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Friday, September 29, 2006

Dry Spell Over and Parenting Perfection Acheived


Well my Etsy dry spell for the month of September was broken this morning by a lovely customer who promptly paid for 2 pairs of earrings from our Etsy shop. This is one of the pairs that were sold today. I have plenty more so I relisted them. Here is the link to the Etsy page for these earrings. The Etsy high was still flowing when we discovered that the bathroom door was left open and Max found a toothbrush and was washing it in our nasty really needs to be cleaned toilet. (As if it would be OK if my toilet was cleaned regularly.) Yes, he then even put the toothbrush in his mouth before we got it away from him. That was the beginning of my hectic morning trying to get out of the house on time for my first day as the Mom that has to bring the snacks to preschool. Nick and I are in semi shock as our little baby boy started preschool this week. He loves it and says "goodbye " before I even get him out of the car.It's a parent co op preschool run by the community college so I have to do 6 volunteer days in the classroom either bringing snacks or doing an activity.
So of course I wanted to be a perfect Mom and bring the perfect snacks. I bought the obligatory tiny kid size muffin tin and since I am the lamest and laziest cook ever I also bought Betty Crockers Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix. They were a hit. I cubed up the giant loaf of colby cheese, put out the raisens and the crackers but really the icing on the cake of Mom perfection was the tiny perfect kid size delicious apples that we picked from our tree that put next to every kids plate. The teacher was doubtful that the kids would actually eat it if it wasn't cut into the slices they have come to expect. But I had higher expectations from these kids and they proved my parenting genius correct. Most of them ate their little perfect apple or at least had a few bites. Ha- so there teacher lady.
The extra exhausting part of this whole morning was that I had little 1 1/2 year old Max with me the whole time. I wisely brought the baby backpack which I used at times but he was a pain in the butt about half the time. He is going through some sort of difficult phase that I kind of remember from Henry at this age where he can't communicate well and usually when you know what he wants it's something he can't have anyway.Also,he must be teething again because his interest in food is limited and when he eats he ends up spitting out the masticated food just when you think he's actually swallowed. So I had a lovely smear of mashed colby cheese on my back and hair and all over him to deal with at one point this morning. Parenting is so glamorous.
And he's getting a cold. OK I'll cut the little screeching monkey some slack. He was totally adorable sitting in the little rocking chair with his bottle and baby doll he was gently patting on the back.
Now I must prepare for tomorrow's Saturday Market in Eugene.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Hand Mirrors and Toe Hair



Here is a picture of one of my hand mirrors nestled in among the poison oak that I just listed on Etsy. I guess I better wash it. I used 9 gauge aluminum wire, my hands, pliers and a hammer and anvil to create this girly product. They aren't my biggest seller but they do draw attention to my booth and come in handy when people want to look at themselves trying on my jewelry. It's one of those items that people say how much they love when they are at my booth but somehow don't go the distance and actually buy it. I'm just hoping some of their friends are listening and taking note on what an excellent holiday or birthday present it would be.

Here is the Etsy listing.

We are in the midst of perfect warm sunny clear Oregon fall weather. As our friend Annie Blick told us when we lived in San Francisco, it's "Earthquake Weather". It seemed like it was during these kinds of stretches of perfect clear warm days that earthquakes would happen. Of course now I also think of it as September 11th weather. I guess it's the pessimist in me. But it's also the sense of appreciating these perfect days and moments because you never know when it can all change. Well that just got depressing... let's move on to toe hair.

Seriously. My initial reason for mentioning the glorious weather is that I have been able to keep wearing my worn out flip flops and this morning noticed for the first time that I have an abundance all of the sudden of dark hair on my large toes. What the hell is that about? Is it one of the symptoms of permenipause? At least it was black and not grey for a fully humiliating initiation into decrepitude.

Well astoundingly both children have been asleep napping for over 2 hours but the reality is that we will now be screwed by late night shenanigans unless I wake up Henry instantly. And we'll probably still be screwed.

Monday, September 25, 2006

No Burger Flipping this Week....

Well I guess I won't have to get that job flipping burgers this week. The Fall Festival was a big success and my ego has been effectively stroked. Not to mention my wallet. The highlight of the show was when 2 lovely slightly geeky girls about 20 years old came up and asked if I had a tray they could put earrings in. They started loading up ,piling on the earrings onto this little tray I gave them. I asked if they were buying for a store? to resell? and did they realize that I don't take Visa? They smiled and said "We saved our money all year and came back because we like your jewelry the best." They then pulled out their big wad of cash and made my day.
Another highlight was when a young teenaged girl looked at herself in one of my lovely handmade mirrors (that I haven't photographed and put up on etsy yet but will soon) and said in disgust"Oh my god, I look like I'm middle aged."
I said "Hey! I'm middle aged."
I had another middle aged moment when a stunningly beautiful young woman and her 2 friends approached the booth. This girl was a Halle Barrie look alike. I was really hoping she'd buy some earrings from me so that when people are staring at her they just might notice the earrings off her perfect face. And then she looked into one of my lovely handmade handmirrors (that I still haven't photographed and put up on Etsy yet but will soon) and said "Your mirrors are beautiful until I looked in them."
Without even thinking I said "You've got to be kidding me. You're gorgeous." Her male friend said yeah, she's beautiful and the girl just got a dopish embarrassed look on her face and slinked off. And I thought there goes yet another twisted female who hates herself and can't see how beautiful she is. And I thought about how often I have felt that way about myself and still do at times and how stupid it is and I really hope I can completely get over all those superficial mental hangups by the time I'm 50.
Here's a picture from our Etsy shop of one of our best selling earrings this weekend that has never sold on Etsy.

