This one is for you Mom!

Hubby got a new job last week. One of the requirements of the job is to pass a drug test. (Doesn't that make you feel better about flying?...He's an airplane mechanic for all of you that don't know that.) The three Littles and I went along for the ride and after his test was done we went out for lunch at Red Robin. I know. We're slightly nuts to even make the attempt.

We try to eat pretty healthy around here. Fruits and veggies are part of every meal. Sweets in moderation, etc. Since going to a restaurant is still considered a "treat" over here, I don't get too hung up on what the kids order. The two and three year old split a hamburger and fries and each got an apple juice.

When the waitress set the plate down in front of the three year old, he looked at it for a long time. Finally he looks at me, all puzzled and face starting to crumble, and asked, "Well, what's for fruit?" Quickly averting a potential breakdown, I told him we'd have fruit once we got home. Satisfied, he happily munched down the burger but left his fries on his plate.

There's hope, right Mom?

While I stayed

busy this afternoon working onlight switch covers, magnets and coasters...Baby Doll stayed busy emptying my "junk basket".

We made our messes side by side and both were as happy as clams.

She got the better end of the deal though. Now she's napping and I'm left to clean up both messes.

Nobody ever said life was fair! :)

Last week I found my

stress level building every time I went upstairs. My main floor was bad enough but my upstairs? oof. It could be declared a Federal Disaster Area!! (hey! I wonder if it would then qualify for some Federal Relief Assistance? Hmmm...something to consider.) When a place is so disorganized it's so overwhelming to know even where to start.

Saturday morning found me shoveling my way thru the playroom/boys' bedroom. With only the three littles home, it was a pretty taunting task without the big helpers around. News Flash! I discovered that under the layer of Duplos, Legos, airplanes, Little People...there is actually "real" carpet in that room!

I also managed to weed thru my bedroom, the front closet and my towering mountain of laundry. I collapsed into bed that night happily exhausted.

It's amazing what a clean...er...organized house can do to a person.

• Now instead of just tossing things on my desk, I actually (gasp) feel like putting them where they belong.
• Ditto for clothes.
• Instead of playing "Let's-see-how-many-times-we-can-hit-each-other-in-an-hour-and-run-to-Mom-screaming" my toddlers actually play with TOYS. (Now that is worth it's weight in gold thousands of times over.)
• My stress level is slim to none.
• I feel refreshed and ready to tackle whatever this week may bring.

(Famous last words said on Sunday morning...."Hey Hon! We don't have anything on our schedule for this week!" Oops. Good one. Sunday night it was more like, "Which days to we have open this week?" :) )

Let's not talk about how long this clean streak will last....that's beside the point! :)

Friday Favorites

Spring Magnolia by irenesuchocki.

Magical Goose Ride from Cindy and Mindy.

Single Tree in Red Pillow Cover from Modernality Home Decor.

Dainty Lady Cup in Cream from Studio Elan.

eco deal... your choice of ONE custom initialized felt stocking in fun filled colours from rik rak.

Paige and Phoebe Notecard by Fine Doll Art.

New For Fall Stripe Ruffle Pants from Red Wagon Kids.

Wordless Wednesday

(one day late, but who's counting?!)

Fleeting thoughts

• It's one of those lovely days where no one can get along. No way. No how. I've had a few fleeting thoughts, though very brief, of switching "careers" with my husband.
• We'll get thru it though. Only 54.987 minutes until lunch and then naps. Yes!
• I just might hang out in my little girls' room for the rest of the day. Either there or the kids' bathroom. They are the only two clean rooms in the house. Refreshing...
• I know I sound like I'm whining, but I'm not. Just letting you know that life in able mabel land is very much like every other household out there.
• I still haven't found my missing tote of 18-24 mo and 2T girls clothes. I'm talking a whole tote missing, not just a few outfits. I have girls that need those clothes this winter. I will continue my hunt during naptime. Unless I talk myself into working on able mabel or craft sale stuff instead. :)
• I'm heading to New York with my mom and sisters in October. Anyone have any shopping "must stops" for us?
• I'm on the hunt for a new pair of jeans. I only have one pair that fits me anymore and it's quite annoying. At least one other pair would be lovely.
• I've totally gotten out of the exercise mode. I think today I'll force myself to do at least one 20 minute session of the 30 Day Shred. I know I need it, not just physically but mentally.
• The towering mountain of laundry is calling my name. I better answer it so I can take the afternoon off of housework. I've gotten enough done today to warrant it, don't you think? :)

Busted!

Not only did I bust my two year old sneaking bananas I had cut up for her little sister (tsk, tsk. naughty girl!), I got a two-for-one busting my friend sewing at my kitchen table. She claimed she couldn't do it since she hadn't sewn since 9th grade Home Ec but she proved herself wrong today. Should we place bets to see how long it'll be before she gets her own machine? ;)

I have a hunch that she'll be back tomorrow to finish what we had started...!!

