A lot of time has passed

I don’t even know where to begin I haven’t posted anything since 2014 on this particular blog, although I did have a different blog for a while I failed on that one too. I think maybe the best place to start is just from where I’m at now which is a really great place everything is going super. Steve and I are getting along better than we have an a like a decade, the kids are doing amazing, I don’t expect him to school September and 11 with like straight A’s. Dominic planning on becoming an RCMP officer and Victoria has her hopes around becoming an astrophysicist, I really feel like she should do something as a little bit more humanities base because she has a really deep understanding of people that never cease to amaze me. Me, well that’s kind of grown and changed happen for me and last for yourself, I close the shop which was really hard and really sucked and I was so pissed off at everyone in this town for so long. I worked as a bookkeeper for a mechanic for a while and he’s like mentally abusive but I stayed for like three years or something crazy because sometimes he would have a good day and he would be so fun and so just the best boss ever but you know it never really worked out so well I was working there I started working at hospice and trail, as a volunteer coordinator. Well that’s like about 10 block us all in a self but let’s just say I worked there for five years 5 1/2 actually and then last summer I took a leave initially for three weeks and next in three weeks it’ll be a year. It’s pretty much activates my relationship with Jen which I thought was impossibility, but at the same time it’s been really really good for me and Steve and it’s giving me more time to focus on school which is also new to help me. So now the bad stuff, and November 2017 completely unexpectedly, grandpa died. A week later, my dad was diagnosed with stage for pancreatic cancer and he died in January 2018. I don’t really remember any of 2018 or 2919 And I’m pretty sure the only reason I remember anything about 2020 is because of Covid. Covid sucks for a lot of people but for me and give me the opportunity to stay home and do the healing that I needed to do I kind of get my feet back under me, figure out what I wanna do with my next 50 years.

anyway so I signed up for a course that cost 20 bucks to do writing and provides a weekly prompt and I thought what the heck I’m totally doing this I love to write haven’t really done it in years I could post it on my blog. Well it took me like two hours to figure out how to get back on here things have changed a whole lot, since 2014. And like I said I didn’t have another blog for a little while on WordPress but I couldn’t really figure that out it was too complex for me I had a friend who helped me and then she started doing something else it just was too much and it was so beautiful because it was designed by that friend, I felt like every post to be perfect, and that really deterred me fromFrom the writing. So yeah I’m hoping to use my long since exists and I finally managed to get I got it to post my 52 pumps and we’ll see maybe I’ll do some other stuff on there to you I don’t think anybody really knows about it so in theory, all my secrets. My secrets.

for today I think I’ll start with one secret. Last night Steven and I moved the mattress from our bed onto the dining room floor and slept in here because it was way cooler. It’s like a jillion degrees out and it’s unbearable and are on air-conditioned house in our upstairs bedroom. Anyway I had a dream about I don’t really know what the dream was about, but it was featuring this guy that I have a fling with 1 million years ago when I was 19. I’m 48 now so that gives you some contact. Anyway I woke up feeling like I don’t know kind of weird like I’ve been thinking about him all day and talking about Facebook even though we’re not Facebook friends because I just can’t bring myself to go there maybe if I were one of these 48-year-old woman who looked like 1 million bucks but I’m not I have a man mom bun and a mom ass OK, so yeah. So just talking him on Facebook and trying to figure out what the hell it was it was making me feel so melancholy I realize it’s sleeping on the floor. He’s the only guy that I was ever with then I slept on the mattress on the floor with. I know that’s weird, but I just went out on my own and I haven’t bought a bed yet. So yeah I think that’s what made me dream about and it wasn’t anything specifically don’t even remember the dream I just wake up with him in my brain so anyway the secret I was really mean really really need them. And I’ve always regretted it because I really think that we could’ve had some thing I just wasn’t ready, wasn’t the right time. I just got out of a really bad three-year relationship and I need some time to spread my wings and know who I was before I settle down and any sort of relationship. By the time I was ready that’s cause I’m a such a horrible bitch to him and I always always felt bad about that.Yeah I don’t really know what else to say about that, he has white hair now but it’s away. He still has his temple style and that’s one of things I loved about him. I hope his wife appreciates him but, how to talk to the guy in 30 years maybe is raging asshole who knows anyway I will be back with my daily zoom prompt sometime in the not too distant future this is good I can totally get on board with talking to text get all my post done that I have to edit it may be on some kind of a pretty picture.

