The Business Side of Things

The past week I've been spending tons of time working on my jewelry business instead of playing with my sticks and string.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play with jewelry either.

I've been trying to get a lot more serious about photographing all the items, alter them and get them entered into Etsy.  I mean, if it's not up there for someone to buy, it won't get sold will it?  Money is still very, very tight here in my household and it's stupid not to be getting everything up and out there for the public to purchase.

I never realized how much time went into the back end of things though.  Yes, it's fun to make jewelry and it's quick, instant gratification.  What's not fun is the time the rest of it takes.  Photography is so important when selling products online.  Since the customer can't touch the item they're looking at purchasing, they need to see tons of pics.  Etsy has five slots for photos of the items to go in and I intend to use all of them.  So I've been taking like 20 shots of each item, moving them over to my Flickr account, altering the exposure, color and sharpness.  Then I have to narrow it back down to five again.  Folks, that is incredibly time consuming!  Written that way, of course, it doesn't really sound that way at all, but it is.   I'm trying my best not to get lazy.  I need to have someone standing behind me with a whip.

Here's an example of how I'm using the Flickr/Picnic account to adjust my pics.   I took about 114 photos one day and got only a handful that I could ultimately use.  But look at the before and after difference on one of the pairs of earrings that I've got up for sale:

Before:

After:

See the difference it's made?  Well worth the time, I'd say.

Another issue is that my Mom and I have joined up together in this business (which means way more inventory to photograph).  My store front name will be changing soon and I'm going to have to create a new banner/logo for it.  I don't have a clue what we'll go with yet and my brain hurts just thinking about it.  We're also going to start doing some craft shows together starting in the spring and we've lots to do for that as well.

One good note that happened this week with the new jewelry business is that we've found a temporary supplier of beads that is incredible.  I'm so excited about the prices we've managed to get from this source, but it will only last until the inventory dries up.  Even so, paying this much less for the product means so much more profit, if the stuff sells.

I've also been working on the marketing side of things as well.  I totally suck at this, but I'm working on it.  :)

So, that's what I've been doing.  Spending way too much time in front of my computer screen instead of clicking away with the knitting needles.  I'm hoping to get some free time this weekend though, my fingers are starting to get itchy for the wool!

Potted Kitty

I'm afraid my green thumb doesn't extend to kitty gardening. Are they annuals? Perennials? If they re-seed themselves, will I have a porch full of kittens? How much sunlight do they need?  Do they need to be moved indoors at the first freeze?  Are they herbs, weeds or wildflowers?

Pinewood Derby Skateboard Car Followup

Well, the 2010 Pinewood Derby is finally over.  The car did not do as well as the Eldest would have wished on the track (his father set the wheels wrong and they scraped the center of the track), but everyone thought the Skateboard Car was really cool.  That's good enough for his creative department (me) to be happy!

I wanted to show you guys the finished product:

Specs:

- Painted Hemi Orange
- All artwork was body tattoos!  Had to be very careful placing these on the board.  They wanted to slide all over the place.
- Coated the car in resin to get a high shine.

Queen Anne's Lace Crochet Project

I started a new project the other night, but it wasn't knitting, it was crochet.  Ya'll, it's been so long since I've done crochet that I had to look up some of the stitches to make sure I was doing them right!  I've been crocheting off and on since I was eight and my Mom semi-patiently tried to teach me, but it never sticks with me.  Over the years I've either forgotten how to hold the yarn or how to do certain stitches.  I don't know why I can't keep it all in one tidy little place in my brain so that I can reference it as needed. 

It didn't take long to look things up (I love the internetz) to remind my poor brain what it needed to tell my fingers and I was off and running.  I'm working on the Queen Anne's Lace Scarf from here.  If you follow the link, he's taken off the pics, scroll down to get to the free pattern. 

