Just a little craftiness

Thanks for the kittie sympathies, I know I'm way too emotionally attached to my animals, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I know you other animal lovers out there understand.

I've been trying to sew for at least a few minutes every day, I have some swap obligations to finish up this month, as well as some custom "do you think you can do this" kind of things I need to start wrapping my mind around. One thing I've finally gotten the hang of is having both hands free while nursing Wyatt, so I picked up some embroidery. I had never really embroidered before a few months ago when I saw the Stitch School over at Primrose Design. I've done counted cross stitch since I was young, but had never ventured into more free form designs like you get with embroidery. I picked up some old clown transfers at a yard sale for a nickel (a nickel!!! For a BIG package!), and they still had pretty good ink so I put some onto large muslin squares. Here is mid process of my first try.


I'm not happy with the way his face looks, I couldn't get the stars to look right for his eyes. It's a learning process though. I just did basic back stitch for everything really except satin stitch for his nose. All in all, I'm enjoying it. This little guy is done now, and is in the to do pile to reach his final "destination" so to speak.


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I started this post over two hours ago, we've lost 3 more kittens, a fourth is not faring too well, and the 5th, and last kitten, has now been given a flea bath and I went and got some commercial kitten milk and a feeder bottle as a just in case. I have no idea what is happening with these poor poor babies, but I will NOT let the other one die without a fight.

I thought it came in threes?

We've all heard the saying that bad things come in three's right? Well, apparently that skipped our house. As I posted earlier in the week, we had lost 3 kittens already, then the next day, we lost one more. I was just coming home from a nice dinner out, and saw one of our mama cats on the side of the road. She had been hit by a car. It's really odd because other than us there are only 2 other houses on this 2 mile long road, so the traffic is pretty nil. And both of our neighbors know we have cats so it's odd they wouldn't have stopped and told us (it had to have happened yesterday or even this morning because of the "condition" she was in when I found her). I am SO sad. The other mama has taken over her 4 kittens (since the other 4 died) and is loving on them like crazy, so I'm sure they'll be fine, but it still just breaks my heart we've lost another cat. Zeus was our silly mama, she never made much sense, and she will be dearly missed. This picture is her with her kittens right after they were born.


I'm ready to stop losing kitties now.

Coming this week, gathered I can pull myself together over here (heh), is a post on how to do Gatlinburg on a budget, and a few other things that are roiling around in my head. I'll try and get rid of the gloom and doom that's hanging around.

Coming out of a tunnel

This picture was taking on our way home from Gatlinburg, I believe the tunnel is actually between there and Pigeon Forge. It's a really bad picture, but it perfectly illustrates how I feel coming off this trip.

Wyatt is 3 1/2 months old. He was born to a mother who was diagnosed with clinical depression 6 years ago, and who fights it unmedicated, most days pretty unsuccessfully. When he hit 2 months old, I think a little post partum blues came into the mix as well. I've touched on my mental-ness a little bit here lately, but honestly, the last 2 months have been so rough. It's hard to put a finger on, because I love my husband, I love my children, and I love my life. There are hitches of course-days the kids aren't on their best behavior, husband wants to be a ninny, baby doesn't sleep, etc. But in the grand scheme of things-I am so happy. The last while though, I've been living in a tunnel mentally. And it's been like all of my thoughts were going out and pinging off the sides banging into each other and rolling around like a massive pinball game. It's very restricting to have SO much in your head and the inability to get it out.

My house has been failing, my kids have started looking at me out of the side of their eye, and on and on. This is how depression affects me-I hole up, get cranky, and can't get the motivation to do much of anything. And then my husband suggested our trip.

It was less than 48 hours away, but it was just what I, and we, needed. I finally overcame my fear about talking to him about something I've been dreaming about for a long time. When I told him, he asked me why I was so scared. I couldn't really give him an answer. Why is anyone afraid of revealing their dreams? Ridicule? Fear of failure? Both of those for me. My first husband would have laughed and laughed had I told him, and done everything in his power to sabotage my efforts. BUT-Bobby is not my first husband, and I unwittingly transferred earlier behaviors to now. Bobby is SO supportive of anything and everything I want to do, his only condition is that I be happy. He will run to the store in the middle of the night if I need something to finish a project, he listens to me vent about what I did wrong and then tells me that no matter what it is that I made, it's wonderful. He also knows how to lend constructive criticism.

