Etsy treasury.

Calm and Cool, Collected

Check it out--curated by me. :)

Because I'm all about the time suck.

Q: Why didn't I get all those papers graded this weekend?
A: I was terribly busy making Poladroids. I'm sure they'll understand.

p.s. Yes, that's my tongue. And my cleavage. No body doubles here. We do all our own stunts.

I'm in love.

My love affair with etsy.com continues.
I was away from my computer for almost a week, and so I've been making up for lost browsing time today. If anyone wants to buy me some of this stuff, you just go right on ahead! ;)

Current favorites:

Story People

So I don't at all remember how or when I stumbled upon Story People, but I came across them in my internet ramblings one day and signed up for their daily newsletter (which as far as I can tell is much less frequent than daily, but whatever). Sometimes they're wonderful and right on and sometimes they're just plain weird. No wonder I like them, right!? Sounds like me.

Anyway, I enjoyed what I found in my inbox today, even though I'm not big on the idea of angels. Just change "angel" to spirit of the universe, I guess, or something slightly less hokey. Click here to read it. It's really quite lovely.

A few of my etsy favorites at the moment.

Cold weather, you're no match for me!

I took a walk today, in 28 degree weather, to explore up the dead end road that leads to our house. After our home, the gravel road splits off, with a branch continuing on straight south and a branch that curves to the west. To the west are two other families, spread out. I knew we didn't have any other neighbors, so I had assumed that to the south the road just eventually stopped. And it does, but not before making its meandering way over a small concrete bridge spanning a creek.

(how much does this look like Frost's "Road Less Traveled"?)

I should explain a bit why I was out walking in the first place, facing head-on two things I normally despise: exercise and cold.

Reason #1: Gravel trucks have been driving to and fro past our house all day long; the owners of the property south of us are apparently building a pole barn and plan to build a house in the near future. Eli is devastated about this. They'll be far enough away that we can't even see their pole barn (nor their house when it gets built, I'm sure) from our house, so I'm thinking we'll still feel as secluded as ever. But until the house is finished, we will have the unfortunate luck of having traffic on our road.

Naturally, I had to check this situation out.

Reason #2: I have embarked on an ambitious plan to lose weight, including foregoing in-between meal snacks. So every time I get hungry and would usually start grazing I instead try to either drink water or distract myself from my stomach entirely. It's been exactly three days. And I still have two untouched pints of Ben & Jerry's in my freezer. Now THAT, my friends, is an incredible display of will power.

I actually enjoyed myself today. Whereas I would normally have sat around shoving Twinkies and the like into my gaping maw, I took the time to get off my butt and do something. The walk did me good. I found myself noticing and appreciating little details that I would have otherwise missed. Normally this time of year I spend as little time outside as possible. I mean, seriously, I detest the cold. But if I hadn't ventured out, I wouldn't have seen this:



a frozen puddle with bubbles trapped beneath in the dead grass. The top layer of the ice was thin and floated on the ground like a sheet of delicate glass.

Or this:

the coolest dead tree with the smoothest weathered bark.

I definitely wouldn't have noticed how calm and serene the reflection of the tree branches is in the creek. Hell, I wouldn't have known there WAS a creek!



So that was cool. But now it's getting late, Eliot is asleep, and I'm having a pretty hard time trying NOT to bake brownies and eat the whole pan. *sigh* I'd better grab my embroidery to keep my hands busy...

I still use Country Crock.

Ah, New Year, you're still so fresh and gorgeous. All these calendar pages stretching out before me with endless possibility.

Eli hung pictures/decor in our office for me just a few days ago, agreeing to PUT HOLES IN THE WALL. Amazing! And one of the elements of the room that I love the most is my 2009 calendar. (The link goes to the small version, and I have the large, but you get the idea.)




It's so lovely and blank, with its 365 days all at a glance, just waiting to be filled with appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, and other everydayness.

It pleases my soul, just like a fresh tub of butter with its undisturbed swirl. You know, the "bellybutton" of the butter. Yum. You can't beat that.

Making it right.

I'm completely in love with Etsy. And one of the reasons is that buying handmade items from the people who actually made them is so rewarding, for both buyer and seller. I recently bought this light switch plate from Trixie and Radar. Unfortunately, when I received the light plate it was cracked all the way across the back. (Damn postal workers and their rough handling of packages!) ;-)

I sent a message to the sellers, just to let them know what had happened, not expecting them to refund my money or anything like that. After all, I know there are no guarantees in life, and I hadn't purchased shipping insurance or anything like that. I kind of thought it was just one of those things and I'd say, "Oh piss!" and use it anyway. After all, the front part of the plate was still held together by the decoupage and it was still fairly usable.

But Trixie and Radar, bless their hearts, upon hearing the news, immediately and with no questions asked, made and shipped me a brand new lightplate. It arrived the other day in excellent condition and is now happily adorning the wall of the office in our new house.

