Did I Say Restraint and No More Consumer Posts?

OK and I might have bought these two beauties:

But who the heck can blame me at $3 a piece and $2.25 shipping. She has all earrings for $3 today, not sure what they normally are, but not much, and the quality looks great.

Again, on etsy http://www.beadediris.etsy.com/

Ugh. Garnet Hill Sale

I looooove Garnet Hill. Their stuff is top of the line and beautiful (ask me about their signature flannel sheets). They have these really wonderful sales which make you want to rush in an purchase purchase purchase. I'm doing some heavy duty resisting here today. But I thought I would share with you the great things I FANTASY bought today:

Lambswool/angora/nylon sweater

(I like the peacock color better but couldn't copy that picture for some reason)

Originally $128 Sale $19

Organic cotton hoodie original $60, sale $19

Skate-theme toddler tshirt
Original $28 Sale $4

I'm a master of restraint I tell you. Except for yesterday, when I bought some gorgeous yarn like this:

from http://www.yarntopiatreasures.com/ It's OK though b/c they are having a 10% off on their already super reasonable prices this month.

OK, next post I'm going to shoot for something not so consumer oriented. Perhaps I'll get some pictures of the progress I've made on my pants and some appliques I'm knitting up that just may end up adorning those pants.

Happy day to you!

Hippity Hop, Hippity Hop Easter's On It's Way! Beautiful Silk-Dyed Eggs

Never cared much for Easter. It was fun and all, but I always had this lingering anxious feeling about it. I think due to the Easter Egg Hunt. Too many other kids, too much comptetition to find the money egg,. We pretty much wanted each other to just disappear off the face of the earth so we had no more competition, yet we were all dressed up like little angels and expected to act accordingly. It didn't make sense I guess. I think I only did the dressing up thing once or twice, but it made an impression. Anyway, I'm digressing from my main point, which is holy cow look at these GORGEOUS eggs!

They are silk-dyed with scraps of thrift store silk! You can buy a kit from this lovely shop on etsy: http://www.thejunebride.etsy.com/ Or you can find your own scraps, as the wonderful shop keeper notes, she even generously provided these Martha Stewart directions that inspired the etsy listing: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/silk-tie-easter-eggs

Me and Willie had a great time last year, dying eggs with vegetable dyes we made ourselves, so I think this year we'll try this out. Its gonna be much less messy. Since we have some fantastic thrift stores in our area, I'm planning to find our own silk. It's a gamble though, b/c if I don't these etsy kits may have sold out. She has them up for a fabulous price of $10.50 and free shipping in the U.S. so I'm torn. But I love a good thrift store trip, so I'm going for it.

I think I'm totally into Easter as a grown up person.

Photo Editing with Picnik

A few posts ago I put up a picture of my first Earthbound Baby shirt and mentioned how I was not happy with the quality of the photo.

Well, a quick internet search turned up http://www.picnik.com/ a free photo editing website. You don't even have to register!

I don't know if it's quite as powerful as photoshop or anything, but it's easy to use and I think it made a huge improvement in my picture.

I'll have to do some reading up on my camera and its various settings because I still feel the shirt color isn't conveyed properly, but all in all I'm pretty impressed with the before and after, what do you think?

BEFORE
AFTER

Several days later now, and I'm looking at this and thinking "nah, it still stinks". So I dont' think picnik.com has what I need. Next step when I get some time will be to try out Bing. It's a free download that apparently has most of the capabilities of photoshop. I keep you posted!

The Wonderful World of Food!!!

I had settled in at work last night for a long, long evening. The night before we left at 11pm, so I figured it would be the same or worse last night. At 5:30pm we got the most pleasant surprise of all - we got sent home!!! This just doesn't happen during a session, so I was floating on air when I got home with even a tiny bit of twilight left.

When I walked in the house, this was the scene that awaited me:

Rowdy and Willie doing dishes, Boonie nukking away in the exersaucer.

It just doesn't get much more heartwarming than this, folks!!! Sigh.

