A Toy Story for you

Buzz and Woody
Eric was about 2 and Ryan
about 4 when this picture was
taken. Eric is wearing Ryan's
old Buzz costume. He wore
it so much that it literally fell
apart and we had to throw it away.

Both of my boys absolutely completely loved Toy Story. Ryan started watching it when he was about 3 years old and he idolized Buzz Lightyear in much the same way my husband idolizes Ken Griffey Jr. Ryan was Buzz Lightyear. He could quote lines from the movie, he dressed in costume daily, he played with his Toy Story toys as if he were Andy himself.

Eric caught on a little quicker. I have pictures of him at 18 months old wearing the Buzz costume. And Eric adored Woody. Adored him. Ryan had a Woody doll that Eric claimed as his very own. It was to the point that we bought 18 month old Eric his own doll, but the one we bought was "sturdier" for a baby. Eric wanted nothing to do with that Woody impostor and we ended up buying another Woody, just like Ryan's, which Eric dragged around with him for what seemed like forever. In about 3 weeks time Eric's Woody looked as beat up and worn as Ryan's 2 year old version.

Eric had just turned
3 when he received
his Buzz Lightyear
lightsaber

Both boys stayed in this Toy Story phase for a long time. Buzz is every little boy's first super hero and there is something about that story, the characters, the animation....

I have to admit I was really sad when it finally became clear that the boys had outgrown Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear is so sweet and innocent when you compare him to Spiderman, Venom, and Optimus Prime.

Honestly, I don't think those toys have been touched in any way in close to a year.

There are no words....
I think this is one of my
all-time favorite pictures
of the boys. Words can't
describe how adorable 3
year old Eric was, with
his Woody doll dangling
from his hands. That
doll was permanently
adhered to Eric's hand
for a good 6 months.

About 4 days ago I had a thought. I did not say it out loud to anyone. In my head, just between me and me, I had a thought that it might be time to go through the rather large Toy Story bin and decide what to save and what to toss. I fully intend to save a Buzz and Woody for each boy, but we have so much Toy Story paraphernalia, it just seems silly to save it all. So I had this private thought, to myself.

That very day, I kid you not, Eric announced to me "hey--it's been a long time since we've played with our Toy Story toys! Can you bring them downstairs for me?"

That child, that almost-5-year-old-I-heart-Venom-kid has been watching Toy Story and playing Toy Story for 4 days now.

Clearly there is a lesson to be learned here. And that lesson is this: I have magical powers and I must learn to use them to my advantage. What thoughts can I have that will coerce my husband into sweeping the kitchen floor? How can I subliminally convince Ryan do his homework? Maybe if I think really really hard, I can cause "Todd and Margo's" blow-up atrocities to explode.

And how does any of this relate to knitting? It's as if Eric has been given a brand new box of toys. The child has never been so delighted. The movie is being seen through almost-5-year-old-eyes and now he can understand the deeper meaning in the complex relationship between Buzz and Woody. I suddenly have all the time in the world to knit. Knitting in the middle of the day has never been so easy.

Anna isn't going to know what hit her when I show up tomorrow!

Tis the season, I guess....

My house the day after Thanksgiving

I love National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I'm not necessarily proud of this, but it's true. It's as much a part of my Christmas movie tradition as It's a Wonderful Life and The Bishop's Wife (I have many layers).

Do you remember Clark and Ellen Griswold's snooty neighbors, Todd and Margo? They were completely unfriendly and had that perfect house and hated Clark Griswold. "Todd and Margo" live across the street from me. My Todd and Margo have no kids and spend all of their time working on or around their house. They have remodeled everything there is to remodel, there is not a blade of grass out of place, they wash their cars more than I wash my kids. This is all they do. From dawn to dusk, 365 days a year, they are doing something to their house, their cars, or their yard. It has taken Mike a year and a half to remodel our barn, and it's not done yet. "Todd" built one from the ground up in a weekend. They are the uber homeowners and it's simply exhausting to watch them. And it's impossible not to watch them because they are always outside, from sun up to sun down, rain or shine, in sleet and snow, perfecting their already perfect domain.

I think they hate us. No, really, I think they do. And it's not just because our lawn is always in need of a good mowing. They are really unfriendly to us (and to be fair, everyone else in the neighborhood). For most of the year, while the rest of our little cul-de-sac is hanging out in the street and chatting about the latest yard projects during which Ryan, Eric, Emily, and Daniel are racing around and around the loop, "Todd and Margo" are pretending we are not there and sending silent vibes for us to GO AWAY.

