Nana's Toy Box

So Far Behind

Boy, have I been missing in action! No lame excuses, just my apologies for neglecting my blog. I'm not sure if it's my work schedule, staying busy, or simply poor time management. Whatever, I promised myself to pay closer attention to the length of time between posts! The last few months have whirled by, jammed pack with activities, projects, and work. I did complete some custom orders including but not limited to a personalized apron (for which I felt was incomplete without a chef's hat so I whipped one of those up to include in the little guy's package), a set consisting of a little girls dress and a matching one for her American Girl doll. I love the fabric so much, I bought some more to make the grandbabies some summer outfits! I also made some lion finger puppets for Ayla's birthday invitations and then crayon portfolio's for her to use as party favors, both a big hit amongst parents and kids!

I flew to Denver to surprise Tabetha for her 30th birthday and while I can't understand how my daughter could possibly be THIRTY, we had a blast and I enjoyed her surprise as much as she did! I did get a lot of Nana loving in too. Jeremy treated her to a semi-surprise dinner at one of the local Indian resturants and I know everyone had a wonderful time.

While in Denver, Tabetha taught me how to knit and while I simply do not have time for another hobby, how can I resist being able to throw a work in progress in my bag to take out when I have a few minutes? I do have a dish cloth finished and while I don't understand how I added so many stitches when I started, it is perfect in my proud mind! Tabetha laughed when I told her I thought I was ready to knit a sweater now! LOL! NOT!

We flew to Denver for Ayla's 5th birthday on 4/1/10 and spent 4 glorious days loving on the kids!

Before we left for Denver, I was priveleged to pin Marks new anchor on for his promotion! I went straight to the station from work so forgive my attire! At least I wasn't covered with bodily fluids, for a change, LOL! While I am incredibly proud of him, I am saddened by the thought that it will mean another transfer, too soon for me since I love where we live and I love my hospital!

Haiti Relief Auction goes live tomorrow

Baby Maddie will go up for auction tomorrow! Please help us help Haiti, one stitch at a time!

Help for Haiti from my Daughter

I thought I'd post an email from my daughter that I thought might interest the knitters out there or those who know knitters. We can all help the people of Haiti one stitch at a time!

Those of us who are knitters are Knitters without Borders. That said, for the remaining month of January, 50% of all profits from my sock patterns will be donated to MSF (Doctors without Borders) to aid in emergency relief efforts and medical services. I know some of you aren't knitters, so please pass this email down the line to any knitter friends you might know. I've also included a link to Ravelry, where MANY more designers are offering similar efforts. If you have already donated... Thank You.

For My Socks Patterns (includes instant download) - Pisces Knits
Ravelry "Help for Haiti" Search (please note that you have to register to log in - )

Hugs,
Tabetha Hedrick
www.piscesknits.blogspot.com
Creative Design & Custom Knits

Happy New Years, my friends!

As I review the past year and look towards the new one, I'm reminded of how important friends and family are to me. We traveled 3000 miles to a new home, leaving behind many wonderful friends as well as moving farther away from our extended families. However, since our relocation, we have met new people, started new jobs we love, and established our new home in Northern California. We have enjoyed our many outings, some with visiting friends, welcomed daugher Jacqueline and her husband Jeff into our home, visited Tabetha, Jeremy and the grandchildren several times, and quite frankly, fell in love with our new locale.
Some goals were accomplished, some not, and some I'll continue to work on in 2010. I want to stay connected to family and friends, reconnect with lost ones, and build new friendships in the upcoming year. We stay on our path to become debtfree, living and loving the life of frugality. We look forward to continuing plans for Adrian's wedding in 2011, continuing to nurture our relationship with the grandbabies, and continuing to explore our area.
I have a long list of projects I want to complete this year and perhaps will keep a running tally in a sidebar. I want to not only continue to build my business but to work on marketing. I'm my own worse enemy and a terrible business woman. I miss many opportunities to promote myself and I seldom even carry business cards or brochures! Thats my main goal this year, promote, build, market!
I hope your new year is filled with love and happiness, health and hope, and more than anything, I hope you use the year to chase your dreams.

Happy Holidays

I have been swamped with work, orders, and holiday preparations and I'm glad to have this chance to catch my breath! I almost completed all my projects and those that still need completion with be an after holiday treat for the recipients! As per our norm, we were paying out the butt for last minute shipping and vowed to have packages shipped EARLY next year! Mark joked that everyone was getting gift cards next year after we gasped at the price to mail a Kitchen Aid mixer to Florida and a homemade dollhouse to Denver! Granted, it would have helped to educate ourselves on the acceptable sizes for shipping before making the dollhouse 2" larger than the allowed weight, throwing it into freight category --and PRICE. Ugh. In our haste, several things didn't get included in the appropriate boxes, but again, after holiday treats for some!

