I have a sister

who has her own Etsy shop that she's been slowly but surely stocking. I've been trying for months to encourage her to get cracking but I must be too bossy!

The five items in her shop so far do not even come close to showing the scope of her talent.

She is the one who designed our banner and logo for us. She has designed Christmas cards for some of us and also helped with our mother's website (Just to name a few.) I asked her the other day to designs some tile pendants for our church craft sale this fall. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!!

If you've ever had the urge

to sweep the floor on your knees, don't bother making the attempt unless you have an in-house massage therapist!

I was sweeping the floor today (The vacuum got tired of us telling it that it sucked and is on strike. Sensitive little bugger. Vacuums are suppose to suck!) and my broom broke. I suppose that's what happens when you use a WalMart special to break open a pinata. Because I failed Duct Taping 101 in school, my little itty piece of duct tape allowed the broom to stay upright but it was oh so floppy. I had to hold it down by my knees. Ouch! My aching back!! Hubby rescued me when he got home and taped it like a man! Whew! Saved once again!

July is all about out of town company. We waved one carload down the road yesterday and are going to welcome another batch this evening and one more tomorrow night. (Hubby's brother and fam tonight and tomorrow night is his niece and her family.) Next week my sister comes to town and the week after that Hubs parents will roll in. One of these weeks friends are going to "pit stop" for a night on their way thru. I think I need a nap! (not to mention a new broom! I'll settle for a house cleaner though!)

Hmmm...wonder how I'll carve out some able mabel time. I tried this morning experimenting with a new pillow design. I ended up getting a bit frustrated with my lack of progress and then had to do 90 mph to get the house ready for tonight.

Now I know why some people won't/don't try new designs. I'd try one way, hold it up squinting my eyes, tilting my head one way then the other and decide it just won't do. Out came the seam ripper. I'd try another way... I'm determined to keep trying though since I think the idea in my head will work, it's just a matter of the best way to do it.

Time to get the java brewing and dessert finished up! Later!!

100% bonus

and here I thought I wasn't going to get any able mabeling done this weekend!

Our friends rolled into town last night from Flagstaff, AZ. So fun to see them! They moved from MN about the same time we did last fall. We saw them very briefly this Feb when we were in Phoenix. It's awesome to be able to have the whole weekend to catch up!!

All plans for today got put on hold when Hubby realized he had to work. (No complaints from me. I'm just thankful he has a job!) That didn't stop the folks from Flag. We're not the only ones they know in these parts so they spent the day with other friends.

As their van roared down the road this morning, I wandered around in a few circles trying to decide what I should do.

Housework? Naw. I've been doing that all week.

Read my book? Hmmm...quite tempting but...

Laundry? Why bother...the kids all had a few clean pairs of grunders. Enough to make it thru the weekend.

Pack the kids up and head to the beach by ourselves? Blech. Sounds like work. Plus rainclouds were moving in.

able mabel? Now you're talking!!

Out came my stuff and I was as happy as a clam! (So were the kids, thanks to a Magic Tree House book on tape they got from the library yesterday.) Granted, I'd rather have been hanging out with friends, but this was second best! (at least for today)

I didn't get much done, but enough to satisify the itch. (Obviously these light switch covers are quite done yet. I still have to cut out the openings and seal them off.)

Believe it or not, I actually cleaned up my mess when I was done! Wonders never cease!

Everyone have a safe and fun holiday weekend!! Be good! ;)

Psstt...I'm sure I'll have many more stories to share about my two year old and her wheelings. Today she "discovered" that if she pushes a chair up to the counter, she can dig in all sorts of fun stuff. I found her working her way thru a sticky bag of gummy worms and "reorganizing" my spice cupboard. Time to start putting the chairs up on the table!

He takes after his father!

The kids were watching me put the finishing touches on this sign this morning. Of course, all those that could read had to read it out loud at least once. They got to the "Desmond Tutu" part and for some reason his name tickled my 6 year old son's funny bone.

Every time one of his sisters would ask me something, he'd jump in with a response before I could answer.

"Mom, what are we having for supper?"
"Desmond Tutu!"

"Mom, who's coming over again tonight?
"Desmond Tutu!"

"Mom, who was that one person who...?"
"Desmond Tutu!"