Hey! It's Me!

Baby Doll! Mom's been pretty busy lately so I thought I'd take over this blog for a day. Just doin' my part to keep the peace in the family!

Ya know, I lead a pretty sweet life. My basic needs are met; loads of attention, masses of hugs and kisses, plenty of snuggle time...what more could a gal like me want?!

In return I often help my Mom out by modeling some blankets for her. It's a pretty gravy job. I just have to lay there and look cute. Talk about stating the obvious...aren't I always cute no matter what I do? At least that's what they always tell me.

Wanna see some shots from yesterday's session?

These were taken at the foot of Mom and Dad's bed. First though, we had to move a few piles of crud out of the way (oops, I don't think I was suppose to tell you that part. Good thing Mom is too busy to read this!).

I was being so adorable, especially when I started playing peek-a-boo! Now you see me.Now you don't! Hahahah!! I crack myself up! That's cute, isn't it? Should I do it again?! I'm not sure why but Mom asked one of my older sisters to try to distract me. Maybe I was being too cute. What the heck?! The more the merrier. (Mom keeps muttering something about her blocking the light though. Wonder what that means?)

Hey Sis! While I have your undivided attention, check out my new trick! Bye....

Bye!!! See? She thought it was neat. She keeps clapping at me.

I missed Mom's morning yoga workout because I was getting my beauty rest. (With two naps a day, it's no wonder I'm so darling!) Did she do this move?

Ahhh!!! Life sure is good!What's that? You don't want me in this picture?

That's it! I'm outta here!

Almost every morning

I sit down at the computer with my cup of coffee and catch up on some daily reads.

First on my list is think fast. (It's only first because I saved it to my favorites first.) Kim is a truly amazing gal. Scrapping, sewing, decorating, you name it, she does it and does it well. Sigh. If only I could be half as talented as her, I'd be in my glory! She's funny too which is always a plus. No coffee required when reading her blog!

Then there's Torm. She puts a very real and humorous spin in daily life. What a hoot!

Can't forget about Note to Self. This one is a photography blog owned and operated by Kim's ultra talented daughter Meghan. Her work is amazing, not to mention her little comments she adds in.



Since time is always at a premium for me there are a few others that I only hit a few times a week.
RedWagonKids
4littlemenandgirlytwins
30Days

Finding new blogs is always fun. Anyone have any suggestions for me?

Psst...Next week I'd like to give a shout out to some followers of this blog who have Etsy shops or sites elsewhere. Shoot me a note letting me know if it's okay to use some photos from your shop.

I totally had a blog post

formed in my head earlier today. I had it all figured out and I was going to post it after dinner. But what do you know, plans changed and here I sit staring blurry eyed at the computer screen with a blank mind. Taking a sauna does that to a person. Makes them all tired and such. Or maybe it was the big bowl of apple crisp and ice cream (the apples being freshly picked from a neighboring tree.). So I'll leave you with a snapshot of what I accomplished during my lovely quiet afternoon of sewing. My goal was to get 5 done and lo and behold, I did it. Shocking, isn't it? Wonders never cease.

Good Night All!

Wordless Wednesday

The madness just had to stop!

It was just over a month since we had gone camping or hiking! Yikes! We're losing it.

Sunday dawned clear, cool and beautiful. After a lazy morning we packed up the kids and headed to hike Hanging Lake.Our 5 year old was at a friend's house so it made our journery a bit easier. She is the only kid of ours that doesn't like to hike. We get literally 17 steps into the hike and she starts in, "Are we almost there? Can I have a snack now? I'm tried.", etc. We did this hike last fall and I had to coax her to the top. I didn't mind too much since I was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. This time though, I was ready to take it a bit faster. This one, on the other hand, is trooper. His little legs motored him right to the top.Okay, so he had a little help at times. Since this trail was a regular ole' highway this particular day, you should have heard the comments Hubby was getting. He had the two year old in the backpack and the three year old on his shoulders for some of the hike. "Whoa! You have a load!" "Geez, I thought I had it rough." "You must be strong!" and so on.The trail snakes around a little creek that runs down from the top. At each of the 7 bridges crossing it, he would have to run across and then if it was rocky again, he'd get back on top of his personal elevator.We followed our Resident Billy Goat (I wonder if he got a little bored. He had to keep stopping and waiting for us.) to the top where we were greeted by the stunningly beautiful lake. This hike is always worth it in my book, no matter how many people are up there and on the trial. Someday I'm going to do it without little kids so I can hike around a bit when I get up to the top.We hung out at the top long enough to dip our toes in the chilly water and eat a snack. Looking at all the folks hanging out, we decided to head down before there was a traffic jam on the trail. I love coming down and passing people huffing and puffing as they make their way up. Ahhh, been there, done that!Baby Doll gets an A+ for her behavior on this hike. She didn't hardly make a boo on the way up and fell asleep on the way down. Can you find her in this picture?When we got to the parking lot, Hubs and I had to speed walk to keep up with the kids as they raced along the sidewalk back to the 'Burb. All of a sudden, these two little monkeys stopped in their tracks and busted up laughing! "Look at dat fat thing!", he exclaimed. He's great. It doesn't take much to tickle his funny bone and he lets out his ultra contagious laugh. Of course, it's monkey see, monkey do. Whatever he thinks is funny, she does too.

