Gorgeous, yet confining

While we didn't lose power, we got a lot of frozen stuff in varying forms. I've made quite a dent in the large plate of chocolate chip cookies. I spent an unusual amount of time watching The Weather Channel, which has dramatically named this storm "Winter's Triple Threat!!!" (Seriously.)

And I'm dying to get out of the house.

Making chocolate chip cookies, charging my phone...

digging out the bags of tea light candles ... these are a few of the things I'm doing this morning. We are in the path of a large winter storm with a high chance of ice, which probably means power outage.

Last year we had a huge ice storm and were without power for about 3-4 days. We made it fine. We moved a mattress into the living room and slept by the gas log fireplace. The hardest thing to deal with was the overwhelming BOREDOM - no TV, no interwebs, no sewing machine.

Just sudoku. I did a buttload of sudoku.

According to the Weather Channel, looks like I'm going to be facing the boredom again. At least I'll have lots of chocolate chip cookies to keep me entertained.

Dear NBC,

I know I'm a little late to this rally, but I just watched the Freebird portion of Conan's last Tonight Show, and for the record, you suck.

Affectionately yours

Hello again!

Since the beginning of the year, I've been working on getting myself back on etsy and back in the bloggin' groove.

Progress has been made. A new product line is in the works, different from anything I've done before. I got a brand spankin' new computer for Christmas and I'm attacking the learning curve of new software. NEW is the word of the day.

And to complete another task on my list, I'm doing a blog post. Granted, not a very exciting blog post, but none the less, here it is.

Oh, and Baxter wants to wish you a happy new year.

Got any Pepto?

I'm really terrible at checking my analytics on my etsy shop. What happened today may or may not have changed my habits.

I checked my stats, just to see if I could sort of kind of maybe understand what they are saying. It just really looks like a whole lot of math to me.

I did notice that I had a few hits a while back that came from a referral from www.geeksugar.com. I'm not really familiar with the site, but I figured it had something to do with my Reboot and Escape coasters, so I gave it a look.

It was one of their "Totally Geeky or Geek Chic?" picks. Which also means that they put up a poll asking for people's opinions.

A POLL! The HORROR! I literally wanted to throw up. Thankfully, only one person had commented, and it was favorable. I didn't even look at the poll results, if there were any.

I know I seem a little bit insecure, but this totally took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a "Hey? Got a minute? See this here? Do you think this sucks? Let us know!!" kinda thing.

The lesson? My skin has got to get a little tougher. I really can't let something like this bother me. My stuff is not going to please everyone, and the interweb is full of, well... everyone.

Gearing up for Halloween

Every year, one of the most fun projects is to work on a Halloween costume for my daughter. She's 13, so we have had lots of different ones. Thankfully, she hasn't outgrown the desire to dress up.

Last year, she was Lucy. This was ridiculously fun to do. She's an "I Love Lucy" fanatic - has all the DVDs - and so this choice for her was an easy one.

We started with some of her favorite looks from Lucy episodes ("I like that collar." "See the cuffs? Could we do that?") and YARDS of black and white polka dot fabric.


I found the shoes at a yard sale, unworn, for $3. They had a very retro vibe that she loved. We bought the wig at Target (I think?) in the Halloween section, but it was just a red wig. It had to be "Lucy-fied." We even made a stole at the last minute from some fake fur that I had, left over from another project.

This year, she wants to be a flapper. I am sooooo excited to start work on this ensemble! Right now I'm assembling the raw materials - fringe, shiny bobs and baubles, maybe a feather or two - and looking for inspiration. I'll post more as the project progresses.

The Baxter Adventures

In lieu of crafty goodness, COASTERS!, personal thoughts, or angry rants, here are some pictures of my widdle doggie, Baxter (a West Highland White Terrier, or Westie) enjoying his favorite time of the day - time for a ride in the car.

Going to the post office is the most fun thing EVAR!

Hanging over my shoulder from the back seat. Must. not. miss. anything.

Waiting at school for my daughter to appear. Or really, anyone who might come by the car and give him some attention.

Wind in his face = supreme happiness.

Although it might appear as if he is in deep thought, pondering some philosophical question, I'm guessing no.