Workshhop Update

Well I woke up this morning to find that the darling hobby horse I showed you yesterday was already sold! He will be on his way to New York this week! The first magazine rack has been primed and will be painted blue very soon. I couldn't find the shade Angela had suggested, but I got a neat looking blue. I also bought yellow for the other one. I think they are going to look awesome. We are also going to start painting some of our chalkboard frames in bright fun colors. We did a red one and got it listed today. We just have to find the right kind of vintage frames for the bright colored ones. I like this one a lot. We found 2 of these and did one red and the other silver.


I should be able to show you what we did with that old window soon too. We have been so busy trying to get things done and are finally making some progress.

Right now I need to finish up a couple of things and chill out for a while. I can't believe the weekend is gone and it's back to work tomorrow. Where did the weekend go? Have a great week and I'll chat with you soon.

Irv and I went treasure hunting today.....We found this awesome bent rebar star.....

This rusty tractor seat....

an old bocce ball set...

A very rusty old nursery scale....not sure what I am going to do with it yet....

another wonderful magazine rack that will get painted soon...

an awesome old wood box...

a fantastic handcrafted wood hobby horse....

and a pair of old wooden stilts....

The hobby horse is available in our etsy shop, Four Dog Vintage and the rest will be available soon. We are headed to the flea market tomorrow in search of more treasures. This is sooooo addicting! Hope all is well. chat with you soon!

Chicago Marathon 2010

All I can say is WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!!! I'm going to have to break it down into parts. This will be part One.

Matt and Rebecca arrived from Colorado at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday. Michael picked them up at the airport and they stayed that night at Michael and Bern's house. I didn't get to see them until Saturday afternoon when we all got together at Tresa and Chris's condo in Chicago for a nice pasta dinner. We had to get Matti ready for his loooonnnngggg run the next day. It was so good to see them and to have our family together. We all took turns holding the baby and chatting, but we made it an early evening because Tresa is still a bit sleep deprived and Matt needed to get his rest. A friend of Matt's from Colorado that was also running the marathon came by to say hi. It was great to see him.

On Sundays the trains from where we live that go into the city don't run very often, so in order to get to the marathon by start time, we had to get up at 3:00 a.m. and catch the 4:53 a.m. train. Man was that early! We got to the city and immediately started texting with Matt and Rebecca to see if we would be able to find them before the race. We didn't. They actually were exactly across from us at the starting area, but this is what it looked like.


First of all you couldn't get around the fence and second of all, that sea of hats that you see, are all of the runners. So we were on this side of the runners and Matti and Rebecca were on the other side. Matt was in with the runners and Rebecca was outside the fence on that side. It was nuts and oh so exciting. It was so hard knowing that Matt was so close, but oh so far away. I wanted so badly to give him one more kiss and hug and one more good luck, but there was no way.

It was so emotional waiting for the race to start and then watching them all start walking...slowly....waiting for the runners up front to move far enough forward so the whole group could start moving. It took Matt 20 minutes to actually reach the starting line from where he was!

As soon as the runners were off and running we managed to locate Rebecca. Thank goodness for cell phones and texting! The three of us went to grab some coffee and breakfast to go and started walking to the half way point of the race in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Matt in the sea of runners.

Irv and I actually did a LOT of walking. It wasn't a simple task to get around the throngs of people and all of the closed roads. We walked and we took cabs, and eventually we got to the 13 mile mark and stood and waited with Rebecca. We watched runners go zooming by and other runners trotted by. There were lots of signs and cow bells and yelling and cheering. There were runners in tutus and super hero garb and runners in regular running clothes. It was a sight to see. We got dizzy watching the bobbing heads of thousands of runners while we watched for Matt. Then Rebecca saw him and he saw her and waved. Irv and I didn't see him and he quickly scoured the crowd once he saw Rebecca, but he didn't see us either. She said he looked strong and really good.

We made our way to the finish area. We met at our prearranged spot and it was just so cool. Matt had done a fantastic job.

