Invisible mama rant + a little quilt talk

Do you ever feel invisible? In the mama gig I'm so very, very happy that the boy gets to be the focus of attention. I don't enjoy attention, really, and he's adorable. I also don't, however, like the whole dismissal that happens when people (too many people lately) decide I'm just a mom and am therefor, evidently, without thoughts, feelings or any other non-robotic-like capabilities. Yes, I feel a bit mechanical when washing the booster seat tray for the eighth time in a given day but I also know about the world, I have a few decades worth of life I've navigated through, I have stories to tell (even non-kid ones) just like the next guy and I'm doing big stuff for the world. I'd argue that what I'm doing is critical. This time I devote to raising another little soul who cares about others and the environment, who reads (most adults don't now, you know) and who thinks things through and who finds joy and compassion in the world... This time and the energy and our days are the most important thing I can and should do right now.

So I'm really not invisible. I'm doing something that matters. And while I'm doing it I'm also more than the sum total of the parts of my days.

Other mamas are like this too.

Phew. I feel better now. I also make things which strikes some people as being cute but strikes me as being loads better than wasting four hours a day in front of the television. It's a great way to help our one-income family because gorgeous (I try) handmade gifts cost a lot of time and not as much money (usually). This little doll-size (20" x 23") quilt was so much fun to make. It's not quite as wonky in person as it looks in the photos; usually it's the other way around with me so I'm pleased! I've never really made a "non-traditional" quilt before, whatever that might mean, and I had so much fun cutting fabric and piecing it together. People either seem to love it or really not dig this little quilt. It's definitely inspired by quilts I've been seeing recently (I've been working on a little piece about Laughing Duck's quilts for the SMS blog and I always love all of the quilting done at the Pink Chalk Studio). I used to stitch in the ditch for the quilting but I tried something new this time (it weakens the seams to stitch in the ditch and I want a lot of dolls to cozy up under this quilt). The Alexander Henry fabric was a touch of something way outside my norm too and I like it.

I'm a bit feisty today, evidently. By the by I'm surrounded by loved ones who 100% believe all of the mama-related stuff I wrote, so there's that. It's just that life involves a lot of people and sometimes I wish they were smarter. And nicer.

A little quilt + tables for three

This past weekend was the first in about two months where I didn't feel terrible when it ended. We've been too busy in the week and I've packed too many hopes and dreams into our weekends (a sure way to build yourself up for disappointment). This time we walked along the boardwalk with coffee and our little running boy, I got a few things done and we had quiet time to relax Sunday evening.

This little doll-size quilt has been in pieces for about two months now, and it's so satisfying to have it all come together. It has some of my favorite, happy, reproduction feedsack fabric in it and I just turned it the easy-peasy way (it's a doll quilt, after all) and eyed the diagonal quilting. It's going in the little shop as soon as I have time to add it!

So on another note, I really am trying to introduce more variety, better ingredients and new recipes lately. Our New Yorker usually comes on Friday afternoon and I get a deep, odd pleasure from turning directly to the restaurant review (Tables for Two) in my first quiet moment. I don't think I'm really that into food but I love the New Yorker restaurant reviews. They're snooty, include obscure references to the atmosphere of a place, describe at least one other customer and they write about the food in the most unique, elaborate language. What a great gig... Imagine getting paid to flip through your thesaurus and go out for incredible food (on someone else's bill) with friends. Aside from maybe a birthday or our anniversary we don't go out to eat. Anyhow, there's something so odd and satisfying about these reviews. What if one of the reviewers stopped by our humble eatery?

Tables for Three
Kitchen Table Mama

The green cabinets are a bit 70's avocado but the eclectic family-farmy table at Kitchen Table Mama is inviting if cluttered. Frequented by a few loyal diners the site is long on offerings for the short and short on offerings for the tall. On a late weeknight a thirty-something waitress seemed a bit harried with a customer's request for "MORE, MORE" but variety (banana? rice? chicken? frozen peas?) keeps coming for the younger set. The fajitas were without panache but left memory of a spicy kick with yellow, orange and red peppers (a splurge) mixed with chicken. Juice, flecked with spices and dripping from mouth and wrap, leaves a neighboring patron flustered. Tortillas, though sufficiently round, lack heat and "oomph" and seem, somehow, to come directly from a grocery store bag. Grab an crunchy, delightfully orange carrot stick to quell the torrent of dull from the salsa. Drinks fail to delight but the water is filtered.

