My Fireplace is Twinkling

The Christmas decorating has officially started!  I finished all of my school work yesterday afternoon and we got busy.  We cleaned the whole downstairs of the house and moved the living room furniture around last night.  The kitchen got a good cleaning too.  All I have left to clean is the bathroom sink and toilet and I want to vacuum my bedroom, the dog hair is getting a little thick in there, hehe.  Today we got some lights up around the the living room and I nested a bunch of them in the fireplace around a wooden swan and the fireplace tools.  We aren't allowed to use the fireplace for a fire but it does look beautiful with the Christmas lights in it.  The screen actually makes them look like they twinkle when you move around the room.  Actually Fynn was standing in front of the screen just swaying so he could watch them twinkle, it is a little mesmerizing. 
Tomorrow I need to make some cookies while Fynn naps.  I know I'm going to make Twists, Meringues, Peanut Buttercup Brownies, and Oatmeal Scotchies this year, I just haven't decided what I'm going to make for class.  I guess it depends on what time Fynn goes to sleep, etc.... 

Finishing School, Starting Christmas

This weekend will be devoted to both finishing school and starting Christmas.  As of right now I am about 66 questions into my 200 question final and whoooo, will I ever be happy when it is over!  I love that the tests have all been take home, but it really does seem to add a bit of pressure, you know the answer is out there, you just have to find it. 
I'm thinking I will finish it tonight after Fynn goes to bed.  I'm thinking it will probably go a bit easier without the "little helper" assisting my by coloring the pages or trying to take my pen/book/test away from me. 
The rest of the weekend is going to be spent cleaning up this pigpen house, moving the living room furniture and getting this place ready for decorating.  Then we will see what we have to start the holiday cheer!  I want to be all ready to get the tree next Saturday. 
I also need to make some cookies for class on Monday night.  Or well something to share with the class anyway.  I'm kind of leaning towards a pavlova, but I'm not 100% sure yet.  But a Pavlova is would be a great way to use some of the 25 lbs. of fruit we got in the latest co-op order and it would be different.  I don't think anyone else will be bringing one.  Oh and with everything else being in holiday mode, it would probably be nice to have something a little lighter in the mix. 
In other good news, Patrick handed off the on-call pager this morning!  That means 6 weeks until they page him in the middle of the night because they can't get a printer to work again.  No, its not all that bad, he really hasn't been paged all that much, but it seems that when he does get a page it is right at dinner or bed time.  But hey, at least it only happens once every 6 weeks, not like I married a doctor. 

The New Addition!

Now I know what you might be thinking, but no we don't have a new baby or pet....but I got my Christmas present early this year! My most awesome husband got me a brand, shiny new netbook!!!!!  I am so excited, and it has already made such a difference in work and school and stuff.  And I know that there are other computers in the house but they are a little more inaccessible with Fynn and just how they are set up and all.  So now I don't have to wait for Patrick to get home to do homework and get my shops updated.  And this will let me have all of my stuff in one place and not have to take a photo from this computer and upload and download and all that fun stuff.
So I finally got the sewing machines listed and I finally listed something on my artfire shop so that is exciting.  and now I just need to take some photos of everything else and get all caught up to date.  I'm hoping this will all happen this week.  I do also have to finish my final exam for school this week too though, because the last day of class is in 1 week and that is just crazy.  Who knew, I actually went to school for a whole semester and the sky didn't fall or anything!
Oh well, I hear a little man upstairs announcing that his nap is finished and I need to go and attend to that. 

We woke up this morning to SNOW on the ground.  It was so beautiful.  And I was going to get this beautiful picture of our back yard with show....And then I came back to earth.  And changed Fynn's EXPLOSIVE diaper, and jumped into the shower so we could all go for a walk.  Patrick took the day off so we could spend it together and have a 3 day family weekend.  So we all took off and walked all over town.  By the time we got home the snow was all gone. 
We stopped and got a pizza at Happy's and I got to look in a shop while we waited for pizza to cook.  There are some neat little shops in town and I really like 2 of them.  They are actually both owned by the same person.  The one I really like is a home/cooking store.  And it has all sorts of screen printed and japanese stuff.  Really cool stuff.  I always get inspired when I go in there and then I want to go home and get right into my sewing room and see what I can make that might emulate what they have for sale.  I know I can't really afford anything they have in there, other than the cookbooks and I do love some cookbooks.  But it is that kind of store that you walk into and think, I could just move in here and live. 
We went home after we got our pizza and sat around the table enjoying some bacon/pineapple pizza.  Yes bacon/pineapple is awesome.  it is like a smokey, salty Hawaiian.  I highly recommend it. 