To me, this is just one example of the complete difference between buying handmade and buying from the big, impersonal box stores like The Pits of Hell (otherwise known as Walmart). Walmart couldn't care less whether I'm satisfied with my purchase. Their idea (and so many other retailers' as well) of customer service is just blow enough smoke up the consumer's ass to keep them buying. Etsyians, on the other hand, want you to love your purchase because it brings you the same happiness that it brought them when they were making it. They feel warm and fuzzy inside when they know their item is treasured and loved. They want you to be happy because they want you to be happy. They provide customer service because it's the right thing to do.

Walmart? Walmart could care less. They provide customer service because they're afraid if they don't you might find somewhere else to buy your cat kibble and your toilet paper and your Lucky Charms. Oh, no, wait. They're not all that afraid, because they've taken extra steps to ensure your loyalty by running everyone else who sells cat kibble and toilet paper and Lucky Charms out of business...

But that's another story.

So, just a public service announcement. This Christmas season, buy handmade! Support local artists and people who take pride in a job well done. :-) Not the money hungry execs who want to grab more and more of your hard-earned dollars to spend on expensive Scotch and high priced hookers.

Join in.

The Beckoning of Lovely

I just discovered this and it made me cry. I think I'm in love.

New digs.

We finally found a great little house in the country, and we close on it in just a couple of weeks. As though this week didn't contain enough insanity and stress (with Eliot's surgery), we had to go out and buy a house. Yep, we Heichers know how to do it up right.

The house was built in 1971 and most of the interior decor is from 1971. Green textured carpet, bathroom flooring with sparkling flecks, the whole nine yards. Our first order of business is going to be re-carpeting and painting, but the rest of the updates can wait until after move-in.





We'll have about two acres of yard. The picture above is taken from our yard looking towards the side of the house. If you go up onto the deck and into the house, you'd come into this huge sunroom, which was a later addition to the house.



And this is the crowning glory, as far as Eli is concerned: a large outbuilding that will be home to his boat, fishing stuff, tools, etc. The manshed. He and Mumford might just take up residence out there, and Eliot and I will live in the house. *ha* kidding...er...sort of.



Here's the little man, expressing his approval. Now that he's got a yard to run around in, I suppose he'll be wanting a puppy. Not if Mumford has anything to say about it.

This flashdance flashback is brought to you by my rust-colored legwarmers and the letter R.

I'm a ma-niac, maaaaaa-niac...

Lovey weekend madness.

Eliot is growing into such an awesome little boy. We spent the weekend at MaMa's house (so that Daddy could sleep) and had such a good time. At this age, he's learning new words and fun tricks every day. He grows and changes so quickly. On Saturday he said "MaMa," (meaning my mom) for the first time. It was easy to distinguish from "Momma" because he said it as she was leaving the room and he was pointing after her, wanting to follow. Then he said it a few more times over the weekend, always clearly meaning her. That makes "MaMa" the fourth person's name he has said, after "Momma," "DaDa," and "Zayda."

His linguistic repertoire also includes car, cat, dog, yes, no, bubble, cracker, nana (banana), go, and out. He also went through a brief phase where he was saying "I love you," but I haven't heard that out of him in awhile. Most of the time he keeps up a string of unintelligible gibberish, and every once in awhile Eli and I will look at each other and say, "Wait...did he just say_____?" Yep. He did. He's an amazing little guy. Who still refuses to walk.

Another first this weekend is kisses. He started giving big, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses at about six months old, which I think most babies do, but yesterday he gave his first puckered, lip-smacking kiss to MaMa. And then repeated it this morning for me and Eli. So funny and adorable! We'll have to get it on video.

He also watched some of the Olympics at MaMa's house and LOVED the synchronized diving. He laughed every time the athletes entered the water. He just sat right on the couch and watched like, "Dude, this is even better than Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!"

On Saturday, I made a doll for Eliot. His name is Johnny. And when I say "I" made him, what I really mean is I cut out the pattern and the fabric pieces, sewed his arms and legs and head together under Mom's tutelage, and embroidered his face, all while inwardly swearing and spitting and flailing around. Then I got Mom to sew all his various parts together so that he would look nice and not like...well, like I had made him.



I bought the pattern from this adorable etsy shop, Bit of Whimsy Dolls. I really like how he turned out. I made him to look a bit more like Eliot, with the hair falling over his eyes. And I adore his cowlick, too. That part was already in the pattern.

Eliot seems to like him--he's given him several hugs and MaMa showed him how to clap Johnny's hands together for applause (or pat-a-cake, I guess)! I showed him how the doll's shorts come off (because he's always taking his baby dolls' clothes off), and then he stuck his little finger up Johnny's sleeve and pulled and pulled on his shirt. hehehe.