Stick with the brownies and ice cream. It's hard to do a brownie wrong and Kitchen Table Mama does it right. When plates are cleared and the lights are low you may find yourself with the inkling of an idea to return the following night. Explore your options. (Open Sundays through Saturdays for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Entrees very cheap.)

What a difference a day makes

The rain cleared for a beautifully sunny day yesterday. We headed off to the beach and for the first time the boy was able to just run around on his own, finding clams and always heading for the water through the muck. I kept trying to hold his hand because it was so slippery and I could just see the potential wipe-outs and subsequent muddings of the face and clothes. The boy was happy, happy until I'd try to grab his hand; he wanted to explore and run on his own!

I was so nervous about T and the boy heading out on Saturday. They were going fairly far, and the roads were just a mess with the downpours (urban flooding, you know). I'm never very far away from the boy and I was so tense about it all. I kept telling T things he knows, and it should be said that he's an amazing father who always knows what to do for the boy (he doesn't need me to tell him anything). Anyhow, they had a grand time together and came home safe and sound.

Then last night while I was cooking dinner and T was about six inches away from the boy, spotting him as descended the Morris chair (the boy's all-time favorite activity now: climbing), the boy took a face plant dive onto the floor. I'm not used to the terror of all of that blood and of not knowing for ten minutes if your child is actually OK or not. I suppose you might never get used to the terror of that feeling, and the helplessness when your baby is hurting and there really isn't anything you can do about it. All weekend I'd been nervous about him venturing out and I tried far too much to keep him from falling at the beach, and then when we were home and he had T right next to him he fell so hard. His mouth is all so cut-up and the poor boy was exhausted and so hungry; after an hour or so of crying, and after frozen peas and yo-yo (yogurt-- his idea) we just got ready for bed and he fell right asleep.

Anyhow, things like this will happen with a climbing little boy and I can't always control his world and I can't always worry away the troubles. Today I'm going to give him more Tylenol and lots of love though and I suppose he'll be right back at it with the Morris chair. He climbs up, turns around, sits down and clasps his hands together with the most proud and happy look on his face.

Right above him, to the left on the mantle when he sits in the Morris chair, are Henry and Olivia. Henry and Olivia are Rose's siblings made of vintage angora and lamb's wool. Olivia's button eyes are from my Great Grandpa's military long underwear (shhh... perhaps we shouldn't mention this to her). Henry's a good listener and great company, and Olivia can be a bit of a pill (but she's a nice little bird, don't get me wrong). Henry's in the little shop right now. I love these birds.

Alright. I'm finishing a tutorial for turning a Martha Stewart dish towel into a nice little bag with interfacing and a lining... Tomorrow? I love these bags.

Aaahh, there's the boy stirring so early in the morning. I suppose that mouth is really going to hurt when he wakes. I love that boy.

Mama drama

T + I decided that would be a great name for a blog, if it isn't already taken (take it if it isn't!). Anyhow, yesterday was full of mama drama and I'm not very proud of it.

First off I'm thrilled beyond belief that my intro and pattern reviews are posted on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. I'm so excited to be working with Kristin, interviewing other crafty mamas and doing just a tad more writing. It's the most wonderful opportunity and I can't believe that it's an opportunity out there for me. Amazing. So, go buy a little fabric... (come back though).

We tidied like crazy this weekend and have clean cars to prove it. The boy has a brand-new, cozy + gigantic rug in his room and he can build towers with the big blocks and abandon now (without me cringing and saying weakly-- "The floor... Oh, dear..."). I accomplished a massive Craft Tidy. I'm learning how to hide a crafty mama's junk in a 700-800 square foot house. Packaging items for the little shop are in the tall basket in the top photo (in the living room). Fabric paint, sewing machine accouterments, snaps, pins and other assorted items are in a big basket in the bedroom. Big fabric scraps are in this huge basket which normally sits right near our bed, between the bookshelf and the dresser.

Are you sensing a theme? Baskets. Yep, baskets. There's another gigantic basket on the dryer housing finished projects for the shop and for friends + family, and a basket on my dresser with thread + ribbons.

