Neglected

I have neglected you. I do it often, and I apologize. I don't know how it happens because I feel like I never have anything going on. I mean I have a 2 1/2 year old, who is laying on me as I type. Kneeing the keyboard, pushing the laptop, hitting buttons as she rolls, and her own personal favorite- holding down the power button.
Some things I have been up to recently:
1. Staring longingly at pictures of people's craft rooms on their blogs.

This is NOTHING compared to how beautiful the rest of her craft studio looks!

 Go here to see the rest! (and read her great blog!)

 2. Staring longingly at pictures of people's craft tutorials on their blogs.
3. Staring longingly at. No I'm kidding, I don't think there's any more of that. I don't think 
4. Driving to Ohio for my great grandma's 100th birthday party, complete with Elvis

*name tags were required!*

5. Cleaning? Maybe? Eh, I don't know what else I have been doing. Sewing. In fact today I am going to sew the pants for my niece that I have been putting off for a long time now. I hope they turn out as cute as they look in my head!

Mostly I have been busy in my head. My brain is exhausted! I don't know where these bloggers find all this time to make so many awesome things, and they all have little kids at home. Don't their toddlers dump out their craft boxes on the floor and pour glitter on their table too? This is why I stare longingly at their craft rooms, though considering I spent an absurd number of hours sewing yesterday- cut me some slack, I came up with pattern for the apron and place mats off the top of my head- I can only imagine what Lo would have been up to had I been locked away in my *awesome* craft room of my dreams. 

Ok, this is why my brain is always tired. I have also decided that I will be trying out the bow ties for my nephews today as well. Hopefully I can get both accomplished while Lo is napping. OH! And I'm supposed to go to my sister's for dinner tonight. Well, in this case then I really want to have these little gems finished. And maybe a shirt to go with the pants. I have an idea. 

If the bow ties turn out well then I will be adding them to the site (hopefully tonight I can get a cute picture of Will in his, he's usually quite a ham so I'm guessing he will cooperate!) At least I can put off "what to have for dinner tonight" for another night. That is also another all-consuming part of my day-and another way to waste time with my nose shoved in cook books/cooking blogs :)

Ta Ta! Thinking it's an early lunch/nap day for the crazy girl!

New Prrrrroducts

How exciting, I'm kicking up the sewing! After sewing a few aprons, pillow covers and the bedding in Lola's room I have realized how much I LOVE sewing. I have the cutest ideas for girls AND boys. Yay for more boy products! Right?!
I can't wait for all the spring holidays, I'm seeing coordinating Easter outfits for brothers and sisters/cousins and...cousins/pairs of future arranged marriages/etc... For boys there will be ties, vests and bow ties as well as diaper covers-all great for photograph(er)s, special occasions or everyday dapper dudes!
For the little ladies there will be dresses, matching bloomers (with or without the awesome ruffles), ruffle pants or capris- I may be able to make pants for the boys as well but I don't want to make any promises, they may look a little feminine so I'm going to practice on a pair for my nephew first :) Ummmmm what else do I have up my sleeve? I have the fabric for the  pants for my niece- these are more of a loungey type pants and for Norah they are going be capris. Lola's I just made regular length.
Can't forget the tiny babies, the gift sets with cotton beanies, onsies and burp cloths. I'm also thinking about sewing reversable newsboy caps for boys and girls.
Let me know what you think! Going to go play around with my Cricut now, see if I can make my own fabric flowers- matching flower headbands with those new dresses maybe?! ....Might try to lose the dog outside too. Whose idea was it to get a puppy???? Don't answer that......

Shaking things up

This took me longer to write than expected so the beginning is from last night and the end is from this morning ;)

Tonight I am babysitting my sister's three kids who are 6, 4 and almost 3. Add Lola to that, and you get some funny looks at Chick Fil A. Forgot my wedding ring too so people see a girl who looks about 19 calling herself mommy (to only Lola but I doubt they were paying that much attention) The two tables across from us were looking in our direction a lot. I probably looked even crazier because the kids kept going in the play area and immediately after I would slather on the Purel, by the third time the kids were fighting back....

My sewing addiction has been ignited again after making Lola a new pair of pants out of some of my favorite Amy Butler fabric... No, actually it was the black/yellow bird fabric I made a tiny pillow cover out of for the chair Lola got for Christmas that started it all. I winged that pattern... it wasn't a bad job and I'm pretty proud that I came up with it on my own. Today I got it in my head that I would make covers for the nasty throw pillows on the couch and it just happened that i had the perfect fabric to tie in with the rest of the house but add some punches of blue and the slightest touch of green. 