The best part is that it was Boone's 6 month and one day birthday, which means....drumroll please....

SOLID FOODS!!!!

We didn't do it on his 6 month birthday as I was at work and this was NOT going to go down without Mama in attendance.

We are doing baby led weaning (http://baby-led.rhgdsrv.co.uk/), which basically means no purees, no nothing involving FEEDING baby. Baby feeds himself. I'm really excited about it and can already see how this is going to be a wonderful experience. We just put small samples of whatever we are eating onto his plate and he goes to town. Stick shapes are best, so he can grasp in his fist and chew on the end that sticks out. However, anything is fair game (minus some obvious choking hazards like grapes).

For his first meal, Boone enjoyed a healthy hunk of Elk steak, spinach, corn, and wild rice:

He enjoyed the heck out of the Elk Steak especially.

The rest he mostly smeared around and wore. But what a great way to get that tactile experience and develop his hand eye coordination. I am super stoked on baby led weaning so far. It was a blast watching him.

Big brother got in the game, hamming it up for the camera, but Boone was pretty focused on the task at hand.

My pumping days aren't over, as he will continue to get most of his nutrition from breast milk. He still pretty much ejects anything solid that gets past his lips, so we have a while til he starts consuming. Right now it's just a getting to know food stage. Sigh my boy's growing up.

Budgets and Signs of Spring

Bigwigs are here today.

Lotsa bigwigs.

Our governor called the legislature into a special session to deal with our 800 gazillion dollar budget shortfall.

We are all waiting to see

how our children will be taught.

Our streets policed,

and our fires fought...

In cheerier news...

GREEN GRASS!

And baby...um....DAFFODILS! Maybe...

Uh oh, oh dear....

Somebody got dressed in the dark this morning.
**giggles and runs off to hide feet under desk.**

Snug Organics, the Etsy Shop That Rocked My Morning

Oh, my, lord. I need I want I CRAVE these jammies for my boys. Made by Snug Organics http://www.snugorganics.etsy.com/ They are perfect in every way.

Actually, this shop is perfect in every way. Simple. They only sell these jammies.
Organic.
The colors!!!! They're all that lovely natural color but with punches of color on the cuffs.
The shop name just says it all - snug. And how!
Oh, it hurts!!!!

So far I've resisted hitting the "place order" button on these $48 gems. But I'm close. I almost did it but diverted and bought a bag of their scrap cotton instead. Maybe that will tide me over til sanity kicks in. I don't know though. If I'm stuck here at work til the middle of the night again, my trigger finger gets itchy and things happen!

Honey! I'm not home!

Long day at the office. It's 9pm and I'm still here. So no interesting posts today, no wit, no nothing. Just my food log, such as it is:

-piece of bread that was supposed to be toast but I didn't have time so I yanked it from the toaster prematurely, slapped on some peanut butter and honey
- two whole peanut butter and honey sandwiches dunked in low fat milk
- a few bites of left over elk steak and mixed veggies
- 4 almond hershey kisses
- large bowel of oatmeal with brown sugar and low fat milk
- banana
- some trader joes everything crackers
- couple hand fulls of graham fish (like teddy grahams, but fish)
- two caramel Girl Scout cookies
- two Dove bliss chocolates
- cup of mamas milk tea
- 1 mango
- one fruit/granola/chocolate chip bar

and I still have some pumpkin seeds, some organic trader joe's version pop tarts, and an apple which I reserve the right to devour if I am kept at work much longer. The end.

Dammit Dryers! And when to conceive a baby.

I did the grocery shopping this weekend. Rowdy had ice cream on the list, so down the forbidden isle I went, fully intending to buy some crappy praline flavor that won't tempt me. He loves that stuff. Well, part way down I saw a flash of green in my peripheral view..."was that...is it....oh no. oh hell. I don't need this! But there it was:

I'm doomed.