After hours of organization I finally had all of the fabric beautifully folded and placed in color- and weight-separated sections of an old organizer from my classroom days. The organizer had been a mailbox for the kids, an essential tidier for copies and for almost two years now it's been taking up too much room in storage here in the house. It wasn't ideal, but I figured it would fit in my closet and would tidy up the fabric stash in a truly presentable and "calming" fashion. (Warning: If you're sensitive you might have to avert your eyes here... Pretty soon it's going to get ugly. Even the lighting's bad.) I organized in the living room and round about midnight (yes, on a Sunday night) I asked T to help me move the whole shebang into my closet. We were one foot away and I'd just said, "Well, at least we're putting something to good use... Something we already had..." when:

It exploded.
We sort-of stood there stunned for a few seconds. It was gorgeous. If you squint your eyes just a little can you still imagine how pretty it all was?

Okay. Let's move on from that whole disaster. The entire day felt pretty much like that. I had the best of intentions and they all just fell apart at the last moment. The drama wasn't about the fabric, it was more about needing a break (I think).

Oh, the boy's climbing now. Things get quiet and I get this feeling and I run over to where he is and he's about two feet higher than he should be. Phew. Onto calmer, craftier things tomorrow.

Balls for babes

They're everywhere, and now they're in the little shop too.


My mom saved the day with a little hand-stitching (after my tormented efforts with the blue).

They are so grabby + tossable.

I just wanted to add in here that I so love it when people comment, but I'm having the worst time writing back. Blogger isn't saving the profiles for me, and it's just not working. Anyhow, I'm going to try to fix it all...

Yep. Very grabby + tossable.

Pineapple Express, mats + a little Mama talk

Evidently the Pineapple Express has moved into the Pacific Northwest, and we're getting rain in a big way. It's also very warm around here. We're (I'm) desperate for non-shopping opportunities to get out of the house, but the boy is still under the weather. The basement is almost done after a good day's work on Saturday, and today we finally found the perfect little faucet for the boy's kitchen (I think I have trouble actually completing projects but he's been playing away with it "as is" so it moved to the back burner, so to speak). Painting ceilings and making new splat mats for the little shop aren't the most creative, exciting ways to spend my time but it is important and I can think of worse things! I absolutely love the black flourish pattern with the red trim.

Aaahh, to be making beautiful quilts... Look at this crazy nine patch and this amazing blockswap charity quilt. Oh, and this sweet little thing (under "Thank you, Josie"). Just look at those baby gifts, would you?!-- It certainly puts the ones I'm currently working on to shame.

I'm full of ideas; the creativity is out of control. There's no time to do any of it, however, so it's all just stuck inside for the moment. The boy is letting something new out, however. As T says, the boy has discovered outrage. When something didn't go his way before and he really didn't like it, the boy would cry and get upset. Lately he doesn't just think it's sad, he thinks it's wrong. It's injustice. It's Mama's fault!

My boy is growing up.

Oh, and though sadly it's not Saturday or Sunday any longer, it might be some day as you're reading this. Go to KPLU and groove to some blues in the evening. You can get a super-lot done or it might put you in a really good mood. I just wish they still had their blues show on Friday nights so I could get a little done then rather than on Sunday nights when I should be snoozing!

Things are looking up

I think I may just have the perfect sewing machine now. Cross your fingers! We're getting to know each other and though we did have a broken needle last night I do believe it was Martha's fault for adding in a bit too much embellishment to the towels I was sewing. On a different "crafty" note I will say that after spending Saturday in the basement I'm painting, I am not a big fan of painter's tape. Enough said.

You rolled your eyes (I know you did) when I said Beki over at Artsy-Crafty Babe is my new best internet friend of all time for offering to send me a pattern of the smocket I've mentioned about twenty times in recent weeks. Well!-- At the end of a very long week she made my week by sending not only the pattern but some lovely fabric from her stash, her little Moo card, and candies too. Did I mention fabric from her stash?! I was sitting on the couch with T, petting the fabric (we don't have a cat) and going on and on about what I should use it for. T looked at all of the projects draped all around the room and said that maybe I should wait and think about it a little. Anyhow, Beki made me feel good about people when I needed to feel good about people! Thank you, Artsy-Crafty Beki!

This weekend I did make some progress with splat mats and some new aprons for the little shop, and there are parts to balls for babies laying all around the house waiting for stuffing. The aprons are so fun and easy to make with kitchen towels and bias tape, and they look so cute on the kids! I have to get down to work now and knock out two purses. I've been so excited about making them, and nervous too because I don't want to get them wrong. Now that the new machine and I are friendly I think we might be able to take this next step in our relationship.