I asked if he wanted to take Johnny with him to daycare today, but he said no, so here Johnny is relaxing on the wicker porch furniture, waiting patiently for Eliot to get home.



I'm waiting too.

One thing I've figured out about this crazy journey of parenthood is that my relationship with my son alternates between severe frustration and exhaustion and heart-wrenching bouts of love. Sometimes I just want to get away from him, desperately need to get away from him to get my head back on straight and be able to breathe again. And other times I swell up so full of love for him that I feel like I might burst. And I just want to hold him close to me and kiss his little cheeks all day. This weekend was definitely more of the aching, loving madness. He's such an awesome little boy. Did I say that already?

He's such an awesome little boy.

My wordle.

Another fun waster of time: delicious little word clouds. It was fun to see what I mention most often on my blog. Not surprisingly, "Eliot" is one of the largest words. And "shop"? Do I really say "shop" all that often? Hmmm...guess I just said it twice, anyway.


title="Wordle: Stop. Drop. Roll."> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/83760/Stop._Drop._Roll."
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"
>

Beautiful, easy digital scrapbook pages.

I found a great new resource for digital scrapbooking, scrapblog.com. It's great for those who are new to digital because they have tons of seriously easy-to-use templates. It's all a matter of drag and drop and you can edit and crop your photos, too.

I put these pages together in no time at all. I just used one of the ready-made themes, but you could also get much more creative with the program by starting from a blank page. Definitely something I'm going to be returning to soon to exercise my burgeoning digital prowess. (Okay, actually I only wish I had even a drop of digital prowess, but at least these easy pages make it look like I know what I'm doing!)

Buy handmade!

I've been working on Mom's etsy shop this weekend, and she had her first sale yesterday, so I'm thrilled! If you haven't visited etsy.com, RUN, do not walk, over there immediately and check it out.

Okay, why are you still here? You're supposed to be at etsy.com. Checking out this shop in particular. Go! Go now!

I am completely addicted to etsy and have spent many hours browsing fabulous art, handmade journals, supplies, baby clothes and toys, and just everything under the sun.

I may set up my own little shop soon...with some lovely scrapbooking related creations I've been working on. But until then, go here. Now. Or, if you want to see some of my favorites, go here. But mostly just go here. Now.

Utility meets beauty.

We're still looking for a new place, although moving plans have been put on the back burner for now. I think Eli and I are both a bit burnt out on the search for real estate. We feel like we'll never find exactly what we want for a price we can afford. But the upside of this process is that in getting this house readied up to put on the market, we've made improvements that we really enjoy.

I love the new porch furniture--it makes the porch space a useable, liveable space in a way that it really hasn't been since we moved in. When it's cool enough out there, I love to lounge on the wicker love seat or push Eliot in his swing.

The patio space for the new grill is great, as well, and the garage is looking fabulous.

I've also been trying to rearrange some things upstairs. A week or so ago, Eli and I were out antiquing and found this great little dresser to help organize my scrapbooking supplies.



I'm putting it to use holding my stamps, inks, and paints, and I think it looks great in between the two recessed shelves Eli built. I love the battered, well-used look of it, and the top area makes a great display spot for my upcycled license plate card holder, a few books, and my jar of buttons.

I read somewhere recently not to have anything in your home that you do not find to be either beautiful or useful, and I've been thinking a lot about that lately. This little gem happens to be both beautiful AND useful, so I think it's definitely a keeper! :-)

Riveting product update.

This past weekend Eli and I perused Babies 'R Us, which is very unlike us, because Babies definitely are R not Us, but I had remembered Elecia telling me they carry these things called Snack-Traps that I should try for Eliot. They're little cups that hold tiny toddler delicacies like Cheerios, Goldfish and the like. The idea is that toddler fingers can reach in to grab said delicacies, but the food won't fall out when they start turning the cup upside down and banging it on the highchair tray, floor, coffee table, what have you.

We were skeptical, but decided to check it out anyway.

So we located and picked up a few Snack-Traps.

They look like this:







And lo and behold, the darn things work like magic. I was sure that Eliot would simply reach in, grab a handful, and then throw them all over the floor, but so far he hasn't. He's apparently awed by the brilliant design of the "Trap." And has too much respect for it to override the design via his usual hijinks. He does delight in banging it on the floor and watching how the fish do NOT fall out of the cup per usual. As do I.

Another recent fabulous find is this vintage Fisher-Price toy that I picked up at a local antique shop:




And it seems weird to call this "vintage," but technically, I think anything more than 20 years old classifies, and this is that old. We had one when we were little, so it appealed to me off the bat, and Eliot seemed to like it, so I couldn't resist adopting the little dune buggy and bringing it home to live. The little people's heads wobble when you pull it along the floor.

Fun stuff.

Making messes more manageable and life more fun! :-)