Remember when I told you he had hurt his knee when he ran the Imogene Mountain Run...well both of his knees started bothering long before the marathon...but he ran anyway and did it in 4 hours 8 minutes and 25 seconds!

To put it in perspective.....there were a total of 35,763 runners and Matt came in 9955th! Out of 19769 male runners, Matt came in 7173rd. Out of the 3001 male runners in his 25-29 age group, Matt came in 1153rd. The winner of the race was a 23 year old Kenyan who ran it in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 24 seconds! It just blows my mind.

We had just the best day. Michael and Bern came down and we met up with them after the race at a bar where we could all sit, have something to eat and watch the Bears game. We caught the 4:30 train and got home around 6:00. It was a long day, but a fantastic day. I am so proud of Matt and of all of the runners. They just amaze me with their strength and their dedication to a sport they love.


I will be back later this week with some after the marathon pictures, some Graham updates, a little bit about my terrifying Chicago Cab ride and about all the work we are doing on our vintage etsy shop. I hope all is well with you. I will chat with you real soon.

Catch Up Time

Well, let's see....Graham will be two weeks old on Friday. He is doing well. He hasn't quite figured out when to sleep and when to eat, but he will when he's ready. His mommy hopes that is soon.

Matt will be home Friday late night. His girlfriend, Rebecca will be with him. We are really looking forward to their visit. We haven't seen them since Christmas.

A friend of mine will be in southern Illinois tomorrow and asked me for a list of Vintage things I am looking for. She said if she sees anything, she will text me a picture to see if I want it. How sweet is that?

Irv is busy working on that old window so we can turn it into something really cool for our shop. I also found a place online that sells the chalkboard vinyl in a big roll. Now I don't have to buy it on e-bay. It came today. Yippee! Now I can make more chalkboards!

I put my SNOW letters in Four Dog Day already. I know it is only October, but they were done and it's cold and snowing somewhere, so why not? I like them.

I fell off the healthy eating and workout wagon for a little while, but I jumped right back on this week. I even walked at lunch today. Chee Hoo for moi!

I need new clothes really really bad. My fall/winter clothes were looking pretty crappy last year so when I pulled them out this year and took a look, I knew they had to GO! So, I logged into Ann Taylor Loft the other night and had some fun. Of course I ordered some cute little sweaters and today it was almost 80 outside....but I've lived here long enough to know that winter is just around the corner.

I went to the GAP on my way home from work the other day to get some khaki pants for this fall and they had 3 pairs of womens khakis. Are you kidding me? It's fall and it is the GAP! How could they NOT have KHAKI pants??? That's what they are known for!! The girl said they aren't sure what happened and that they had lots of black pants. Black pants? I want khaki!! So I bought the pair right off the mannequin!

I took Friday off. We have a really busy weekend planned. We are spending the day at Tresa and Chris's in the city on Saturday and then Sunday is the Chicago Marathon. We will be down there cheering on Matt. His knee is pretty bad right now, so he isn't sure what's going to happen, but he is going to give it one heck of a try. He has trained so hard for this. I hope he can run. I miss being a spectator. It will be fun yelling, "Run Matti run!" :)

I also got my hair cut yesterday....really short. I'm sure I'll have some pictures of it next time.

Well, I really have some work to get done so I have to close for now. I will be back after this wild and wonderful weekend with lots of pictures and stories to share. Have a great rest of the week. Chat with you soon.

Oh, I went for my mammogram today......I hope you are keeping up with yours.

My Newest Project

Can you believe it? No new Graham pictures! That's because I won't see him until the weekend. They are doing well and adjusting to all that is new.

I finally got one of my new chalkboards listed in my etsy shop, Four Dog Vintage. This is a vintage picture frame turned into a chalkboard. I just love this. The hardest part of making these will be finding really unique and awesome frames to use. I have a few more done that I will be listing over the next few days, and then I will be searching high and low for frames. Irv is helping with these and we are hoping they do well. We shall see.

We are counting down the days until Matt gets here to run the Chicago Marathon. He is a bit concerned because he took a bad fall during his Imogene Pass Run and hurt his knee. It is still giving him a hard time when he runs and there isn't much "healing" time left before the marathon. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him. It would be a shame to go through all of that training and not be able to compete.

