Oh my god people! I have UPDATED MY BANNER!

You do realize, that this now means that black = white, and white = black.

So.

You know, …

Sorry about that.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEEEEAAAANN??? (the banner, I mean. What does the banner mean. Was I being cryptic? Sorry.)

It means that since christmas is over and I no longer have an occassion to give my jewelry away from, and also because I keep placing $80-$100 orders at various bead stores both in the real world and in cyberspace, and since I can no longer actually have any chance of WEARING all the pieces I am making[1. that’s a lie. i would totally wear all the pieces i am making, all at once, if at all possible.], and I have opened an etsy shop!

So, you know, please go check it out! And by all means, buy something! Because I have a bead order I want to put in already! Clicky clicky!

OK, so actually, there’s not much there yet. I’m having product photography issues. It’s hard, man, like, really hard! But I’m working on it, and hopefully will have some more stuff in the etsy shop soon.

Oh, and in the banner? On the left – the necklace I made my sister, which I really kind of wanted to keep, so it sucks she actually loves it, and on the right, the necklace I made for my mom, which she told me with glee she wore on her birthday[2. that i forgot to call her on, what a daughter i am!] on Monday. So! Success! I’ll show you the others soon.

So in the meantime! Go here! And feel free to buy something! Mommy needs a new set of hammers and anvils.[3. OK, actually, it would be momma’s FIRST set of hammers and anvils, but who’s counting?]

-Amy

Lets see if she can tell the difference!

Well, not being confined to 150 charaxters is quite nice! But the need to make this a narrative is strong and therefore must be SQUASHED. See, twitter doesnt have narrative, you just throw it out there in all it’s 150 char glory and that’s that. Narative makes me feel like “who has time for that?” so no narratives allowed!

Ethan knows about Santa.

He blurted out his suspicions one early dec morning at breakfast and i made the mistake of pulling him aside and confirming said suspicions. Sincec then, he has been unbearable where Santa has been concerned. If someone had written a book called, “how to get your kid to quit being an ass about Santa” I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT. I wish I had dome it differently, but it was done.

This morning, when he came in to insist that ITS MORNING LETS GO OPEN PRESENTS, i snuggled him in with me and we had a chat. We talked about how we need to respect other prople’s belief. I told him Santa is like a game that kids like to play.

“didn’t you have fun last year when you thought he was real?” i pointed out.

“but he DOESNT EXIST!”

This is pretty much how every conversation had gone so I took a different approach.

“Imaginevif you were playing Risk. It wouldnt be fun if someone came up and told you, “those armies dont exist!” and then threw your game on the ground, would you?”

“But Sant—”

I cut him off since ui knw where it was going.

“Think of it as a secret that only you and the adults know. You dont need to say anything. If Santa is mentioned, you can just look over at me and smile and give me a wink.”

It worked. If only I had given him this talk WEEKS ago, BEFORE he’d gone hollering about santa to every kid that came wihjin reach of the sound of his voice. (can we say busstop?)

Christmas morning was great. Santa did come up. And their was a lot of dmiling andvwinking going on. And hopefully he can use this as a life lesson. He is a great kid and a SMART kid. He figured Santa out by using all the facts at his disposal (he’s even said as much). And i hope when he comes across beliefs others may wishbto push on him, he’ll use all the facts at his disposal, parse the information, and if necessary, just smile and wink to himself while he respects those beliefs.

Please forgive the typos. Ive typed it in on my phone Without any checking, and ill clean it up in the morning.

G’nite, and happy christmas!

(did some narrative after all!)

Despite a big DUM DUM moment from me which has in effect, removed any belief in Santa in our eldest (this deserves a whole ‘nother blog post, sometime soon), I managed to get them to write letters, which were then sealed away, stamped, addressed to Santa at the North Pole, and deposited into the mailbox, “With the FLAG UP!” as Jocelyn gleefully pointed out.

Before they were sent off, I did take pictures.

Outside of Ethan’s letter:

What can I say, he likes to scare people.

Ethan’s letter to Santa:

Text:
Dear Santa, I would like a spy kit. From, Ethan

Jocelyn’s letter to Santa

A little trickier to read, so here’s the text:

Dear Santa! I would like a green buzz!!!!!!! I’ve been very good! Jocelyn

(edited to add: She is referring to Buzz Lightyear. None of those 5″ $5 purple ones, either, she wants the $20 12-inch one, that is GREEN.)

I have to say. Ever since James and I spawned offspring, I’ve been secretly waiting for the day I could take pictures of their letters to Santa.

Too cute.

Just one of the things I’ve been working on..

In my efforts to not let my blog just COMPLETELY wither away and die, here is a forced update!

Do you totally hate me? The christmas shopping is done.

I totally got up and did Black Friday this year. It was actually pretty awesome to get most everything out of the way. I researched, made a list of things to get and went to 3 stores: target, toys r us, and kmart. I made a spreadsheet for the family of who’s getting what and after a few more stops that weekend, I’m happy to say, the christmas shopping is DONE. Yesterday, I got a tree with the kids. James and I put it up when he got home after his class/test, and today the kids and I will get going on decorating. I’m going multicolored this year with the 5 boxes of “icy twinkle lights” I got on sale after christmas last year.