"Mo-o-o-o-o-o-m-m-m-m! He keeps saying..."
"Desmond Tutu!"

By this point, he's doubled over with laughter because he keeps cracking himself up with his "wisecracks". Meanwhile, his sisters' ears are billowing steam they're so furious at him.

I'm sure they're wishing they could choose their own family right about now.

(Tired of hearing about my kids by now?)

She's quite the dickins!

I hopped in the shower about noon today, whistling Dixie. I was on top of my game! I had gotten the stuff together for a blanket custom order, paid bills, worked out on the bike and started laundry. Quite an accomplishment for me!

I was still whistling as I opened the door leading into our bedroom from the bathroom. I stopped mid-whistle when I saw scene #1...

Princess, complete with PB&J face and chocolate covered hands, had my pins out and was sticking them into the side of the Pack-n-Play. (Thankfully no baby was inside.) She looked at me with her saucer eyes and said "Put away, Mom?". As I followed her over to my desk, I saw scene #2...She had performed "surgery" on my stack of bills, totally destroying the blue envelope and extracting the check from another. (I did reconstructive surgery on the blue envelope before I took this picture.) I'm sure the Qwest is going to wonder why their check is covered in chocolate fingerprints, but hey, at least they got paid!

I buried my face in my hands when I saw the scribbled on chair and took a few deep breaths. Meanwhile, Princess fled the scene, her hair flapping in the breeze.

I only have myself to blame. It's totally par for me to start something and not complete it all the way. Or if I complete it, I don't always clean up my mess. I mean, what busy Mom can? I'm constantly being interrupted in the midst of doing something. (or at least that's my excuse :)! ) I tend to make a huge mess in my office and then clean it up all at once. (No wonder where my kids get it from. Here I thought it was from their father!)

When I do that, I try to keep my office door shut to prevent this type of thing. When I went to take a shower, the kids were outside having a picnic and I obviously didn't shut my door completely.

Oh well. At least I helped prevent the onslaught of Alzheimer's when I put the blue envelope back together, it was a puzzle of sorts! ;)

(Sorry if you're tired of hearing about her antics. This posting is more for me to have a record of her shenanigans since I'm not always good about writing things down on paper.)

So, what do you want to hear about today?

• How every single kid woke up fighting and crabbing this morning, causing me to burn thru almost all my daily allotted patience by 9 am?
  



• How I was feeling like this but instead did a half hearted "workout" with the help of my second oldest daughter? I got out my shape magazine, turned to the workout section and had her read me the instructions while I did the exercise. Everyone forgot about being crabby and joined me on the living room rug. I had to play "dodge kid" while I finished the exercises.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How, after months of trying, we finally convinced our three year old that since he's a boy, he can (in the event of an emergency) pee outside standing up instead of sitting down on a toilet? Minor detail....he forgot about the "emergency" part and now drops his drawers whenever he feels the need, even if it's in front of a crowd of people. I have a lot of "evidence" of his goofiness for any future girlfriends! (This was taken at the beach today. As he pulled down his drawers, some lady whipped out her camera phone. She saw me coming, immediately put it away looking very sheepish. She said she couldn't resist and that he looked like the Coopertone Kid.)



• How he still thinks it's winter and comes down every morning dressed in long sleeves and pants? I think I need to hide his "cold" clothes.







• How we spent a few hours at the beach today? (I'll claim only one out of this bunch.) It was a perfect day, not too hot or cold. Baby Doll wasn't perfect though and caused me to pack up and head for home before the other kids were ready. She doesn't like the beach very much.







• How yesterday the Birthday Girl decided after supper was too long to wait and helped herself to her cake? She managed to get several handfuls before I caught on and moved the cake to higher ground. "It yummy!", she proclaimed wiping the crumbs off her hands onto the floor.
  



• How my computer is so slow, I could wring it's....errr....hard drive?
  



• How today is the last day to enter the giveaway?
  



• How I had a customer yesterday who bought not one, not two but three lovies from me and she doesn't have any kids and isn't expecting yet? Love her!



• How I'm trying to work in an evening of volleyball but Hubster is working late?