Todd and Margo's house the day after Thanksgiving

And then, for reasons we still do not understand, around mid October "Todd and Margo" transform into Clark and Ellen Griswold.

At Halloween they become That House. While we have a few pumpkins on the front porch and a cute little harvest sign hanging by the front door, "Clark and Ellen" have transformed their perfect little domicile into a haunted house. Skeletons, ghosts, an 8 foot tall blow up grim reaper, a freshly dug "grave", the talking candy bowl with the creepy hands.....they seem to love it when Ryan and Eric come to the door in costume and they greet us as old friends. After Halloween the decorations come down and they go back to pretending they've never seen us before in their lives. And then Christmas hits.

This year Clark began decorating for Christmas about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. Because he needed the time. We're somewhat familiar with some of their decorations from years past, but this year Clark and Ellen did some serious shopping.

It's a winter wonderland!

Frankly, we're confused. Shirley and I talk almost every day on the phone and the conversation usually starts with "are you watching this?! What is he doing now?!"

They have pulled out all the stops. These pictures do not do it justice, but I'll see if I can paint a picture for you. Keep in mind, all of this was in place before Thanksgiving and was in full swing on Thanksgiving evening. They have:

A giant blow up snowman, giant blow up santa which pops in and out of a giant blow up chimney, a giant blow up santa riding a Harley, 3 technicolor Christmas trees that play Christmas carols, light up moving reindeer, giant light up candy canes, medium sized light up candy canes, mini light up candy canes, a neon Happy Holidays sign, a red and green Snoopy windsock, and flickering flashing lights in all the colors of the rainbow strung all over the house, shed, and landscaping, all timed to flash at different and random times. And the thing is, they're not done. They keep pulling more and more out--I can see a giant light up snowflake propped up on their deck, just waiting to be hung.

These pictures are not very good but trust me when I say, this is the tackiest, gaudiest thing you have ever seen. Nothing matches, there is no rhyme or reason to it--it is so completely unlike "Todd". At one point I remarked to Shirley "maybe he's doing this because he hates me." She decided that he put way way way too much work in to it for it to be a big screw you to our side of the street. And while I do agree with that logic, I simply have a hard time believing that Mr. and Mrs. Perfect-in-every-way could lose all control and sensibility like this. I can't even imagine what their electric bill is going to be in January.

Today, the 27th day of NOVEMBER, I am going to put my fall decorations away and perhaps get my snowman collection out. We've decided to wait a week or so on the tree, being that it's NOVEMBER and all. I have a sweet snowman I hang next to my front door each year. I'm going to teach it to blow raspberries at the Griswolds.

Weekend Update

Thanksgiving 2007

Mike and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the 2nd time in 17 years of marriage. The first time was about 6 years ago, and it was such a disaster the entire family silently agreed to kick us out of the rotation.

Somehow it ended up back at our house this year. Mike and I knew this was our chance to redeem ourselves. I made a delicious turkey breast (and I do have to say, it was one of the best roasted turkeys I have ever had. Ryan not only ate the turkey, he even asked for more. That is your Thanksgiving miracle right there!) as well as a glazed ham, and then the normal Thanksgiving food. I even made Leah's stuffing, which I overcooked a bit, but hey, at least I branched out.

My Favorite Pan
This is what my favorite
pan looked like.
Beautiful and
expensive!

So things were going along just great. The cousins were all playing together (except for 15 1/2 year old Daniel, who spent much of the day texting his girlfriend), Mike and Jeremy were watching football, my mom and Randy were helping me cook...your typical Thanksgiving day. Then it came time to take the turkey out of the oven and make the gravy.

Since I was just making a turkey breast, I was able to use my 9x13 Pampered Chef cranberry glazed stoneware baker. It is my favorite pan. I hosted a Pampered Chef party a couple of years ago and was able to get it with my hostess points. I love this pan and use it all the time. And, with my permission, this is what Randy and my mom placed on top of the stove to make the gravy.

Not so favorite pan
And this is what
it looks like now.

About 5 minutes into the gravy-making, the pan exploded and broke into 3 large pieces, with gravy splattering everywhere. I was nearly in tears because I lost my favorite pan, and Randy was nearly in tears because we lost the turkey gravy.

But after we cleaned that up, things went back to normal and I really have nothing more to report (except for all the dishtowels I ruined by accidentally sanitizing them with my tablecloth and now they are all this disgusting grayish-pink color. The are still in the dryer. I can't bear to take them out and fold them yet). We had a really fun family time.