Pardon the messy table, I was still in the crafting process :)

This leads me to my next issue. Iphones are NOT made to take pictures that are all that great. While I have do access to an awesome camera I never seem to take any pictures with it unless I have multiple items that need photographed which means at least half the things, most often gifts,  I make within 30 minutes of leaving the house on the way to the party are never seen by anyone but the recipient/guests. Not very smart!
In other news I am seriously considering selling these new creations on the site - the pants, pillow covers (I think I would even be able to sell them with an insert but I have to look into that before making any promises) and a new cape/blanket I made for Lola a few days ago. OH! And the knitted booties and headband/earwarmers! AND the hair accessories for women, I need more supplies but I have already made a few for my sister. Man I am excited about all these new things....Oh and I need to post the hearts and bunny hair clips and I have a few holiday shirts in the works as well, I'm thinking ribbon and marabou, oh I can't wait to show you all the shirts!
Ok, enough rambling, here's one more (bad Iphone picture) of the holiday bows I already made, the bunny isn't actually crooked like the picture makes it look... dang it.

So I have this friend....

Good news everyone, I have lowered prices once again on the site. Yaaaaaayyyyyy! No seriously, I lowered them, see for yourself www.shopSweetSassy.com bows, clips, and some headbands!

Oh, about that friend. I like her complaints. "I need a job" "I'm so bored" "My mom didn't do my laundry". I want to be annoyed by her annoyances. In an effort to not be lazy she decided to get a book and the library, sit her ass in the sand and read by the beach. Confused? Me too. The only time I miss living in Florida is when I think about relaxing in the sand and listening to the waves. But then I remember the bath water ocean, the still and sweltering air and the feel of my skin sizzling while I work up a nice sun burn and my senses return. 

Now onto something of great importance.

Don't fall for the innocent look...

This dog you see here, he looks cute right? Well it's a sham. He can shred something and make the biggest mess in less than a minute flat. He can run. Fast. His favorite thing to do is bark at the cat. During nap time. And at 11 pm. But he's learning, and he is even allowed out while we are eating. Sometimes...
He fools you with his charming looks, his goofy head tilt with the smirk only dogs are capable of. Then without warning he jumps at your face. Damn.

2/1/2011 or 1/2/11, whichever you prefer

Already I have not made good on my resolutions. Break them early and there's less disappointment ;)
I still haven't taken down my decorations. That's a  bit too depressing, the over-crowded, glowing lighted-ness makes things feel cozy. Especially when you don't have a fireplace to take over where the Christmas lights leave off. I can't even remember all my ideas of what I would change this year but I thought keeping things tidy was at least a mental note and right now it's TRASHED in here, Lola's toys scattered, the clothes I still need to hang in the closet piled in a basket, the summer clothes I had forgotten in the back of the closet still sitting on top of the storage box waiting to be folded and put inside.
But.
I did clean the bathroom, like, shower curtain and bleach and grout et all. That's a start. Sorry environment for all the chemicals but every once in a while it just NEEDS a serious clean that isn't often found in organic cleaners.
I'm exhausted after a fun night last night at my sister's house and a game of scrabble on the cool new wooden board... that I lost by only 20 points after giving up trying to find a place to lay all my tiles down at once and sealing my victory. Because it was already 11 pm and I was tired.
To feel better about my lack of physical constructiveness I cleaned out the website's email... not exactly useful but it was nice to sort my personal email so...
Oh I know what else has been on my mind. What the heck is with the Luv's commercial where the babies crap their pants for the highest score? Who are the people who get paid to come up with diaper commercials? And where is the Depends commercial like that? And if poo references gives someone a paycheck where can I sign up?

I'm going to use this blog as a way to keep everyone up to date with changes to the website as well as a place to ramble meaningless nothings. I'm researching new products for women's hair, I'm big into pretty metal headbands for myself and it will definitely be in store for the near future.

Blame the coffee- it's been exactly 11 months since I have blogged....

Ok, it's been a LONG time since i have been here. It's not my fault I'm back, it's the coffee. It has a strange effect. So. Last year. I'd say it was alright. Busy. I didn't realize how much a toddler can do. I remember when Will was this age, I thought my sister was crazy, how did she keep up with him? He was a pretty "easy" toddler. That's an oxymoron. He just made me need a nap. Little did I know Lola could make Will look lazy. It's funny how things change once you have no choice to keep up with them- yesterday I was exhausted after dinner. My belly was full and I haven't been sleeping enough.... Never leave your plate on the table with a 2 year old around. Especially when her plate is still full of beans because after I gave her a second helping of them and brought out an apple for dessert she decided the apple was more fun to eat. I closed my eyes, I wasn't asleep, I could hear her. She was drinking the rest of my water.... Then I look back and there's beans, quinoa and water in a big nasty mess. Dang it.

