Are You Ready for Halloween??

When you live in town on a busy street, it is a must to be ready for Halloween.  We have to plan on between 200-300 trick-or-treaters.  They start to converge upon us beginning at 5:00 pm and they keep coming even after curfews sometimes and we have to tell them we are out of candy.  The boys are quite excited about going trick-or-treating, especially Nicholas.  Bless her heart, but Rachel called to say she would be home tomorrow and take the boys trick-or-treating.  What a peach!!!  :o)

Bradly returned to school yesterday after staying home for three days as he had the flu.  Wouldn’t you know that about 10 am yesterday, the school nurse at Nick’s school called to say that he was in her office sick, could we come pick him up.  When Steve got there he was all covered up and anxious to go home because he didn’t feel good.  We were afraid he would have a cow about coming home early since they were dressing in their costumes and having their Halloween party and a parade in the afternoon.   He was fine about leaving, but when they go home he was in tears and wanting to wear his costume.  He has a clown costume and I saw no reason that he couldn’t wear it, so he did and was happier than a pig in mud.   By 11:30 am he was feeling great and asking for a piece of pizza.  He has been fine ever since and was actually quite hyper and irritating for the rest of the day.   He had almost vomited 2x in school so everyone assumed he had the flu also.  Evidently something just hadn’t agreed with his tummy.  We are very glad that he doesn’t have the flu.

The kids have no school today as our school district is having a staff development day.  I have a teacher book/tote bag almost finished and am hoping to finish it and list it in my shop today.  I also have two men’s barbeque aprons finished and I am hoping our buddy Robert next door, who is a senior in high school, will come over and model them so I can take some pics and then list them also.  Bradly has some more ornaments  ready to list also, we just need to take pics of those too.  Anyway, I think I have a busy day ahead of me and hopefully it will be a good one.  Here is a pic of my newest listing…a zippered teacher pouch.   I also just listed a cute little “Dora the Explorer” purse for a little girl.  :o)

Recycling Newspaper

I am frequently impressed with the ingenuity of the crafty people that sell items on Etsy.  I have seen so many creative products made from recycled materials.  I ran across this shop today called “reuse2recycle”  .  Even the name of the shop is a clever play on words, and leaves no doubt in your mind that they use recycled products to create new products.   This seller is looking for some feedback on her shop as sales are not going well.  Take a look at her products and if you have an opinion, please let her know.  Here is her addy and I will add a couple of pics.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8278996

Flu

Yes, it happened…Bradly has the flu.  His school has been inundated with it for the past two weeks, so I guess it was inevitable.  He went to the Dr. Sat. and the diagnosis of “flu” was confirmed.  He will be home for most of the week according to the Dr.  He is definitely feeling better today than he did Saturday, so that is good.  We have been cancelling appointments for this week and I still have one more to cancel for tomorrow.  We are hoping and praying that the rest of us do not contract it.

My BF, Peggy is coming back to NY today with her hubby…they live in Virginia.  Due to the flu, she won’t be able to drop in for a visit.  Peg’s mom  was diagnosed a few months ago with Leukemia, and she is finally home .  Peg will be staying there, and the last thing she would want to do is take the flu bug to her mom who of course has a much lowered immune system due to the chemo she has endured these last months. Her mom will be going back into Roswell every other day for treatment.

I got an order for one of my “Doggie Travel Bags”, but made into a back pack.  I have never made a back pack so I am a bit nervous about it, but I think I know how I want to do it.  I also have an order for a leash I need to get made before Thursday.  :o)

Let’s Encourage

I met an Etsy seller yesterday who is really discouraged and thinking of giving up her shop.  I knew if I mentioned her on my blog, that some of my wonderful followers would give her some encouragement.  Being a seller right now is tough with the economy the way it is, but customers still enjoy having the option of buying something hand made as opposed to something bought in a store.  I am hoping this fellow Etsian will hang in there and see if she doesn’t get a few sales with Christmas on the horizon.  Here is her shop…take a look and if you are of the mindset, please give her some encouragement.  The shop name is hisjamilynn.  :o)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7913881

Agility Training Snack Pouches

I have been busy making 10 agility training snack pouches.  My niece Elizabeth had the idea that these might be a good item to add to our Mutt Mania Etsy shop.  I talked to our dog groomer who has our collars and dog booties ect. on sale in her shop.  She is actually an agility dog trainer as well as a groomer and she thought the pouches would probably sell well.  I make adult and kid sizes.  Two have already sold and I do enjoy making them.  I need to place another order for hardware as I have used all that I had.  Here are a couple of pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a pair of Camo shorts that Nick has outgrown and repurposed them into a cute purse.  I don’t think I want to tell him that the bag used to be his shorts or he will want it to play with and pack his toys into it.  He loves bags and packs them full of toys and hauls them around the house or into the car.  Here is how the purse turned out. :o)

 

Snow

Unfortunately we got up to snow yesterday morning and it is still here today.  In my opinion it is way to early for snow.  I think if we had snow from Dec. 15th until Jan. 2nd that would be just enough..LOL  Living in western NY does have its drawbacks.  Of course Nick wants to go out and play in the “snow” and trying to make him understand that under that thin layer of snow is mud just isn’t cutting it.  I am sure I will hear about it all day.  :o)

I want to congratulate my niece  Nicole and her hubby out in South Dakota on the birth of their baby girl very early this morning.  I am still waiting for all the details, but I received a pic. a little before 3 am today and of course she is just beautiful.  This makes my brother and sister-in-law grandparents for the second time and I bet they are thrilled beyond words.  :o)

I wanted to share an awesome shop I found on Etsy this morning.  The shop is called “Oddsandends4u”, and they have recycled so many items into awesome products.  This would be a great shop to pick up some teacher gifts or stocking stuffers for Christmas…gifts too.  This is the link…  and here are a few pics of my favorite items.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7041847&page=1

 

 

 

Divide and Conquer

I finished four trivets yesterday, plus I made three eyelet mop caps for a friends mom going through chemo.  I made the three way leash attachment that Mindy (our groomer) had ordered.  I felt like I actually accomplished something yesterday.  Anyway, the trivets smell amazing as they are filled with raw rice, whole all spice, whole cloves and a few drops of cinnamon oil.  I am thinking these would make great teacher gifts too.  I have included the pic today as I promised.

Well tonight we are going to divide and conquer.  Brad has an appointment in Warsaw at 6 pm and Nick has an open house at school that he has been talking about all week.  We never received a note from school at all, so we thought he might be confused.  After calling the school this morning, we discovered that he did indeed know what he was talking about.  This is the first time that he has cared about an open house so there is no way we can miss it.