I had Boone in August. A week later I was down to my pre pregnancy weight and feeling very smug. That didn't last long. I started right in on the "I'm lactating and can eat anything I want" diet, then came Thanksgiving, then came the Christmas/New Years juggernaut, then came Valentine's Day, and now, just when I've resolved to eat fruit for dessert forever more, along comes Dreyers and their blissful collaboration with those infernal girl scouts. I ate two bowls full last night.

Ladies, if you haven't procreated before, heed this advice: do your breeding in the Fall and your birthing in the Spring. This way you have a whole Summer full of active outdoor holiday-free living and light eating during which to lose the baby weight.

As for me, I've been walking around with a spare tire wrapped around my middle, mindlessly repeating my new mantra: "it's all in the boobs, it's all in the boobs..." and every time I look in the mirror I'm reminded that, well, it's not all in the boobs. This afternoon I escaped to my bathroom for a long soak in a tub in which I USED TO fully submerse myself, and, pondering my high and dry belly, had a bit of a "come to Jesus" moment...this is it, this is that day that I always knew would come. My metabolism has slowed, my lifestyle is too sedentary, and the weight is no longer going to melt off. I have to accept that or start exercising to outpace my calorie intake, or I need to stop eating like a linebacker. Honestly none of these options are really acceptable. I mean, I'd love to exercise more - I wish it were part of my job though, b/c I just can't find the time at home. I know they do it on Biggest Loser and everybody says "oh you can, there's time, you just have to make YOU a priority" well I just think that's BS. There's not enough time, period. Don't argue with me about it. I'm not open to that sort of perky yet.

So my plan will be to put this blog to work for me. I will start logging what I eat and see if I can shame myself into good health. Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this into some Kirstie Alley style weight loss and inspiration (anyway, that doesn't work, Kirstie's already back to where she started) log, it's just my baby step towards some sort of change that will be tacked on at the end of the day.

So, day 1:

-1 bowl organic steel cut oats with butter, brown sugar, and low fat milk; 3 pieces turkey bacon, 2 scrambled eggs

-1 southwest chicken sandwich at the branding iron cafe - chicken breast, chili, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and a lot of french fries w/ ranch dressing and ketsup

-7 mini kit kats

-approx 1 cup peanut m&ms

-trader joes 12 grain crackers with cheese (approx 15)

-trader joes wild rice mix with mixed trader joes veggies (edamame, corn, peppers)

-1.5 cups Dreyer's thin mint ice cream

-large bowl trader joes organic corn flakes w/ low fat milk

water throughout the day

What the heck? It's winter time!

That's what Willie said this morning when he looked out the window and saw this:

The weather man called for a little snow and rain, which usually means it'll spit a little and stay brown, but wow! I think we probably got a couple of feet! Steven and Mindy were trapped in their house! Trapped I say!

When Steven saw us, he took the plunge and came to beg: look at that grin!

How can you not just stuff that grin full of ritz crackers and leaves and handfuls of grain? Oh my goodness I love goats!

Anyway, guess Winter's around for a while longer, that dumb groundhog was right.

The First Shirt

So, now, here it is, the first earthbound shirt. Like I said the other day, I'm not totally happy with the lettering. I'm also not happy with the way the shirt color looks on my screen - its such a beautiful color and, at least on this screen, it looks a little washed out. I do need to work on my photography. Anyway, here it is, I'd love to know what anybody thinks.

I got a workspace!

I did a little bit of cleaning yesterday and look! I unearthed a little bit of workspace in our office. I've been doing my shirt stuff on the kitchen table and all my supplies were getting scattered. Finally I had a little time to beat back the clutter, so here's what it looks like, photographed at a fortunate angle so as not to see the closet which is bursting at its seams and, quite frankly, embarrasing. I'm trying to keep this blog positive, right?

It's not completely functional, but it's a start. At least I have everything in one area now and not at risk of getting in the way of a kitchen disaster.

The Wish Bunny

Isn't she adorable? She's a little wish bunny on a scrabble tile covered with some sort of glass like resin. There are other bunnies too, one with its little nose sniffing a pretty flower, a pirate bunny, a bunny on its back playing with a butterfly. So stinking cute. And only $12.50 with shipping. The lady that makes them is from Ontario and has a shop on etsy: http://www.twentysix7.etsy.com I saw this little bunny in her avatar on the etsy forum and had to have it.

