Cute little things

Here are a few things that I keep in my list of Etsy favorites...things I want but can't justify buying when there are things like groceries that I actually need.  They're cute, though. 

This little puppy is called "Sophie" and she is available from Furry Thangs on Etsy.  She is $25 and $6.50 shipping.

This adorable little munchkin is "Penny" and she is also made by Furry Thangs.  She's $27.50 and $6.00 shipping.

I have a thing for stuffed animals.  In stores, I must avoid the animal sections.  Otherwise, they leap off the shelves at me and demand to be taken home.  He he!

They kind of remind me of my grandmother's dog, Robbie, who is an annoying monster of a Shih Tzu and who needs obedience school.  To train my grandmother.  Who has successfully trained Robbie to need to go outside to potty every hour, and to bark at her each night.  (He barks, she yells, then she gives him a treat.  Right.  'Cuz that'll make him stop.)  Anyway, it's all good, Nana's 84, so I guess she's entitled.

About a Book....or Five

In my blog follower feed, I am often amazed how many book reviews people do.  I have very little time to myself, and to be honest, I don't read much anymore.  I was actually talking to my mom about this today.  I wish I had more time to read, and someday I will.  For now, though, I thought I would share a few of my favorite books of all time.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
3. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate diCamillo
4. Beauty by Robin McKinley
5. Legend in Green Velvet by Elizabeth Peters

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  This is my all-time favorite book ever.  I reread this book again and again.  Each time, the book is as good as the very first time I read it.  This is also the only book I've ever read for which the movie was equally good.

2. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.  Mom told me she was 18 when she wrote it.  I remember realizing at the end that you never know the heroine's name.  "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" are probably some of the most memorable first words of any book.  They might be the only first words of any book that I can actually remember.  Exciting and amazing...an adventure that is never old to me.

3. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate diCamillo.  Best elementary kids' book.  I actually read this book to my one and only fourth grade class without prereading it (very stupid in hindsight, but I just had this feeling about this book).  Towards the end, I started crying so much I almost had to make one of the kids read on.  Fortunately, the ending is a happy one, and as the years went by, I read this book to all my classes, and cried every time.  But I saw deeper and deeper levels in this seemingly simple book each time.  A really great book for grown-ups, too.

4. Beauty by Robin McKinley.  A fantastic retelling of the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast.  This may even be Robin McKinley's best book.  The story we all know is retold in such a charming way, and the characters are brought to life so perfectly, I always hate when this book is over.

5. Legend in Green Velvet by Elizabeth Peters.  This is a mystery written by an author who also writes as Barbara Michaels (scarier stories).  It takes place in Scotland (which I love, being that I have a grandmother who came from there and I'm 1/4 Scottish myself....and proud of it!) and has a tiny bit of romance thrown in, just enough, plus a bunch of danger and terrible bad guys.  Even though it's not a contemporary book, I can still relate to the heroine and the other characters.

Well there you go.  A list of some of my favorite books.  I'm sure that, now that I'm posting this, I'll think of a million more, but here's a start at least.

Darling Timey Tells strikes again

Remember I told you about the doll that sort of looked like Karina?  But I didn't buy it?  Well, I did.  I kept thinking about her and finally my mom said I should just get it.  She was only $12.  I then got this adorable outfit off Etsy for her, too.  It's by Sewgrandmacathy and it's the cutest thing ever.  I think she looks so much better now!

And I found out she has a pull string that (I assume, I haven't tried it) would make her talk and tell you the time that is on her watch (which doesn't come off).

Just a few of my cutie girl.

She got into my jewelry armoire.  She's wearing every necklace I'd let her put on.  (About 4)

Such a cutie!  She wanted to wear a hat this day.

Gotta love the face.  And that she's "reading" her book upside-down.  This was before church one day.