Really, how could this be? We have no room for any more furniture (the boy's kitchen is a stretch) but how could these cute little organizers be so cheap (via Apartment Therapy Nursery)?

I'm not making the Singer sing yet

I want to love it, but I'm beginning to think the last machine wasn't just used for a project and then taken back to the store. Perhaps the person tried it and then burst into tears after the extreme build-up of happiness at the prospect of trying a brand new sewing machine was destroyed by oil on the thread and a broken needle for no good reason. Just a thought. Maybe we just have to develop a relationship?

The boy's new apron (made from a Martha Stewart kitchen towel) and a bit more kitchen excitement. More aprons will be showing up in the little shop any day now.

I've always loved the vintage yo-yo quilts I've seen, and I'm intrigued by this handy little tutorial. Who knew they were so easy (you probably knew, but humor me).

Quilts for little ones and a machine

I have a category in the shop called "Quilts for Little Ones" which has nothing in it. It's not for baby quilts but rather for baby doll quilts. This is one of my mom's ideas from years ago; she really feels like there aren't beautiful, little handcrafted doll quilts out there, that they'd be fun to make, and that people would buy them! I was talking with my grandma the other day and she sent me home with some of her baby doll quilts from childhood for inspiration (just to borrow, mind you!). Can you see the stitching in this one? I love how much care and detail goes into these, and how you can create something so satisfying and beautiful without spending months on it! I suppose I do have a bit of a, ahem, short attention span at times. Wait 'til you see tomorrow's vintage baby quilt.


Oh, and I've had these tucked away all the while as Hillary Lang over at Wee Wonderfuls (remember the bunnies?!) remembered this wall and started to make her own. Very fun!
I have to go now. I have a -gasp!- new sewing machine to go look at. Not at the store. I mean I actually have a new machine in my living room at this very moment. Amazing.

Thrifting, playing, and a googa

My sister and I are thinking alike, which happens more often than not. I had this picture sitting in iPhoto waiting for the weekend, and she has a beautiful picture of thread over on her site.

Things have been busy around here, in a good way. We've been having fun as a family, visiting the zoo and having milkshakes in one of our favorite little places (if you're ever in Tacoma, try the espresso milkshake). I used a jig saw, drill, table saw, skill saw, electric sander and hammer yesterday. Can you guess what I'm making? I can't wait to paint it and to make the curtains (and find the Duktig). Ever since watching yesterday the boy keeps banging his hands on things and saying, "Bam, bam, bam, bam."

T & the boy with the "baby beluga"
or "googa," if you're the boy.

Tacoma's also the home of my new, favorite thrift store. I spent an hour finding lots of treasures including a baby quilt (I'm going to save it from bleeding red, recut & repurpose) and a gigantic, beautiful sweater dress of angora and lamb's wool (for little animals). Did I mention it's angora and lamb's wool? With an absurd amount of fabric? For $3? I remember standing outside a thrift store when I was little but old enough to be too worried about what others thought about me, refusing to go in and being absolutely mortified about looking for clothes inside. I've changed a bit! Among other myriad treasures (for $30 total-- oh, my goodness) I found many "daycare explosion" variety toys for the boy. At $1 a piece I can't pass up little goodies that can make a rainy afternoon pass more quickly. I hide them away and bring them out when I'm desperate. Before they are allowed in the house, however, I have this elaborate system of cleaning and sanitizing and making them ours. Are other people this neurotic about such things? There's bleach, laundry soap, scrubbing with toothbrushes... It's elaborate. But once I'm done I'm confident that even my little guy could put the item in his mouth and it'd be clean. That's what it takes to make it "ours!"

Via Moonstitches I found this wonderful pattern for a doll. Have you found this? Funny, as I'd just been cutting out lambs and chickens from another Martha pattern. We aren't really into dolls around here right now, but we always could be at some point. It's good to have a good doll pattern handy.

I have a few orders to get ready today to mail out tomorrow and I couldn't be happier about it all! Splat mats covering the kitchen floors of the world...

Zen Woman with a million and two ideas

I'm not an 80's music freak by any means, but I just had to add this in after that last post. Now the Police are back! Crazy! These guys know how to get a little cash flow.