Depending on the weather, we might go to a big flea market this weekend with Michael and Bernadette. I am hoping we can go and hoping I find lots of awesome stuff!

Well, I have things I need to finish before bed. I hope things are going well for you. I hope to get around to visit all of your wonderful blogs this week. I have so much to catch up on. Have a great evening!

Nope Part 2

My lack of posting isn't because baby boy arrived...it's because I am busy making and listing things for my etsy shops FourDogDay and FourDogVintage. I remembered a little while ago my goal and my vision for the future, and it means I have to work on my shops.

Baby boy is taking his time, although the very wise and educated doctors have been saying "soon" for quite some time. Baby boy has a different definition of soon! :)

Tresa is doing well...as well as a very, very expectant mom can be doing. She is still working, but yesterday decided to work from home. Depending on how last night went and whether she got any sleep, she may be doing the same today.

So we are still anxiously awaiting the little man's arrival....looking forward to introducing ourselves, touching those soft little cheeks and smelling that beautiful baby smell.

Announcement will be coming soon. Hope all is well with you!

So How Are Things?

I know...I am so MIA right now. I just have so much going on that by the time I sit down and would have a minute to blog....I'm too tired. So tonight I turned off the lights in the workshop early, grabbed my lap top and headed to bed. I have a number of things to tell you so I think I will have to do it over a few days. No, the baby isn't here yet, but it sure is getting close. He is due the 23rd. Tresa is just exhausted this weekend. Everything she does leaves her just drained. They went to the zoo today and all she could managed was an hour. Well, the good thing is that we know he will make his debut eventually...hopefully soon.

Next, I have to thank Angela of Pickles on Pizza...she has been so kind and so helpful with sharing her knowledge of vintage with us. I don't know what I would do without her. Irv and I are learning a lot thanks to her and her highly successful shop. We found a couple more things yesterday when we were out treasure hunting. We are learning what to spend our money on and what not to spend our money on. We still only have one little sale, but we are slowly getting the hang of it. We made lots of mistakes at first and I'm sure we will make many more, but it's all starting to make a bit more sense, so thanks Angela.

Do you sell or shop on e-bay? We don't....but we will be. I don't want this post to be too long, so I will tell you about the Shell Gasoline sign another day. It's a fun story with what will hopefully be a very profitable ending. I'll fill you in soon.

I have fallen off the exercise wagon again, and it's all because I am so addicted to Four Dog Vintage right now. It's all I can think about. I am actually working out a schedule to get myself back on track. I was doing really well and I don't want that to change. I have to figure out a way to balance working out, making healthy meals, walking and etsy around my full time job. I can do it. I just need to think it out. What do you do when you have more things to do in a day than there are hours in that day and it isn't just one day....it's every day? Any suggestions?

We finally have over 50 items in our vintage shop. I put in a lot of hours today to get some of our new things in. Here is the listing for that darling little antique toaster......

and I am so in love with this bowl!

My goal is to get too 100 items....we will get there some time this fall.

Michael and Bernadette have been working many, many twelve hour days since the start of school. Sometimes people don't realize how hard teachers really do work and the hours they put in. Thank goodness there are people willing to do that. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Matt is still training for the Chicago Marathon on October 10. He ran 18 miles yesterday morning! Bless his heart. I can't run one mile!

So....that's about it from here. I hope you are all well. I will try to check in with you during the week. Make it a safe and wonderful holiday tomorrow!

About Face

Have you ever been so sure of the direction you were headed...only to suddenly take a turn and go an entirely different way....even when you were soooooo sure?

That is where I am right now.....I made the turn and now I am sure again....only the destination is different.

A while back I decided to stop creating and selling many of the things I had been selling in Four Dog Day. I let things expire, packed them up and put them away. I had some new ideas I planned to try.

Then something happened. Irv and I decided to open Four Dog Vintage. That is where the "about face" came in. Every spare moment I have right now I am spending on listing items for Four Dog Vintage. Poor Four Dog Day was already looking so sad and now it was just plain pathetic.