I'm using some of my homespun yarn that has a huge range of greens and black in it.  It's lovely, but it's not photographing well.  For some reason, variegated yarns never do photograph well for me.  I got two shots that I liked:

Here's the first:

And here's the second:

This is a really quick pattern.  I finished half of the scarf in one day.  I'll go until I run out of yarn.  There's approximately 222 yards in this skein.  It should end up just the right size.  Hopefully it will look better once it's blocked.   This is probably going to be put away as a gift to my Sister In Law for next year.  She looks stunning in any form of green (she's a redhead.)

A Pirate Birthday Party

Ever wondered how to have a successful Pirate Birthday Party for a pre-schooler?   I think I might have just figured it out this weekend.  The party was a super hit with the little guys and some of their older siblings.

When all the little pirates arrived they were told that they weren't really pirates yet, they just thought they were.  They were told that they would have to earn the right to be called a Pirate.  They thought this was really funny and couldn't wait to do it.

First task:  Every pirate must have a pirate chest.  I mean, you can't be a pirate without one can you?  I found some little wood chests for the kids to paint with tempera paints and covered the table with aluminum foil to protect it.

Second Task:  By finishing the chests, the Pirates earned the right to decorate their own pirate hat.  I made the hats out of black foam sheets (12 x 18) and had the kids decorate them.

Here's how I made the hats:

1.  Take one (12 x 18) sheet:

2.  Cut the sheet in two lengthwise:

3.  Stack both sheets, one on top of the other.  Then, trace the outline of a pirate captain hat and cut it out.  Don't get rid of your scraps though!  I'll show you why in a second.

4.  Staple the hat together as shown.  This hat fit every one of the kids and did not need adjusting. 

 

5.  Decorate!  I just this set of foam stickers that I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby, but you could have pirate stickers or stamp them with paint.

6.  What to do with the scraps?  Make shark fins!

I made a small cut at the bottom and then folded the flaps as shown.  Tape the flaps to the floor and you've got an ocean full of sharks!

Third Task:   The pirates earned their eyepatches and earrings by learning the Pirate jargon.  I googled "how to talk like a pirate" and came up with a fun list.

Fourth Task:  They earned their loot and telescopes by playing games.  I googled a couple of games and this is what I used:  (these are not my games and I don't take credit for them, but they were lots of fun)

First game:  This is to teach the new pirates how to avoid being detected by the enemy:  Throw a balloon in the air.  While it's still in the air they have to laugh like pirates by saying "Yo-Ho-Ho!"  When it lands on the ground they have to be silent.  If not, they had to  Walk the Plank!  Guess who was one of the first ones to walk the plank?

Notice the sharks on the floor?

Second Game: The kids were given orders to follow like this:

If I said:   Port!   They all had to run to the left side of the room.

If I said:  Starboard!  They had to run to the right side of the room.

If I said:  Captains Coming!  They had to stand at attention and salute.

If I said:  Climb the rigging!  They pretended to be climbing a rope.

If I said:  Mess Deck!  They sat down with legs crossed.

If I said:  Submarine!  Everyone had to lay down on the floor and pretend to be a sub.

This one was so much fun!  I don't have pics for you of this one, there was too much movement and they all came out blurry.

The kids were now officially pirates and got to have the cake:

I'm pretty proud of how my cake turned out!  I used a Wilton's pan that I got from Hobby Lobby.  One day I might even take a class or two on how to decorate cakes.  Just imagine how dangerous I'd be then.  Ace of Cakes, here I come!

Here's a better pic of it:

We even had a chest for the forks:

Of course, no Pirate party would be complete without Pirate Swords.  I set out a bucket of swords on the hearth.  These were a huge hit and the adults had to all duck quickly before they were skewered:

The Youngest was incredibly pleased with his party and the kids all had a blast with the games and crafts.  Everyone took home lost of pirate loot and the Youngest went to bed with a huge smile on his face!

Random Stuff

Just a couple of quick and varied things to talk about today:

1.  Stitches South 2010:   Any of you guys planning on going this year?  Want to meet up? 
Early bird sign up for classes ends Feb. 1st and a couple are already filled up, especially those that Lily Chen is teaching.  I signed up for one class, Basic Pattern Drafting with Melissa Leapman.  This is the first class that I have ever signed up for at Stitches South and it looks like fun. 