Anyway, this is what has changed in the past year:
Well I have a bad memory so let's go out of order:
-We went on some good vacations this summer, and Lola even loved the beach this time!
-Lola turned two, she had a lot of fun at her birthday party too!
-Lola started preschool and has the same teacher Will had, and Finn is in her class. They are actually good friends now even... As good of friends as two year olds can be anyway. Lola really likes school at least after the initial dropping off time is over...
-Ok, this is the craziest thing this year. We got a dog puppy. I wanted a rescue dog but things have changed. Pound puppies cost nearly as much as pet store puppies. So we got a border collie/cocker spaniel puppy from the newspaper and he looks a lot like an english setter with his black and white fur and spotted nose, square face and long legs. Very cute, very bad dog. He's getting better luckily, I think four months is the "bad" age, just like babies have their hard stages.....
-Christmas was awesome this year, Lola was really excited and Christmas morning was awesome. Her kitchen is definitely high on her list of favorites and she also got playdoh- like a lap table that holds all the supplies. Makes life so much easier and Lola is very grateful that I finally let her play with playdoh now HAH
-Most recently, Eddy got a new job, back to Express he goes! With a decent raise :)

Alright, enough of the past, look to the future!
So.... Resolutions....Should I be realistic? who cares....
-First off I want to really focus a lot of energy on making my business work. It's going to work! ..... www.shopSweetSassy.com in case you were wondering. I'm expanding the site to include women's hair accessories, my sister is my guinea pig. Now for goals. Specifically!
1. Find 1-2 days minimum to make stock.
2. Keep the site up to date each week.
3. Inventory, Inventory, Inventory! Also weekly task.
4. eh, that's enough for the time being, I will revise after I meet these goals.

-Must get organized! Grocery lists! Weekly budgets!

-We must move, have to find a good place to move to, preferably with a yard and a fence. But we don't have a lot of cash to work with, I want to stay in the city. This is the most unrealistic goal I have.... I should go on that show where they find you a place to rent, except they almost never keep the people in the area they want to live in. Whatever

-Oh! And ...what else. Damn dog made me lose my train of thought. Oh yea, less tv, I really want to reduce my general screen time, including internet.

-And cooking meals at home! This should be a little easier since Meg got me "The Family Dinner" book, there are a lot of quick, kid friendly recipes. So Eddy will like them ;) I REALLY want to get Lola eating healthier. Today she was eating Megan's spinach salad with mangoes and chicken. And it was spicy! Oh and it had quinoa in it too! Trying to get her on the quinoa wagon, ...and me too, I'm not really a rice, grain, whatever kind of person but so far it's tolerable. I got a stomach virus the night I ate it last and it just won't leave the back of my mind and that was over the summer, that's how long it's taken me to try it again. lol

We need to move just so I can get organized again, I swear it's the only way to get SUPER organized, box it all up and put it all back in order and then figure out where it goes all over again. There was a house for rent down the street.... But that was a while ago, it was generally perfect, minus the terrible carpet upstairs and the crazy '70s mirrored wall up the steps. More bedrooms would be awesome, I need a guest room! Poor Lola has to share her room with anyone who comes to visit. and wood floors, oh how I would love to have wood floors, and for crype's sake a kitchen table just doesn't work on carpet! yuck! Lola spilled her soup on the carpet today. And she barfed pink on it a couple weeks ago, those stains just don't come out. They don't! I drive through the neighborhood and see all the cute houses and I can just picture us living there, I see us playing outside when the weather's nice without having to share our space with all the random people.
We will see... 2011 will be good, it has to be!

I should buy stock in Kleenex

I am currently watching my daughter try to get a tissue box off her foot, put it back on and start over. It's reminding me of  Madagascar with the germaphobic giraffe walking around NYC with tissue boxes on his feet because he was afraid to touch the sidewalk. Funnier to see than to read I'm sure. We are going through a lot of tissues over here, I can't figure out if Lo has a new cold or if the original has come back for round two but she's a snotty mess again. I am still fighting off the sinus infection I got from the original cold and the neti pot is my best friend...apparently it is the same as an antibiotic, just because you feel better doesn't mean you can stop using it or your symptoms are going to come right back.

So I'm trying to be frugal, I am clipping coupons and shopping sales. Unfortunately it is also back firing on me because if it's half off or more I want to buy it.... Granted the Ralph Lauren shirt and dress I got for Lo was something I wanted when it was full price so I technically wasn't impulse buying... the Juicy velour jogging suit is another story but it will fit next fall too and at the beach this summer when its cool at night so when you divide the price by the three seasons it will fit it's like 17 dollars a season.... I think it's out of my system though.... except the flip flops I just bought on Baby Half Off, but come on, 4.99 for really cute flip flops? She is going to need those this summer! Don't judge me...

I don't really have anything witty to say these days, just trying to make it through each day with minimal meltdowns.
Mine not Lola's
I'm failing miserably.