Aaahh, cash flow. We could use a little more of that around here. The boy and I just started a parenting class this morning; we had visited as a guest a couple of weeks ago and just loved it. I had resisted like crazy, thinking I've had enough child development coursework to last me for awhile. After hearing the instructor though, and seeing how the boy love, love, loved the experience I was sold. I think it'll make me a better parent to hear what she has to say and to mull it over through the week, to "practice," and to ask my questions in a good space... I didn't want to like it because I didn't want to figure out how to find the money to make it happen! To pay for the rest of this quarter and next I'm painting a basement. Not my basement, mind you, but a basement all the same. Time to hang out alone with a paintbrush and some tunes (or, of course, This American Life) doesn't sound too bad anyway.

Again, back to the cash. I'm trying to bring a wee bit in with the splat mats, etc., in the little shop but am frustrated with the lack of time to create and always over-anxious for things to sell! The pics are some of my lovelies from this weekend. T and I stayed up 'til 3 a.m. working on our respective projects Saturday night; it was very old-school, back in the dorms style with a little too much caffeine flowing for us "old" 30-somethings. I'm itching to finish my little project for the boy and was so excited to see this kitchen today. Isn't it beautiful? I'm so happy to see people repurposing and creating, and buying a little less in the 'plastic monstrosities for kiddos' department.

Oh, and is the project we worked together on this weekend. You can't tell in this picture (it might as well be 6 p.m. for all the light we've gotten in here today) but the paper is a beautiful shade of light green. It's perfect for a garden party, which is what this will be, and the flower is just right. It should be; as I mentioned it was hard to find! If you're ever looking for just the right flower clip art for a 60th wedding anniversary and 80th birthday bash, I'm your "man." I've got the book right here. I wish we could have screen printed like this amazing stationary (have I already linked to them?-- Sigh. They're just gorgeous...).

T keeps laughing at me because every other day or so I say something like, "We should get a letter press. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a letter press?" or "We should get a set up to do screen printing. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do screen printing?" I will say though that the other day we were heading off somewhere and I can't remember what I said but T replied with some funny comment about being married to a "Zen Woman." We paused, and then cracked up. There's no way Type-A-Me or Married-to-Ms.-Type-A T would have ever thought those words would be uttered in our relationship. This Mama business has chilled me out quite a bit, I'd say. I have better perspective when I sit down and really think about things. I'm still the crazy idea gal though and being a bit more relaxed doesn't stop me from wanting one of these.

Wait, Valentine's Day is tomorrow?! I've got work to do!


Aaahhh... I just read Alicia's post and realized T's been in the Crazy-Beth Olympics for about a decade now. I'd say he's winning all golds too.

A week of "fighting the funk" and how do we feel?

Fighting the funk #7- Start some big projects. These little packages are the smallest of some large purchases (size-wise, not cost) made today at Lowe's for the boy's little kitchen. I'm so excited! I love a new project (and a jigsaw is just plain fun-- ask Molly!).

Have you seen this? Great stuff every day, and they even have my favorite, Nikki McClure, on there again.

Gotta go. I'm updating the little shop!

Works that need to progress

Here are some WIPs laying around the house (but really, do they count as "works in progress" if I haven't actually made progress on them?). Look at this fabric:

Oh, and this:

Can you see those little sock monkeys? The envelopes are for our Valentines (yet to be created):
Here's a new project I started while T read out loud last night. Notice the word "Beginner" in the title?!

And here, for everyone dying to see the back of T's beautiful card, is a not-so-good picture:

I tried to bring my cards and a mat to a meeting I went to on Friday and they were so incredibly rude to me. It's a meeting of a group I'm a member of, and other people have their cards out all the time. I left feeling so terrible, wanting to quit, and wanting to cry. Okay, I cried. It's a club for moms, for goodness sakes, and I thought the whole idea was to support one another.

Phew. That's out now. Looking at all of the color in those photos reminds me how much I've changed in how I view color in recent years. More on that to come as the boy needs to get up and we need to get to playgroup!

Getting orders ready

The boy and I got our orders ready to ship early this morning. A trail of bubble wrap extended through the kitchen, into the living room, around C's foot, through the hall and then back into the kitchen once again (it's a small house!). C's holding one of the packages up to his head like Carnac the Magnificent, hoping to intuit what's inside!

Speaking of magnificent, we printed a bunch of T's cards and I think I actually jumped up and down when I saw them all done in a stack!