2.  I earned my first two $5 gift cards to Amazon over on Swagbucks just by doing searches on their search engine!  Free money, Woohoo!   If anyone is interested in trying it, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the button there.  It really is addictive fun.

3.  The Youngest's official birthday party is tomorrow afternoon and I'm already exhausted from cleaning the house.  I baked the cake at 7:00am this morning and I've got the frosting all colored and  in the fridge firming up.  I've been back and forth to school, to the library and to the grocery store today.   After we finally get the kids in bed I get to vacuum, sweep and mop floors then get started decorating the cake.  The Eldest is ticked off with me because I made him help out by cleaning the bathrooms and picking up the toy room.  He'll get over it.   It could be worse, he could have the rest of the To-Do list to deal with like I do.   :)

Have a Great Weekend!

My GrandMa Says...

I think my favorite ages of children are the years 3, 4 and 5.  They are loose cannons at this age and you never know what they'll say or do.  It's fun to watch them process information and come up with answers.  Unfortunately, before they can process the information, they have to as "Why?" over one hundred times a minute.  The Youngest has reached the "Why?" stage and it's driving me nuts.   Of course my standard reply to this, like most Moms reply, is with "because I said so."  He then looks up at me and says "How?"  At that point I usually grit my teeth and walk away before I commit violence.

He's also started quoting his GrandMa.  Except, most of these supposed quotes, never came out of her mouth!  Let me give you a couple of examples:

1.  Lately, if I raise my voice in anger, he'll look right at me and say, "My GrandMa says to Relax."
2.  If I tell him that he can't have something, like bubble gum he'll say, "My GrandMa says I can have bubble gum."

Evidently, the only conclusion is that GrandMa is the fount of all wisdom.

Today I mentioned that we might go to McDonald's.  Wanna know what unpredictable thing he said then?

"Then," he said very dramatically, "maybe McDonald's will turn into a Magic Vampire House!"  See?  Unpredictable with a capital U.

***********************

I've put up a few new items (stitch markers and jewelry)  in the Etsy store and you can see a few of them if you scroll down and look on the right side of your screen.

I need more knitting time!

Have you ever noticed that there's just not enough knitting time?  I found a slew of patterns that I want to make asap and there's no way I can get to them quick enough.

Check these out:

Flower Sweater - Ravelry link; Japanese link   I love this one and the color too.
Flamingo - Ravelry download  This will be one of the ones that I make first.
Sleeveless Vest - Ravelry link; Japanese link   This would be perfect for summer.
Frill Pullover - Ravelry link; Japanese link  So delicate looking.
Rainy Nora Gaughan - Ravelry link   Very funky
Verbena Knitting - I found so many that I went ahead and subscribed to the magazine.  Just check out Rapunzel for an example: Ravelry link

I can't remember when I've seen so many patterns that I want to knit show up at once. 

Need.  More.  Knitting.  Time.  !!!

Unraveling Thrift Store Sweaters

I took a trip to the Goodwill today and came away with a few prizes.  I ended up with three huge men's sweaters to use for recycled yarn.    The colors were fabulous too: green, red and a dark charcoal.  This is how far I have gotten in unraveling the first sleeve of the green sweater:

It looks to me, without officially testing the gauge that it's somewhere between sock and sport weight. 

If you are interested in learning how to do this on your own, here is an excellent tutorial on the whole "unraveling a sweater process".  It is definitely a bit tricky to figure out, but after a while, you'll find your sweaters growing smaller and smaller and ...

Pinewood Derby

It's Pinewood Derby season again and I've been noticing a lot more people are searching for ideas.  Last year, my son chose to do a Harry Potter pinewood derby car.  It was a huge hit with all the  adults.  Most of the kids preferred something a little "flashier". 

It's funny how competitive the dads get with the derby.  My husband is a classic example.  He wants to win the fastest car award.  Forget the kid, He wants it.  He sits down every year and tests the axles to make sure that they are straight, even and balanced.  Then he works on the wheels.  They must be slick and smooth as a whistle so they glide faster than everyone else's wheels.  He nabbed some mega wattage sand paper and got to work.  We're talking 3000 grit here that can only purchased commercially.

