Flash Sale!!

I've been crazy busy gearing up for a flash sale on 9th&Elm that starts this coming Monday.  What's a flash sale, you say? Well, you sound like my husband when I first shared the news with him. A flash sale is a sale hosted by a third party website that offers your products to customers at a discounted rate.  A designer doesn't make as much profit from these types of sales, but the goal is to create awareness of your products, boost your customer base and hopefully sell enough product during the 10 or so day sale to offset the hit you take on your usual profits.  My items will be offered at a 20% discount from normal prices and many of the items in my Etsy shop will be available.  You can sign up for emails from 9th&Elm here (make sure you sign up under me!) so that you can have first dibs when my sale starts, but in the meantime, here are a few shots of what I've been doing this week to prepare:

Punching out and sealing all the 1" images

 Sealed images with glass domes glued on

 Images that have been printed (so much paper!) and are waiting to be punched

 I printed "Product Care" cards....if these babies get wet, they are goner.

My super classy shipping supply storage.

Have I mentioned my shoes lately?

I had very little knowledge in the world of running when I ventured out to buy my first pair of actual running shoes.  I went to this great local shop near me that focuses on running, Running Central.  They specialize in fitting you for the best pair of running shoes based on several factors.  They asked me where I did the majority of my running, asked me how far I ran and what my running goals were in the near future, watched me walk back forth a few times while barefoot, noting any pronation or things like that, and had me stand on a machine that measured the pressure and weight distribution of your feet.  Based on the results of all those things, the very helpful and knowledgeable associate started me in a "base" shoe and had me test how they felt and had me run outside while she watched my feet.  I gave them a good review (not sure what shoe they were, I was a bit overwhelmed at this point) and from there she had me try on four more pairs of shoes, having me try one of each on each foot so I could compare.  I did a short little jog outside with each mismatched set and narrowed it down to the most comfortable pair.  In the end, these were the winners:

The Mizuno Wave Rider 16.  I absolutely love them.  When comparing with the others (I tried on New Balance and Asics, though I'm not sure which styles) these had a more comfortable fit around my heel (they didn't rub or squeeze) and they seemed to run by themselves as the ball of my foot left the ground.  They actually seemed to propel me forward.  I know there's a term for that with all you runner people, but I can't remember what it's called.  My foot seems to melt into the shoe and they have so much support and cushion it's ridiculous.  I was wearing an arch support insert with my previous pair of non-running shoes (just a $10 Dr. Scholl's guy from the store), but I thought I should give these newbies a try without it and see how it went.  They were much better than the old shoes, but I still wear the inserts every time I run because my arches feel better with a little extra support. (My fancy shoe fitting confirmed that I have slightly high arches. Who knew.)

I am two months into my new shoes and I love them even more than the day I got them.  Maybe I have just now "broken them in", but they are actually more comfy now than two months ago.  If you are just getting into running or getting more serious about it, you NEED to get a decent pair of running shoes.  Even if you aren't having foot or ankle or knee issues. You need them.  It makes a world of difference, trust me.  You wouldn't play any other type of sport without first getting the proper equipment, right? So why would running be any different? Save your money, dig in the couch for change, sell some old stuff, whatever you have to do to afford a pair. (because they are a bit pricey if you're used to buying the $40 pair from the outlet mall.)

Already taken the plunge for new skips? What are your favorite pair running shoes??

Homemade Laundry Soap

I had a lot of people asking about my homemade laundry soap recipe after I posted about it on Facebook, so I thought I would put the recipe out there for all to read.  This is recipe is all over Pinterest, so I'm not taking any credit for it.  My mom actually found this recipe and shared it with me.  I love it and have been using it for months.  I feel it works just as well as store bought stuff but it is tons cheaper and not full of harsh chemicals.  Normal laundry soap (okay I used to use Tide so that's what I'm going off of) is about $.25 per load.  This homemade stuff costs about $.01 per load!! That's some huge savings.  And you can choose whatever scent you'd like it to be, or leave it plain for a less intense flavor. :)

Here is the recipe:


Homemade Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap
1/2 cup Borax powder
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
(All found in the laundry aisle at walmart)

Grate or chop soap and add to sauce pan along with 6 cups water. Heat on medium until melted. Add powders and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and pour into bucket along with 4 cups hot water. Add 1 gallon + 6 cups water and stir. (If you want to scent your soap, add at this point. Use any scent you like of essential oil. I use Airwick refill bottles and pour them directly in) let stand for 24 hours to gel.

This is a picture of the soap gel-ing up about 4 hours after I poured it into the bucket. 

Stir well and transfer to jars or bottles. (I use empty half gallon juice bottles that have been cleaned) Shake before each use as it tends to separate a bit. As a note, it tends to be a little more runny than store bought soap. Use 1/2 cup per load. Happy laundry-ing!

