
ANT KILLER RECIPE
1/2 Cup Water
10 oz Caro Syrup
2 tsp Boric Acid (can be purchased at any drugstore, it's used for an eye wash)
Heat over low until well blended and let cool completely. Put some drops in various places in the path of the ant trail, either directly on the surface they're on, or on pieces of paper or bottlecaps.
IMPT NOTE: The amount of ants will greatly increase for about a day as they all come to drink, but by day two the amount will have markedly diminished, and day three should see all ants gone from the area! Apparently, the ants take the boric acid laced sugar back to their nest and the colony eats and dies, thus keeping them from returning to your home. Note, this works on ants not aunts, sorry! ;0)
I hope you're able to benefit from one or more of these weapons and would love to hear about your weapons against house destruction.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Does size matter?
A new issue has recently begun to occupy some of my thought time; are bigger ears really better? Now, our culture tells us that the bigger the ears the better and I think most of us in one way or another subscribe to that notion. I myself had been endowed with fairly ample ears for most of my life and this was a non-issue to me. Now, though, the ravages of exercise and mothering 3 boys has taken it's toll and my ears just aren't what they were. Culture has gotten me thinking that my ears are now somehow inferior to the ideal.
However, a marvelous new world has opened to me, housing a vast array of wonderful new earrings that I could never wear before. There are SO many cute varieties of strapless earrings and they actually look cute and stay on my ears. Because of my smaller ears, the rest of me looks smaller-it's amazing how much bigger big ears can make a person look. I mean, look at Minnie Mouse and Dumbo, major porkers, right!?! And Jessica Rabbit; HUGE ears! There's no longer any more danger of my earrings popping open at will. I am more streamlined in the pool, much less drag!
So, to all you folks getting ready to jump on the ear-implant bandwagon, stop and consider the wonderful advantages to keeping the ears God gave ya'!
Of course if my ears start to hang down to my shoulders, I might be singing a different tune!
However, a marvelous new world has opened to me, housing a vast array of wonderful new earrings that I could never wear before. There are SO many cute varieties of strapless earrings and they actually look cute and stay on my ears. Because of my smaller ears, the rest of me looks smaller-it's amazing how much bigger big ears can make a person look. I mean, look at Minnie Mouse and Dumbo, major porkers, right!?! And Jessica Rabbit; HUGE ears! There's no longer any more danger of my earrings popping open at will. I am more streamlined in the pool, much less drag!
So, to all you folks getting ready to jump on the ear-implant bandwagon, stop and consider the wonderful advantages to keeping the ears God gave ya'!
Of course if my ears start to hang down to my shoulders, I might be singing a different tune!
Monday, June 29, 2009
3!
Oh to be 3 again!
Life is at your fingertips, and coordination has become your friend. You believe yourself to be fully capable of making your own meals, like apple butter and ketchup sandwiches. You aren't satisfied to merely fill the bowl to the top with cereal, it must be overflowing, thereby affording you the joy of spreading it to the farthest recesses of the house. The pantry is a jungle-gym of delight, each shelf featuring yet more treasures and potential for terrific messes.
Alas, suddenly one day you find yourself barred from this bastion of delight by a strange lock thing completely out of your reach. Oh, the agony and despair...until you remember that the fridge is not just for smearing hand prints across and letting ice and water tumble down in a glorious cascade. No, it also holds untold riches! You run gleefully (yet stealthfully, you are a secret agent after all) to it and yes, it does hold wonderful things. Watermelon, as delicious to eat as it is to drop all over the floor and track into the next room. Milk and chocolate sauce, you "skillfully" combine as you wondrously realize that you don't need someone else to make chocolate milk for you, and oh, the resulting puddle is perfect for finger painting! And there are shelves to climb in here too! What fun, what joy, oops some one's coming, run!!
Ah, the office, what fun it is to pull a paper from the bottom of the stack and watch the entire stack come fluttering down like Autumn leaves. The whiteboard markers are perfect for the tribal tats that you've been meaning to apply to your arms and face, and (if you have the time) your entire body and part of the wall. Just for good measure, you dump out a container of crayons making sure to evenly distribute them over the entire floor, and knock off a few shelves of books looking for that specific story you've been meaning to read.
Then, it's on to the bathroom. The bathroom is almost as much fun as the kitchen, here you can unwind (the toilet paper) and relax (by squirting out the bottles of lotion and bubble bath) you can finally get to all that washing (of the aforementioned toilet paper) and read a good book (ripping out the most important pages for later reference).