Me, I tend to look at the creative side of this, of course.  I also want the kid doing as much as possible.  I think he should go for the coolest car every year, regardless of how quick it might be. 

The Eldest decided this year to do a very different entry indeed.  He wanted a skateboard.  Very cool. 

The guys got the form done and the creative department took over.  I had the Eldest spray paint the deck  (look Mom, skateboarding terminology!) with a bright orange paint (Hemi orange.)  He did a good job with it too.

We knew we wanted skulls on it.  I mean, have you ever seen a skateboard that didn't have at least one?  I wasn't going to be able to draw one.  Drawing is not one of my skill sets.  So, I went shopping for skulls. 

All the official pinewood derby sections of the craft stores were searched.  Nothing.  So, I started looking outside of the box.  Know what I found that was the right subject and scale?  Tattoos.  I love looking at things outside the box, don't you?   How many people would look at tattoos and say, "Hey, that would be perfect for a Pinewood Derby Car!:"  Not many I think.

Here's what we have come up with so far:

We're not done yet.  I'm going to mix up some resin and pour over it so that the designs really pop out.  I'm turning into a resin junky.    I'm going to let The Eldest do the resin pouring as well.  He is so excited about this project.  Once it's set, we'll have to drill out the hole again for the wheels to go in.  I'll have pics of the finished project sometime next week.

Photography problems

Today was exceedingly frustrating.  I've made some more jewelry that I'm planning on putting in my etsy shop.  It's not up there yet, so don't all go rushing at once to look at it.  :P

The frustration comes with the photography.  I have my lightbox, my camera, numerous work lights all set up, but my pics are turning out crappy.  I can't figure out what my problem is.  I took 114 pics today and not one of them, even with the help of photoshop, can be used.  I think I need a jewelry photography class.

This one turned out okay though:

This is one miserable porch kitty.  Can't ya tell?

Proof That It's Cold

I'm freezing.  It's been freaking cold here, especially for us here in Georgia.  I don't like cold.  I'm standing by my statement that I'm allergic to the cold weather. I can't feel my fingers, toes, nose or behind.  I want heat.  I want my summer back.  This is why I never go on vacation to cold climates.  My sister in law goes snow skiing and calls it fun.  Phooey.  I'll go snow skiing when and if it's of absolute necessity and I can survive no other way.

Wanna know who else has been cold?

I set a blanket on the floor beside a space heater for our 17.5 year old dog.  She was so pitiful and I wanted to baby her.  Look at the crowd that showed up:

This is absolutely amazing.  Let me tell you why:

Yellow cat -doesn't like the other three animals

Brown cat -doesn't like the other three animals

Black dog - doesn't like the cats, barely tolerates little brown dog

Brown dog - Loves everybody but is at the bottom of the totem pole

And lastly:  that blanket was only 2 foot x 3 foot in size.

How about a close up of the part of the picture that had our jaws gaping wide:

If you only knew how many fights I've had to break up over the years with these two.  They hate each other.  They've even divided the house up into territories in order to avoid each other and woe be the one who crosses into the wrong territory!

Truly, hell hath frozen over!

French Press Slippers and One Pink Sock

I've got some actual knitting for you today!  That hasn't been happening much lately has it?

I jumped on the bandwagon and made some French Press Slippers for my mom:

Didn't they turn out cute?  This is the slipper pattern that I've been looking for.  They're perfect.  By the way, if you do the math, this woman has made a mint by selling this pattern.  It didn't hurt her either to have the Yarn Harlot mention her on her blog.  Just think, so far, there have been approx. 1796 people that have made this pattern.  Now at $7.00 a pop, that's just a staggering amount of money, and there are 3,662 people who are queuing up to make it!  

Will someone please kick my brain in gear so that I can come up with a brilliant pattern to sell for this kind of money?  Please?

Over the holidays my Dad requested another pair of wool socks.  When I gave him the last pair, he put them away for the longest time, afraid to use them.  This is a normal pattern for him by the way.  My mom bought him a pair of sandals and it took him two years before he wore them.  But now he's seen the light and wants another pair. 