BIG Changes

The last few weeks have brought about some really fabulous things.

I started doing some bookkeeping from home.  Not the creative niche I love but it brings in some bucks!

Some friends of mine (please read that in Robert DeNiro's voice) and I have gotten together to start something great.  We will be teaching classes, putting together an amazing newsletter, blogging, hosting creative events, and a whole lotta of other great and wonderful things. Stay tuned for Creative West!  I will post the link for you when I have one.

I will be switching my Blog over to WordPress.  It's nothing personal Blogger, you were good to me.  I just need to spread my wings a little bit further... and besides that, my friend Krista at Everyday Miija is part of this amazing and talented group and is working on mastering WordPress skills so I get to be her Guinea Pig! I am very excited!

So, this might be my last post here.  You can still find me - only a better me, with more of what I actually do and less of my rambling and complaining - at the new Everybody Needs a Little Sugar!

How I Know My Husband Secretly Hates Me (or at least wants to make me so crazy I will be committed)

Last one out makes it - right? Apparently not in my house. ;(

Enough said?

(and yes we sleep in a double bed with a cat and sometimes a certain, soon to be 9 year old girl.  I like it cozy!)

Waste Time Laughing

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Stumbled upon this little site today (thank you Facebook, the second biggest time waster, right behind Pinterest, ever created!)

Wasted about 10 minutes and then thought of you!

Etsy Again

Well. I did it.

I got one lonely little owl listed on my Etsy page.

It looks like a mug shot but it will do for now.

I have decided I am going to try next time with a little staging - like I did in the past.

What I really need is for the snow to melt and the sunshine to dry off the grass so I can take pictures of them in their natural environment.  ;)

Outdoor always seems to work better for me even though I have so much admiration for the many skilled photographers on Etsy that take fabulous photos I need all the help I can get and the outdoor light is a really big help!

Have a wonderful Sunday ~

Lion to Lamb

Two posts in one day. No wonder it is still snowing!

Literally, snowing right now.  I read that Vancouver has a snow fall warning in effect so we will be getting more for sure.  We usually get their weather the next day.  Anyway....

In like a lion out like a lamb, right?

Today Penelope is in the worst mood of her almost nine years.
She just cannot seem to keep it together. Scowling and crying for little to no reason. Unlike her and I am not loving it.

The Little Man had a talking to by the police.  Yep.
Nothing serious - just boy stuff.  I was surprised.  I thought he knew better. He was very remorseful. Even said he was ashamed.  That is NOT like him.  He is usually very self righteous.  Fight to the death for his honour, that sort of thing.

The worst part of today.
A dear friend of mine lost his battle with cancer. He was a devote man and I like to think he is in a better place. He believed that he would be. He was kind and funny and liked by all who knew him. He will be missed.

Very much looking forward to the last half of this unpredictable month.

Time Wasters, Waste Time

Just like everyone else - and maybe even a little more, as I am... squirrel... - I have a tendency to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, so to speak and follow link after link after link wasting copious amounts of my precious time online.

I just suddenly thought to myself that I should share some of the funny, interesting, useless things I find so that you can waste you time too!

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Today I bring you the left brain, right brain test!

I got 72% right brained and what seemed like a stern warning that I need to learn to use the left side of my brain a little more!  Pfft.  Not gonna happen.

Enjoy! :)

Patience, Like Curry, Not Really My Thing

I ordered new labels the other night and I am DYING to have them right now!