On the way back home, we all had to agree that it was the perfect way to spend a Sunday!

She comes in a close second

to my baby in the Cuteness Department.

Look at those perfectly shaped lips, her beautiful plump blueberry eyes, chubby little hands,

and seriously irresistible little toes!

(Oh yeah. The blanket is cute too.)

My husband's nephew's wife (did you catch that?) and her three little cherubs spent the night at my house last night. The Hubsters hit the hills for a long weekend of hunting and since misery loves company, I invited them to stay with us. Everything in life is more bearable when surrounded by family and friends!!

I simply couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of her baby. She is an absolute doll!! (not quite as cute as my baby though! ;) )

I had been hoping that we could work on some products for the craft sale but it wasn't to be. We ended up organizing all the craft supplies that had been plopped in my basement. It was a task that very much needed to be done. Now we know what's down there and have our lists all ready to go. It'll be much easier to crank out the projects.

Do you want to know

what is going on in my life today? Just look in the reflection on the frame of this picture. You can see my noggin as I'm hunkered down trying, but failing miserably, not to get a reflection on the frame. You can see my box of product that needs to be photographed. You can see the tree line of the neighborhood, the outline of the house across the street, the clouds in the sky, the posts on our porch....etc.

I need help on this one. I was totally experimenting to see if I like the two tone paper look (I don't) and ways to minimize, but hopefully eliminate, any glare on the glass. Frustration abounds with these. They're darling and I feel like I'm hoarding them by not having any of the listed yet.

Meanwhile, I don't have very good sunlight in the afternoon so I took it all outside. (not a very wise choice either.) I'm using two fingers to hold the paper down when the wind decides tointerfere and blows the card over. Sigh. I pick it back up, the wind knocks it down, I pick it up, the wind...I get the hint and pack up my stuff. Guess I'll have to work on something else this afternoon.

Yoga or light switch covers?

I stole

(You don't have to rat on me. I know stealing isn't right but it's okay in this instance.) a few hours this afternoon to work onthis blanket. It's being modeled by my very "willing" assistant. I think she's not super impressed with laying on the floor instead of the usual Pampered Princess blanket and pillow. I can't say I like it either but that's why there's a cropping tool on the photo editing programs...I would have waited until morning to take these pictures but this blanket is for a custom order and I told my customer that I'd have it done today.

While I was at it, I decided to do a
"lazy man's patchwork" blanket. Rumpled, wrinkled and strings still attached. Looks like I'll have to iron it up before I take "real" pictures of it. I do love the fabrics in this one.

I also did up another mushroom lovie. The last three have traveled to Australia (as I already stated on Facebook) so I'm curious to see where this one will go. This was the only one I was able to get listed simply because I've done it before and I was able to relist it instead of having to take all new pictures and such.

I was trying to be an equal opportunity sewer today but alas, the girls won. I flat out ran out of time. I had another boy blanket all ready to go but life happens...it was time to start dinner, the kids came home from school, the littles woke up from their naps, etc.

I promised myself that tomorrow, after I get my cleaning done, I'll pull out the paper crafts. I have a customer waiting for her light switch covers and I just got the supplies to do it in the mail today. A change of medium will be nice.

Yawn! Did I put you all to sleep with such a boring blog post?!?!

I gotta admit

I'm a little slow out of the chute today. I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and the semi peace and quietness of the morning as the kids are all playing nicely. I'm sure it'll be short lived.

I had a wonderful weekend in AZ. A lot of visiting, a little shopping plus much encouragement equals a happy and relaxed mom. (at least for a few hours this morning ;) )

My kids threw me their usual Homecoming Party. After squeals of delight when they saw me this morning (and the question posed by my two year old, "Oh! You were grocery shopping, Mom?" Guess I need to leave more often!), they started in on their games.

