shopping for men

Rule #1:
When in doubt - buy him a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. I have a friend who owns 17 and he has yet to complain. As a man, you can never have too many cordless drills. No one knows why.

Rule #2:
If you cannot afford a cordless drill, buy him anything with the word ratchet or socket in it. Men love saying those two words. "Hey George, can I borrow your ratchet?" "OK. By-the-way, are you through with my 3/8-inch socket yet?" Again, no one knows why.

Rule #3:
If you are really, really broke, buy him anything for his car. A 99-cent ice scraper, a small bottle of deicer or something to hang from his rear view mirror. Men love gifts for their cars. No one knows why.

Rule #4:
Do not buy men socks. Do not buy men ties. And never buy men bathrobes. I was told that if God had wanted men to wear bathrobes, he wouldn't have invented Jockey shorts.

Rule #5:
You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of money, buy your man a big-screen TV with the little picture in the corner. Watch him go wild as he flips, and flips, and flips.

Rule #7:
Do not buy any man industrial-sized canisters of after shave or deodorant. I'm told they do not stink - they are earthy.

Rule #8:
Buy men label makers. Almost as good as cordless drills. Within a couple of weeks there will be labels absolutely everywhere. "Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink." You get the idea. No one knows why.

Rule #9:
Never buy a man anything that says "some assembly required" on the box. It will ruin his day and he will always have parts left over.

Rule #10:
Good places to shop for men include Northwest Iron Works, Parr Lumber, Home Depot, John Deere, Valley RV Center, and Les Schwab Tire. NAPA Auto Parts and Sear's Clearance Centers are also excellent men's stores. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know what it is. "From NAPA Auto, eh? Must be something I need. Hey! Isn't this a starter for a '68 Ford Fairlane? Wow! Thanks."

Rule #11:
Men enjoy danger. That's why they never cook - but they will barbecue. Get him a monster barbecue with a 100-pound propane tank. Tell him the gas line leaks. "Oh the thrill! The challenge! Who wants a hamburger?"

Rule #12:
Tickets to a football game are a smart gift. However, he will not appreciate tickets to "A Retrospective of 19th Century Quilts." Everyone knows why.

Rule #13:
Men love chainsaws. Never, ever, buy a man you love a chainsaw. If you don't know why - please refer to Rule #8 and what happens when he gets a label-maker.

Rule #14:
It's hard to beat a really good wheelbarrow or an aluminum extension ladder. Never buy a real man a step ladder. It must be an extension ladder. No one knows why.

Rule #15:
Rope. Men love rope. It takes them back to our cowboy origins, or at least The Boy Scouts. Nothing says love like a hundred feet of 3/8" manila rope.

Thanks to AllegroArts for lots of laughs with this :)

Santa

We took the girls to the mall to see Santa. Willow was too scared, but Violet got to sit on his lap!

Fiber Art

So I thought I'd try my hand at fiber art. What do you think? Is there a market for it? I think it's beautiful but I want to know what you think. I thought I'd try and have a whole line ready for Mother's day

Craft Show Fun!

This weekend I took the girls to the biggest, most amazing craft show I've ever seen!

Here's the girls with their new handmade barrettes.

We met up with Kate from etsy. I had bought one of her birdhouse ornaments on her shop and then I found out she was having a booth at this craft show, which I had intended to go to anyway! So I just picked up my order there.

Isn't she cute?
Her bird houses are just beautiful! This is art. Look at the detail!

We also met up with Mari. Here she is telling the girls about fused glass. I was sure I had taken a better picture of her, but I guess not. Sorry Mari!
We got to spend quite a bit of time with her and Violet says that "That lady that's Mom's friend" is her new best friend.

Kate and Mari both belong to our etsy Createability team.

3

Has it really been 3 months? Has it only been 3 months?
So much has happened.
For starters, we sold our house and moved to Oregon. I figured, since we're a few hundred miles from any of my family, maybe it's time to dust off the ol' blog.
We're really liking it here. My sweetie got a really good job. We're REALLY enjoying the weather. We like our new ward. Willow is doing well in her new school. It's all good.
I'm getting a new camera soon, so I'll post pictures then.

First day of School

Last Tuesday was Willow's first day of first grade. She did great!


I, on the other hand did not do great. It was so hard! I'm a dyed in the wool home-schooler! I feel like I'm sending my baby to the wolves!


In reality it's fine. The kids are nice and she's making friends, the teacher is great and I've seen such an improvement in her attitude and behavior in just a week that it's amazing. So yay school! I guess...

The most beautiful mess

An old friend's mother surprised me this week by bringing over 3 garbage bags full of fabric and sewing stuff! I'm in heaven! Some of the fabrics are just gorgeous!


I spent a whole day sitting on the floor sorting and petting fabric.

On Saturday I had a booth at our local farmer's market and it was awesome! My best market yet! It's funny though, if I hadn't sold so much all the problems would have made it miserable!
First I couldn't find a piece of my canopy, so I didn't set it up. But that turned out to be good because the wind was awful! I'm sure it would have blown the canopy across the park and into the creek! As it was all my signs and dolls were blowing all over the place. Even the table was trying to jump away.
Then it rained. Okay, only 4 drops, but enough to make me panick and start putting stuff away, which I then had to get back out again when it stopped.
Then a sweet little autistic boy came over and broke my umbrella, danced with my mannequin and re-arranged my entire booth. He said it looked much better now, just like wal-mart.
But all in all it was great. Good sales, good contacts, lots of fun.

Fall

Look! I'm in a treasury! That's so cool.


I'm not ready for Fall to be here yet though! The evenings are getting cooler, all my tomatoes are ripe, Willow is going to be going to school next week...sigh...I know there's no getting around it, but I'm still not ready for it...

This made me smile

I met a sweet etsyian yesterday and she featured me on her blog today! How fun is that! I love Etsy :D

Farmers' Market

I've been working with the comity to form Rathdrum's first Farmers' Market for several months now, and it's been a huge success! This last Saturday was the third weekend running, but the first time I actually got pictures.


I'm still working on my booth setup, it's not quite how I want it, but it's getting there. One of the main problems is that I have to fit everything into an economy sedan!


We also keep finding these funny catapillars! They seem to be curious and very fast!

Look at this! Robin from Lolidots is doing a giveaway for me!


This little guy could be yours! You can see more pictures of him in my etsy shop.

I'm ba-ack

Time to dust off the old blog. I've been so busy doing so may great things! And I haven't shared them! What's wrong with me!


I'll be better after this.

aw..

This made my day today!
My Little bird made it all the way to Australia to this sweet little girl!

Look at her sweet face.

MyLittle.Etsy.com 2/1/09

Life with a 3 year old

GAH!!


Oh well, at least she likes to read, right?

Bunny the bunny

See our new bunny? We've had her for 2 weeks and we still just call her "bunny". I think that's her new name. The girls have been having a great time with her, and she litter box trained! Hooray!
I built her cage myself. I'll post picture later, I'm rather impressed with myself :D

Look! I'm featured!

Designs by Vanessa put me in her blog.


That's so cool! Thanks Vanessa!

How cool is this!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last day of January

I hate winter. I really do. I'm so tired of it. This winter has been a lot better than other winters for me, but I am still so ready for it to be over. So, this is the last day of January, February is a short month, and then March is spring! I can do that right! Oh I hope so.

I've already got some organic heirloom seeds from Homegrown Healthy and Smokey mist gardens on etsy. I can't wait to grow this pumpkin! Isn't it beautiful! Come on spring!

Awwwww...

I got to do lots of custom items for Christmas. Here is one of my dolls in her new home with her new Mommy.

This just made my day!