I digress.....once I finally told him my dream, it was like the floodgates opened and the fog lifted. We had been talking for about 2 hours straight at this point, and figured we should let the restaurant close, so we went back to the hotel. At which point, I proceeded to fill pages and pages of a notebook with notes, ideas, sketches, etc. Interjecting occasionally, what do you think about something like this honey? and getting his feedback. It was wonderful to get all of those things out of my head, and a plan in place.

In case you haven't guessed, the plan is to become Froggy Girl Designs, L.L.C. Ya'll, I'm gonna make a company! I haven't shown a TON of crafty stuff here, because frankly, I'm scared. I've started getting custom orders for things though that are being well received, so I'm really going to try and put it out there more. I have to get over my fear and show my products or the company will fail right? And I refuse to let it fail.

That being said, this is my most recent custom order for a CD visor. I love this one, the grays and black, it just looks so classy to me.


Thanks for reading if you have gotten this far! I'm off to feed the baby and get my day started-it's a whole new outlook over here!

Sadness....

We just lost two more kittens. We have no idea what's going on, but our hearts are broken. RIP little ones.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program

For the following. This morning, one of our kittens had died. No apparent cause, so my husband took him outside to bury him on the lid of a box. The boys saw it, and then as they were walking out to the bus they saw that a small fire was lit. The genius that is my oldest son told his younger brother that Bobby had obviously set the kitten on fire to burn it. Alex promptly went to school and told his teacher the same thing (please let me add this note, the kitten was buried, he burned the box he carried it outside in).

So, upon hearing about this when they came home from school. I just emailed his teacher, it went like this:

Alex told me he came to school today and told you my husband burned a
kitten this morning. I was afraid you'd worry we were doing some odd
animal sacrifices over here or something so I wanted to let you know,
he did not burn a kitten, he buried one of our kittens that died, and
burned the box he had carried the kitten outside in. Also, field
trip is this week, money is coming with Alex tomorrow morning, and the
field trip is Wednesday correct? Alex said he has to have sack
lunch, that he can't bring his lunch bag, is that right? Forgive me
if these are all questions answered in the flyer you sent home, but
that, along with my sanity, seems to have been misplaced. Thanks so
much!

It's a good thing his teacher has a sense of humor or I would probably be getting a visit from Child Protective Services later this week.

We have another kitten that is fading fast, and we can't figure out what's going on as their's nothing we can see wrong with them. I'm pretty distraught about it, I am very much an animal person, and our cats are members of our family. So tomorrow, I'll resume with the Gatlinburg talk, tonight I'm just sad.

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig...

We made it home. The trip was wonderful-exactly what we both needed. Wyatt was amazing...6 hours in the car there and back and hardly cried. I have So much to post about, exciting things on the horizon, and a refreshed outlook. I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures and stuff.

Just a funny...we were on our way home listening to a local radio station. A commercial came on and I was only half listening and heard, "Have a bad weekend? Life got you down? Get a bag of Crystal and you'll feel better!" I was like, what??? they are advertising crystal meth on the radio? What kinda place is this!

It was an advertisement for a hamburger place. Sheesh..I was mortified, then really amused at myself. That's what you get for only half listening!

The way time gets sucked....

In my house, on the VERY rare occasion we are actually going away somewhere, the following invariably happens. I've procrastinated to the point that I have a TON to cram in the next 4 hours, and it all plays out something like this (true story, although names have been changed to protect the innocent-HA!).

First, I sit down to feed the baby before I really start hitting it hard. He's sitting there eating, making ridiculous gaseous explosions, then I feel something warm and see the telltale huge grin. I pick him up, and see the lovely deposit he's left on the jeans I was going to wear in the car. Much changing of mommy and baby entails, my size has changed considerably from before I got pregnant, so almost all of my pants are too big (WOOHOO!), so I tried on 4 pairs before finding something that looks decent.

Second, I finish packing our suitcase and close the top. The phone rings so I grab the suitcase and start walking towards the front of the house. Smack myself in the head when said suitcase falls open and unpacks itself in 10 seconds flat. Go answer the phone.

Mom: Hey, are you packing?
Me: yes, and I have alot to do what do ya need?
Mom: Just wanted to say hi
Me: OK, hi...click

Walk back to the bedroom, repack the suitcase, zip it up this time, and deposit it by the front door. Phone rings again.