Some Cool Stuff and Some of My Stuff from the Sale

Working our yard sale means we get first dibs on everything that comes in.  We pay for it fairly, of course, but we do get the benefit of seeing everything first.  Sometimes the school staff or church staff will see it first, but most of it we do.  So throughout the sale, we put stuff away in a little pile for ourselves to take home.  Presales were over $1000 this year.  That's just from the church and school staff and people browsing when they came in to drop off their donations!

Here are some of the things I got this year.  This doesn't include some of the things I got for Karina that came in later in the sale.  I haven't gotten pics of those yet.  I got her a small outdoor table with two folding chairs and an umbrella, a tricycle with a dumper on the back, and an adjustable Little Tykes basketball hoop (she loves watching the boys across the street play!).

This is just pretty, I think.  I love teapots.  I kind of collect them.  (I'm a huge tea drinker)

Just another thing I thought was pretty.  I believe it's to keep water in, but I think you can also put hot stuff in it and put a little burner under it.  Whatever it is, it's pretty and I have a silver one just like it.  This one is copper; I know the color in the picture is a little off. 

A hobby horse I got for Karina.

A stained glass picture, about 15" square that I hung in my craft room window.  It is so much prettier in person.

Now, the next few things I didn't buy.  I just thought they were neat and took pictures of them.

This is an old 20s feathered cloche hat.  It was gorgeous in person.  It sold, but only because a woman left us an offer and her phone number.  It seemed like people were looking for really deep bargains, but we know this had some value.  We also got another feathered cloche later.  I thought it wasn't quite as pretty, but it was still really neat.

Here it is.  It has an intentional hole in the top with netting.

This is some newer Limoges china that isn't worth what the real antique stuff is, but it is still pretty.  If it was blue or red or even yellow, I probably would have bought it.  Green just isn't my favorite color.

This teapot I almost bought, too.  Maybe I will next year; we saved it.  It's English, and my mom thought it might have some value, but we weren't sure.  Still, it's pretty.

This is some Homer Laughlin china.  I had never heard of him, but my mom recognized the name. It was a huge set of it.  We saved that for next year, too, because it also did not sell.

Finally, this old desk came from the parsonage.  It's not fancy or spectacular, but I liked it anyway.  If I had space in my house or my craft room, I might have wanted it.  Oh, look, you can see my mug of tea in the background on the table behind the desk, and the doughnuts I bought. 

We get neat stuff every year, and we're always surprised at what does and doesn't sell.  It often astounds me that beautiful stuff like this won't sell, but sets of bath products will.  ?  Someone told us that it's because we're a charity/nonprofit or whatever and that makes people not want to negotiate.  I don't know, but it's strange. 

I'm so glad the sale is over, I am tired and sick (thank you, Kelly, for your germs) but I'm already looking forward to next year's sale!  (Crazy, I know!)

Some Yard Sale Pics

As you know, if you are a regular reader, I worked my church youth group's huge-ongous yard sale last week with my friend and fellow advisor, Kelly.  We picked up large items from members on Friday and Saturday, started setting up Saturday; on Monday we continued setup and brought furniture over from our parsonage (including a hutch that doesn't come apart, a set of bunk beds, and a pullout sofa sleeper); Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were setup/organizing and pricing days, and the sale itself was Friday and Saturday.  Here we go.  When you see these pictures, know that this sale fills our entire gymnasium (the church has a school that has a gym).

I'm standing almost at one end of the gym.  That's Karina, my little helper, in her doggy shirt.  There's some of the furniture.  Not even all of it; we had already sold a reclining chair and a set of 4 (gorgeous) tables with glass tops.  The tables on the left have housewares and dishes and stuff.  There are two rows of 6 tables to hold the household items.  That brown/orange 70s-looking couch there on the far right is the sleeper sofa.

Here you can see the housewares some more and past that is the pants table and linens are up on the bleachers. 

