Happy St. Patrick's Day

Baby steps today, nothing more. i guess inching your way toward a goal is better than no forward motion at all. slept through the alarm this morning resulting in my son going to school an hour late. hasn't been a great week for punctuality.
Me and lil B ran a couple errands. got a new pair of rubber boots for the boy, you should see our yard today. i passed on playing in the mud because there is easily twice as much as yesterday. yikes.
In the mean time i have plenty to do. and plenty to list and I'm not sure what I'm waiting for.
Here are a few of my favorite finds, some listed, most not:

 This last one shows my Spanish porcelain bird that I'm still trying to find information on. Luckily it perches prettily on my hutch and there is no hurry to rid myself of it.
Time to go draw something! See you later.

a fun day in the mud

 What a good day I had. Got to sleep passed 7am (though I had to get up twice to soothe an unsettled 3 year old), had no where to be, kids colored eggs, played in the mud, OPENED the sliding door and let some FRESH AIR in!, de-cluttered and crossed a couple things off my to do list. 

 Yay spring time!

So thankful for happy distractions and fun while the crisis in Japan continues. My prayers go out to everyone in Japan and to my cousin, who is hopefully getting on a plane right now to leave Japan.
A lot of Etsy shops are donating money from sales to the Red Cross for aid to Japan.  Search 'Japan' in the Etsy search bar to find a ton of listings!

product photo day

whew. . . took over 200 pics today and I'm feeling good about it. Now if only I had someone else to do the editing! Lots of new items to list and no time to do it. I'm not going to panic though, just gonna take it one at a time and hope I don't lose momentum.

Had to dig us out this afternoon so I can get the boy to school in the morning. We didn't get half as much snow as last time but there were a few thick drifts that might've slowed us down. Looks like the county winged our mail box, AGAIN. Kinda surprised at how well it has held up. It's super super ugly now but obviously it has staying power so why mess with it?

I'm getting closer to having a rough version of my chinese proverb illustration that I spoke of long ago. "Don't curse the darkness, light a candle" or maybe "Don't curse the darkness, turn on the light" or so on. They all work and what a great point. Worth repeating, over and over (especially to certain people).

new logo and stuff

I am working on a new logo, the one at top is the rough placeholder version. I hope to have the new one complete in the next week or so.
Made some new earrings and worked on lino prints today. Got myself good in the finger with my carving tool. Was good because it reinforced me telling my 3 year old why he couldn't try it. I mean, how many times do you have to say no! I promised him when he gets older I will teach him how to use the tools and he can make his own. So then he asked later in the day and said he was older could he try it. He's so cute.
I've got a big to do list in hopes of participating in my first craft fair in April. I figure it's a good push to accomplish some things I put on the backburner. Like making my prints. And I've realized I really need looming deadlines to get more done. It always worked for me when I had an office job with a boss.
Here are a few pairs of earrings I've made lately. Going for more neutrals and I just love these vintage glass beads!

new books

Got my book order yesterday, yay! One is from Lotta Jansdotter on Scandinavian style. At first I thought maybe it wasn't a good choice but it has a lot of great stuff in it, including recipes that I can't wait to try. The other book is all about printing at home. I already do a bit of that but it has extra info on screen printing and the like and that is something I haven't done yet.
Today I got my Anthropologie catalogue in the mail. Hats off to the stagers and photographers. I love looking at these! Patterns and colors are great (prices a bit high) but that's why a catalogue is so cool.
Sometimes you just need something new and refreshing to look at. Especially (i know, i don't think that's a word-at least my high school english teacher always said it wasn't) now with snow, snow, snow. I love winter. I love snow. BUT if its too cold to go out and play then I say be done with it. Time for spring!

Out and About in Wausau

Had some excellent food and music over the weekend. Finally visited the RedEye brewery for dinner and beers. I'm a big Porter fan and their Wheat Porter was nummy, the spinach and artichoke dip was excellent and my dinner of ribs and carrots was very good as well. My husband's steak was cooked to perfection. The only thing lacking? Kinda thought they forgot about us a few times. But, my guess is our server was very new and only trying to survive a busy Saturday night.
Grabbed a couple beers at Marlarkey's Pub and watched a fun slide show while listening to a talented local cover Tom Petty's American Girl. The whole point of the evening was to get out and sample some new places in town so we moved on to another bar not worth mentioning. They did have an open pool table though which always makes me happy.
Sunday brunch was at the Great Dane and oh it was good! A spicy and delicious Bloody Mary with an obscene array of food (buffet style brunch). If it weren't for the family that heaped all of the berries on their plates, thus leaving me wanting, this would've been perfect. (You weren't the only ones liking the berries people!) Any ways, I am over it!
Fresh fruit and veggies got me thinking spring. I want to change up the garden this year and get some things in that I haven't done before, like parsnips. From what I've read they grow well in Wisconsin.  And I have a sketch started for either a lino print or illustration and its all about growing and gardens. I'm having an issue getting started on it though, seem to have hit a block. Hoping for a little more inspiration.

Go Packers!

Just reporting on my favorite Super Bowl commercials. . . of course I missed a lot of them as I was making taco dip and cooking dinner. . . Doritos was hilarious with the raising of the dead and I also loved the logging one with Roseann Bar, ha ha ha, but I have no clue who did it. The baby one just disturbed me, didn't like it much.
Dinner turned out great, made spaghetti with eggplant and sausage, YUM! And I've been gorging on taco dip non stop. (haven't made it in a while, its the little things).
I took a lot of photos today, don't think I'll do any editing or uploading though. Gonna wait for this neck/headache to go away. I'm excited though, I've got a cheery and bright pair of turquoise and coral earrings to list. Totally thinking spring! And a bright sunshine yellow vintage bag that I regret to admit I passed on the matching suit case. Some times I really wonder about myself.
anyways, gotta go, that taco dip is calling for me!