The Cousins
Ryan, Eric, Jack,
Ellie, and Ben

The rest of my weekend has been all about the knitting. I won't even go into how many orders I have. But all I do is knit. I delivered stuff to Anna yesterday, I'm going to Venue today...knit knit knit.... I am taking a break this afternoon and going to the movies with my mom, sisters, and niece Ellie. We're going to see Enchanted. Mom and Ellie are going for the fairy tale story line. The rest of us are going for Patrick Dempsy. And then I will come home and knit knit knit....

Knitting, knitting, knitting, knitting....

It's me again--crazy knitting lady. Still knitting, still receiving orders for Christmas from people who apparently just got the memo that I knit. Last night at book group a friend asked how much advanced notice I need for a Christmas gift for her daughter. Leah piped up and said "4 months ago, before people knew she could knit!".

Aside from the 16 hats I still owe Anna (we've decided to put a hold on the rest of the booties, thank goodness, as the ones I have made have not sold yet. And part of me hopes they never do...), I have one more marley hat to make for Cori, a special order cupcake hat that I have not been able to make until now because I couldn't find the yarn, 3 cupcake hats for Erin at Mike's office, Meghan's blasted cake that is just sitting there like a big pink and white lump, and my mom's socks.

Today is Saturday. And it is one of those glorious Saturdays where we have NOTHING TO DO! Mike was going to mow the lawn, but it's been raining. I'm going to do very little housework because I have to clean later this week for Thanksgiving. So I think I'll just sit around and KNIT KNIT KNIT and then maybe later I will READ READ READ. And do you know what is scary? I can read and knit at the same time. Yes, I am that talented. In fact, I can knit, read, and drink a glass of wine all at the same time. But not until the evening.

Did you catch the part where I have to clean for Thanksgiving? Yep, I'm hosting Thanksgiving. It's been six whole years since I tried to serve my entire family undercooked salmonella laced turkey, and they have all agreed to try it again. Truth be told, I'm not a big roasted turkey/mashed potatoes kind of gal, so this is my chance to mix it up a bit. I will be serving turkey breast and ham. Yes, that's right, I'm serving a non-turkey meat item for Thanksgiving. My dad will complain about it the entire day, right up until the time he eats all of it. Much like the way he will complain about the appetizers and the way they fill us all up before dinner (frankly, that's how I make it through the holiday), as he is stuffing his face with everything laid out before him.

I've already warned Shirley that I need to borrow her vacuum on Wednesday night (Mike and I are still in discussion about the vacuum issue. I really want a Dyson. Don't have $500 to spend right now. The replacement part for my Kenmore is $149, but after borrowing Shirley's 20 year old Hoover, it became very clear just how crappy my vacuum is and I don't want to sink even $1.49 into it. And I hate Sears and have vowed to never shop there again. So I may just run to Target and buy an $89 vacuum to get me through the holidays and then in the spring I can buy a Dyson. I don't know. Any thoughts?) and there is no point in wasting time cleaning bathrooms that I will reclean in just a few days.

I believe my biggest challenge of the day will be convincing Eric to put on clean underwear.

My cup runneth over...all over the floor

I did something quite spontaneous last night. I had no time for this, or money, but I sure had fun! Meghan and I went to the Seahawks game. A friend at church works for the Seahawks and called Meghan yesterday asking if she wanted four tickets. I was at Meghan's house when Ronda called and I was joking that Mike and I would take them. There was no way Mike and I could go together and I knew that Ronda really wanted to give the tickets to a pastor's family (Meghan's husband is our youth pastor). Bummer for me--none of the pastors were able to go. So the tickets ended up with Meghan. Both Mike and Adam sent us off to the game with their blessings, and we took my sister Caroline and her husband Jeremy with us.

This was the Monday Night Football game of the week, so the crowd was insane. And I always forget how different the NFL crowd is from a MLB crowd until I get there. NFL crowd--all men. This is evident from the way they "wait in line" getting off the freeway (we were cut off countless times. It's as if our car was invisible), to the way they "wait in line" to get in. And it is very clear that Qwest Field was designed by men. The few signs that are posted inside the stadium are completely useless. Signs pointing to elevators that were non-existent (we decided it must be like Platform 9 3/4, and clearly we didn't know the magic words) and the complete lack of directional signs. We had passes to the Club Level and could not find our way to the Club. We had to ask 3 different people. Honestly, I don't know how all the people who were in the club found their way in. And then we couldn't find our way back out to get to our seats. No signs. Zero.