Here is our baby/kid section before Lori cleaned us out.  Luckily, I managed to snag a few things!  (Lori is opening a baby item shop in town that sells used items; sort of consignment).  See that kitchen set back there?  If I hadn't already gotten Karina the one she has, I would have LEAPED on this one, it was so cute!  There are two baby swings back there, a Diaper Champ, a travel bed (the roundish blue and green thing), a Graco Pack n Play, and these two train tent things.  (I got a regular pop up tent).

Just another view over household to the clothing section...that alone took us 2 days to put together.

The other end of the furniture section.  There's the hutch, the piano, our cart with our sodas on it (for us!), the bunk beds, and then a few other things in the foreground.

Furniture: You can see the foosball table, some small things, including a set of chairs, and then close up is a set of couch and loveseat that had seen better days.  The cushions were nice but needed to be reupholstered.  We sold the foosball table and the couch.

Up close is the holiday table, and another view of the rest of it.  We have an office section, tools, garden (behind me), pictures and picture frames, linens...

Books...

And boxes.  We use these at the end to pack what's left up to send to the local thrift store.

I found out we raised over $3000 this year, our most yet.  That is a really great number and we are excited.  We will do the sale again next year, and the following year is when we will be going to New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering.  If you live there, or near there, you can watch as approximately 20-40,000 Lutheran Youth descend upon the city!

Soon

Yard sale....over. 

Finally. 

Me, tired.  Exhausted.  Beat.  Whooped.
Kelly, my friend and co-advisor who also did the sale, has bronchitis, her husband has pinkeye, and one of her sons has both pinkeye and hand, foot, & mouth disease, from where we know not.
We're happily done with our sale until next summer.

No pics yet but soon.  I promise, soon.

Yard Sale Days

Some of you know that I'm an advisor for my church's youth group.  I really enjoy it, and we get to do a lot of fun things together.  One of the things I enjoy most is going on the retreats that my synod hosts.  We have two weekend retreats, one for middle schoolers and one for high school students.  Then there is one BIG retreat, that is not just with my synod, but with all the ELCA Lutheran synods in the country.  This is the National Youth Gathering (NYG).  It is held every three years in a major city, because the city has to be able to host up to 40,000 youth at one time (it's usually done over two separate weeks.  That's a lot of youth!)  The first time I went, it was held in Atlanta, Georgia.  I had only recently become an advisor, as had my good friend Kelly.  We rented a bus and drove 12 hours to get there.  It was a horrible bus, and the AC broke and then the bus wouldn't start when we wanted to go home at the end of the week, but we still had fun.  The second time I went, it was held in San Antonio, Texas.  This time we flew on a plane (that was quite interesting, making sure all those kids made it through security and onto the plane and didn't lose any luggage...but we did it!).  Then, the last one was held in New Orleans.  I did not go because my daughter had recently been born.  Kelly didn't go because she was pregnant.  We were told it was hot there.  When I say hot, what I mean is "Intolerable levels of heat and humidity which drive one to wish for an icemaker to be installed in one's abdomen".  Very hot, the other advisors and kids said.  But Kelly and I missed out on that one.  Well, guess where they're going in 2012?  That's right, New Orleans again.  I can tell you that not all the kids are happy.  Not all the advisors are thrilled, either.  We were really hoping for a different city, which is what they usually do.  Anyway, we have massive levels of heat to look forward to, unless I happen to get pregnant again, he he!  (Poor Kelly.  She's not having any more kids.  She has to go!) (Please don't misunderstand:  we like going.  However, we are not looking forward to the heat and humidity levels as described to us by the advisors who did go last time)