I spent most, well all and then some, of my "poor me for working so much I think I should buy myself a treat" money on supplies for the tshirts and knitting, but I decided $12.50 isn't so extravagant as to require I pass up a sweet little bunny pendant, so I bought it.

I'm aware that it is this type of thinking that has kept me firmly in the "I don't have enough savings to keep me going for 6 months in case of a disaster" category. I'm working on that along with the eating healthy and exercising thing.

YARN!

It came, it came! The yarn has arrived!
It's gorgeous! You should feel this stuff. It has this subtle sheen to it and the touch, oh the touch, it is soooooo soft and yummy. I hope I can do it justice. I just finished the crotch gusset on my practice pair and, I don't know. I'm not loving it. But I think that's b/c the pattern I'm using only calls for like 4 increased stitches so its just a tiny little gusset and I think I like big meaty ones. She does say if you like them wider to start increasing earlier, so I think I can adjust it. Its a great pattern, its more like a guideline for knitting longies, no specific pattern requirements. Here's a link for those of you who are curious: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nifty-knickers hmm, maybe you have to be registered at ravelry.com, but if you're interested in the pattern, you should be anyways, its a great site for knitters. Anyhow, I cannot wait to get started on this knew yarn. It's all I can do to finish my practice pair and see if I can actually get it done.

Printed the "earthbound" on to my first shirt last night. I'm a tad disappointed. It's hard to get just the right pressure so that the letters don't blur or get chubby....but it's not terrible. Its the one I'm hoping to use for my etsy listing pictures, so hopefully it will photograph well. It didn't print perfectly, but doing it by hand, I can't really expect it to print perfectly everytime and neither can customers, so I really have to love it or leave it and have them printed by a printer, and that just doesn't seem "handmade" to me, though it does qualify as far as etsy is concerned since it's my own artwork. Anyway, I'm going to get some more opinions and see - I'll try to remember to post pictures tonight if I'm not knitting away like a madwoman, and see what you my blog followers think ;-)

OK, off to slather myself in some pacifica perfume and oh, one more post for you about an etsy purchase I made yesterday.

Hiphopcracy

The Rob Base "It Takes Two" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IBRbzf3Fws song came on TV today, morphed into, I believe, an insurance jingle. I ran with it though and spit some mad lyrics at my 4 year old who covered his ears and said "That's too loud!" Kids these days.

So, I think I might be a hypocrite. I have high standards of parents and how we should teach our kids to enjoy the simple things in life, the things that matter. We should also emphasize to them the importance of fresh, healthy, organic meals. We should never let a television be a substitute for quality time spent with human beings. All that stuff. Well, here's Willie on our way to school this morning:




Yes, that's Starbucks. And yes, that's a DVD player he's staring at. Ahem. In my defense I told them HALF THE CHOCOLATE in his hot chocolate; and he's watching a National Geographic DVD. Do I get partial credit?

Unprofessional

Yesterday at 3:50pm an email was sent out asking us to dress professionally for work today since the interim finance committee is meeting today and there will be bigwigs in attendance. I got that email today at 8am. Mind you I work in a bat cave of sorts and would only be seen by a bigwig should said bigwig happen to get lost in a very un-interesting wing of the building. This is very unlikely as bigwigs don't tend to get lost and especially don't tend to get lost in boring parts of the building. Lost out on the lawn accidentally getting airtime on the news? Possible. Lost in the legal division, spying on proofreaders in peasant rags? Laughable. So here is what I looked like:
Then I called up my dear hubby, walked him through my closet over the phone "now look to your left, on the pants hanger there are some black pants....what does the label say? Banana Republic, bingo, grab those pants. Now up in the sweaters, 2nd pile, about half way down, do you see the slate blue, I mean bluish gray sweater...grab it"....and now this is what I look like:

Now I can go join Rowdy for lunch at the deli and not be inappropriate. By the way, I called - he's bringing the lint roller with him.