A bit of normalcy

Tonight out of nowhere, we had our first little taste of "normalcy" in our quiet, boring little lives.  Raegan has been doing so well in her new bed, despite the fact that she isn't really napping during the day.  She goes to sleep just fine and has adjusted to the big girl bed very well.  Saturday morning she even got up and back into her bed several times and fell asleep again until about 9:30.  All while Jesse was outside making all kindsa racket prepping our front yard for new landscaping.  

Now, let me start by saying that a typical response to us telling Raegan it is time to go to bed is a bit of whining, a few "no, no ni-night"s and her asking repeatedly to watch more tv. She settles into her bed just fine, but she puts up a good fight for a minute or two before we get there.  So you will see why tonight was a total shocker to us. We had finished dinner and Raegan had already taken her bath, so we settled down to spend some quality time with  the Bubble Guppies, one of her favorites.  Pretty soon she looked up at me and said "ni-night".  It was 7:15!!!  I asked her to repeat herself, and she did.  I said "you want to go night-night, really?" and she nodded.  She even hopped down from the chair and walked over to Jesse to five him a goodnight hug and kiss.  So I asked her again if she wanted to go to bed (you know, just to be really, really certain) and she said yes and reached for me.  I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder.  Which is the ultimate tell-tale sign that she is ready to sleep.  So we headed upstairs, I went through her new normal routine and she was out like a light in about a minute.  What?!  My husband and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves. Ha ha. We are just hoping that this means she is adjusting and starting to settle into a routine and is starting to love her new bed.  Now....let's hope she's not up at the crack of dawn tomorrow!!

Partyin' it up in the new bed with her cousins

driving daddy's "big tractor"

our awesome next door neighbors let Raegan use their swing set whenever she wants. They are the BEST!

Rae with Papa Mike opening her Easter eggs

Big Girl Bed: Day 3

Today is Sunday and this is Raegan's third night in her "big girl bed".  The first night went better than I ever imagined it would go.  She stayed asleep and in her bed all night long!  You can read more about what led up to the big girl bed switch here. Night two went a little quicker, she was still reluctant to go upstairs, but she settled in once we got there.  She fell asleep in minutes and I was able to creep out.  She did wake up around 5:45am though.  i heard her cry and when I pulled her up on the monitor, she was getting out of bed and kept saying "blanky" because she had dropped it out of her bed.  She got up, grabbed her blanky and went to the door saying "mommy...mommy read book" and even grabbed a book from her bookshelf. (Insert broken mama heart here!) And just when I had decided I should probably go in and put her back to bed, she dropped the book, walked to her bed, crawled in and snuggled up in her cozy corner.  She laid there for about 20 minutes or so and fell back to sleep.  All on her own!!  I couldn't have been more proud of my sweet girl.  She woke up this morning at about 8:15.  She slid out of bed and walked to the door.  My husband and I raced upstairs and opened her door quietly.  She was standing there with a huge grin on her face and she ran into our happy, open arms.  Tonight she went to bed a few minutes early and fell asleep even faster than last night.  She has continued to totally blow us away with how easily she is transitioning into her new routine.

I should also mention that with this new bed, bedtime, sleep routine we have not been giving her a nap during the day.  Naps have gotten harder and harder for her lately and it seems that on the days she was napping well, she was sleeping horribly at night.  So yesterday and today we decided to not make her nap, but that if she told us she was tired, we would give her the chance to sleep.  She did not act tired at all during the day yesterday or today.  Although today we brought her home in the car and she fell asleep for about 10 minutes.   We were beginning to wonder if she was phasing out of naps before we switched her bed anyway, and we didn't want to make her new bed anymore traumatic on her than it had to be.  Since she has been crying for 30+ minutes at naptime lately, we decided we didn't want to risk her associating her new bed with a horrible experience.  I also think it is helping with bedtime; since she is so exhausted from the whole day, she falls asleep almost instantly at night. So it is still a work in progress and I'm sure she will fall into a new routine and maybe need a nap sometimes, but for now, this seems to be working for us.  And can I just say that, in the two days that we have not made her take a nap, she has been in better spirits and on better behavior than she has in quite a while.  She is throwing less fits, she is playing on her own even better than before, and she is just acting more content and happy in general.  Coincidence?? I'm not sure.  But I plan to find out....

This is our sweet little nugget all conked out in her "new" bed :)

Today I failed

Not everyone wants to admit it, but every once in a great while, we all have one of those where we just, well...fail.  Miserably.  A day where you would have been better off if it had never existed.  Today was one of those days for me.