Near the end of the game (in which we were witness to the couple in front of us making out in between bouts of the girl applying chapstick to her boyfriend's lips) we decided to leave to get a jump on vacating our $40 parking spot (Caroline and Jeremy found a free spot, but it was a mile away and they had a pay a homeless person to move). We could not find our way out. We just kept walking in circles looking for an exit sign or a stairwell. We finally found a closed door with a little sign that said "stairs". We went down the stairs onto the street, only to be told, by a man, that we weren't allowed to exit there. Seriously?! We are actually out of the stadium and you're telling us we did it wrong? So he sent us through a door and told us to take a couple of lefts, then we would be near our parking garage.

He sent us into the employee locker room. We were completely lost, wandering around the employee locker room, complaining out loud that we were totally lost, and not one person stopped to question us. We finally found our way out of there and ended up in the bowels of Qwest Field. We walked right past the entrance the players use to run onto the field. Again, we're wandering aimlessly, looking and sounding completely lost, and not one person questioned us. We walked right past a security office, full of security guards who did not notice us at all. No one questioned us when we walked past the player's parking lot, or when we ended up in the loading dock with the ESPN trucks. We knew that wasn't right, and finally found an open doorway to the street.

Again, we were immediately stopped and told we could not exit there. We just looked at her incredulously and said "We just want to leave! How do we get out?!". Her response: "Well you can't go this way". "No, really, we're wandering aimlessly around here and there are NO SIGNS. Can't you tell us how to get out?". "You'll have to go through the loading dock".

So that's what we did. Walked through the loading dock until we found our way to the street. Zero security, zero signs. Meghan and I are contemplating writing a letter to Qwest Field suggesting that they use a portion of the $16.50 we were each charged for a hotdog and beer to purchase a couple of exit signs.

As fun as that adventure was, it did put me further behind in my knitting. Last Friday I brought 8 hats to Anna, who sold 6 of them on Saturday. On Sunday she emailed me, tripling her order. You think I'm kidding. She just placed an order for 20 more hats. And Venue has also emailed me asking for more Candy Cane stocking caps and Viking hats. And I am honestly trying to see how many hats I can knit by Friday. This is gift buying season and Saturdays are big shopping days. Let's see....today is Tuesday....

I have to stop writing about this now before you all start to figure out how truly insane I am.

And I have just 7 months to figure out the absolutely perfect thing to knit for Mike's sister Tiffany's new baby!

A moment of silence...

Out of respect for those who mourn the great loss in our home today, I will postpone writing of my knitting foibles until tomorrow.

Slimey--beloved tree frog, true friend, eater of live crickets, bought the farm this morning. May you be reunited in that great tank in the sky with those who have gone before you, Croaky and Hoppy. R. I. P.

Now I'm Delusional

Lately Mike and I have been joking that, when Eric grows up, he would like to be retired. He wants to skip the productive portion of his life and settle into a life of leisure (I do feel compelled to tell you that despite his best efforts, Eric is quite bright. He draws exceptionally well for a 4 year old, loves to write, and the other day he did Ryan's math homework. Seriously. Eric did a 2nd grade math worksheet and got all but one of the answers correct. I find his brain to be a little frightening. I can only imagine what he would be capable of should he choose to actually put forth some effort into something). He wears pajamas on his non-school days and has been into "reading" the paper. Eric loves the newspaper. We get the Renton Reporter delivered once a week and it always goes right to Eric. He thumbs through it, colors on all the pages--he gets more out of that paper than we ever do. Until now.

Yesterday the Reporter came and Eric left it lying on the couch unattended for a moment. I noticed a front page article on a new shop in downtown Renton called Happy Delusions. When he wasn't looking I tossed the paper in my purse on our way out the door to preschool, to read when I actually had a moment alone. Happy Delusions is a new artisan shop for crafters. In Renton. I live in Renton. I couldn't believe it. Here was the shop I had been looking for. I met Mike for coffee (Mike has "offices" at several Starbucks and Tulley's all over the greater Eastside) and we talked about it and ran the numbers--if I can sell more than 4 hats a month, I would be more profitable than I am at Venue. So I ditched him and raced down to Happy Delusions.