Progress

Studies show people that spend more than 6 hours a day at a desk are 65% more likely to be overweight. Great. And here I sit eating scones on top of the eggs and bacon and grits I had before I left the house. Great. Here I sit with my behind in agony from a little half hour walk I took on Monday. Oh boy, not boding well for my fitness. I must change my habits, I will change my habits...tomorrow.

In happier news, the wash test worked wonderfully with the ink I heat set properly - imagine that! So night before last I got up the nerve to put my angel wing design on one of the official shirts. I chose a short sleeve smoke blue one and it looks FANTASTIC! I'm so super duper excited. I was going to put the text on the front last night but had the brains to pull out a 0-3 month size and see if the text fit it...surprise! It doesn't. So I made up a new screen with smaller text. Hopefully it will be dry by tonight and I can print the front.

Next step is make a couple of other screens for two other designs and test them out. I'm also progressing fabulously with the new pants design I'm learning. Short rows had me intimidated, but thanks to a great tutorial on ravelry.com I am no longer afraid. They are super simple. I think it will be the same with the crotch gusset. I'm almost to where I start that. So I'm making leaps and bounds in the craft world. Have to iron out details, and am hoping to stock my store by the first or second week of March!

In the parenting department I might be lacking - my son told me last night that I would not be invited to his birthday party at Chucky Cheese's. I told him to have fun without me 'cause who would make the cake. This morning I also told him to tell another kid at school to get bent. Maybe not the best motherly advice? Well, the kid was telling him he had to bring toys for him and some other older boy and to me that just seems a bit bossy and I won't have any bossy older boys taking advantage of my little perfect boy. Then I started thinking how that bossy boy is poor and probably doesn't have any toys and that maybe we should bring toys for ALL the kids. Then I started to think how this toy obsession is ridiculous and that boy is better off without these lame modern day toys because maybe he will learn the fun that can be had with a stick and his own imagination, and then I started thinking about where in the world did my kid come up with the idea of a CHUCKY CHEESE'S birthday party?

Quail treasure

Admire with me if you will, this lovely left in our backyard by one of the many quail that live in our neighborhood. No, we did no pull it from a nest, it was just left lying out in the backyard by itself at the mercy of the dog and chickens, so I'm pretty well convinced it was never destined to be a quail baby. It will join my collection of tiny beautiful eggs. It only just became a collection because now I have two.

Dr. Evil

If I could I would buy Boone an exersaucer that was black and grey and call him Dr. Evil when he sits in it. It would be perfect, b/c he is like a little ruler of his domain in that thing. If you make a noise behind him, he whips around with this grouchy little face - daring the insolent subject to make that noise again. Then he always has a little finger in his mouth - doing his best Dr. Evil "one MILLION dollars" impression. And there's this little model of the earth on it and he looks at it and chews on it and I can only imagine he is planning the fate of the whole world that he holds in his tiny little hand. Alas, his exersaucer is a very cheery mix of primary colors. I turned to photobucket to evil it up a little for me, and here's how it turned out:

"...one mmmiiiiilllllion dolllaaaarsss!....what the..."
"You there! Insolent subject! Explain yourself and this camera clicking noise you are making! You have disturbed my finger chewing and evil book reading!"

Later that day: planning earth's doom...

Evil laugh "muaa ha ha ha ha ha"

Or something along those lines anyway.

Thank you Presidents!

The Man gave us a day off for President's day!!!! I'm thrilled beyond words with it, so this post will be mostly pictures. I had a wonderful dream last night where I sat on the bluffs over the ocean with good friends, drinking some good beer and having a steak and salmon bbq. We all watched and laughed as a huge group of sea lions splashed around in the waves below, snatching fish that were jumping from the waves. I woke up to sunny skies and fresh air - it felt like spring! So I went outside to say hello to our critters I've hardly seen since November. Here they are:

This is Steven, our

French Alpine goat. We've had him

since he was just a few months old.

