Naughty and Nice

First, the nice. Here's the adorable little twirl set I plugged yesterday. Really, could that skirt be any tinier? I just think it's so sweet and playful. And it almost (ALMOST) makes we want to have a tiny little baby in my arms again.

Now, the naughty. A tree fell through our house last night. Not on our house. Through our house in three different places. Why am I telling you this? 1. Because reality has sunk in this morning and I'm totally freaking out and really sad so I could use some well wishes. You all know I'm a stay at home mom, so we're on one income (besides my little Etsy money) and really have no wiggle room for an event like this. Sure, insurance will pay for it but we have a deductible just like everyone else and it's looking like we'll have to pay out of pocket for a lot of expenses and then try to be reimbursed. And 2. The damage is fairly extensive (you can see pics on my family blog... www.bellamatea.blogspot.com) and I'm thinking we may have to stay in a hotel for a bit during reconstruction. That means I'll be away from my sewing stuff and will have to take a break from listing.

Oh, and I almost forgot to share that Kristi is definitely the winner of the "best birdie feedback" post. I don't think anyone could even make up that many birdie connections. Haven't decided yet what to send you...is your house decorated in a rustic style? I could make a lovely tree trunk cozy for the branch in my hallway...or the one in my bedroom...or the one in my bathroom...and send that your way. Actually, don't laugh, but we're going to try to preserve a slice of the tree or something and display it in our house somewhere. Every time I look at it I'll either be thankful for our safety or really sad about all of the damage and money.

Question of the day

You have a friend who got a Wii for Christmas. She's gone on and on about how great it is, how much fun the family is having with it, blah, blah, blah. You very casually ask "When are you going to invite us over?" several times yet she still has not invited you. She let you play with the Wii on Thursday, asked again and again if you were totally having fun (you definitely were) but still didn't invite you over. She appears to like your children and is vocal about her positive feelings toward your husband. She claims to hate you but you know deep down inside, she realizes you light up her life. Do you just show up on Saturday night with pizza and beer and pretend like you were invited? Contact her totally nice (and as an added bonus, hot-but not hotter than yours) husband and get the invite from him?

Why bother?

We have a huge storm blowing through town right now so I was forced to take pictures inside. I wasn't even going to bother listing the bag today because the pictures really don't do it justice, but the wind and rain are supposed to be here through the weekend so it's now or never...or now or Monday, I guess, but you get what I mean.

This one is generously sized, a little bigger than my usual listings, and perfect for a mom of two or more or a mom of a newborn.

And Matea can't handle having the camera around and not having her picture taken so she hopped up on the bench as soon as I stopped holding her back with my foot. Someone should find out why she's still in her pj's even though it's 5:00 pm.

And check back later tonight for the sweetest and smallest little twirl set ever. Remember that cute pink bear fabric I bought last month and didn't know how I would use it? Well, on a whim I decided to make the tiniest skirt ever, complete with pink tulle trim and a matching onesie with an adorable bear applique.

Question of the day (Thursday)

You do all of the laundry for your family. Who's responsibility is it to check pockets for pens, etc. before washing. Yours or your husband's?

Question of the day

You know I love little birdies (not real ones, I'm pretty sure I'd find them annoying). So you can imagine the shock and horror involved in learning just moments ago that my friend, and formerly valued customer, Shana, does not care for these adorably fun appliques. I believe she may have been attacked by a bird as a child because I really can't come up with any other reason for her to not love the birdies. Wait, I titled this post "question" and not "bitchfest", didn't I?

Ok then, what do you think of the birdie appliques? Love them? Hate them? Don't care? I'm really into them right now, in my sewing and scrapbooking so whether you like them or not won't really effect my usage of them, it will just make me better informed. Ooooo, and here's something fun, the person who leaves me the best feedback on this matter will get some kind of prize from me...maybe a diaper/travel wipes case or a little business card pouch....or maybe a package of poo if your name is Shana.

New addiction

I think I need to add little birdies to my growing list of sewing addictions. I just think they're so cute and fun. And they seem to be popular with you guys so someone buy this bag and contribute to my Canon Rebel fund:)

And the winner is...

Ok, before I get to it, let me share something. I had this great idea to record Bella pulling the winning name from the hat (or in our case, the disposable Ziploc food container that all of my neighbors returned to me after finishing off the holiday treats I gave them-it's disposable people, I don't want it back.) I mostly wanted to make my friend Lena happy because while she claims to be overly nice, I find her to be very questioning and suspicious. Anyway, it went terribly wrong. Bella was rubbing her face the whole time like she had just woken up even though she's been up for an hour and a half. Then she kept saying, "I can't find the one I want" and "There's a certain one I want to find". Ok, lets go over how this works again. Anyway, she finally picked the winner, I announced her name and then ended with a long, "Ummmmmmmm". The whole thing is awful.

Ok, now I'll get to it. The winner is Jennifer Hogan, etsy member jehogan! Congratulations! Your new bag will ship out to you tomorrow, only 2-3 days until you can unwrap a nice surprise. Thanks to everyone who supported my bag making gig in the last month and helped provide my family with a nice Christmas. So many of you take the time to send me nice little notes through Etsy and because I'm such a loser about replying, you have no idea how much I appreciate them. So, in 2008 I will take the time to respond to every Etsy convo and make sure my customers know how much I appreciate them. You guys make my sewing gig a lot of fun and I love reading your comments on the blog so keep them coming. And if you know me, you know I like criticism as much as a compliment so if you think a bag looks like ass, tell me so I won't make the same mistake again.