So.......here is what has happened. We are really excited about Four Dog Vintage. We are really starting to like the look and feel of the shop as little by little we are finding pieces to offer. In fact, this weekend we are headed to a huge flea market in the hopes of finding some awesome treasures for the shop.

What happened to the time I was going to have for Four Dog Day? Uh.....gone.

That's when I decided to haul out the boxes of things I wasn't going to sell any more. I have been relisting like crazy and Four Dog Day is once again looking like the shop it once was. I have a long way to go with quite a few things to list, plus some things that need to be rephotographed and then relisted, but you know what....I'm having a ball doing it.

I think I felt bad having things sitting here that should be in my shop. It just didn't feel right. It's funny too because I listed some of my coasters yesterday and immediately sold a set. They'll be headed to New York tomorrow.

Now things feel just right. Four Dog Day is looking pretty and Four Dog Vintage is growing little by little. Irv and I are having fun stopping at sales and researching items on line and in our super duper garage sale and flea market book.

Have you ever been heading one direction and thought it was right and then did a big turn and felt that was right too? What happened?

I still don't have much time for blogging, but I'll be back now and then to say hello. Make it the best day ever tomorrow, and do something really nice for yourself AND for someone else!

Is it Just Me....

or are a lot of people not blogging as often as they use to? During the winter it seemed as though everyone I followed had a new post every day.

This summer I've noticed a lot of people missing lots of days of posting...just like me. I just don't have the time. If I want to keep my etsy shops going, I have to work in the evening...and that is what I am doing.

Are you blogging as much as you were, or have you slowed down a bit? If you have slowed down is it because you have more to do in the summer or you are just tired of blogging?

Just curious.....

So Sorry

I am afraid I am going to be neglecting you for a little while. Irv and I are opening a Vintage shop on etsy. We are busy cleaning our treaures and then I will start photographing them so we can get them listed.

We decided on Four Dog Vintage for our shop name, and I really do love it. I wasn't sure I wanted to keep the Four Dog, but it really is how people know me so it would have been silly not to use it. I made a cheapie banner through etsy, but it's starting to grow on me. You can see it here. I'm trying to get all of my info in the shop so we can just start listing items when we have enough of them ready.

I will give you a little sneak peak at the first thing I am going to list. It is this set of vintage dresser handles. I loved them when I saw them. They cleaned up nicely and they will be item #1 I think. :)

So my evenings now are all about getting the shop ready. I am popping in and reading some blogs in the evening so I'm still here. Now it's time to have some dinner and iron some cute little hankies and embroidered cocktail napkins. I think I am going to love this!

This, That and the Other

Just a very quick hello. I am all ready for the shower except to pick up some balloons in the morning, some baby's breath to add to the flower pots and finding something to wear. I thought I was going to wear an old dress I had, but when I put it on I didn't like it at all. Hopefully I can find something in the morning.

Irv and I had fun at the garage sale this morning too. They didn't have as much vintage stuff as I had hoped for, but we did pick up some neat stuff. I will show you soon. I spent some time this evening trying to come up with a cute name for our new vintage shop, but it is not an easy task at all. Many are taken on etsy or the .com isn't available. Got any ideas? I am accepting suggestions.

Today is my son Michael and his wife Bernadette's fifth wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary to you guys! I love you!

Can you tell me how you can vacuum up TONS of dog hair, sweep up TONS of dog hair, mop up TONS of dog hair, clean TONS of dog hair out of the lint trap on the dryer and the darn dog still has TONS of hair left?? Maggie is our first really hairy dog and let me tell you she will be our last really hairy dog! I got up to go to the bathroom last night and I thought there was a small dead animal in the hallway....it was just a huge blob of hair!

Well that is it for now. I am going to get a good night's sleep, get up early and get ready for a fun baby shower. I will take lots of pictures for you. Have a wonderful weekend and do something really nice for yourself...and for someone else.

Garage/Craft Sale Day Two

Well, if I'm on the computer blogging then you can safely assume that the sale is really s-l-o-w.....

