What I'm working on

Lately it seems like my plastic bag holders sell as quickly as I can get new ones listed. So today I decided I better make some more. However after I got this one done (in addition to the 9 I completed earlier in the week)... I decided I wasn't really in the mood to work on them anymore. So I didn't. Sometimes it's hard to get motivated and inspired when it feels like "production" instead of play.

I then pulled out another hot seller...key fobs...

Same thing. After getting two ready for hardware, I was bored. What is my problem?! :) Two items that sell quickly, yet I was so uninspired to restock them. What up with that?

Glancing at the baby monitor and the clock, I saw that my short window of sewing time was quickly closing. I scanned my fabric stacks and had an "aha" moment. Patchwork blanket tops, just what the doc ordered. Something I've been meaning to work on but they always get put on the back burner.

I spent the rest of my sewing time working on them. Oh happy sigh. Just what I needed. "Free form" quilts. No patterns or themes, just whatever my little heart desired. It brought the "play" back into my afternoon!!

Going back for more.

Remember this giveaway I had? Just last week, CSN contacted me again to ask if I'd do a review of one of their items. For those of you who don't know about CSN, it's a website that has over 200 stores and everything from soup to nuts, wardrobes to sweet lighting options!

As soon as I get my item for review, I'll let you know all about it. Trust me. :)

(That's a promise, not a threat!)

Should vs Want

Do you ever feel like life is just a big choosing game between what you want to do versus what you should do? (Notice I didn't say have, but instead should. A person doesn't have to do much in life.)

It all starts at 4:30 am, when Hubby's alarm goes off. While he wants to stay sleeping, he rolls out (after hitting the snooze button at least 8 times, until finally his wife yanks off all his covers causing him to instantly turn into an icicle) because he should get to work on time if he wants to keep his job. I, his spoiled wife snuggles back under the covers because I want to get more beauty sleep.

When the kids' alarm clock goes off at 7 bells, I want to keep sleeping but I should make sure the kids catch the bus because I don't want to bring them to school and I don't want to homeschool.

I trudge down the stairs watching my step as I don't want to fall down the steps and decide what I should do for the day and what I want to do.

Laundry? (should I wait another day or does everyone still has a few clean outfits left?)
Cleaning? (do I want to waste my time washing the floor when it's raining out?)
Baking? (would anyone appreciate it, should I make something? do I have the right ingredients for what I want to bake?)
Sewing? (are there any orders I should get done today or do I want to make new product?)
Read to the kids? (are they going to want to sit down long enough to listen to a few books?)
Exercise? (I'm lazy, so I want to do yoga but I should take a break from yoga and do cardio.)
Talk on the phone? (I want to, but it's hard to talk over the noise so I should hang up for the sake of all our ears.)

So I putter until lunchtime mixing our wants with our shoulds. Then I put my kids down for naps because they should get some sleep if we want to have a less chaotic household come evening. Life is all about compromise!

Now I should quit blogging because I want to sew before I should make dinner. My family will want to eat tonight. :)

Four Fun finds for Friday

Daisy Necklace from penelopepiper

Vintage Metal and Button Bracelet from autena

Rosy Pink Sparrow Necklace from barberry & lace

Scrabble Tile Jewelry from WildStitches

Peanutty Gooey Bars

Any harried mom, racing thru the grocery store with four kids trying to get finished before the baby wakes up hollering, would see this package on the shelf....

toss it into her cart, narrowly missing beaning the 3 yr old in the head, and reasonably think she purchased butterscotch chips, right? Wrong.

I was disgusted and bummed out when I got home and realized that instead of butterscotch chips, instead I bought a mixture of peanut butter and milk chocolate chips. So much for those 7 layer bars I was craving.

Come on Nestle, get with the program!! Help us frazzled folks out and don't make similar packaging for different products. Who has time to sit and study the packaging, it's all about grabbing what looks right and tossing it in. No need to spend any more time than necessary in the grocery store. (Have you ever stopped to think about how much time a person spends grocery shopping? Don't, it's not worth it.)

Alas, it's all ends well. I pulled out the chips today to make cookies, but instead the Peanutty Gooey Bars caught my eye. Sounds deadly, doesn't it.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (the original recipe calls for chocolate graham crackers but the thought of that gives me a bout of the dry heaves.)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Mix:

1 cup morsels

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

Microwave 1 minute. Stir until smooth, microwaving an additional 15 seconds at a time if needed. Pour over crust.Chop up 1 cup peanuts. (This picture is to console myself that I can't get a good picture of the finished bars, but heck, I can take a close up of peanuts. So there.)

Mix peanuts and remaining morsels and sprinkle on top of bars.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until edges are bubbly.

Try not to devour the whole pan in one sitting. ;)

The "yeah" girl

As any mother of a toddler will tell you, the "no" stage can be maddening, frustrating and everything in between.

In the able mabel household, we don't have a "no" kid, we have an "okay" and "yeah" kid. (not "yes", but "yeah") No complaints here. She answers all questions, statements and comments with an "okay" or a "yeah".