Mom: Did you get your bag made to take with you?
Me: No unfortunately my request to god for 10 more hours in the day was denied.
Mom: Want mine?
Me: No, I have tote bags it's cool
Mom:But mine are cute
Me: Then please, name them spanky and take them out for a drink, gotta go. Love ya!

Give the baby his pacifier and sprinkle him with goofy talk and kisses. Phone rings again.

Mom: When was ex-DH coming home again?
Me: When hell freezes over I think.

Get the 3 yr old some lunch and a drink, grab the diaper bag to start packing it up. Phone rings again (have you guessed?)

Mom: Do you care if we take the kids to the state park this weekend?
Me: As long as you leave them there

Try and remember what I was doing. Phone rings again.

Mom: What time does Bobby get off work?
Me: Half past a monkey's..nevermind, Mom..later, we'll be there about 4 and I really have a
lot to do so can I PLEASE talk to you then?
Mom: Sorry I just wanted to chat with you for awhile.
Me: Tip-create a login account and find a chat room, I'm busy!
Mom: Oh ok, ya are you packed?

(rinse and repeat whole process)

Sigh...and that's why I love my mother, she's completely ingratiating in the most unassuming way. And now, it's time to go find my head where I left it. Have a great weekend, ya'll!

And the winner is.....

Well, there were only 3 entries...so it didn't take too long to write em up and throw em in the hat. Alex was thrilled he got to pick the winner, AND read the name. Barb! You win one of my pouches...I certainly hope you like it! So please email me with your name and address and I'll get one out to you hopefully this week before we leave on our little trip.

Now you other two girls...Lera and Hunny Bunny. You need to email me your addresses too because you're going to get a goody package just for being awesome enough to read my drivel AND brave commenting lol.

Sorry posting has been sparse AGAIN this week. Does anyone else feel like they have ADD on a pretty regular basis?? I don't honestly know what that feels like, but I imagine my brain has GOT to be close. I'm constantly flitting from this to this to this, and nothing ever seems to get 100% finished. Well, some things of course, but I think you know what I mean. This week my mind has been preoccupied with this:


Yup, that's right I made a skirt. I used the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirts pattern. This is the first time EVER I've followed a pattern and made something. I am SO excited. I really wanted a skirt for our trip this weekend and this fit the bill. It took me way too long (about 4 hours total?), but again, I'd never followed a pattern before. I also had to shorten it about 5 inches. It's a bit big on me, I don't even need the zipper, but I love it! I found the fabric on clearance at Joann's last week, it's a Tracy Porter print that I just love. I used dark chocolate thread to do a vine stitch around the hem (which you can't really see in the pic) but I think it really looks nice.

My hope is that with this trip, I'll be able to regroup a bit and settle my mind down. Wyatt has started teething, with all the low grade fevers, fussiness and lack of sleep that comes with it, so that's part of my disorganization I'm sure.

So anyways, what do you think? Like the skirt? I can't wait to make a few more!

One more day for the giveaway!

Remember ya'll....I'm running a contest. Leave me a comment and you'll get your name entered in the drawing for one of these awesome pouches. I'll let you choose either a small or large pouch (7x9 or 8 x 12). These are GREAT for corralling little bits in your purse, feminine items, or whatever else. So cute! *Fabric may vary from that shown! Happy Blogiversary!

Belated Honeymoon! And a giveaway!

Yes, it's true..we've been married almost a year now..can ya'll believe it??? Oh my...I think that means I either missed my blogoversary or it's coming up. Hmm, maybe a giveway?? Stay tuned!

Anyway, I just placed our reservation for the Sidney James Mountain Lodge in Gatlinburg, TN. Bobby has been there before with his first wife (ugh!), but I've never been. I'm pretty excited, we didn't get to have a honeymoon last year, so this is kind of a belated honeymoon. We will be taking Wyatt with us, but have made arrangements for the other three. We'll be leaving on the 21st, and just staying through the 23rd since he has a 4 day pass but we hope to get in some good sightseeing and things. I just mentioned to my husband while browsing the Gatlinburg website that they have quilt shops. His response? "Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't notice." LOL!

In other news, I have been sewing ALOT the last few days, I completed my very first custom order, an eyeglass case. I have a few other orders here on the burners that I'm working away on. It is SO exciting. All you other folks who create things, I've always been amazed at what you make and sell, things that are so beautiful I knew I could never measure up. BUT, I've done some things, and pictured some here, and people do like them. It astounds me and makes me so happy! I've been putting more things into my Etsy shop, so head over there and check them out!