We had one customer at 9:00 when we opened and not a single one since. It's going to be a long day for sure. The good thing is that the rain has stopped and the sun is shining and a nice breeze is blowing.

Michael and Bernadette are coming over at noon so Bern and I can wrap everything we bought for next weekend's baby shower. It might take a while! :)

Having this sale and not being super busy has given me some time to think about my etsy shop, FourDogDay and that is a good thing. I have been doodling and making lists of things I want to do. Posting some question on Facebook to get a feel for some of the things I'm considering. I am so ready to get going. Get this....I have been trying to get Irv to open a Vintage Shop on etsy. He really loves the old stuff. He really didn't want to, but what we might do is have a small Vintage Section in FourDogDay to get the "feel" of it before we take the plunge and open a shop.

If he really isn't interested then we just let the things expire and no harm done. What do you think? Good idea or bad idea? I say anything is worth a try.

Well, since it's quiet I am going to work on some little blue elephants.....I'll show them to you after the shower...along with the invites, the place cards and all of the gifts. I'll take some pictures today.

Have a wonderful day today and I'll chat with you soon!

How Was Your Weekend?

What a great weekend it was! My sister Karen is here visiting from Tennessee and we met up for breakfast yesterday. We were joined by my nephew and his darling kids.

This is Gabriel. He is just a riot. He sat there while we chatted and entertained himself with a straw and a toothpick!

This is Alivia. She's going to be in first grade this fall and she's really excited that she is going to have her own desk at school.

This is my nephew Jason. He's a police officer. I really enjoyed watching him with his kids. He's a great Dad.

Last but not least.....yours truly and my sister Karen. It was so good to see her. We don't see each other often enough and it was great to just sit and chat for a couple of hours.


Besides the nice breakfast, I finished painting our bedroom! It's a small room, but still a lot of work. On Sunday I ran errands and then started to put the room back together again. We decided to switch out dressers and move a book shelf and paint a dresser. I also opted to take sandpaper to a vanity and chair rather than paint it again. The distressed look turned out great.

As soon as I have the room finished, I'll take some pictures to show you. I love the new look. I also started cleaning out my workshop. Right after the showers I will be back to creating things for my etsy shop, FourDogDay. I have some wonderful patterns for aprons and tote bags, and I also want to try my hand at some other ideas....so it should be a busy fall!

Off topic.....I made an appointment to get my hair cut really short on the 18th and I can't wait. This is too much hair for me. Also, I see the doctor Tuesday to see what my treatment options are for my not so happy uterus. I'll let you know what she says.

I hope your weekend was a good one. Have a wonderful day tomorrow and do something nice for yourself and for someone else too!

Off To The Windy City

Happy Weekend!! I am off to Chicago this morning....catching the 7:08 train. Tresa and I are going out for breakfast, then we are having manis and pedis and then if the rain stays away, we are hitting a sidewalk sale in one of the cute city neighborhoods. We will shop until she poops out on me! I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

I think I might have to take a short computer break this week as well. I have been allowing the things I am not making anymore to expire in my etsy shop, FourDogDay....and my shop is starting to look very empty. I have so many things that I want to make, but I just seem to have gotten really busy lately with....the rest of my life. I could probably spend some time in my workshop in the evening...if I leave the computer off.

I have some great little things that I'm going to be working on. I'll show you when I get some done.

Have a really awesome weekend and I'll post some "Day in the City" pictures soon. :)

The Excitement Mounts

What a fantastic day we had yesterday. We got up and headed to the grocery store. We even stayed within our budget for the first time in a few weeks!

Next we hopped in the car and headed to the consignment shop in Chicago. Since we didn't eat breakfast, we made a quick stop at Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. No, those things are not on my diet...not even remotely close to being on my diet, but you know what.....I have done so well on my diet that I felt no guilt whatsoever.

We arrived in the Andersonville neighborhood and knocked on the door of necessary exTRAVagance. The Andersonville neighborhood is filled with wonderful restaurants and shops. It is clean and it is everything good about city living.