Happy Delusions is located in the old part of downtown Renton. There has been a revitalization of this part of town in recent years and this particular area is full of antique shops, little book stores, the boys' comic book shop, little breweries, etc...Happy Delusions is actually next to the tattoo parlor, but from what I understand, it's one of your nicer tattoo parlors. I went in, checked it out, met Mary the owner, and discovered that even though they have a few baby things, they really don't have much. When I explained what I do, Mary told me that is exactly what their shop needs! She only had a few open spaces left, but the one I want is right in front, just as you walk in the door.

So this morning a pajama-clad Eric and I are going down to Happy Delusions to sign my lease and drop off a bunch of inventory and business cards.

Am I taking on too much? Yep. I am delusional? Always. But this is such a great opportunity. How can I pass up this chance that is just a few miles from my house?

Happy Delusions opens in 2 hours. I am going to need that time to gather my things, tag them, write an inventory list, and convince Eric to put on clean underwear. Wish me luck!

Oops

My Desk

Ryan came to me yesterday morning, unable to get dressed for school because all he could find to wear was a pair of football pants and some old sweats. Do you think maybe I should reconsider my priorities if I've forgotten to do laundry this week?

This is my desk. It is NOT representative of the rest of my house, but I have allowed it to become the receptacle for all things that don't have a good home. Also, after spending the day picking up after all of these people, the last thing I want to do is clean my desk, which is tucked away in a back corner of the house, behind the playroom. However, I'm noticing that it is beginning to take on a life of it's own.

Currently residing on this desk is a birthday party blower, a cake recipe, a broken stapler (which is next to Ryan's stapler, which I swiped from his desk), mail-in election ballots which I forgot to complete (and yesterday was election day. Oops), knitting patterns, clothing catalogs, a swim lessons schedule for a pool where we do not take swimming lessons, a coloring book, various lists, the manual for my broken vacuum cleaner (I guess that should save me some time, since I can't vacuum right now), my camera case.....clearly all very important items that belong on a desk. The other day I was tearing this pile of crap apart looking for the notes Leah wrote me on using HTML code to add pictures to my blog. It took me several minutes to realize that I had tacked it up on the memo board behind my computer, for easy access. Again, I'm wondering if I need to rethink how I'm spending my time.

On the flip side, I have 7 hats ready for Anna, one pair of bumble bee booties, and a half a pair of duck flippers and minnie mouse booties. And I did make dinner last night.

I can just hear the conversation between my kids and their therapists, which I have no doubt they will need by the time I am through with them : "I never had clean underwear and my mom could never seem to find a working ball point pen, but boy could she knit a mean cupcake hat!"

I'm Back

Anakin and Spidey
Need I say more?

Yes, I know I know--I went to Audrey's Holiday Bazaar and then the 3 of you who actually read this blog never heard from me again. I have been meaning and trying to get to my computer since Friday, but, well, I've had a few things going on.

First of all--Halloween. Here are my boys--Anakin Skywalker and Spiderman. We did the trick-or-treating thing and now I'm eating all of their candy.

Friday: What did I do Friday? Oh yes. I brought the kids to school, went to the yarn store and did not buy anything fun or even anything for me, killed a bit of time at Barnes and Noble, picked Eric up from school, knit, picked Ryan up from school, and then babysat Emily and Daniel for the afternoon and evening as part of our date-night swap with Walter and Shirley. No time to blog.

Saturday: Mike and the boys dug a big hole in my garden so we could have a filter installed in our septic tank and have our pump tank serviced. My garden was ruined for septic maintenance. But really, can you put a price on septic tank maintenance? Do I need to go into further detail? While all of the boys were playing in the dirt, I was mulching leaves. About 1 billion leaves. Approximately. They all then left for a bit to run errands and I did more knitting for Anna. When they returned we completely cleaned out and rearranged the playroom. We sorted toys, organized papers, removed the giant train table in the middle of the room, created a drawing station for the boys, since all they do is draw when they are not battling the forces of evil with their light sabers, cleaned out costumes....this took hours. An entire Saturday came and went with no time to blog.

Sunday: After church I went with Ryan to a 6 hour birthday party. Literally, a 6 hour birthday party. I helped chauffeur 8 boys to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch, then to the movie theater for Bee Movie, then back to the birthday boy's house for cake and presents. We didn't return home until 5:30. I had a bowl of cereal for dinner. And a beer.

And now somehow it is 5:00 on a Monday evening and I refuse to let another day go by without reporting to you, my 3 faithful readers, about the bazaar. Mike is in the kitchen making dinner. I believe I will be served hotdogs. But since I am not in the kitchen making dinner, I will not complain.