• "Wipe Booger Noses All Over Mom All At The Same Time"
• "See Who Can Be The Most Demanding So Mom Wishes She Was Still Gone"
• "Let's All Load Our Drawers One Right After Another"
• "Launch Yourself At Mom's Legs, Locking Her Into A Massive Bear Hug (one of my favs)
• "Bury Faces Into Mom's Shoulder While Giggling With Delight" (another one of my favs)

Sigh. I'm glad some things never change!

At one point of chaos this morning, I told my kids to stop fighting or else I'll run away and they'll have to find a new mom. (I know, I know it was an empty threat.) My five year old replied, "Oh sweet! I'll just go find Kara to be my mom!" Guess I can't hold a candle to Kara...

It's time to face the music. Every room in this house needs my attention (a side effect of having not only a sick baby while I was gone but also a sick husband. I wonder if he was just sick of watching the kids... ;) I'm just kidding there. ), my laundry pile is falling over and I have orders to work on.

Back to reality! Life is good.

I'm outta here!

I'm off this morning for a weekend away with some other moms. I am going all.by.myself. It feels strange to not haul Babes along.

You all be good and behave! I'll try to do the same and we'll catch up on Monday.

All I did today

was boring stuff like cleaning, so I'll share a conversation I had with my three year old this afternoon.

He woke up from his nap earlier than the other kids. I pulled out a bag of Sun Chips and gave each of us a little pile. He saw me reach into the bag for another helping (I was so busted!).

"Hey! Can I please have more chips?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Cuz I'm a pig and you're not."
"I'm a pig too. Can I have more chips?"
"No."
"Why did you get more chips?"
"Because I'm the Mom."
(without missing a beat, he replied...) "I'm a kid. Now can I have more?"

So much for any authority in this household.

(for the record...I did not give him more chips. He got a gummy worm instead.)

They're back!

How about a few cards for ya? Well, I'll start with one and get the rest listed over the next few days. My best lighting, I'm discovering, is in the morning hours. These shots were done this afternoon. Not the best lighting but good enough for now.

They were in the package of goodies JB brought down with her. I'm just tickled at how cute they are. I'm sure I've clearly established my love and obsession for poppies so it's no wonder I dove straight for this one.

(For those who don't know, able mabel is mostly mine with a few of my sister JB's items sprinkled in. I love seeing her latest and greatest!)

There should be a rule

that Moms are exempt from all sickness. It just throws a wrench into the daily life of a family. I have an awesome husband who is very capable of taking over but still...
My Monday morning glow quickly faded yesterday afternoon when a stubborned infection I've been fighting for a week and a half (thru two rounds of antibiotics) decided to take itself one step further, effectively flattening me onto the couch. Not fun. I got put on a stronger medicine last night...the catch? I have to pump and dump. It's sheer torture for a baby who loves to nurse! You should have heard her cry this morning when I put the bottle in her mouth. It was heart wrenching, I felt like crying with her!! I want her to take a bottle and all (especially since I'm leaving her when I go to New York in Oct with my mom and sisters) but I hate this part of it!

I'm definitely feeling more human this morning but so much for any bustling I was going to do today. Looks like I better take it easy and work on able mabel or the craft sale instead! (I knew there was a sliver lining somewhere!) :)

Because of all that mess yesterday, here is yesterday's blog post one day late! :) As I scurried around in the morning straightening up the house and washing mounds of laundry, these two kept themselves busy seeing if they could jump off the couch over the doll. He was pretty funny. "Hey Mom! Wanna see me do a 180?" He swivels his arms a bit in the air and jumped straight down. "Dat cool Mom? Wanna see me do a 160?" (ahhh...360?) Same thing. Swivel of the arms and falls straight to the ground. He thought he was big time!

When JB and her family were in town this past weekend, we snuck out and hit some shops in Glenwood. We gathered a ton of ideas (which JB dutifully sketched out in her little notebook) and talked to one shop owner about taking some able mabel items. We ended the day at a couple big box stores. I was prowling Pier 1, trying to use up my gift card but not finding what I was looking for. I happened to mention to JB that I need to find an eyeglasses case for my oldest daughter. The light bulb went on in her head. She had seen somewhere where they took a hot pad holder, folded it in half, sewed it up and used it for an eyeglasses case. Viola!! On the clearance rack (surprise, surprise that I would check the clearance rack :) there was a set of hot pad holders. I had my sewing machine out yesterday afternoon but totally forgot to sew this one up for her. I was feeling pretty crummy at that point.

One thing I did sew up yesterday was another Red Birdie Blanket. I got it listed and it sold within a few hours. Something tells me that I better start scooping up all of this fabric I can find as these continue to be popular. The last few I've done have sold quickly. This fabric is no longer being printed and I haven't yet found one that is "close enough". I think there is still one shop on Etsy that sells it. (I won't name the store until I buy all that they have. ;) )

Now what should I start on...paper crafts or fabric?