The shop was wonderful. They did a wonderful job painting and decorating and filling it with beautiful and exciting handcrafted items. We had the opportunity to meet Travis, one of the owners along with some family members that were there helping check in, price and display items. Even grandma was there sitting at the sewing machine putting the finishing touches on some pillows.

My clocks and cake stands will be right at home among some pretty amazing art. There were glass pieces, pillows, quilts, rugs, napkins, wine stoppers, some refurbished antiques, paintings, dishes and more. The more I looked around, the more excited I got.

I am a country girl and don't spend much time in the "big city". I really wasn't sure what fabrics to use for the clocks or what kind of cake stands people shopping there might like, but I think I made good choices and hopefully things will sell.

The one problem that I had was trying to figure out how to price my things. This particular shop has you price your items and then you split 50/50. I have a formula that I use when pricing my items for my etsy shop, Four Dog Day. There was no way that I could price my items the same as on etsy and give them half. I thought long and hard and tried a couple of different ideas, but each one ended up with me not making nearly enough for the time I put into my things. I finally figured out a formula I was comfortable with and went with it.

While we were walking around the shop, I looked at a lot of the prices and I knew I had done the right thing. My items fit right in at the prices I decided on. Now, we just have to hope they sell.

Tresa and Chris met us at the shop and the four of us took a walk around the neighborhood. We went in a couple of other awesome shops. If I were ever to move to the city....Andersonville would me my kind of neighborhood.

The shop opens on May 15th. I can't wait. Next Saturday we are headed to a big flea market and I will be in search of "things" to use to make more clocks and cake stands. Should be fun!

Making Progress

I had a very productive day on Sunday. I was able to get a few clocks almost finished for the consignment shop. I'm waiting on some of the clock parts. I love this fabric! I sold one of these in my etsy shop last week, so I made a couple more and used up the fabric. I made one rectangular one and one square one.


Tresa picked out this fabric at IKEA the last time we were there. It's a wonderful gray with white flowers in a random pattern. I thought it was kind of neat. It will have white hands.

I also finished up a few more of my new fabric glass cases. I am really liking these a lot. They are fun to make and I think they serve a great purpose. I just love these cats!


This one matches a cell phone case that I sold. I love browns and dusty rose together!

I had made an apron out of this fabric and just love the bright colors and the design. I think it makes a great glass case.

I am not very musical, but I really have a thing for notes...on fabric or on paper. I seem to like them a lot.

Then on Sunday evening I actually made something new for myself for dinner and it was amazingly good. I'll share the recipe with you later this week. So simple and soooo yummy!

Make is an awesome day today!

Always Learning.....

What a wonderful weekend it was. The weather was nice, Irv got a lot done in the yard....I'm sure he is feeling it today....and I got a lot done in my etsy shop FourDogDay! Here are a couple of my new eye glass cases. I really like them and have a bunch more cut out ready to be made. There are a couple of others listed in my shop already. You can click here if you want to take a peek.

Have you ever noticed when you buy something and you hope to heck it doesn't shrink a speck when you wash it that it always does....but then when you buy something and you need it to shrink...and you throw it in the washer AND in the dryer....it doesn't shrink at all? Man I hate that!

I learned this weekend that 6 gluten free crackers with hummus and olive tapenade and an apple really can be a meal! I also learned that when you know you can't eat wheat and you eat it anyway....you will be congested and then have a runny nose for a long time after. Why do I insist on doing that?

I also found out this weekend that even though the sales person at Dish Network told me we would get all of the channels that the Cubs play on, and even though the installer stood here in my living room and guaranteed me that we would get every channel that the Cubs play on......that still might not be true. I was just told that it would be another $5.00 per month to get Comcast Sports Network which the Cubs play MANY of their games on. Kathy is NOT a happy little Cubs fan right now. :(

On that note, I need to scoot. Make it an awesome day and be sure to do something nice for yourself today!

Shop Talk

I am making some major changes in my etsy shop, FourDogDay! I am really excited about it too. Part of the reason is that I am going to be selling my clocks and cake stands in the consignment shop in Chicago. I don't want to be selling the same thing in my shop.