So, what's this about yard sales?  Well, it costs roughly $1200+ per person to go to this event.  So as soon as one ends, we start fundraising for the next one.  Our biggest fundraiser by far is the yard sale we hold at our church.  Our church has a school attached, with a gymnasium that we fill to the brim with tables and items that congregation members and friends have donated.  I love this sale.  It is SO much work, but also really worth it.  We spend a week preparing for the sale, and hold the actual sale over two days, Friday and Saturday.  Kelly and I started out this year's sale by coordinating pickup of large items last Friday and Saturday.  Then, Monday we were in the gym sorting all the boxes and bags of items as well as the furniture.  Not only that, but this year we are selling a ton of furniture from the parsonage next door, where our pastor lived while he waited for his house to sell in another state (we have a new pastor).  We had to move, among other things, an ancient, hideous, 70s hideabed couch that weighed approximately 5,000 pounds; a large china hutch that did not separate into two pieces as most do (also old and heavy); a set of solid wood bunk beds with mattresses; and a kitchen's worth of dishes and china.  We also moved, but not from the parsonage, a vertical piano, a lighted curio cabinet, and an entertainment center.  We have clothes taking over one corner of the gym.  Books have run rampant in another.  Garden/lawn/sporting goods was so full that we had to rearrange it, and we never have to do that.  Kitchen goods and household goods are overflowing onto the floor.  We have more baby/kid items than ever before.   I love seeing what we get to sell.  There's always something interesting.  This year, we had not only the piano (1903!) but a real German squeeze-box (accordion) instrument that my friend Cali bought to restore.  That was pretty cool.  Last time we had this sale, we got some Limoges china, but it turned out not to be worth as much as we had hoped.  This year we have a foosball table and a poker tabletop.  We have a gaming chair (like for video games), a very heavy, ornate lamp, a flapper dress costume, a fake gold lame Elvis outfit, a power washer, and a kiddie kitchen.  We've been sorting and unpacking boxes and bags, and moving furniture across the parking lot from the very hot parsonage house to our gym, and organizing and reorganizing for two days, and we're making good progress.  But we haven't even begun pricing things, other than the stuff the church staff has already claimed! 

My long-winded point is this:  I'm tired.  My feet hurt.  I'm tired.  If I don't post much, or if you don't notice me online as much, this is why.  I will hopefully remember to take pictures tomorrow, and then you can see what I'm talking about.  Man I love this yard sale, though!  Next time I have the energy to post something, I'll tell you about Karina "helping" at the sale prep.  She was so funny!

Giveaway at Diaper Junction's Cloth Diaper Blog

I have one of these diapers and it's really great. 

I would love to win some more!

They have great colors, too.  The red is a really

nice deep blue-red, not orangey like some reds.

That's the color I have.  I love it.  Check out the

giveaway over at Cloth Diaper Blog!

Just Gotta Say This

I constantly worry about how I'm coming across to other people.  I've always been self-conscious, and I know it's a big flaw.  But I think of myself as a generally nice person, most of the time, and I wouldn't want someone to think otherwise of me, especially if it was because of something I did to mislead them.

Anyway, I just want to say, even though I love my cloth diapers, and I rave about them and encourage people to switch from disposables (which I admittedly hate), I don't hate the users of these disposables.  I don't think anyone is dumb or lame or a loser in any way for choosing them. 

I see a lot of stuff out on the web (more about breastfeeding v/s bottle feeding than cloth diapers) where moms are attacking other moms for their choices.  This drives me crazy.  That is NOT what we should be doing!  Being a mom is hard enough!  It's fun, but hard, and we shouldn't be going around knocking each other down for the choices we make, even if we disagree with them. 

So my blog is not supposed to be about telling you to use cloth, but more about educating readers who might not realize what cloth has become.  A lot of people simply don't know (how would they?  I didn't!) what cloth diapers are like now.  I just want more people to know so that they can make a choice based on as much information as possible, rather than only the information available from the disposable diaper companies, which is obviously going to be biased towards their own product.

On a personal note, none of my friends use cloth diapers.  One used them part time, many years ago, some have considered using them, one is still waffling, and others have flat-out said no way.  I'm still friends with them.  They still like me.  It's all good. 