I had to wait to order them to catch up from Christmas (because my Shorties are spoiled rotten and suck all the money out of the bank and my wallet!!) and I have next to none left.  I have SO many projects that just need the label and to be sewn together and they are done!

Today, I am going to sew owl bums and bag openings closed and try - I said try - to get some decent photos done to list on Etsy.

It is a big step for me.

I know I just need to find my groove and once I do it will be fabulous! I wonder, is photography one of those things that I will always think someone does better than me and that mine sucks or does it legitimately suck??  Perhaps somewhere in between.

Etsy

I do not have anything for sale other than a vintage coat, but I am so excited to show you how pretty things are looking!!

Check it out!

(and while you are there follow the link and like my Facebook page! Pretty please!)

Pinterest Monsters

So the other day PITA Facebooks me a message. She needs a favour.

Her oldest son, my cute-y pa-tootie nephew has his first loose tooth.  She needs a tooth fairy pillow stat.

She hinted that she was going to do it herself but we all know, that that hint was her beating around the bush because she wanted to ask me.

I put an end to it and offered. Not because she wanted me to but because I did!

I had seen monster tooth pillows on Pinterest - even had one pinned - so I had a general idea of what I wanted to do.

The Pinterst Version
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Turns out it was a very quick and easy project.

I did not use the tutorial at The Long Thread (obviously) as the photo was enough for me, but it looks like it would be helpful if need be. I just had a look at it, and the tutorial cuts the body out at 6 1/2" square and mine was 8".  I am happy with the result and am not one for following instructions.

(Aside:  I took a left brain right brain test yesterday.  I scored 71% right brained.  The results of the test suggested that I need to work on my left brain skills. Eeck!)

I used a royal blue sweater I had cut up for owl making, some interfacing (to keep the sweater from stretching), a scrap of wool felt for the teeth, eyes I had ready to go for the owls, a couple of buttons and a scrap of orange fabric (inside the mouth) and got it done within a half an hour!

My Version

Pretty cute, eh?

How I Know My Husband Secretly Hates Me (or at least wants to make me so crazy I will be committed)

Haven't posted in a while and I not going to make lame excuses. I just have not had anything interesting to say.

(Frankly 2014 has sucked and I haven't had anything fun to write and I was not interested in starting anymore family feuds with my eloquently written words. That, and posting with my iPad has not turned out to be as fabulous as I imagined it would be.)

But then there it was.

CH giving me something harmless to talk about. Or complain about. You can decide.

We went through his clothes to donate what he doesn't wear - three garbage bags later, I left the room. My work was done.

Pfft.  Perhaps not!

Go to bed last night and there they are.

All the hangers from the clothes he donated on the bed.

This is the kind of shit that leads to divorce.

Or at the very least some serious mock strangulation.

Posted with Blogsy

Plans for a New Year

I do not make resolutions I make goals.  Goals are something I can work with - toward - resolutions are like rules and I have never been good with that. ;)

This year, I am going to bring this family over the line into financial security.  We are not 'insecure' now, but sometimes we walk the line.  I want to look over my should and see the line - well, perhaps not looking back because you should never do that,  but knowing it is back there - way back there.

One of the things I am going to do to achieve that financial  goal is to de-clutter my home!  Something I have been taking baby steps toward since summer.  I want to start really making a go of my Etsy shops - both the stuff and the things I make. I have so much stuff that I saved from my bricks and mortar shop to sell, in 2014 I am making the time to do it!

Another goal I have in to buy a new camera.  (The stupid line is a factor here too!) I have to save to do it. We do not have and extra $450 (that is how much the one I want will be, roughly) sitting in a corner collecting dust, I am not willing to take the money from our family budget, and we stay away from credit cards.  So I will save up.

And when I do, Krista at Miija Threads and I will be collaborating on a series of amazing photography tutorials to help me learn.  It is going to be fabulous!

I am feeling a little better today.

On Monday I am having brunch with two of my friends from the old days. One of whom I have not seen in almost 13 years - she was my best friend.  I am terrified.

