Guess what I did today?

Opened a new etsy shop for my photographs, that's what. I'm still in the process of deciding how to present my work to stock the shop, which means it's empty right now, so there's not point to bothering to share the url right now.

Eventually I plan to offer images on notecards, plus prints that are mounted and ready to hang, among other things. It may take a while to get this set up - I'm aiming for a "soft open" in December, with it officially up and running and heavily promoted in January. I'm running a bit late for the holiday season for this year, which is a shame, but I really don't want to list things until I know they look good and are something I'm proud to sell.

In the meantime, if there are any of my images that you thing really should be in the shop, I'm happy to take requests. And if anybody is willing to be a guinea pig and wants to place an early order, give me a yell. You can contact me at lazymamadesigns (stick an a.t. sign here) yahoo (stick a d.o.t. here) com.

I'll let everyone know when the actual shop is up and running. Should be fun!

New patterns in the shop

Now available in my etsy shop: the first new patterns of 2008!

I proudly present the Heart Happy Wall Hanging:

And the Genki Ginkgo Table Runner:

Click on either name to go to the page in the shop where the pattern can be purchased. Hooray for getting things done faster than expected!

Show me some love

Okay, I've finally got the etsy store back up and running. Which means that, should you want to throw a little cash my way (and get cool stuff in return), you've now got a way to do it.

I'm gradually adding the stuff I made during the sweatshop-a-thon I had when my mother visited last time, and hopefully I'll be finishing some additional merchandise over the next few weeks. I'm planning on participating in a local craft show the first week of December, so I'm doubly motivated to sew, sew, sew! So use the widget on the sidebar to check out the stock - you never know when you're going to see something you simply have to have!

And here's a secret bonus for my Mind Flush regulars - if you place an order and contact me through etsy to tell me that you learned about the store from this blog, I'll give you Priority shipping for the price of First Class. I know, it's not much, but my profit margin is razor-thin to begin with, and it's better than nothing.

Poison control, v. 1.0

I'm not overly careful about child-proofing my house, but I do try to put things that could require a call to the poison control center out of harm's way. The problem is, some of them need to be used frequently (like dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent), and there isn't always a place to store them where we can get to them but not-quite-two-year-old Liza can't. Dishwasher detergent was especially difficult, as we run a load at least every day or two, and there was always the chance that Liza would find some of the spilled detergent on the floor or in the machine after a cycle.

Enter Cascade 2-in-1 Action Packs. These little packets completely dissolve in the dishwasher, dispensing a squirt of Dawn and a premeasured dose of Cascade dishwasher detergent. They're neater than trying to pour liquid or powder detergent, so there's nothing spilled on the floor or on the sides of the machine. And because the detergent is in a packet, I figure that even if Liza manages to make it into the "childproof" cabinet, I've got at least a few extra seconds to catch her before she gets to the stuff that will make me have to call poison control.

We've been using these packets for a couple of weeks, and so far I haven't noticed that they do any worse (or better) job of cleaning the dishes, compared to regular powdered Cascade. They're definitely more expensive than buying the powder, so unless you've got small kids or are a total neat freak, I don't know if I would bother. But we'll be using them, at least until Liza's selective deafness to the word "No" goes away ... that'll be what, 20 years or so?

Monster creation, step one: Stickers and crayons

Little Miss Fine Motor Skills was introduced to the wonders of stickers yesterday. Given the lukewarm reception that other art supplies have received, I wasn't expecting much. Ha. Let's just say, if she and the stickers were consenting adults, they'd be smoking cigarettes and eating breakfast by now.She made those stickers her bitch, I'll tell you that. Peeled them off the sheet, stuck them to the page, peeled them off the page, stuck them to her clothes. Peeled them off her clothes, stuck them to the floor. Peeled them off the floor, stuck them to her hand. And the furniture. And me. And these were regular, cheapo, nonrepositionable, rips-when-I-try-to-peel-them-up stickers. She's got mad skills with her fingernails.

And somewhere in there she managed to scribble all over the hardwood floor with blue crayon. Thank god for Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. It took longer to give Liza the guilt trip about scribbling inappropriately than it did to clean up the scribble, which I think somewhat blunted the effectiveness of said guilt trip. Next time I think I need to scrub fruitlessly with a wet paper towel until she looks suitably chastened, then call in Mr. Clean.

Product recommendation

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_15/602-6075259-7423863?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B00007G39I

Liza is the last child on a couple of hand-me-down lists, and consequently she has more toys than most preschools possess. We recently got a package in the mail that included the Playskool Air-tivity Ball Popper, and let me tell you, it's a hit. Not only does it involve balls (or BAHHHHHHHHHHH! as Liza likes to say while jumping up and down excitedly) and have goofy music, but more importantly for parent sanity, there's an on/off switch. As far as I'm concerned, there's a special place in Hell for people who invent, manufacture, market, or buy battery-powered children's toys that don't have off switches.

Anyway, basically you put the balls in, they go around a track, and a stream of air pops them out the top, where they do the whole thing all over again. In reality, most of the time the balls bounce badly when they come out the top, necessitating chasing them all over the room and occasionally using a yardstick to fish them out from behind appliances (Liza thinks that's the best part). Left to her own devices, Liza would happily sit there and play with this thing until either she starved herself to death, or she ran out of balls because they were all stuck behind the oven. We have to use a timer and put it away where she can't see it after 10 minutes or so, she likes it that much.

If you've got an infant or toddler in the family, you should stick one of these on your shopping list. Better include the yardstick, too.

Open Letter to Air Wick

Sent to the company this afternoon via their web site:

Yesterday I purchased an Evergreen Essence Decosphere. Within an hour of opening the package, the Evergreen Essence smell had pretty much permeated my whole house, so congratulations on making the decosphere so effective.

I'd be really pleased with how quickly the scent spread, if it smelled ANYTHING AT ALL LIKE AN EVERGREEN TREE. Given the marketing and packaging of this product, I was hoping for something that would smell at least sort of like a Christmas tree. Instead, my entire house now smells like an airplane bathroom, and I do not mean that in a positive way. When my husband returned from work yesterday, he wanted to know why our house smelled like a urinal cake. This is NOT the effect I was hoping for when I spent $4 on the decosphere.

I am not sure how you decided that this scent was a) similar to an evergreen tree, or b) appropriate for holiday use, but you've got it wrong on both counts.

The Decosphere is now sealed in two plastic bags, and it is still stinking up my desk area. It's hitting the trash as soon as I send this message, and I pity the poor trash guys who have to deal with it next week.

I know it's too late for this season, but please, please, please - for next year, think about renaming this scent, or at least not marketing it in a way that makes it seem like you're getting something Christmas-y. Because I for one was extremely disappointed with this product, and I'm guessing there are many other people who feel the same way.

So be forewarned - that little green glass ball is evil. Evil, evil, evil. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a urinal-cake-scented-birthday to celebrate. Humph.

*****
Update - the customer service people at Airwick responded the following day, and supposedly they're sending me a coupon that will give me any of their products for free. Wonder if they've got anything that doesn't smell like a public restroom?