Pops made this dollhouse for Ayla, he was busy in the wood shop this year! Perfect for a four year old.

A wooden doll stroller for Sophie, also Pops made!

A quilted table runner I made for Adrian, attempt 2 since I wasn't crazy how the first one was coming out.

A Bohemian style skirt for Tabetha. I absolutely love the blues, greens, and purple batiks!

Mark has a mission to wow me every Christmas with very well thought out gifts. He spends a considerable amount of time assembling each one and this year was one of the best yet. I think he judges their impact on how much I cry and admittedly, this year I bawled. The collage is of my gramma who had an incredible influence on my personal, my emotional, and my professional life. I know I've mentioned it before, but she is the reason I am a nurse.

Random Ramblings

It's been too long since I posted last. My work schedule has left me very little "non-working, non-sleeping time and so I've been trying to use those precious moments to craft. We also had friends from the East Coast here for a week and we spent the entire time playing, laughing, touring, and eating!
I worked with Linda and Ed at Shore Memorial and when they called and said they were planning a trip, I was thrilled! Made me miss my friends on the ESVA more though. We put over a thousand miles on Marks vehicle and more on our feet! We did the usual China Town, Fishermans Wharf, the Pacific Coast, shopping, eating, and playing. We found the fortune cookie factory in a dark, scary alley in China Town and I can't wait to share it with more visitors! We celebrated Linda's birthday by Hot Air Ballooning over wine country, wrapping up the adventure with a bunch at a winery. We also toured the Robert Mondovi winery one day. A shame Mark and I aren't wine people!

Don't jump Ed, we won't let Linda shop anymore, I promise!

The Golden Gate Bridge behind us

Ed at the entrance to China Town, our legs ached from walking up and down the hills!

Damn, I love the city! What a view.

Mark and I in the hot air balloon, it was amazingly peaceful and a wonderful place to "just be"

I've been trying to balance Christmas projects with inventory projects and the squeeze has been tight, for sure. I have completed ONE, count em ONE project, with several in various stages of completion. On top of building my stores Christmas inventory, I accepted a guest spot for a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale with a group of other Hyena Cart folks! I wanted something special to put up and think I have nailed my own expectations! What little tot wouldn't love a wool felt baking set of gingerbread men cookies, dough, etc, oh yea, complete with apron! Sneak preview pics next week, I promise!
I completed a beautiful batik skirt for Tabetha, my one ready to wrap gift so far. No pics though, while she knows I was making it, I would at least like her to have some surprise! LOL.
I got an order for three twirly skirts, bought the fabric but they are on the back burner until I get this Black Friday coop completed. I also have been shipping out orders, making monsters, working on some new items for my store, and I hope to completely revamp the inventory soon. Big sale coming up while I replace stock with new ideas. Keep watching for updates!

Too Long

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted, well, actually I can. We've had a lot going on this past month including a trip to Denver, strange work schedules, the kids moving in (a saga in itself) and a visitor this week! I have accomplished some projects, although not near as many as I would have liked.
Mark and I flew to Denver to perform our babysitting duty and it was so wonderful to have both kids recognize us with excitement as we came down the terminal! Sophie has changed so much, talks well and we understood about 90% of what she said; Ayla translated the other 10%! Nana, Pops, Ayla, Sophie, and their parents all survived the adventure! We had no blood, no police, and we actually remembered to feed them correctly and on time! During our visit to Denver, Jacqueline and Jeff started their journey to CA and started it with a bang. A phone call at 1:30 in the morning from a hysterical Jeff informed us that they had rolled their truck in Louisiana. Jacqueline and Jeff faired better than the truck did although Jacq was transported to the ER for stitches in both her head and her elbow. Arranging the logistics of their continued trip proved easier than we thought and we appreciate Jeff's parents stepping up to the plate to help. They are in CA, safe and sound, their belongings arrived this past week via freight. Jacqueline has already landed two part time jobs and continues to look for full time work. She was always such a hard worker! I love having my daughter home! Jeff continues to look for work and hopefully he will find something soon. I've been sewing on my days off, intent on making the girls some outfits for Halloween. I ended up making more twirly skirts than just theirs and hopefully will get some orders for Christmas! I absolutely love the candy corn outfit I made Ayla and apparently, she does too! I had some custom orders to do and got those finished and shipped. I know I have to concentrate on building my inventory before the Christmas crunch hits!
Mark's stepmom, Nancy stopped to see us on her way to New Zealand and will fly to LA this evening to continue her journey. We loved having her here, I tried to glean some wine education from her and at least I now know what shaped glasses are for what color wine! We drove to Bodega Bay one day and enjoyed the view of the Pacific Ocean with her and then yesterday we took a trip to the City, enjoying lunch at Fisherman's Wharf and a walk through China Town.