Now, about that giveaway! How bout this. For everyone who comments between now and Sunday night at midnight, and links to this contest on their blog, I'll put your names in a hat and draw one out on Monday to win one of my new pouches (shoot me the link to your post by email or in the comments). None of these have even made it on to Etsy yet, so you get the first! It may not look like either of these, just a couple examples to whet your whistle so to speak. So Happy Blogiversary to me, and Happy Almost Anniversary to me and my hubby! No duplicate comments will be counted here, one shot only ya'll!

Remembering 9/11

Photo Courtesy of Google Images

All I can say is, in the 6 years since that fateful day..none of us have forgotten. You are all heroes.

I'm on Ebay!

Well ya, we all knew that. I've been selling for quite some time actually lol. I don't put my links up here because I don't know if ya'll want to see what I'm selling? If you do, let me know and I'll put up a link.

Anyway, the point is...a friend of mine runs an Ebay store, and offered to let me put one of my CD visors in there to see how it did. I'm pretty nervous, I really hope people like these. I've sold one, but haven't gotten feedback on it yet so I'm hoping it was well received. If you want to check it out, visit Burdhouse Stitchery (and check out her awesome cross stitch stuff-one of my other loves!).

My husband the genius

In light of all the wonderfulness that has been my husband lately, today he had to make a totally genius move. Our area, like much of the rest of the country, has been having drought conditions. We haven't had rain in at least 3 weeks, and through the summer almost all of grass has died.

Well, Bobby has been doing some cleanup in the yard and things, pulling down a couple of dead trees and the like. There has been a stump right in the middle of the front yard since we moved in, and in his infinite wisdom, he decided NOW was a good time to burn it. You know where this is going don't you?




Nice huh? Good news, we already have grass seed.

A day for new things

First, this is what we woke up to this morning:


Yup, KITTENS! We are very much a cat family around here, we have 3 adults and 5 kittens from a previous "batch", and we didn't have a chance to have the 2 un-spayed females fixed before we moved since they were still nursing at that point. Well, as cats tend to do, BOTH of them got pregnant right after we moved (they are predominantly outside cats). So, this is Hera and her 5 new kittens. The other cat, Zeus, also gave birth today, but I haven't been able to get a very good picture because she had them outside in one of the window wells by the basement. She had 4 though, and they are so gorgeous! We really have to get them fixed after this though, our kittens runneth over!

Second, my dear husband took me out to breakfast this morning since he had an unexpected day off duty, then took me shopping! He was convinced he still needed to get me a birthday present even though he just bought my new machine a couple of weeks ago (which I TOTALLY considered my present lol). Well, he got me a new cutting mat and ruler. My old mat is well, trash basically. It was one of the cheapies from Wal-Mart that is horrid on blades, and it was very cut up. I only have one ruler to use when cutting, and I was looking at a couple of other ones to add a bit more variety so I grabbed one of those too. Joann's is having a pretty good Labor Day sale so I got a $45 mat and $19 ruler for $37 all together! I used my 40% coupon on the ruler, and the mat was already on sale, plus the flyer had an additional 10% coupon in it.

And last but not least, I have another CD visor in my Etsy shop. This one is done with a really cute fabric from Timeless Treasures that has little paper dolls all over it. I'm really liking the alternating fabric pockets. Also, I figured out how to make my own bias tape (I know..how hard is it? Seriously...refer to earlier space cadet comments), so I'm using that to trim these with. I'm hoping to sell a few of these, gotta pay for more fabric right?

The Froggy Boy

It's been 2 1/2 months since Wyatt came into our lives. He is so awesome! That's the only word to describe this little man. He is the easiest of my babies so far, generally content with some fussiness thrown in to keep me on my toes. He has learned to smile socially, and Bobby and I are both really enjoying this phase. He has grown SO much since he was born. Looking back at the pictures from his birth, it's hard to remember he's the same baby, even in this short period of time. He was just over 11 pounds at his 2 month checkup, and I'm guessing he's just over 12 now. He's grown 4 inches since birth as well. He will no longer take a bottle AT ALL, which is a double edged sword-I love it because he is getting 100% of his nutrition from me, but at the same time, I sometimes wish I could take a bo*by break. I finally got around to ordering prints of some of the pictures we've taken of him tonight, I used the 20 free prints I had stored with Snapfish. 20 prints for a grand total of $2.09, not bad!

These are a couple I took of him today..look at those chubby cheeks!