Sunday, July 12, 2009

Christmas In July

This Wednesday July 15, I will be having a special one day only promotion in my Art Fire Studio, http://www.artfire.com/users/Handmade~by~Sheri. Just mention Christmas in July in the promotions box and I will refund 10% of your total purchase, not including the shipping and handling charges. Since I have heard that Pay-Pal will not allow discounts with out manual intervention, I will credit your Pay-Pal account the discounted amount.

Don't worry if the shop gets empty during the day, I will add more items as space permits, but if you have been eyeing something I would suggest that you shop early. The sale starts on July 15th at 12:01 a.m. and runs to 11:59 p.m.

This is the perfect time to start your holiday shopping, you have 3 days to make your lists and go to my one day sale on the 15th.

Feel free to drop hints to your loved ones if you want something special that you think would make a nice gift.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Busy Days and Nights

It has been a busy time around here. I am trying to keep up, but i am sure that you know how that goes. Work in minus work done equals a lot of work left to do. I guess that goes along with my wonderful job title, Mom. What kind of a job title is that? Does it really pay anything? What are the hours like? What do I do?

Dinner Tuesday was one of those throw together affairs, frozen vegan ravioli with a sauce of canned mushrooms,olives, garbanzo beans and a jar of sauce dumped in a pan and warmed up, with frozen green beans. John and Teri graciously cleaned up the kitchen after I used all those pots and pans. I don't know how I used so many, they just seemed to land on the stove.

Being a mom is like being a handyman, you have to be able to do anything on a moments notice, and I do mean anything. Tuesday night Eric was having a bad night, he was uncomfortable, wanted to eat, did not want to eat, wanted his position changed, wanted hugs, wanted to be left alone. This went on till 3:30 am. John let me sleep in to 6:30 and then I had to get up and dressed in case the painters came.You would think that after a night like that he would want to stay home and sleep, but no it was the round trip drive to camp. He had the audacity to be happy and cheerful Wednesday morning. Not much got done on Wednesday, I swear that there was not enough caffeine in the world to keep me awake and productive. But laundry and cleaning got done anyway. When I went to pick up Eric at camp he was happy to see me and did not take a nap at all, I guess that comes from being 19.

I have to admit that on Wednesday I did go to the store and buy 1 skein of yarn for and order, I was going to get 2 skeins, but they got in the new Simply Knitting Magazine that I love. In my tired haze convinced myself that I could do the socks with 2 colors that is the extra pattern leaflet in the back of the magazine. I did go again on Thursday because I found another coupon on line, the yarn is for an order of 8 kitchen washcloths and it is in a color that I don't have. I really don't have every color know to man. I know that it is hard to believe. But I have managed to finish 2 and have the 3rd in progress. It is just the type of order that a muddled brain fogged mind can handle.

Teri is starting to request all her favorite dinners before she leaves for law school in about a month. I said this was fine as long as she did the shopping. Last night was Tamale pie with peach pie for desert, we forgot to put together the salads so I really can not call it a square meal, but there was lots of pie.

Eric had a fairly good night Wednesday, he was only up for 30 minutes about 3 am with leg cramps and positioning problems. His timing was great since that was about the time my body decided it had had enough and needed Tylenol and stretching.

Eric was happy to go to camp today, they are going to see Ice Age 3. I one the other hand have cleared my brain fog, run the dishwasher and did 2 out of 4 loads of laundry. In the summer I stop doing laundry when the temperature hits 100 degrees, it is now 102 at noon. The good thing about summer is that the clothes dry on the line very fast. I should be able to put these away by 3ish. Roomba was tired so I got Teri to vacuum the den. I will empty the dishwasher after lunch. I guess it is also time to figure out what is for dinner.

As you have probably guessed that this job lacks monetary payment and has extremely long hours, but the hugs make it all worth while. Do I wish I could have an 8 to 5 job-yes. Will I have one in the near future - no. After all there are bills to pay, laundry to do, meals to make, taking care of Eric, shopping to do, the house to clean and the odd appointment to get to. If I am having a really good week I just might get to have lunch with a friend or 2 or even go meet a friend to knit.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Help Teri

My daughter Teri has entered a photo contest to help earn some money for law school.

Teri needs as many votes as possible, please click on this link and vote for her picture. http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=14790195. Please feel free to pass this link to your e-mail or twitter list, you can vote more than once a day.

Thanks for all your help.

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Yesterday was a recovery day for me since Eric spent most of the night awake. I will blog later today when I am more awake, in the meantime feel free to check out my Art Fire Studio. Let me know what you think should be included. Have a wonderful day.

Monday, July 6, 2009

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It has been a busy day, but I have managed to add more to my Art Fire Studio. Please stop by.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Just Wondering....

After lunch out we dropped John off at the house and went to Bookman's. If you are ever in Arizona this is a place that you have to go to, they have 3 stores in Tucson, 1 in Flagstaff and some in Phoenix. They have everything the heart could desire and always have "new" things. Bookman's has used books and magazines, a great kids section in all the stores, odds and ends and even a rare book section. Bookman's is the largest used book seller in Arizona and we have store credit to burn so I let the kids go wild. Eric and Teri pick out some new to them music. and I found a cute little green jar with strawberries on top that I am going to clean up and stuff to the brim with scrbies for my Art Fire shop tomorrow. Time to make a lot of scrubies. Teri agreed with me that this will make a nice gift when it is finished.

When we went to Michael's to find more stuffing for Teri's mogo I just had to look at the price of the yarn. I did show great restraint and did not bring any more home. After surfing through various shops it leaves me a little perplexed as to how someone can offer items for sale in their shops for less than it would cost me to buy the yarn.

Teri and I had a discussion on economics on the way home. We debated if the average crafter values their time, yes I know that I will never make minimum wage selling handmade items, but is it necessary to sell at a loss to have sales? As a stay at home mom I know that I am worth a lot of money for the work that I do that is unpaid, it is just part of the job and making the world a better place. On the other hand as a small business owner I know that I can not stay in business if I sell things for less then they cost to make. I also have to include overhead expenses and I would like to make a little money to help Teri out with grad school expenses. There are plenty of places to buy cheap, but if you want locally handmade it is going to cost more, I can't compete with Walmart, Target, Kohl's or the local dollar store.

Please leave your comments on this, I want to know if I am the only one who feels this way.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Thank You

I would just like to thank all the members of our military and their families past and present for the great gift of freedom that you have given to all of us. Just as people always tell me its a hard job to be a parent of a special needs child and not everyone could do it. I feel the same way about your jobs.

So as we celebrate this day of freedom in the United States, just remember that you really are appreciated by the great majority of us. Thank you very much for all that you do for us.

Happy 4th of July everyone. May freedom continue to ring here and around the world.