It's like riding a bike... right?

you just REMEMBER how to blog? is that how it goes? i haven't had a real entry since the beginning of the month, so i need to get my footing. A LOT has gone on this month, but that also means that i remember very little of it. I'm off work until January 2nd (yes, we have to come in on a FRIDAY after a long holiday. why? no idea.) The Little's have 1 more Christmas to go tomorrow, one more party on Saturday and then we're smooth sailing into the new year. Yes, I realize I'm blogging on Christmas Day, but- in my defense... Hubs and the nugget are sound asleep on the couch while Cars is showing on one of the stations. I physically cannot watch Cars one more time without risking a mental breakdown... but that story's for another time. Nugget had a great time opening gifts this morning (and I'm even more excited that we didn't go overboard on her first Christmas) and all three of us spent the day lounging in our PJ's watching TV and playing with our new toys.

I got some really really good stuff this year (so far) and cannot WAIT to get pictures posted. (Think OOAK and multiple colors). I think of few of you just might be a bit jealous...

Look for a recap (after I literally go month to month thru my planner and my blog entries) of the year and an 09 forecast coming next week while I'm off and the nugget is at the sitters. I might even be able to post those "clean house" photos I've been hoping to post. I have a lot of ideas for next year, but I'm going into the year with the same mentality of this year. Grow steady, remember your priorities and work smart.

So Happy Holidays! I'll be back next week with some real fat to chew on. We'll see you on the flip side...

I'll be back soon

I know I've been away for awhile now, but December took my by surprise...

I'll be back soon. Don't you worry.

And I'll have lots to share. I promise.

Allow me...

to introduce you to the "Baby Mullet"


Everybody loves a mullet. Especially a baby mullet.

I woke up on Saturday to this:

Now, I know that this isn't that bad. But around here... it's White Death. I went to my show anyway... and ended up just dropping my stuff off and I'll find out this week if anything sold. Not my ideal situation, but it is what it is. I even managed to bite it down the school stairs, resulting in a bruised backside and a sore back. Awesome.



Nugget spent the day with my parents, so Hubz and I drove up to retrieve her and went see Santa (aka my Uncle Bill playing Santa in my hometown) before we headed home. I was thankful for the snow then because a local park (where I grew up playing soccer) has a drive-thru light show and the snow made it a bit more "believeable". No meltdowns on Santa's lap, but we came close! Thanks Santa and Mrs. Claus!



This week is much quieter. I have 3 custom orders to get out, I'm off work Thursday and Friday and seeing as how Hubz finished the manual labor on the loft, I can start cleaning it and arranging it for Nugget to use. I have friends coming over on the 16th, so it was extremely important Hubz finished his work up there. I told him he had until the 14th to complete or he had to move out, but couldn't go somewhere that required rent because I was going to need that money to pay someone to finish up :-) He's used to these strict deadlines and consequences, so he takes it with a grain of salt... but he also wouldn't put it past me to actually put him out for a few days. hehehe. I know Hubz and he needs a deadline and a consequence. But, like I said, we only really need to arrange the furniture, clean everything up and move everything into the loft to call it complete.

I'm just so happy to have my closet back.

I just realized that my DVR'd show ended and I've been watching the Home Shopping Network for the past half hour.

One down, one to go- now let's play catch up.

This week has been a busy one between getting out my first wholesale order, meeting up with friends to ensure that we indeed still like each other and enjoy each other's company and getting ready for my first craft shows of the year. And then Britney's new album came out to top it all off. The printer is hummin' away, so I've got some QT to spend with my Mac... even though I might just have to eat my words on not cursing my printer. She's acting up and it's making my print time much much longer than normal. Alright, let's get to it.

My work holds a Bizarre Bazaar every year and if you've been around for awhile, I mentioned it last year about this time. Last year I managed to exceed my goal and I did it again this year! It was definitely slower, but I had a better selection and a broader range of pricing. I was really happy with how my set up turned out and with the reaction it got from everyone. The calendars were a hit (I sold out of wall calendars) and the Christmas cards went over really well with people, too. (Excuse the photos- I was using my little Nikon Coolpix to take some quick shots.)



Tomorrow morning I hit up the last craft fair I'll be doing this year. Yup, I did a whopping 2 craft shows and I'm tired. I know this time of year is the time to make good money at fairs/shows, but I don't want the stress and franticness that comes with it (I'm not a planner when it comes to these things. I second guess quantities, pricing, product, etc. and I always predict the wrong thing that I think will sell... therefore, it's always a crap shoot. I know that's true with everyone, but I don't like feeling unprepared.)

