I'm a bad, bad blogger.

Or just a busy mom. Or both, lol. I've barely slept for days, gearing up for the big stocking day today for the "Down by the Sea" themed stocking at OTM. It was actually a little anti-climactic. Lately, every time I put something up for auction it gets it's first bid within an hour of going live, and is bid through the roof in no time (to my very humble appreciation).

Not today, though. Things sat there for quite some time before anyone bid, and even now (9 hours after going live) nothing has more than one bid, and one thing still has no bids. Go figure. I think it's partly because it's mostly boy stuff. People just don't seem to part with as much money or as easily with boys as they do with girls.

Anyway, the listings of the day -



In other news, I've joined the next True Colors Dyers' Charity Challenge. I'm very excited about this. The colorway I have to work with is yet to be announced, suggestions and voting are going on now. I am torn, though. There are two charities that have become close to my heart and I have to pick one and only one for the proceeds of my challenge to go. For several months now I've been engrossed and deeply touched by the blog of a man whose wife and daughter have been (and still are) facing huge obstacles due to his wife's Cystic Fibrosis. So on one hand I'd love to donate what I raise to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in his wife's honor.

However, on the other hand my very best friend on the planet has a little girl who is very sick with a chronic kidney disease called FSGS (Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis). It is chronic, there is no cure, and it will require a kidney transplant at some point in the future. Like with a lot of chronic diseases, there is no way of projecting when that day will come. It could happen next week, it could happen in 5 years. The only certainty is that it will happen. The poor kid is 6 years old and already takes 15 pills a day, including immuno-suppressants and steroids to help her kidneys continue to function to some degree for as long as possible. So, on this other hand I really want to donate the money to the Nephcure Foundation. I wish I could donate to both causes.

Wait! I CAN! It just occurred to me to match whatever my auction goes for. My customer's payment will go to one charity, and my matching payment will go to the other. Woot! I feel like dancing around singing, "We just figured out Blue's Clues..." (yes, I watch entirely too much children's programming).

I hate slugs.

Really and truly. They're just so gross - they leave slime trails for goodness' sakes! *shiver*

My home seems to be slug central. Seriously, I think that there must be an entire slug city living under my deck or something because every time it gets the least bit damp, they are all over my deck. They also congregate on my front door, storm door and the exterior wall around the doors. Last summer I took pictures of a pair who were about 6" long. Yes, slugs that were SIX INCHES LONG. ON MY HOUSE. I've sprinkled salt on the floor near the door to keep them from coming in, but they still sometimes ride the door into the house when it gets opened. Squick.

So anyway, I am an insomniac. More often than not I end up crashing on the couch so as not to disturb the Hubz and Things One and Two (who won't sleep without their dad). My couch is leather, so a lovely smooth surface. Tonight I came in late, after going to my weekly knitting group and stopping by Target afterwards. There were slugs all over the door when I came home, and apparently one hitched a ride inside without my noticing. That was hours ago.

Just now I was about to go to sleep. Normally I'd get up from whatever I'm doing, grab a blanket and pillow, turn off the lights and flop down on the couch. All without looking at the couch. Thank goodness I didn't do that tonight, or else I'd have been in for a rude, squishy surprise. I just happened to look at the couch as I was about to turn out the light and saw the slug crawling down the back of it towards the seat - where my blanket and pillow were lying. GAH!

I carefully scooped him off the couch with a piece of paper and put him outside with his peeps. As I shut the door, I noticed ANOTHER ONE crawling across the floor, where he'd apparently fallen off the door when I opened it. I scooped him and put him out, too, then spent the next twenty minutes frantically searching for more slugs. *shiver, shiver, shiver*

I hate slugs. I need to find a natural way to keep the little suckers out of my house, and away from my deck/front door. Ew.

I'm such a bad, bad, bad blogger.

But, here I am again!

Let's see... stuff I've been working on... Oh! For the upcoming big "Down by the Sea" stocking at OTM I am working on another set with a Marisol top, matching capris and a diaper. The fabric that the set is revolving around is a Laura Ashley print with mermaids on it. The mermaids are huge and not generally well suited for making clothing for small children, but I'm rockin' it anyway. The diaper is going to just have one of the mermaids centered squarely on the bum. I'm thinking I might also make a tote bag for the little one to carry her toys and snacks in while she goes on playdates or to Grandma's house. Just a little simple open-top bag wouldn't take much time at all in front of the machine.

Anyway, the crowning piece in the set, and the one thing that I think is going to sell this set for me, is the coordinating doll that I'm making to go with it. I'm making a mermaid, similar to the Waldorf tradition but not Waldorf. Her skin is cotton knit and her tail is cotton velour, but she is stuffed with Bamboo rather than wool, and her hair is a synthetic blend - so she's hypoallergenic. Granted, she does not have the flame retardant properties of wool, but I guess that's the trade off for having a doll that won't cause allergy problems and can be thrown into the washing machine when she gets dirty.

I'm not making her to look exactly like the mermaids on the fabric print for copyright reasons, but she does coordinate. Her tail is the same color as the fabric background, and her hair repeats a lot of the colors in the print. She's so cute that I don't know if I want to give her up, LOL! I'm debating about making her a necklace and/or bracelet with some teeny sea shell beads that I have, but she's being sold with a size 2/3 top - which means she needs to be safe for a 2 or 3 year old to play with. I'm thinking that means no shells or beads. Ah, well.

This is me, banging my head against the wall.

I redesigned OTM. It's the first time in more than 6 months probably that I've gotten the itch to do it. Usually I can have a redesign done in no time flat, I don't usually run into much trouble with these run-of-the-mill pages. The only php coding I do is my contact form, the rest is straight, vanilla html. Even the hyena cart is easily integrated - it's usually a pie job.

Not today.

I had the table that would not be tamed. It would NOT contain it's content without stretching, no matter what size I made it. And it was really ticking me off because it HAD to not stretch since the entire head of the design is a sliced image.

It took me most of the day, but I tamed it. I am loathe to admit that I'm not exactly sure which desperate change that I made did the trick, but who cares since it's fixed? Not I. So anyway, drumroll please -

Over the Moon's New Clothes. Please overlook the lack of content on the index page - I'm too tired and irritable at this point to even consider adding *more* content to the evil pages tonight.