More soon. We're off to run errands and we're working on Valentines this afternoon! Very fun. I was inspired by this post from Colorfool via Happy Things; that lucky, lucky Keely! I think C's ready for some of those pasta strings and colored rice (but not the buttons... We can't do the buttons yet!). I've got to get busy!

Did you see?

Did you see the beautiful banner my amazing husband created for me? He is so darn talented, that guy, and I'm so lucky. He's just so... supportive. T not only made this banner, but he figured out how to work with Blogger so I could use it, made several others for me to use in the future, and he designed cards for me to pass out/include with shipments/etc. I'm determined to get some ink so I can get these cards DONE! Aren't you impressed with that banner?!

We were so amazingly productive this weekend which is why I'm incredibly sleepy at the moment. I have this:

this:

and this:

up in the shop now, and I've been working on all sorts of other things to add. I just have to find a way to get people to notice my little shop (how many people think that in a given day?-- Isn't that the main problem with small businesses?!).

I've been reticent to post again because I love that little hat and didn't want it to disappear down the page. It found its little girl today, and I heard it fit quite well! I think I ought to knit something else again soon, sore hands and all. It's just so satisfying (and quiet-- the sewing machine is not a nap time or read aloud possibility). I think these little dogs are so darn cute and are way out of my skill-level. One of the comments I read in a post on the site reminded me about this book though, and I put it on reserve at the library again. You never know-- I may try something wild and learn a bit.

Okay, not only did we do all sorts of design and craftiness this weekend, but we got tons of paper for invitations (+ more) for my grandparents' upcoming 60th wedding anniversary. We hiked in the woods with the boy in his new (thrifted) pack and we went to the zoo, zoo, zoo and to both sets of grandparents' houses. We went out to breakfast. Yep, you read that right. We went out to BREAKFAST!

Hmmmm... That's why I'm tired. That's a lot! It's been sunny, sunny out and the boy wants to play with his bike every time we exit the house. I went to a class this morning and the teacher was talking about how you need to have 20 minutes of "No Fail Fun" at least three times a week with your child to build a solid repertoire. I keep thinking about how that seems like such a small amount of time, and then I've realized sitting here that it's because we are so incredibly lucky and we have so much time to incorporate lots of "no fail fun" into each and every day. I think the challenge these days for T and I is to incorporate at least that much personal no fail fun into our weeks and to find a little of that time together too, just the two of us.

Refreshing break

A little break can do wonders for your perspective. We all hopped in the car and headed up north where there's tons of snow and even beautiful icicles. We visited the boy's great grandparents and he enchanted everyone with his busy, busy ways. T pulled us in a sled up at the farm and the boy was a little concerned about what his crazy parents were up to! We had lots of time to visit and had some good food too. I had lots of quiet time in the car while T drove and the boy slept; I looked out the window at the snow-covered fields and barns, with the mountains off in the distance. I thought about people we were missing. The little petty things that seem to be filling too much of my days lately just melted away and I spent time enjoying the moments, as they happened. T pulling me and the boy in the sled through the fields in the only place that's always been the "same" from the time I have memories... It was wonderful and joyous and sad too.

The light is beautiful this morning, and misty ice covered all of the trees in the night. As it melts off from the sun it looks like delicate snow falling once again. I'm going to try to take more pictures sans flash, as I've read I should, but it'll take some time to get better at it. I never, ever took photos before the boy, and since I don't want those sixteen hundred photos plus up on this site I have to take some non-boy photos. What a challenge for the new year!!

Something sold on Etsy. Woo hoo... Time to create. Instead of worry I'm trying to fill pockets of my thoughts with ideas for little quilts, more aprons, etc. It's good for me!

Upswing

Oh the joys of having a graphic designer husband. He's much, much more than that of course, but the thrill of good design so close and so attainable is a wondrous thing! T took too much of his time last night, sick and all, to "whip out" a little shop header for the new Etsy store and I LOVE it! He's going to do cards too and with the new blog up and going it feels so full of... possibility. I can't remember how T put it last night, something about how I need a small success like that header every day, just for me. He's so right!

More snow today and the boy and I headed out for a morning walk, Radio Flyer bumping along with it's cushion of a fluffy old quilt to enhance the snuggle factor. With two pairs of pants, two coats, a heavy shirt, hat & giganto mittens I'm sure the boy was A-OK. If we lived in the mid-west I'd probably give the poor kid a heat stroke in the winter!

My goal is to do a big shop update next week and to see where we go from there. Very fun!