"Hey Mar! Wanna go play outside?" "Okay."
"MarMar, should we go to bed? "Yeah."
"Sweetie, want your diaper changed?" "Okay."
"Should we go canoeing down a raging river with 6 foot crocodiles snapping at the boat?" "Yeah."

She's a very agreeable child, indeed.

These answers are throwing her sibling for a loop though. Several times a day one of them will come tell me that MarMar wrecked something of theirs; a fort, a coloring picture, a game, etc. I give the standard reply, "Did you see her do it?" and I get the standard answer, "No, but I asked her if she did it and she said 'yeah'."

I gave up on giving my standard lecture; "She's too little to know what you're asking her and she says 'yeah' to everything." since they always insist she said she did it so therefore she did. Sigh. Useless, pointless arguments with kids is not my cup of tea. We could go around and around for hours!

I have since come up with a new standard reply when they come tattling on her; "Hmmmm, that's what you get for leaving it where she can find it." That usually sends them packing.

So Mar, what do you say if I ask you to unwrap yourself from around my legs so I can get sewing?

"Okay."

Thanks Sweetheart, I knew you'd go for that idea.

The difference between boys and girls

My kids love to pick out outfits for Lou. It's always interested to see what they come up with and how they do it.
The girls study the stacks of clothes before carefully choosing what she should wear. My 4 yr old, on the other hand, grabs the nearest outfit and brings it to me. He chose what Lou wore yesterday... Now this outfit is happenin', at least visually. Makes my eyes go...well...buggy with all the prints and patterns. I'll give him credit for both the top and bottom being in the same color family, although I think he just got lucky. Could be worse.

Wanna see some pictures?

Utah, on the way down. The lighting was unbelievable. I just shot as we were driving instead of making the carload stop.

I've never seen Utah so green! It was incredible! Flowers blooming, mountains rising in the distance, sun streaming thru the clouds.

The start of Monument Valley. This is the only picture I took. Shame on me. It's so desolate, yet so beautiful.
On Thursday Lou got to meet Grandma for the first time. She was immediately smothered in smooches. Do you blame her? :) She also got to meet Grandpa but in the only picture of them I have, Grandma doesn't look very flattering. I'll keep the Family Peace and not post the picture. ;)

We went on a walk on Friday morning. I forgot Lou's sunhat at home so I made her a makeshift one.

Our crew trudging down the road.

The desert in these parts is so amazing! I love it! (not enough to move there though.)

My sister and her fiance came in from California. We threw them an impromptu engagement party. So fun to see them!

Lou, loving the attention she got from Auntie!

Now at camp.

I busted someone sleeping with her camera! Can you guess who it was? (Did you actually sleep with it or did it just "happen" to be on your bed all weekend?)

The setting of the camp was beautiful! Unfortunately, this is the only picture of the outside I took. Pictures were hard to take with Lou on my hip all weekend long.

She did get a bit of tummy time in but only for a short while.

The view from on top. This was a pretty funny presentation, complete with cartoon pictures. Too bad they didn't show up. Love how the first few rows are empty. Typical.

Vacation by the numbers

1 Suburban
4 ladies
3 babies
10 hour drive south to Phoenix
2 stops to refill gas tank, bellies and empty bladders
2 days of shopping, relaxing, laughing, eating

2 fulls days spent at Mother's Camp at Prescott
100+ Moms gathered; laughing, visiting, reunited with old friends, simply enjoying life
untold number of calories consumed
1 empty stroller being pushed around by me
1 Loulou perched on my hip more often than not
2 hands occupied by stroller and Lou
0 hands empty
2 tired shoulders by the end of the weekend


11 blankets filled with Lou's spit up
22 soiled diapers
11 outfit changes for Lou
15 total cat naps taken by Lou
4 good naps taken by Lou

6 or less hours of sleep each night
12 pictures taken

1 Suburban
4 ladies
3 babies
8.5 hours heading north towards home
3 stops to refill gas tank, bellies and empty bladders
untold number of laughs and stories

174 emails waiting
5 sales on Etsy
1 clean house
1 empty pantry
1 tired baby
1 refreshed mom
3 happy toddlers, glad to have mom home again

Taking the week off

I'm taking this week off for a little "me" time.

No creating will be getting done for able mabel this week as I get organized to host our first craft night for church on Tuesday night.

Wednesday afternoon, Lou and I will ride into the sunset southbound for Phoenix. There we'll meet up with my parents, who will get to meet Lou for the first time, before heading off to Mother's Camp for the weekend.

Thanks to my wonderful Hubby, sister-in-law and friends, I'm leaving footloose and fancy free, all the worries of every day life gone with the wind. (with the exception of my darling little baby doll) What would I do without family and friends?!

I'll catch up with you all on Monday. Behave and be good! ;)

and so...

we move onto Phase 2 of our yard... with a load of manure from Tim's Turds. Ah! The sweet smell of Dairy Air! (as my dad loves to say.)