I haven't been into making socks lately.  They take so blooming long and I never see real progress fast enough to make me happy.  So, I thought, worsted socks?  He'd like a pair for hunting, I know.  Then I decided to try out a tube sock.  Hey, no heel to turn, right?  Not that I hate doing short rows, I'm just feeling lazy.

So I did a test run on some spiral tube socks, for me to wear.  I'm tired of cold feet.  Here's what's happening so far:

1.   I have one sock finished:

 

2.  I don't like how the ribbing at the top goes on for four inches before the pattern starts spiraling.  If I make it again, I will only do maybe two inches and then start the spirals.

3.  I hate the toe.  These are top down socks and I now remember why I hate those.  I need to find a better way to end the sock by the time I get down to the second toe.

4.  It bunches up a little around the ankles.  Not bad enough to keep me from ever making these again though.

5.  On a good note, they are super warm and I like the color.  It also only took three days to make one sock and that was done in tiny spurts over the three days.

 

6.  My other foot would like me to hurry and finish up the second sock, it's freezing.

So, I will keep looking for a sock pattern that I like for my Dad that is still in worsted weight yarn.  Shouldn't be too hard.

Searching For Points

Want a fun way to nab some free stuff?  This, in my opinion, is a fun way to be frugal.  Frugal in the sense that I'm not out shopping and spending money, instead I'm sitting at home doing the searches that I was going to be doing anyway and earning points towards prizes.   I just started playing with the site Swagbucks and I'm having a blast.

First off, let me say that I am not affiliated with Swagbucks.  I do not work for them, nor do I get paid by them to tell you this.  Nor have I received anything free yet since I just joined up as well.

So what is Swagbucks?  It's a search engine.  That's it, just a search engine.  But, the fun part, and it is fun by the way, is that by doing internet searches on their site, you can be paid "Swagbucks".  And admit it, you're going to search the internet for something anyway, aren't you?  When you get a certain amount of their "swagbucks" (a fancy word for points), you can redeem them for prizes.  I'm going after the Amazon gift cards myself, or maybe the Paypal one. 

Besides doing searches, you can get your friends to sign up and for every swagbuck they get, you get one too (up to 100, but that's it.)  They also put out random swag codes that you can enter in and get more bucks for it.  There are other ways to win as well, but you'll have to go over and investigate to find out. 

This is a brilliant way for them to market their product drive people over to their site and get the word out about their business.  But more importantly, it's a fun way to earn free stuff.  I'm totally into free stuff.  "Free" is my favorite word, the next being the word "Sale" of course. 

Did I mention that it's "Free" to join?  Just tell 'em that I sent ya!  Yes, this is a gratuitous way to get you as a referrer.  Pass the word along and you can get referrals too.  ;)

Have a great weekend everybody!  I'll have some knitting for you on Monday.

Snowish

The kids had a snow day today from school.  Noooooooooooooooooo!    It's not fair!  I just got them back in school.  I could have had a quiet house to myself today.   Oh Well.

We got basically a good dusting of snow, maybe an inch, so all the schools closed down.   You folks up north and out west won't understand this, I know.  You're all laughing your behinds off at us Southerners.

Most of the buses wouldn't have started anyway, but that's not the problem here in this climate really.  The worst problem we have is the ice.  Snow melts and refreezes then melts and refreezes all over again.  We in the South are just not prepared for it.  Our cars and buses don't have skates on them like yours must have. 

Yes, you laugh, but there was a 29 car wreck caused by black ice this morning on the interstate.  Oh yes, there was.  See, if we had skates on our cars, maybe this wouldn't have happened.  Well, it probably would have been worse actually.  We Southerners don't really ice skate well either.  Where are we going to practice?  Yes, there's a few rinks around here, but not enough for most of us to practice on and certainly none that are large enough to practice with cars on.