My day started at 3am with my daughter crawling out of her crib and crying.  After several attempt, she made it clear that sleep was not in her plans, so I did my best to just keep her quiet and calm.  We have been dealing with some nap issues of late and she has been all out of whack, but this was too much.  My husband and I spent most of our 6am hour converting her crib to a toddler bed, even though we are sooooo not ready for all that a toddler bed entails.  To make a long story short, my daughter slept all of 30 minutes after 3am today.  By 4:00pm, she was cranky, I was cranky, we were all tired, and I was losing my cool.  I confiscated two of her toys because she was throwing them after repeatedly being told not to, she went in time-out twice, and when I tried to make her pick up her toys, she laid on the floor and laughed at me, I spanked her, she cried, and I needed to get out of the house and away from the madness for just a moment. I was going to snap.

So my dear husband allowed me a super quick errand trip.  On my way home, of course all the songs I hear are about God's faithfulness and trials of this life.  I lost it and started crying.  Now I know you must think I'm some sort of whack job super-sensitive weirdo mommy with teeny tiny problems.  But please understand that this is my life.  This is my job.  And I take it very seriously.  And it affects me on a very deep, personal level that cannot be explained.  So, yes, I sometimes cry about it.  And I'm okay with that.  Maybe you will read this blog post and think "Oh, honey, please.  That's nothing, I do that everyday and smile about it."  And to that I say good for you, you are amazing and I wish I had one percent of the strength that you do.  But I do not.  I must dissect every little detail and wallow in it until it becomes me.  I've always been an internalizer and I will always be an internalizer.  That is just how God made me.  So, like I said, I sometimes cry about seemingly meaningless things. I was anxious and stressed about what bedtime would hold for us and was prepared for the absolute worst.  Like toddler banging down her bedroom door and screaming bloody murder, worst.  My stomach actually sank as we pulled into the garage tonight and I knew that bedtime was only minutes away.  I put my unwilling daughter into her new big girl bed, and I did my best to soothe her.  I had to "read" to her in near darkness until she finally drifted off to sleep (twice) deep enough that I was able to sneak out.  My body was physically shaking when I came downstairs and I was almost afraid to breathe for fear of disturbing the peace.  At one point after I came downstairs, we noticed her stirring on the video monitor.  I thought well, here we go, here comes the screaming.  My stomach sank again and I began to feel like I would throw up.  I even got tears in my eyes.  Raegan sat up for several moments, looked around, and then slowly cuddled back up into her favorite corner of the bed and fell back asleep soon after.  Success and relief washed over me.  And then the feeling of utter failure overtook me.

 I felt like I failed today as a mom.  I was not patient or kind or peaceful or self sacrificing with Raegan (well, ok maybe I was a LITTLE self sacrificing). I felt like I missed it entirely. God is teaching me something here, I know it, but I feel like today was a complete loss for me.  I didn't get it.  I cried. And in the midst of my tears, I asked God's forgiveness for being short with Raegan and feeling like I just wanted to shake her. I thanked God for his unconditional love for me, even when I am a complete failure and I do exactly the opposite of what I should do.  I thanked him for always being patient and kind and loving.  And I asked him to help me do better tomorrow.  That I wouldn't miss the point next time.  That I would embrace unconditional love for my daughter, even when she's not sleeping and screaming and doing everything BUT what I want her to do.  And I thanked God for the small win tonight in Rae going to bed much better than anticipated.  Even when I am a total failure at whatever lesson God is teaching me, God still loves me enough to give me a tiny blessing.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Bedroom makeover!!

In December of last year, I set out to find a new comforter/bedding set for our bed.  I got in way over my head and I think I lost half of my hair and returned quite a few sets, but I finally found a set that I liked and that was in our price range.  I used that as a starting point to give our bedroom a makeover.  We were still using a comforter that was Jesse's when he moved out of his parents' house and everything in the room was tan or some form of tan and felt so manly.  I wanted to dress it up a bit. And I must say, I am very happy with the results (as is the hubs). And I am also quite certain that one can redo just about any room in your house just by shopping at Hobby Lobby.  It is the BEST store on this planet.  Here are a couple before shots...after the new bedding, but before new decor:

 And here are the after shots:

Over the bed decor - all from Hobby Lobby

Turquoise curtains from Hobby Lobby

jewelry rack

My favorite piece! Jewelry rack from Hobby Lobby.  It was even half off :)

Gass vase from TJ Maxx

Close-up of fabric

Pillows: Turquoise chevron cover from The Hob, other 2 are from TJ Maxx.

 Almost everything you see was purchase at Hobby Lobby, one of my most favorite stores.  The bedding came from Sears, the blue glass vase from TJ Maxx and the turquoise spray inside it from The Square Nest, a local shop in Morton.  The only thing left to add is a swag over the window that I made using leftover fabric from the frames above the headboard. (No added expense!) I also would like to recover the lampshades with the royal blue fabric I used in the frames, but I haven't been back to The Hob for that.  It will probably cost another $10.  Still, a lot cheaper than buying new lampshades!

Total expenses were $146.50, and I even sold our old curtains and pillows for $18, so really the total is $128.50.  Not too shabby for what feels like a complete makeover to me!  Happy Hobby Lobby-ing everyone!