Behind him you can see Mindy. She's shy, but

she's the brains behind our goat operation. Before she came along, Steven had no idea he could climb up on top of his house. She's a tiny pigmy, and on day one she just leapt up there.

We call her Mindy the Flying Goat

Here she is:

Mindy The Flying Goat lives for Ritz crackers. This morning we didn't have any. I offered whole wheat Saltines. This is the look she gave me. Steven ate the crackers.

Rowdy let the chickens free range yesterday and this morning. Where we live out here in the desert, that doesn't mean much in the way of

nutrition. It's a pretty barren landscape

But it means covering some new ground I guess. Anyway, the chickens always make me feel quite popular, following me around like I'm the messiah, bringer of all kitchen scraps. I try not to disappoint. Boy, do these ladies know how to dress.

Look at that spectacular

plumage!

And then there's Fat Baxter. I threw out a beet for the chickens

and Baxter dragged it off. If he eats it, I'll post

a picture of his red face later. He tries to be tough and scare

the chickens, but it doesn't really work:

Poor Fat Baxter. He's a softie and about 13# over weight. There's no hope.

Now we are going for a family walk in the desert. Rowdy is laughing at Willie because it's taken him so long to get dressed this morning that he's had to go potty three times since he started. Willie is hollering that he doesn't like people

laughing at him. Which made me laugh at him.

Boonie is watching the world around him happily, saying

"ah" "aah".

This is the face that greeted me when I woke up this morning:

Now you just really can't go wrong waking up to a face like that, can you?

Family Portrait

Quick update on the tshirts: the wash test didn't go so well. Or, it went well, I learned a lot! How's that for a positive spin. The letters kinda faded - the outlines are black though, not sure why, but the insides of the letters faded. It actually looks kind of cool. But I don't think I should be trying to pass of happy mistakes to my customers, and I'm worried that they might continue to fade with each washing. I'm pretty sure I didn't heat set them long enough. So tomorrow I'll test out the new lower case lettering on the same shirt, heat set longer, and wash again. Onward and upward as always!
Today I'd like to share a self-family portrait we took summer before last. We were coming out of a kind of sad time. I had miscarried about a month earlier and we had all suffered no small amount of heartache over that one. My mom came out to stay with me for a while and it was really nice to have her there. And with that cute little boy running around (that's Willie, my now almost 4 year old), who can stay sad too long? So this picture was to go in cards sent out to friends and family to thank them for their love and support and let them know we were doing well. The final picture is what went out, but I have to say, more than the end result I love the whole series. It's just so.....us.


Steven the goat, check. Willie, check. Hold on to 'em Rowdy!

Uh-oh, the kid's been replaced by the lazy dog! Get out of there Fat Baxter! Mom, get that kid!


The camera is clicking away, positions everyone!

This is that irritated owl look I talked about in my first post. Even the goat is getting annoyed. And Baxter's over it too.


Finally, the happy family pic we've all been waiting for. Minus Baxter. And Steven is about to sample my son's arm for tenderness.

I keep smelling myself...

This probably violates some cool blogger code, this blogging for the third time in perhaps as many hours, but what can I say? I'm not cool, and this is my first day. There you have it. I just want to share a product I have basically been rolling in for the last few weeks since I bought it. Pacifica solid perfumes (http://www.pacificaperfume.com/) This is obviously no paid advertisement, check my number of followers, they'd be wasting their money, I just truly love this stuff. I'm not a perfume kind of girl either, typically they make me nauseous. These never get old...unless I'm pregnant and that goes without saying. They do wear off after a few hours, but that's OK with me, it leaves me wanting more! I am currently alternating between Nerola Orange Spice, Tibetan Mountain Temple (has its own facebook fan page!), and Tahitian Gardenia. They come in beautiful little tins, perfect for carrying in a pocket or purse, adorable for gift giving. They're made of all natural goodness, and they cost about $10.
AAAHHH! Two followers since I started my post! I'm not all alone anymore! I love you etsy people!