If I have ever, at any point in this blog or any other, written anything that has made anyone think I'm passing judgment on them personally, I'm sorry.  I am really, truly sorry, because I never mean that to come across here.  It honestly never occurred to me until today that maybe my blog could be perceived this way to some people.  I know the post I read wasn't directed at me, but I'm so glad it was written the way it was, because it made me think about how my blog is being perceived by other people.  So, while this is not a direct response to the blog I read, it's gratefully written because of it, and because it made me think about things from a different perspective.  I hope I have not offended anyone or hurt anyone's feelings, and I am going to be more thoughtful in my posts from now on.  I will even try to be more careful in my blasting judgment of disposable diaper companies, which I think are using some shamelessly deceitful tactics to mislead parents into thinking their products are environmentally friendly when they are not.  (I said I'd try.)



Thanks for that post, by the way; I know you read this blog.  I'm glad you wrote it because it did make me take a step back and think about what I write and how I say things.  I'm far from perfect, and I appreciated that what you wrote made me realize I could be unintentionally making other people feel bad.

Water Park Day

First let me say this:  I guess writing really is good therapy, because I no longer feel my maniacal obsession with the dolls and stuff.  What a relief!  Now, on to more normal things!

Yesterday I took my church youth group (I make it sound like I did it myself--not even close.  Kelly, our Pastor "PG", and I all went with 5 youth) to the local water park for a day of fun in the sun.  Apparently, we were located in one of the top five hottest spots in the entire country, according to Erik, the other advisor who did not go because he needed to stay home want watch Germany play soccer.  Whatever... He said even including Death Valley, we were still in the top five.  Don't know if that's true, but it was a hot one!

We got there around 10ish and Karina, who had to come with me of course, got to play with her little friends Nate and Drew in one of the kid areas.  She spent 20 minutes walking around and around the perimeter of the water area, just looking.  At one point she did climb up on the plaything in the middle.  Mostly we walked.  While we were doing that, Kelly, PG, and the kids went to ride some rides.  When Kelly came back with Drew, we were hungry and he was sleeping, so she got us fries and a drink and Karina had her lunch.  Then more playing, more kids riding rides, and Karina took a 2 hour nap.  Then after that, more rides for the kids, more water time for Karina, who was pretty wiped out by then, as was her mother, he he.  Finally, it was time to go.  It was so hot that all we'd been doing all day was drinking various forms of liquid and we finished off with these Slurpee-esque freezy slush things.  Mine was cherry and oh, so good!  Karina and I headed home, but the kids convinced Kelly to let them watch movies and eat pizza at her house, so I hope that was fun.  She had to work today, poor thing.  Karina and I went home, ate dinner, and relaxed until bedtime. 

It was an exhausting but really fun day, and I can't wait to take Karina back someday with her dad.  He's missed out twice now. 

18 Inch Dolls and What Has Happened to Me?

My mom is the doll lover, not me.  I was always more into stuffed animals.  I could never understand why she liked dolls so much.  Now, I do.  It's because dolls never grow up.  They stay babies, like our own babies can't.  I have been looking around online at 18 inch dolls (because the American Girls dolls are so popular, their clothing is very easy to find online, however, I'm not a huge fan of these dolls.  I don't like how their teeth stick out.  I don't know, maybe that's weird of me.) and hoping to find a reasonably priced, cute doll.  Okay, plural dolls.  I need to be honest.  And of course, I have one Our Generation doll, one My Friend Mandy, and one Darling Timey Tells.  So really, what am I doing looking for more?  I really don't know...

I found that the Carpatina dolls are really pretty.  Have you ever seen them?  They have very pretty faces.  I like the Zoe doll.  I also found some other 18 inch dolls like the Magic Attic series that is no longer being produced, and a couple lines at Target, Wal Mart, and Toys R Us.  One I looked at online but couldn't find in stores was the Best Friends Club dolls, which are 18" and jointed.  They have pretty faces, too.  I should really just be satisfied with the dolls we have already.  And I should learn how to sew clothes for them.  Maybe that can be my next obsession.