• How the spacing on this wonderful Blogger is going to cause me to use the rest of my patience, requiring me to dig into the very little bit of reserves I have stored up? (I'm kidding, I won't lose it over something this dumb. At least not today anyway! It's just frustrating to get it set just so and then when you click on publish, it goes haywire!)



• How I "copied" a friend's idea and bought a darling personalized necklace for our new godchild? I got it in the mail today (not this exact one but similar)...now if I can get it mailed to her before she starts walking! (She's about three months so I have 9 months to get it to her.)


• How I read a good joke on Twitter yesterday? My dad would appreciate this one..."My cat swallowed a whole bunch of yarn. After a few months she gave birth to mittens!" I know, it's bad but I still got the giggles from it. Simple pleasures for simple people!

• How I should get off this wretched computer and make supper for the starving children of Western CO?

Birthdays

Yesterday we were on our way to a picnic when our ever-thoughtful 8 year old pipes up, "What's the date tomorrow?" I answered, "The 28th." She announced, "Sweet, it's Little Miss K's birthday tomorrow." I gasped and Hubby and I looked at each other and burst out in a sheepish "oops" sort of giggle.

I had totally forgotten! For some reason I always have a hard time remembering the date of her birthday. I'll blame it on the busyness of summer. ;) At least she's only 2 so I have years a head of me to get used to the date!
My kids would love it if we went all out for birthdays, but alas, we don't.


They get a cake or cupcakes of their choosing,

but no banners. (As I'm typing this, I all of a sudden thought how easy it would be to have the kid make a banner for their own birthday. It might be a good activity and it would be something to make it a little more special.)

On their birthday, they get to choose what to have for dinner. More often than not....pizza...at least for the younger kids.



They also get a day off from any jobs they may have that day. Something they can't resist rubbing in when it's time for the other to do their jobs.

Now about that birthday cake still to be made...

She's got it made in the shade!

How often do you get to eat grapes with lunch in your "fwin soup" (inside out and backwards no less), clutching your Dolly, with not only one but two "pluggas" on your tray? She's got it rough, man!

But wait! I forgot to peel the grapes for her! ;)

She is the cat's meow and she knows it. (The "cat" around here has a lot of "meows".)

We had round two with the blankets this morning. This session went much better. Sweetie Pie, of course, did her usual rolling over... but we made it thru all 8 blankets.

I sometimes have to remind myself that it's the blankets I'm selling, not the baby. So while I got some fun, candid shots of her, they did nothing for the blanket.

Instead I tried to get the two-for-one (cute baby plus showcasing the blanket).

Win Some and Lose Some

Today was a "lose some" day as far as photography goes. I knew I was pushing my luck in terms of lighting since it's a dreary, cloudy day. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to give it a try anyway.

Baby Doll decided to be silly and play peek-a-boo

and kept trying to roll over. So I decided to try some shots with her on her belly.That didn't work so hot as we played "Catch the Baby Sitting Still so We Can Get a Picture That's in Focus and the Table Covering All in One Piece".She thought it was great. I didn't. Back to her back but this time with a helper.That worked to keep her still, but then she lost all her expression and "pulse".Hello? Anyone home?While I did get a few decent shots, it's not enough to list the blankets.Better luck next time.

For her efforts, Babes got a few noisy smooches and squeezes of her sweet chubby legs. (To which she responded with purrs of delight and a slobber on my cheek.)

Believe it or not, life does go on even if we "wasted" a bit of our time today. :)

Since bullet style is so cool...

I'll use it again today!

• We spent a few hours at the beach today with my apron model and her kids, along with other friends. They are moving out of state this weekend so we're trying to see them as much as we can. It'll be sad to see them go!