For some reason I thought that they were ceramic. Kind of glad now to find they are not.

An early christmas present to me was a new mixer. My old mixer is a knock off of the Bosch Universal, a mixer my mother has had since before I was born (I may be exagerating, but as long as I can remember!).

Bosch Universal

6-8 years ago when I wanted a mixer, I wanted one like hers, but got convinced that this lookalike, Dimension 2000, was a better choice. And it works fine, just loverly, still does, except I broke both the sets of wire whips (regular and cookie dough) and the company is now out of business. Not so loverly.

Dimension 2000

So I’ve been out of a mixer since the summer, and with Christmas here, cookie making season is upon us. I like to make cookies and send them out to all our family (because I’m cheap that way) And you know what? Mixing double batches of cookie dough with a hand mixer? IS NOT FUN.

Linen N Things is going out of business, and so I’ve been eyeing the Cuisinart 5.5 quart model, regularly $300. It’s very similar to the KitchenAid mixer, same similar attachments available (even a food processor!) but in my mind, a little slicker looking and with a TIMER feature! How cool is that! I was a little nervous I was making the same mistake I made with the Universal — buying a different version of the more known brand, but I don’t think Cuisinart is going to be going anyway!

Cuisinart 5.5 qt Stand Mixer

When I first saw it, it was down 20% to $240, and James agreed that a mixer is something I kind of use a lot and actually “need” (thanks again honey) (he could have been a real pain because I have this “anything bought for yourself or others after Thanksgiving MUST BE WRAPPED AND PUT UNDER THE TREE” rule that he REALLY doesn’t like, so he could have turned that one against me and not let me HAVE the mixer until Christmas). When I went to get it, it was down again to 30%, so at $210, the was mixer purchased, and has already been put to use.

It’s a little kooky to get used to this style — the Bosch/Dimension probably seems like the kooky one to other people, what with the actual bowl being more of a doughnut shape instead of a normal bowl, but it’s what I’ve been used to my whole life, even growing up! Getting in and scraping down the edges has been tricky, and the dough does like to ride up a bit, up above the beat/whip, but so far, I like it 🙂 The timer feature is especially nice. So far I have only done cookie doughs, but I can’t wait to try some bread doughs and whip cream and egg whites (not all for the same thing, obviously!)

So even though the shopping is done, there’s still a lot of baking to do, and I want to make some easy mass-assembly line type craft to include with the cookies, but am at a loss of exactly what. Last year I did marble magnets for everyone, using my masses of extra altoids tins as a container. Stretchy cheap-beaded bracelets for nieces would be nice, and are super easy. Maybe stretchy bracelet with their name on it for the boys, but some of my nephews are older and I could see totally sticking up their nose at them. Adults, really not sure. Necklaces for adult female relatives would be nice, but might be too expensive (good beads ain’t cheap people!). And let’s face it, I’m running out of time for intricate work here. We might just be looking at stretchy bracelets for the little girls, and cookies for everyone else.

OK, this wraps up our holiday christmas presents edition post!

-amy twinkles but she does not glow. NO GLOWING.

So, the blog. Oh, the blog. So cobwebby and dusty. why? Why you ask?

I have to admit… it’s probably because of twitter.

If I have a random thought… there’s twitter! All ready for me to input my crazy thought in 140 characters or less! And then once it’s out of my head… the drive to post on the blog is pretty much gone. The goo has been skimmed.

Which means, I’m just going to have to make more of an effort.

Jocelyn has been SO cute lately. So huggie. So kissy! So “I love you all the way up to one HUNDRED!” she’s also said a few doozies that I can actually remember to document.

2 nights ago when I put her to bed, she put on jammies that were way too small. she kept insisting that she wear them anyway. “This will be the last time, mommy.” she told me. Well, by the time we read stories and got her all tucked in, she decided they really WERE too small, and took off the top.

“Shall I get you another top?” I asked.
“No. I don’t want a top.” she said.

When we put Jocelyn to bed, she requires 3 return visits. Otherwise, she will call us and accuse us with the heat of a thousand suns in her eyes, “You didn’t check on me THREE TIMES!”

So, I went back in to check on her, and she said solemnly and seriously, “I have a problem.”

She looked so serious that I thought maybe she had pooped in her bed or something. I cautiously pulled her blanket down a little, but nothing was obviously wrong.

“What’s the problem, honey?”
“I need a lid,” she said.
Perplexed, I asked, “A lid?”
“Yes. A lid for my tummy.” she gave her bare tummy a pat. Suddenly, I knew she wanted a jammie shirt. I laughed. “OK, I’ll get you a lid.”

It wasn’t until later when I was relaying the tale to James that I got the connection. I had called her shirt a “top” – and she had, very astutely, I might add! made the connection from “top” to “lid”!

That’s my girl 🙂 My lovey dovey, 3 hugs and kisses during dinner girl.

-amy