But, the best room of all: the playroom!! There, you can dump out several hundred thousand Legos in 25 seconds flat (you've been working on your speed), scale the heights of the bookshelf to bring down brother's airsoft bb's (these are THE most fun to sprinkle about the room), there's tub after tub, shelf after shelf, drawer after drawer to dump and comb through for the wonders they contain(ed). You are drawn out of your blissful stupor by a single question you faintly hear your Mom asking: "Who made this mess?" Your reply, "Not me!" and merrily you continue on your way.
Oh, it's marvelous being 3!
Life is at your fingertips, and coordination has become your friend. You believe yourself to be fully capable of making your own meals, like apple butter and ketchup sandwiches. You aren't satisfied to merely fill the bowl to the top with cereal, it must be overflowing, thereby affording you the joy of spreading it to the farthest recesses of the house. The pantry is a jungle-gym of delight, each shelf featuring yet more treasures and potential for terrific messes.
Alas, suddenly one day you find yourself barred from this bastion of delight by a strange lock thing completely out of your reach. Oh, the agony and despair...until you remember that the fridge is not just for smearing hand prints across and letting ice and water tumble down in a glorious cascade. No, it also holds untold riches! You run gleefully (yet stealthfully, you are a secret agent after all) to it and yes, it does hold wonderful things. Watermelon, as delicious to eat as it is to drop all over the floor and track into the next room. Milk and chocolate sauce, you "skillfully" combine as you wondrously realize that you don't need someone else to make chocolate milk for you, and oh, the resulting puddle is perfect for finger painting! And there are shelves to climb in here too! What fun, what joy, oops some one's coming, run!!
Ah, the office, what fun it is to pull a paper from the bottom of the stack and watch the entire stack come fluttering down like Autumn leaves. The whiteboard markers are perfect for the tribal tats that you've been meaning to apply to your arms and face, and (if you have the time) your entire body and part of the wall. Just for good measure, you dump out a container of crayons making sure to evenly distribute them over the entire floor, and knock off a few shelves of books looking for that specific story you've been meaning to read.
Then, it's on to the bathroom. The bathroom is almost as much fun as the kitchen, here you can unwind (the toilet paper) and relax (by squirting out the bottles of lotion and bubble bath) you can finally get to all that washing (of the aforementioned toilet paper) and read a good book (ripping out the most important pages for later reference).
But, the best room of all: the playroom!! There, you can dump out several hundred thousand Legos in 25 seconds flat (you've been working on your speed), scale the heights of the bookshelf to bring down brother's airsoft bb's (these are THE most fun to sprinkle about the room), there's tub after tub, shelf after shelf, drawer after drawer to dump and comb through for the wonders they contain(ed). You are drawn out of your blissful stupor by a single question you faintly hear your Mom asking: "Who made this mess?" Your reply, "Not me!" and merrily you continue on your way.
Oh, it's marvelous being 3!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Age
I have recently been ruminating on the strange relationship our culture has with "age". The impetus for this is the "impending" advancement in age for my youngest. From the time he turned 2 years and 7 months, people (especially his dad) have been saying that he's almost 3. So, even though his birthday is a month and half away, I feel like he's already been 3 for quite some time, thereby robbing him (and mommy!!) of getting the full, allotted, 2 year-old time. Experience with my older sons, indicates that this will continue for several more years, after which time the child will take over the stretching of the age. This will continue until the age of 21, when it begins a slow, but escalating reversal, wherein the person gradually begins to lose years, and then decades, off their age. So, by the time they reach 80, they're saying they're 55.
So, think about it, you could actually die younger than you are now!
Viva la wackiness,
36 years, 1 month, 9 days-going on 28
So, think about it, you could actually die younger than you are now!
Viva la wackiness,
36 years, 1 month, 9 days-going on 28
Friday, March 6, 2009
My Etsy shop is being featured!!
I was contacted by another artisan on Etsy (who has lovely jewelry by the way, http://www.kalicat.etsy.com/) who desired to interview me and feature me and my shop on her blog. I am very excited about the wonderful exposure and validation of my work.
Check it out at: http://honeyandsweets.blogspot.com!
Check it out at: http://honeyandsweets.blogspot.com!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Neatostuff
My Surf's Up Baby Mary Janes from my etsy shop are being featured on http://www.neatostuff.com/2009/02/12/baby-steps/ today!! I really like these sweet little shoes and am adding new fabrics and patterns all the time, I just need to make the time to photograph them!
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