My sweet old dog.  Being patient as the
puppies jump all over her. :)

The Roaring Quiet

I have been very quiet here since the middle of October.  I have been very busy, but I have also been feeling very quiet.  I have had a lot on my plate and I have been feeling a bit blue.  This week seems worse.

I cannot seem to shake that feeling of anxiety. As if someone  - something - is, literally, squeezing my lungs.

I want this blog to transform into something great. Something  dedicated to the creative and fun side of me. Not the side that feels sad and overwhelmed and like taking my children and running way.

I do not always feel like that but I feel like that now and I need to find a way to turn things around.

I am not someone who can fake it.  I cannot force happy words out of the keys when all I really feel is sad. Frustrated. Angry. Anxious.

A new year is about to begin.  I am hoping for the best.

Seems Like I am Always in Action

I have been so busy selling what I make that I have not had time to talk about it!

Nag and I went to an amazing craft market in beautiful Nelson BC, the Kootenay Artisan Market,  and made a suitcase full of money.  Been attending lots of smaller, less lucrative ones as well.  Lots.  I have attended at least 2 a month since May and I am pooped! Ready to sew something new rather than what I know I will sell.  I have lots of ideas brewing!

I was at the local mall this last weekend.  It is probably the quietest of all the markets I attend but at is organized by father and brother in law it is not optional.  Two more to go and I can rest. :)
My table at the Kootenay Artisan Market looked so good!  It had to be against the wall, which is new for me, and I was worried but it was actually better than when I am behind the table and I was unable to get away with hiding which I think worked in my favour.

I went out on Saturday night for the first time in ages.  I was so hung over it was disgraceful - but funny - and my spirits were still up so it was all good.  It was a good thing I had Nag with me to take care of me. I am so often thankful for her and I am not just saying that because I know she read this. ;)

Anyway, I better get back to work.

Excited

Isn't it funny how things can change so quickly and easily?

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that they have not changed. That I have allowed myself to see that they could be another way.

Interesting how something you chose to believe can so easily be proven wrong.

I am happy.

31 Days of Pintrest, Day 25, 26, 28, and 29!

Well, it has been 5 days since I blogged and I have nothing to report.

I attended a lovely, last outdoor market of the season.  It was in celebration of down town and was a little chilly but I bundled up and it was all good.

Other than that, I have just been doing a lot of sewing.  I need to create the supply to keep up with the demand.

owls waiting to be stuffed. :)

I have create 68 owls in the last week or so and plan to make another 50 or so, so that I can be in two places at once twice in November. ;)

K. Going to sew. You need a pin? Check this one out.

Haha.

31 Days of Pinterest, Day 24

I may have mentioned before, that since we went on our summer vacation, I have been really focused on (bahahaha - I am never REALLY focused on anything!) de-cluttering and organizing so today I did a bit of that.

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One of the things I did was fill (another) box to take to the thrift shop.  This one with (gasp) china and glass wear.  I am a terrible hoarder when it comes to these (and many other) things.  I have already taken one thing out of the box... To be fair, there is a lot in the box and I plan to put even more into it.  :)

The other thing I did was clean out my pots and pans cup board and hang my lids, I got the idea from Pinterest of course.

So hopefully I will continue to make some progress.  I need to de-clutter so I can move on to the next step - taking out a wall or two...

31 Days of Pinterest, Day 23

Thank God - thank who? - it's Wednesday! I am somewhat off the hook.

I have about 900 tabs open - all of them Pinterest - and here is why.

I am taking a class through Skill Share to learn how to use Illustrator and was looking for a vintage ad to recreate for the class and somehow (wink wink) I kind of got off on a tangent.

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You know how Pinterest is... never ending.  One thing leads to another and suddenly the kids are walking in the door after school - which means it is almost 3 - and you have done nothing but sit on your fat Mumma butt pinning away.

Maybe you laughed a little over the cute puppies or the silly kids or the tongue in cheek Atheist humour (I started a new board today).