Once I finish up the craft show tomorrow, I have some custom work to finish up for some family and friends and then I just allow my Etsy shop to work for me. Being that it's our first Christmas with Charlotte, I don't want to spend my nites cutting cardstock and folding cards and then spending my weekends sitting behind a card table for the majority of the day. I'll leave that for when Five Dot because my sole source of income and the economy's can allow people to hand over their dolla dolla bills without second thought. Besides, I'd rather scope out the scene and put my time and effort into the ones that are right for me. Everything's been flowing at a very comfortable rate which has allowed me to take over the house only every so often.

In unrelated work news...

I participated in an ornament hosted by Modern Eve this month as well and I have to admit, it was pretty fun! Here are the ornaments I received from Katie- they're perfect for this year! Thanks Katie!! (P.S. check out her etsy shop. I wish I could pull off super cute head gear, but I'm not meant to be super cute like that for whatever STUPID reason.) I digress... here are the super cute ornaments hanging on our tree!


And I have to tell you how excited I am about my little gift to myself that FunnyErnie created for me. I had been looking for someone to do simple illustrations of my dogs- nothing fancy and intricate. Just something that captured them. And then I found Amy. Her style was perfect for it. Normally, I would have done something like this myself, but I'm more of a "draw-er" than an illustrator. I get fixated on details and then lose the whole point of what I'm doing. Amy gladly whipped up some concepts for me to look over and I'm really excited to frame the final product. Merry Christmas to me!


Here are the pooches for comparison



So now as I type and wait for 9 more calendars to print, hubs is in the front room cutting away- I swear that man can be talked in to anything as long as a movie and/or a good list of DVR'd shows are playing. There are many times (our wedding especially) when I thanked the Lord for television (yes, he hand-assembled all of our wedding invitations! He wove ribbon, used the tape gun and stuffed all 120. Yes. I said 120. And no, we're not famous or wildly popular... I just come from a very big family- 47 grandchildren on one side... ONE SIDE!) Check out his handy work!




P.S. In case you missed it, The Stationery Hustle blogged my calendars and Design Crush blogged my "Joy" cards. Thanks guys!

Don't be Tardy for the Party

i have no idea where in my life i was before now. i have no idea what my last post was about (if about anything) and i have no idea what i promised before now (but i DO know i didn't promise to loan you money, babysit or tell you all the deep-dark secrets that i know.) so i'm just going to pick up where i think i left off.

*disclaimer* i cannot vouch for the order in which these events happen as i have been lucky to match my shoes each morning. our household was hit with the nasty cold running ramped thru the city and it took 2 of us OOC for a good solid 5 days. there is a good chance i may even go backwards in my happenings because that's really the best way my mind thinks.



let's start with black friday.
i hate it.
every bit of the 5 foot nothing me hates large crowds of elbows, forearms and big purses. angry, crabby shoppers that awoke WAY too early to save a few bucks make the experience even worse. i have considered teaching nugget the phrase "scuze me" so that she can ride in the stroller and scream it at the top of her lungs while her mother pushes her about pretending to be embarrassed and apologetic only to be secretly high-fiving her and promising her a pony on her tenth birthday. i would LOVE to teach her to just yell "move," but that might be taking it a bit far.
however.
we venture out every year to meet the hubs family for lunch and then to hit the mall to see what kind of deals there are to be had. only once did we get up before the birds to go to home depot to get a shop vac and a cordless drill. the cordless drill is a god-send and i want one in pink. the shop vac is somewhere in the house smelling of mildew and disgustingness.
this year the deal was in the books. some genius decided to pull all their bargain books, overstock and whatever else was collecting dust in their warehouse, price them under $10 and put it in one spot. (my company is doing this as well, but i don't know that we publish "popular" books... but i could be wrong). all in all, we spent almost $80 and got some great stuff, including this this little number that i've been eyeballing like the last brownie. we also scored a ginormous copy of the little engine that could (i would guess close to 3 feet tall) that retails for $85 for a cool $19.99. i picked up bill cosby's book and a few other fun ones for nugget to add to her collection. they had madonna's 3 bookset there, but she's been acting questionable lately and cannot justify shelling out $10 to a 50 year old woman desperately grasping at her youth by wearing leotards and sharing "spiritual" connections with married athletes.
there.
i said it.
we knocked out a few christmas gifts for the kids, found a few more things for the nugget and headed for home... only to get ready to head back out to my hometown (m-town!) to go to my aunt's house for a little post-shopping dinner and drinks. i handed nugget off, got me some wine and all was good. nugget was also one wind machine and 2 outfit changes short of a photoshoot with all the flashes going off. she's a ham and it warms my heart. wonder where she gets it from... somewhere in the nite there was a family member tally (i think we came up with 47 grandkids) and another nugget (not from this girl!) coming out to play around june.

that's it for now. i'll sprinkle posts of my whereabout for the past few weeks through out this week so that we can all get caught back up and on the same page. i'll just leave you with some baby feet. because everybody loves baby feet



P.S. anyone else watch Housewives of Atlanta on Bravo? i'm DYING to voice my *ahem* opinion on a few matters.