As things in my shop have expired I have not been renewing them, unless it is something I plan to keep making. That means my shop is getting smaller, and smaller and smaller. The neat thing is that now my shop is going to have a "look". It's going to be mostly fabric items and you know how much I love fabric!

I'll be taking some things to Chicago on the 24th when we go downtown for our next family get together. Tresa only lives about 20 minutes from the consignment shop. I thought that would be a great time to meet the owners and drop off what I hope are the first of many, many items.

So, as FourDogDay gets smaller in preparation for growth, I am throwing around ideas of what else I will be adding to the shop and I have some awesome ideas. As soon as I have some of them completed, I will show you. I also have some neat ideas for the consignment shop, but I am still hunting for some of the materials I need.

Spring is just such a wonderful time of renewal and growth, not only outside, but in my shop and in my heart as well. I just love spring.

Topic change: Our grandchild to be....according to yesterday's e-mail update is now 4.5 inches from head to butt....about the size of an avocado. He/she is growing toenails and his/her little heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood a day. Is that not amazing? Tresa can feel the little guy/girl moving every day now. That was the most awesome part of being pregnant for me. Next month we might just know if it is a boy or a girl and that's pretty exciting too.

Be sure to do something really nice for yourself today....like take a walk! Chat with you soon!

Too Much "To Do"

Wow, my "To Do" list is growing and growing and growing. I've said before that I don't get rattled when I have a lot on my plate. I just prioritize and get to work. There are things right now that I absolutely have to do for my health and things I have to do for my business, and there are only so many hours in a day.

Osteoporosis is taking up a whole lot of my time right now. I am constantly on osteo websites and in osteo forums trying to find out what other people are doing....and let me tell you...no two people are doing the same thing. It's really confusing. I have my diet pretty much under control....even the walking and exercise is fairly simple to understand. Where I really get lost is with the supplements, therefore tomorrow I will be calling an MD in the next town that takes a more holistic approach to medicine. I want to take all of my test results and have a consultation with him to see if he can get me started on the right plan. I think with the proper guidance, I'll be on my way to healthier bones.

My etsy shop FourDogDay is being redone. I am allowing things I am not making anymore to expire. Eventually, I will end up with a smaller shop with a whole new look. I am signing my contract with the consignment shop this evening and once they sign it and return my copy, I will be able to start sending them things. They open in May. Besides that, I am looking into some small craft shows and Farmer's Markets for this spring and summer.

I really feel like I have things under control....there is just a lot to control right now. I don't know how it happens, but it all seems to work itself out in the end. I started making lists yesterday and that always seems to help. What's on your plate this spring?

Do You Blossom In Spring?

Oh my gosh....if I don't get my workshop cleaned up I am not going to be able to start working on new things. Right now everything from the craft show is piled up on my workbench and on the floor...boxes upon boxes.

Irv and I were brainstorming and I we are seriously considering setting up my booth in the driveway as soon as the weather is a bit warmer and having my own little craft show/clearance sale. I wouldn't lose any money! HAHA! We really are thinking about it. I am sure I could even find some supplies I will never use that I could sell. Crazy idea?

I made a connection at the show too....there was a girl that came over to my booth and said that she had tried selling older china on e-bay and it didn't go well for her. She has boxes of stuff that she wants to get rid of! How perfect is that? She's going to photograph some of it and e-mail me so I can get an idea of what she has. I'm hoping to get some great stuff for future projects.

Tresa also has a lady in her building that sells all kinds of stuff, including dishes, at flea markets. She going to ask her where she is going to be this spring. I got some really great deals from her last fall.

Why do I need all the china? Well, I will be doing some cake stands for the consignment shop....and......some other things. Sorry, still can't tell you. I will show you once I get what I need and get some made. I can't wait!!

Got a couple of other things up my sleeve as well. It is spring and things will be blossoming outside and in my workshop. Are you making any changes this spring in your business or your personal life? Spring just feels like the perfect time for change doesn't it?