Maybe you cried a little because you wished your house was decorated nicely with all of those amazing DIYs you pinned. (Evil Pinterest!)

Maybe you made big plans to be more productive tomorrow.

My advice? DO NOT LOG INTO YOUR PINTEREST ACCOUNT.

No matter what.  DO NOT DO IT!

Tomorrow when the kids head out the door to school resist the temptation.

You can refinish you dining room table from memory while something delicious (made with a recipe from pinterest) simmers in your crock pot.

I have been sitting on my fat Mumma but for TWO hours and I am pulling the plug... in a minute...

31 Days of Pinterest, Days 21 and 22

CH is away and I have been feeling like a proper house wife. Cooking and cleaning and content to stay at home taking care of my family and getting things done.

This morning I came to the realization that I really seem to have a mental block when it comes to CH being home and my ability to get things done.  I suppose subconsciously, I feel like if he isn't doing anything but what he wants (sleeping) then why would I be cleaning out the fridge or washing the floors?  It is not really okay and I need to work on that. I have an appointment on Wednesday. ;)

So what has been happening around here?

Well, Baby J was born.

J for Josephine since The Mouth's actual name is Josh and The Boss' actual name Jamie I suppose they thought it would be cute to keep the J theme going - and it is.  I have to wonder if they will name subsequent children with J's as well.  Subsequent children?  perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself!

Strangely, I think she looks like her mother.  First Ihas in history to not look like an Ihas, but still cute as a button. LOVE LOVE LOVE her hair.

I am very much looking forward to meeting her but at the same time I am a little terrified.  I will save that drama for another day.

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So what else?  Nothing Pinterest worthy I am afraid.  I have been trying to do some de-cluttering.  With CH gone, it is easier to throw stuff in the trash or take it to the Sally Ann - when he is here we tend to feed off of each other's hoarding tendencies. ;)

Yesterday I loaded up a black garbage bag full of miscellaneous junk I still had in bins and what not from the shop.  That's right.  The shop. The one I closed a year ago and I am just now finding the time to sort through stuff.  Maybe a little part of it is that I didn't have the heart for it and now I just want a clean, clutter free home!

So, I might make some cookies today.  (The little man asked me to, we shall see if I can find the time.)  If I do, I will be using this best every chocolate chip cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.

They are so good it hurts but they are so very very bad.  Pretty much sugar, butter and, as The Little Man said, fry it and you are done. In my house we call them Auntie Surely's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They are so, so good.  I dare you to eat just one.

31 Days of Pinterest, days 13 through 20

That's right, you guessed it I got nothing!

Let me just fill you in a little on my week and maybe you will have some pity for me. Or maybe you will just tell me to suck it up...

I worked WAY more than I normally would.  Long story short - the (crooked) guy that my employer purchased the building and contents from 2 years ago caused us some major issues this week and last.  This week was worse.

Last week we were waiting for the ball to drop - this week it did.

If you are reading this and you are local, if you went and liked this page to spread the word about our new phone number I would be really grateful.

And we were tired and stressed and by the time I got home each night it was all I could do to stay awake. Sometimes being a grown up and having a job sucks. Sometimes I much prefer my stay at home job of mothering, sewing and blogging - although the pay is crap there is virtually no stress.  Anyway...

That is the main reason, throw is a the new pups and the day to day and my time is all sucked up.

I did a lot of pinning... but nothing I am going to use any time soon.

Well, maybe this for the Little Man for Christmas.  He will not find it funny - buy CH and I will.  Oh, yes we will.

Last Sunday we went and looked at a house.  Perhaps a bit of a mistake but also a big eye opener.  Most of this weeks pins were kitchens.  We are going to be doing some work to this house and stay.  So much more house for our money even though it is not in my dream neighbourhood.

K.  So am I am going to force myself to list a few more things on my Etsy supplies site and then go sew.  I am feeling a little tense today because as of today I am a single parent for the week, these dogs are driving me crazy and and and..

Sewing always helps. :)