Old School Toys I've Rediscovered

I have become re-obsessed with My Little Ponies.  This is a very bad thing, because the current ones in stores are SO ugly, I hate them.  I only like the old style ones, and that means I have to either get lucky at a yard sale or find them online.  PayPal is not my friend.  It's too easy.  It all started when I went hunting for my old ponies to share with Karina.  I finally, finally found them, after much searching, and I realized I didn't have as many as I thought I did, and some are in pretty rough shape.  I was finally able to let go of some to give her later, and I picked out the ones I couldn't bear to part with (my original, flat-foot ponies, Firefly, Glory, and one called Dancing Butterflies that didn't get much playtime and is just really pretty).  It was SO hard!  But I don't have any problem giving her new-to-me ponies.  So that means I've been spending too much time on Etsy and another site I found that sells used Ponies and other toys.  Now if I share this site with you, don't go buying up all the best ponies!  It is called My Little Pony Boutique.  I have a few ponies coming to me in the mail from them, and one or two I found on Etsy for good prices.  That's the main thing...they aren't too expensive, so it's too, too easy to start picking out 3, 6, 24 ponies that I want.  Oh.  This is so bad.

On top of that, I have been on the hunt for a nice 18 inch doll for her to (eventually) play with.  That started with those stinking adorable Adorable Kinders dolls, that I tried to win but unfortunately did not (not that I think that would have helped me).  Then I found that cute Darling Timey Tells doll that looks a bit like Karina's particular expression, and I did end up getting her after all.  When I couldn't stop thinking about it, I knew I should get her or I'd be sorry.  Now I have her and I am not sorry!  Then, at a yard sale, I found a cheap ($2) My Generation doll, which is 18 inches.  She's all right, not the prettiest face I've ever seen on a doll, and she has brown hair and eyes, neither of which Karina has.  But that's okay, too.  They don't have to look like her.  So she has that one.  Then, when my mom was helping me look for my My Little Ponies, she went up in the attic at her house and found my old My Friend Mandy doll.  This was quite a good find.  She's only 15 or 16 inches tall, but she is so cute, I had forgotten how adorable she was.  I was bummed when I got her because I wanted the Jenny doll with brown hair and got Mandy instead, with blond hair and blue eyes.  Now I'm glad, because that's my Karina!  (When I was a kid, I hated that all the Barbie dolls and dolls in general seemed only to come with blond hair.  I was constantly looking for brown-haired dolls)  Mandy has cemented my search for cute dolls.  So that, I finally explain, is the second obsession I now have. 

Basically I want to go up in that attic myself and get out all my old toys and be a kid again for a few days.  I had such a good childhood, and so much fun playing.  I hope one day Karina will look back on her childhood with the same amount of fondness that I do, and wish that she could get out all her old toys again.

Etsy Shop for Doll Clothes and a Good Cause

I recently got two 18 inch dolls--one for me (the one that looks like Karina) and one for her (at a yard sale, only $2!!).  Both needed new clothes so I started scouring Etsy to find something affordable and cute.  I wanted something that would look good on a doll that's just sitting on a shelf, and something that will work well on a doll that will be getting played with.  I found this shop, SewGrandmaCathy, and it was a great find.  She not only makes clothes for 18 inch (like American Girl) dolls, but also for Blythe dolls, with which I am not familiar.  The best part?  The clothes were really, really well priced and she gives $1 from each sale to her local women's shelter.  In our conversations, she told me that the shelter tries to help out single mothers by giving them a safe place to live temporarily, and also helps with job skills.  It made choosing which dress to buy very easy.  When my items arrive I'll show you pictures.  Til then, go here to see the dress and here to see the blue outfit.  Now I just have to decide which one is going on Karina's doll and which is going on mine!  Thanks so much, SewGrandmaCathy for a great shop and helping out a great cause, too.

Working on the Watermark

At Blueviolet's suggestion, I'm working on watermarking my photos, starting with ones of Karina.  Please bear with me as I figure it all out!