They are made with the awesome chinese millefiore glass beads I got at the Eugene Gem and Mineral Show.Perhaps the picture is too blurry and the angle a little messed up to get the true glory of these beads.
Here is the link for them on our Etsy shop.
Now I can no longer ignore the screams of Henry who is demanding that I pay attention to him. Apparently Daddy just won't do, despite multiple "time outs" to try and curb his tantrum.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Hanging Vases and missing turds

I've been trying to get ready for the big Fall Festival coming up this weekend in Corvallis. I'm not actually in the real Fall Festival because I have never been able to get accepted by the elite art world. Possible because I suck at taking good photos of our stuff, possibly because there is always a ton of jewelry making the competition stiff or dare I say because we aren't good enough. But I think I will continue to harbor an unhealthy bitterness towards them. Luckily I get my revenge by being in the Fake Fall Festival run by the exceedingly nice First Christian Church . Their fees are dramatically lower and they give me free (lame) coffee and home baked snacks and a nice bathroom. They also don't make me jump through too many hoops to get my awesome spot every year right up front and across the street from the "real" festival. It's hard to say if my sales would be better if I was across the street with the "real" artists. I'll probably never know.
None the less I have been trying in the spare moments when the kids are self occupied in some sort of TV trance or computer addiction or just plain mindless goofing around when they forget that Mommy actually exists to crank out some product.The last few days I have been focused on my Hanging Vases. Here is a sample:


I have lots of different styles and color variations. They sell for $15. You can check them out at our Etsy shop or our jewelry webpage.
Well this was a classic hectic morning trying to get the kids ready to get out of the house for Henry's first day of preschool. It's not really the first day because it was just the open house/free play/sign in for your parental tasks and fill out forms day. While changing Max on the changing table one of his lovely perfectly formed hard little turd balls escaped and rolled out
and disappeared. I looked everywhere I could but of course as I was doing that I forgot one of the most important rules of diaper changing which is get a new one on the kid quickly. So he started peeing all over the place. Now I had a missing turd and a puddle of pee to deal with. I still haven't found the turd. I'll let you know when I do.
Another thing that I discovered this morning is that cantalope doesn't taste good in oatmeal. Who knew? Well I guess anyone with some culinary sense would. Henry gagged just looking at
it. Max as he does with most of his food squeezed it in his hands and then spread it in his hair and then threw the rest on the floor and at me in disgust.
Thanks for all the great comments and personal e mails. And thanks for the help with how to move a picture around.
Now to try sleeping...

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

My first real blog post....


This is almost as exciting as when I got my first call on my cell phone. Hearing that whimsical annoying ring and knowing that someone out there wants to talk to me. Of course I knew it could only be Nick since he was the only one that had my cell # but still.... I'm finally somebody with not only a cell phone but a BLOG!And of course every loser now has a cell phone so I guess I'm not going to get quite the self esteem boost I was shooting for with this blog thing....
I already digress...
Today is the first day of my blog. Yesterday (or was it 2 days ago) I put up a lovely bracelet on our etsy shop (nicholasandfelice.etsy.com) and then later discovered while reading the forums that it was a sucky day to post stuff because their site was having problems. As a result we have gotten buried in the piles of jewelry listings and have only gotten 3 views so far.
So here's my first attempt at posting a picture of my lovely black onyx and garnet bracelet .
It worked except it ended up at the top. Oh well. I am too lazy to figure out how to move it now and it's getting late and although I have accomplished once perfect parenting feat by getting Max to bed, Henry the night owl is still up.
Speaking of first moments....
We shared the joy of the Pop Tart with Henry for the first time this week. And not suprisingly he has taken to it quite well, including the gourmet touch of toasting the lovely rectangle of jammy pseudo pastry goodness and plucking it (with my help) out of the toaster. Nick and I had kicked our bad Pop Tart habit a few years ago when much to our self righteous vegetarian chagrin we discovered that they had gelatin in them. Betsy (Nick's sister) later set us straight with the knowledge that it is only the frosted ones with the geletin. But we realized it was time to take a break from Mr P.Tart. Now that my own vegetarian philosophy has softened to a nice hypocritical inclusion of whatever the hell I feel like, it seemed the time was ripe to revisit my old friend the Pop Tart. And then as we walked down the Safeway aisle Henry spotted them and said "Mama what's that?"
Ahhh My child. You are now of age to learn of the semi satistfying emty calorie experience that filled some of the emty holes of my childhood. And lo and behold, like a sign from above (or from marketing) they were on sale. 4 for $7. We didn't fall for their ply. We ONLY bought 2 boxes knowing that one just wouldn't be enough once the devil was unleashed. And we chose the "healthier" plain strawberry ones as opposed to the frosted ones or the over the top smores and chocolate death new flavors.
So that's my first blog post...