• As we were waiting for Dolly Do to wake up from her nap, I started in on the stack of blankets I had cut out yesterday.
• I used up the last of this fabric, among a few others. This one will go on ArtFire sometime tonight.
• I'm going to try sneak in some more sewing time this evening. (Yeah right, who am I fooling?!?)
• I wish I would have taken my camera out to get some shots of the kids gathered around my machine. It kept them entertained (you know, who got to pick the pins out and sloop them up with the magnetic pin cushion.) while they were pacing the floor, w-a-i-t-i-n-g for baby to wake up.
• My oldest two girls got fried at the beach. I was the one who put sunscreen on them this morning. I'm feeling like a bad mom for not remembering to reapply it after a few hours. They're sitting in the tub as I type.
• When we got home, I sat down for a bit to work some more on these blankets. As I was topstitching, I felt like I was being watched.
• Sure enough, I was.
• My daughter was playing house and left her baby on the table. I'll have to give her the "no child left behind" schpeal. You could get reported for that kind of thing! ;)
• Chicken Pot Pie is on the menu for tonight. The kids love it. Hubby? Not so much. He's a bit tired of eating it. Sorry Hubs, the kids taste buds win tonight.
• I've been trying to follow the advice of a friend when it comes to laundry. She folds the clean clothes right out of the dryer. It's working today, so far. I do find that I haven't gotten very many loads washed but at least I don't have piles all over my living room.
• I spent about an hour yesterday morning browsing Fabric.com looking for fabric for the church craft sale. All their quilting cotton was an additional 30% off. Can't wait for that package to arrive!! Yummy, yummy, yummy!
• Our trip to WA is off again for a variety of excuses, I mean, reasons. Stay tuned, the status seems to change daily.
• My three year old has a new "line". When I ask him to stop doing something, he says "Dat annoying, Mom?"
• I better step outside and see if it's cooled off yet. We just got some rain showers. I would love to be able to turn off the air conditioning and open the windows.

Taking a peek at

tooktothesky!
Roar


Her story...


"My parents were both Art Majors in college when I was born. I was encouraged to really 'see' things, to look at the different layers of what our eyes process everyday. That is why I think I love photography so much. As a self taught photographer I have learned by playing and experimenting. I love the infinite possibilities that can be found in a finite space."




Dew Drop


"By looking at different angles or from varying distances, by using different techniques or equipment- you can create many worlds from one or represent what everyone sees but with your intent or mood. You can freeze those wonderful moments we all have that pass us too quickly, unnoticed or forgotten."

Ghost



"I see the world in details and colors and textures, it makes me a terrible walking companion unless you are in no hurry to get where you are going!"

Currant Offering

Follow her on Twitter.

tooktothesky has very generously offered to give away one of her 8x10 photographs.

Here's how the giveaway will work...

You will receive an entry for each of the following:

• Visit tooktothesky's shop and tell us what your favorite picture is.
• Blog about this giveaway on your own blog .
• Follow this blog (if you already follow, you'll get an entry for that just make sure you let me know).
• Twitter about this giveaway.
• Follow tooktothesky or able mabel on Twitter.
• Link this giveaway to your Facebook.
• Become a fan of able mabel on Facebook.

Whew! Got all that?!?

Now you don't need to do them all but for each one you do, you'll receive one entry. (That's a total of 8 entries per person.)

Make sure when you're leaving your comment, you let me know which bullet you've done add the link to your blog, twitter, facebook or whatever. (Gotta keep the honest people honest!)

The winner will be randomly drawn in June 30th. Good luck to you all!!

Lizzie wants to know

if I've made any progress on my list yet.

Well...hmmm...

#1 & #2: Nope, nada, haven't touched them yet.

#3: I ordered him some Teva sandals off of REI outlet. They were less than $5! Couldn't pass them up!! I was going to have them shipped to a store (free shipping) but I saw that it would be a few weeks before they'd get there so I decided to have them shipped here. I was pleased that there happened to be a promo where if you bought Teva brand you got free shipping! Yay!

#4: As I was finding his sandals, I looked at the Womens section and bought myself a pair of Reef flip flops for less than $10. Piggybacked on his free shipping and I was a happy camper. Now if I could only find myself some dress sandals. Ditto for him.

#5: I'm two for two in the exercise department. I'm still trying to decide if I count my 20 minute walk yesterday as exercise...

#6: Got the pile of clothes on the chair folded and put away. Haven't started to wash any new loads yet. Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow! :)

#7: Magnets? Done, photographed but not yet listed. I'm still working on editing them.

Two done, 8 to go.

#8: Haven't touched this area either. It's only Tuesday after all!

I did take the kids to the lake today. We only had about an hour to swim before we had to get back home. As I was leaving to come home, I decided that I either have to start going weekly or stop going altogether. My three youngest were pretty cranky.