So there you have it in a nutshell.  The answers to all your questions as to why the South shuts down when we see a few snowflakes.  :)

This was the view of our back yard taken from my kitchen window.  There's no way I was going out there to take a pic, I'm allergic to cold weather.

And check out my front steps.  Snow only stuck to the bricks.  I guess the cement was too warm for it to stick around:

 

Weird.

Mirror Followup

Yesterday I showed you my Mirror DIY project where I painted the two mirrors with some Krylon Metallic Paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze.  Today I wanted to show you the big mirror on the mantle and the mantle itself.

Every year after I take down all the Christmas decorations I get all depressed.  The house looks so bare and so does the mantle.  I usually just go with a spare look, such as just a few candlesticks on each side and maybe one thing in the middle, but not this year.  This year I wanted something busy, but it had to include many shades of brown, a few other natural colors and have lots of texture.

Here's how it's turned out so far.  Bear in mind that this is a work in progress and that I'm still tweaking it:

I've had a devil of a time photographing this mantle.  The pictures just don't do it justice and neither does my camera.  So here's a couple of other angles:

All three of these are blurry. One day I'll get a real grown up DSLR camera.

For a breakdown of what's on the mantle:

This is to the left of the mantle.  The tall wooden puppet is from Indonesia and really works.  The brown teapot was brought back by my husband from a trip to Peru and the box it's sitting on was a gift from my brother's trip to the Czech Republic.

In the center is a small collection of cut crystal.  Some were wedding gifts, some belonged to my grandparents and a couple were also brought back by my brother from the Czech Republic.

And to the right, I found some old books that has been tucked away and stacked them with their edges out to display the different shades of tan and brown.  These also served to give some height to display the black pottery.  Oh, and there's a green pillow tucked into a small metal basket on the right.

To pull everything together I grabbed some strips of burlap that was leftover from the kitchen curtain project and bunched it up a little and then spread it across the mantle.  I made sure to give it some height in some places to add interest.  Next I grabbed some dried curly grape vines that were originally in my foyer in a large pottery jug and stuck it in random places.  I also have some little vine balls on the mantle that have been dyed that I purchased at Target.  I used these as filler.

Also please keep in mind that the nasty striped wall paper will also be disappearing over the next couple of months. My "MantleScape" will have so much more impact then when it doesn't have to fight the stripes to be seen.

I'm not sure what else I'll do to the mantle, but I like where it's heading so far and I"m loving my "new" mirror.

DIY 2010 project #1

I have a couple of mirrors in the house that I loathe.  They were fine when purchased, but more and more, as I found my own personal decoration style, I came to hate them with a purple passion.  The frames were brassy where the rest of my home has warm browns and autumn tones.

So I decided to do something about it.


First came the little cheap plaster of paris mirror:

Then the beveled mirror that goes over my mantle:

 

 

In the mirror is the view of our garage ceiling.  Notice the patches made there next to the light?  Yeah, while putting in our new second attic space, the hubby decided to step through the ceiling.  Not that that has anything to do with mirrors, I'm just saying.

Here's another view of the big mirror all taped up and ready for painting.  Don't ya just love cheap dollar store construction paper?  Notice the nasty brass color of the frame?  This pic is probably the truest to it's natural color:

And a corner closeup:

I used Krylon's Metallic paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze and sprayed two coats to get this:

This, obviously is not where they will end up, but it was all I could get before my camera battery died. 

Big. Difference.

I will probably put some rub 'n buff on the smaller mirror, but the larger one is done.  I'll have a finished, back on the mantle pic for you tomorrow after my camera battery is revived.

Clever Little Shawl 2.0 *Complete*

Over the holiday I finished the second "Clever Little Shawl" (my Ravelry project link)  for my mother.  I even got her to model it for me - to a point.  I had to promise to crop out her head.  Can do.  Here's how it turned out:

From the back:

And on the dress form:

I love this pattern to death! 

Why?

1.  It's simple and makes for great movie watching.
2.  It's a reproduction of a shawl from the 1800's.  The history geek in me loves that.
3.  So warm and cozy without being bulky in the least.
4.  Needs no shawl pin to keep it closed.
5.  You pair this up with some cute but simple clothes - dark jeans, black boots w/ a heel, black shirt, and you've got yourself one unique & chic outfit. 