My table at the bazaar

OK--here we go--THE BAZAAR!

The bazaar was pretty amazing. Audrey has a really large, beautiful home and she filled it with vendors. There were tables set up everywhere--the living room, family room, hallway, dining room, and in the big bonus room upstairs (where I was). She had people selling Southern Living, Silpata jewelry, framed art, hand painted pottery, hand made picture frames, candles, scrapbooks, hand bags...I don't even know what else. She had vendors everywhere.

And the food! Oh my word. About once an hour I went downstairs to fill my plate. Marinated pork, cheeses, yummy fried things with meat inside, crackers and spreads, and the wine....mmmmm.....oh and I can't forget the chocolate fountain with the cream puffs, angelfood cake, pretzels, cookies...All I can say is, Audrey knows how to throw a party. And I was just a little ill that night.

She must have had a good 150 people coming through the door . Seriously, this was no Tupperware party. This was an event. And how did I do? Well, I did ok. Yep, just ok. I made about $160 and did generate some interest, but I was hoping to sell about twice what I actually did. The entire event was really fun, but my area was a little on the slow side. I will do it next year if she asks me, but I really hope to sell more next time.

The good news? I was able to pull a few things for Anna, which did relieve my stress in that area a bit. I'm planning to drop some things off for her on Thursday. I have to say, as adorable as the booties are, not my favorite thing to make in bulk.

Tomorrow I'm taking two boys to the dentist. Which is about as much fun as taking myself to the dentist. And then I will knit...

The Floodgates

Today is Audrey's holiday bazaar. I think I'm ready for it and I'm excited! I have no idea what to expect. No idea at all. But I have a lot of hats and they are pretty darn cute, as well as cupcakes, felted pears, and Cinderella. I'm bringing my milk glass cake pedestal for the cupcakes and I'm putting the pears in my Candlewick salad bowl. I also have a couple of makeshift hat stands and I printed out a bunch of pictures to put in an album if people want to see more of my work. And there has been the promise of appetizers and wine, so that alone will make the afternoon a success!

Despite all this, my state of panic has risen to a new level. "Why?" you ask--well let me tell you. I've just met Anna. Anna visited Venue last week and fell in love with my hats and booties. Anna owns a little artisan gift shop in Burien (from what I'm told, it's in old Burien. As in Olde. Who knew?). Anna contacted me last week about the possibility of buying some of my stuff. We talked inventory and prices for a bit and I emailed her a list. I didn't hear from her for a few days and so you all know where my mind went. Anna hates me. Anna has changed her mind. Anna has found someone much better and cheaper... and then Anna emailed. Anna's email just about knocked me off my chair. This whole time I had been thinking she wanted a few hats. No no, Anna has a LIST:

3 pairs Minnie Mouse booties
3 pairs Bumble Bee booties
2 pairs Duck Flippers
2 Pumpkin hats
1 Strawberry hat
1 Blueberry hat
1 Eggplant hat
2 Viking Boy hats
1 Viking Girl hat
2 Cupcake hats

That is $350 worth of merchandise. Paid up front. And she wants it by November 10th. I was really straight with her and told her there was no way I could make it all before the 10th. No way. Even if I gave my entire family knitting lessons--well, actually that would be a step in the wrong direction, but you see my point. Anna has a big open house on the 10th, so I told her I would get as many to her as I can by then, and then deliver the rest soon after. She seemed ok with that, but let me tell you, the pressure is on. I have less than 10 days to knit as many items as I can. So far I have 1 completed hat and 2 partial hats. I actually need to buy yarn for the booties and making 8 pairs of booties fills me with a little bit of dread. I love the booties, but they can be a little tedious. And I need to make 16 of them.

But before you become too judgemental about how crazy I am, let me remind you that this is gift buying season and my things at Venue are becoming popular. Last Saturday I brought them a Boy Viking hat, a snowman, candycane stocking cap, and some more cupcakes. Diane emailed me that night. The Viking hat didn't even last the day and I sold 2 more cupcakes. So I have to keep up with Venue as well!

I have to keep reminding myself--this is what I have been working so hard to achieve. This is a good problem to have. This is what success looks like. Unfortunately success also looks like piles of laundry, dishes in the sink, dust all over the furniture, and toothpaste all over the boys' bathroom counter. But after I'm done with Anna, I'm hoping success will also look like a big trip to the mall for me!