The Etsty shop is back!

It has been a while since I have added anything to my etsy shop.  Between moving and not having internet and having a baby, I just haven't had as much crafting time as I would like.  But now that Fynn is getting older, and I have more time to work in my studio....Well here we go again! So I now have two items in my shop and as soon as I can get some more pictures taken I have more things just waiting to be listed.  This is all part of the craft fair thing.  Ya know I figure I can list the stuff I have for the craft fair and then unlist them if they sell. 
In other news, I still have to finish Fynn's Halloween costume.  Yeah, I know, Halloween is only 12 minutes away.  I do have an excuse however.  Fynn spent about 24 hours feeling like crap.  And it all came to a head last night with Fynn puking in bed.  So between him not sleeping at all the night before, being cranky and off all day yesterday and that, well I was busy...ya know, being a Mom.  And today when he took a nap, I was just so tired, I just took a nap too.  So I will be finishing the great parrot costume either tonight before I go to bed or tomorrow while he takes a nap or plays with his Dad. 
So I'd better get busy on that costume or else...

Mommy's Little Tennis Champ

Pork loves to chase the tennis ball. Loves it. It is his life. If there is a ball around, he wants it, thinks about it, needs you to throw it. All. The. Time. So anyway, we hide the ball for most of the day and then we take it outside for a little fetch and fresh air. And now that we have such a nice big back yard we can really throw the ball for him and he can really stretch his legs. So because I don't throw as far as Patrick by any means I like to use the tennis racket. I can really hit the tennis ball out of the park, so to speak. And after a while Bean decides to get into the action and pork and bean start to race around and forget all about giving the ball back to me. And Fynn picked up the racket the other day and decided he was going to help.

Fynn Checking out the racket.

Scoping out the competition.

Forget Tennis, what are you guys doing?
It was a really nice afternoon. And he had fun. Just loved that racket.

Crafting in the Rain

Yesterday was the craft fair that I have been getting ready for. It was my first ever. It went pretty well. The weather was crappy, I'm talking Typhoon out there or something. So there weren't a lot of people who came out. I met me goal though. Now, my goal was to make more then what my table cost me, so it wasn't a huge goal. But I was happy with it.
I have another craft fair on December 4th. It is at the hospital and I think it will be better. People won't really have to travel to get to it because it is mostly for employees and visitors of the hospital. And I think my crafts will really appeal to the nurses who work there. The hand balm and stuff.
This week's project, however, is Fynn's Halloween costume. He is going to be a parrot. I have a ton of feathers cut out of satin and I'm going to make him a poncho and then cover them with the feathers. I think it will be the easiest way to get a toddler into a costume. hehe. I was hoping to have it done tonight but I have been playing around on the computer for a while and I still have to get my test done for class tomorrow, so.... It will have to happen this week durring nap time, as I am sure it will. It shouldn't take too long, the hardest part will probably be getting Fynn to stay still long enough to figure out how big things need to be.

Possibly Piccata

We have decided this week, for financial reasons and well, because the freezers are getting ridiculous, that we are not buying any groceries other then milk. So because this is the second week of this things are getting a little creative in the kitchen. Tonight I had some ground turkey, white beans, and chickpeas in the freezer that I wanted to use. So I chopped an onion, added 3 garlic cloves, the turkey, some white wine that was sitting in the fridge, a spoonfull or 2 of capers and cooked that all up until the turkey was done. After a few stirs I added a bit of lemon juice, the beans and a can of tomatoes and let that all do it's thing while I started the water for pasta. We had a 1/2 a box of ditalini in the cupboard so that was tonight's pasta. After everything was cooked I crumbled the remains of a tub of Feta on top and off we went. A little cauliflower on the side and it was an almost, possibly, Piccata if you squinted just right. But definitely Yum!

I have been working on all the projects for the craft fair next weekend. I am trying to get everything I have started finished so I can evaluate where I am and what I still need to do. I have a feeling that this week is going to be a little manic. But when I am finished I will have some reusable gift bags, a few tote bags, soap, balm, a felted bag, Patrick's blankets, bibs, burp cloths....And I'm not really sure what else right now, but I really hope it will be enough. And that it all sells. hehe. That would be awesome. Ok actually at this point I'm just hoping that something sells.

Ok, It is time to make this blog work. I need to make this work. I need a record of what I'm doing all day because otherwise it tends to blur together. ya know. Especially since for the most part I stay at home with Fynn, and I really want to remember what we did. And lord knows, I'm horrible about baby books and things like that. So I need to make this blog work.