The link to the free pattern is here:  Carol's Clever Little Shawl

My Mods: 

1. Made the ends 24 stitches wide vs 34 to make it more slender. Increased back up the the proper stitch count on the next two rows after the ribbing section and reversed the process at the end of the shawl.
2. Began the lace pattern at k2 instead of k1. This began as a mistake, but I liked it and kept going.

For more details, click on the first link above to go to my Ravelry project page.  While you're there, why not give it some "favorite love"?  :)  

My Little Fairy

Our family can be odd at times, but then, whose isn't really?  But this past holiday, they really proved it they're loons.  It all started with the pink fairy wings that my Mom bought and brought to her house. 

The Youngest loves Tinkerbell and couldn't wait to put them on.  I'm loving the phase he's in right now.  He's completely gender neutral in regard to toys.  All toys are fun to him, even fairy wings and magic wands.  I'm saving this pic for blackmail later on when he starts bringing the girlfriends home:

Then my silly nephew got in on the act:

Then my second cousin combined the fairy wings with some Hulk hands:

We got my 80 year old Uncle in on the fun (he was such a good sport):

Even the dog got in on the act:

Remember the phase I told you the Youngest was going through?  Yeah, he asked Santa for a Daisy Duck this Christmas.  Ya know what?  He got it:

More blackmail for later!

Happy New Year's Day!

Welcome 2010! 

The end of 2009 really sucked for me, especially November.  Wait a minute, most of the end of 2009 sucked, not the very very end:

- December 30th, the hubby was offered a job here in Atlanta.  Yippee!
- We Don't have to move.  Yippee!
- December 30th, my Mom's re-took some medical tests and they came back with an all-clear.  Yippee!
- We were given dining room chairs for Christmas.  Now our guests won't fall through the caned chairs that were held together with electrical tape.  Yippee! (I'm not kidding.  I was using electrical tape to hold them together.  Desperation makes me do weird things.)

As far as New Year's Resolutions go:

1.  I don't do New Year's Resolutions.
2.  I'm changing that this year.

Goal 1:  I resolve to paint my living room and get rid of the hideous striped wallpaper that the previous owners left me.

Goal 2:  I resolve to finish the damned kitchen project that has taken me over one and a half years to do.  I still have to paint one counter and cover it in resin, paint around the small kitchen window and make a simple valance out of the leftover burlap for it, touch up what needs touching up, do two more joint compound stencils over the top of the cabinets, attach the last two cabinet knobs.

Goal 3:  I resolve to try and be more frugal.  I've been practicing this aspect of my life, but haven't been as frugal as I should.  I have cut my grocery bills drastically over the last year (from approx. $300 a week to $70 a week for a family of four) but need to work on other areas of my life. Christmas spending on two kids didn't help me much either.

Goal 4:  I resolve to find more ways to beautify my home that are inexpensive and creative.

Goal 5:  I resolve to simplify my life more.  This really began last year, but I'm carrying it over to this year.  I live in a very expensive "Old Money" area.  People are very caught up in keeping up with the Joneses.  We left one church because it had filled up with the old moneyed country club set of people who felt the need to out-do one another and everyone else with materialistic things.  Their children must always be dressed better than yours, their cars must be newer and nicer than yours, etc.   Getting away from them was one of the best things we've ever done.  We still have contact with those folks due to one of our kids being in the same preschool and it fills me with stress to be around them.  The Youngest wants to invite one of the kids from his class over to his birthday party and I'm totally stressed about it.  I've been in the kids' home.  It's amazingly gorgeous and could be in a pottery barn catalog.  My house?  Not so much, but it's getting there through hard work.  I want to get away from the things that stress me out completely and simplify my little piece of the world.

Goal 6:  Figure out how to accomplish Goal 5.

So there you go.  Those are my resolutions for the year.  Not difficult, not unattainable.  I already know that I am allergic to exercise, so the gym membership money can now be used on the above listed items.  :)