This January, as everyone is wont to do, I looked at my life and made some squishy resolutions — squishy because I knew I was not likely to keep them! More like, goals to head towards.

When we moved to Colorado, I left my full time web designer job, with the goals of making a good solid go of this jewelry stuff full time. Be successful enough to contribute to our family’s finances, and be here in our home so our kids aren’t in daycare.

A year and a half later, it seems like those goals really are happening! I don’t seem to need to go looking for web design work, so that’s a plus! Starry eyed visions of me at home getting all the laundry done with dinner on the table at 5:30 every night have kind of gone by the wayside.. but overall, this home business of mine is working out nicely for our family.
Continue Reading »

Ahhh… the weekend comes to a close, and we all tuck in to bed for the week ahead.

This week will be week 2 of school for the kids. Last week was pretty soft I think.. not really any homework, getting back into the school groove, learning the classroom.. We’ll see how this next week goes. Hope the homework battles don’t start yet!

Saturday was pretty fun – we went to Mile High Comics in Denver, which we thought was only open to the public every few months or so, but after we arrived, we found that they are open 7/days a week now! Still it was fun, and it was HUGE. We all got a comic.. and someone *coughjamescough* got more than one. Wondergirl for Jocelyn, Wonder Woman for me, Star Wars for Ethan, and a ton of Batman for James. It was a pretty cool place, lots of toys, TONS of comic books, and the staff was very friendly and helpful.

We’ll be back. Oh yes, we’ll be back.

James took the kids to the airshow at a local airport. I dropped them off and picked them back up, and caught the tail end of some thrilling fly-bys by I think a stealth bomber (if Ethan was here he would immediately correct me). I picked up the crew tired, hot and sweaty, but mostly happy. Ethan complained that it was awful, but honestly, he says that about everything. If we didn’t drag him out of the house now and then, he’d stay in his room 24/7 building legos and listening to Harry Potter until he starved!

I’ve been keeping busy coiling up a huge amount of coils to cut into jump rings Monday morning, and working on my supplies website. I have been unhappy with my shopping cart platform I was using, and have been working on getting both sites moved to a new location. My jewelry website was done and moved over about a month ago, and I am happy to report that I have made the switch over for my supplies shop this weekend. Yay! I’ll be spending this week checking things over and adding in anything I’ve forgotten.

The downside to the new platform — anyone who previously had an account (on either site) will have to reset their password in order to log in, and there is no order history available. I think the change was a good one — the system I was using before had some quirks that were just a bit too quirky for me, and the admin panel is much more user friendly. It will save me and I hope my customers a lot of time in the long run!

If you’d like to check out my new sites, feel free:

http://www.rainestudios.com
http://www.rainestudios-supplies.com

Last week I went to the gym Tuesday & Friday, to my favorite class — water circuit (basically a circuit class, but in the pool!) This week, I need to do better — I’m shooting for Mon-Wed-Fri or maybe Tues-Wed-Fri. The days I went last week I felt AWESOME. When work starts to pile up it’s hard to make myself go — even though that is when I need to go the most, to relieve the stress!

A few parting kid quotes:

“Mom, don’t worry. I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING.”

….

“…. Most of the time.”

– Ethan, age 10.

OK, just one kid quote. Later!
-Amy

So, we have tile in our kitchen, and I like to walk around barefoot. I blame these two facts for the massive callouses that have been growing ON THE SIDES OF MY BIG TOES. I always have calloused feet but on my TOES?? I didn’t want to spend the money for a pedicure, but after one night of bad insomnia where I spent hours just gently rubbing my toes together and feeling the hard skin — I decided it was pedicure time.

First off, they took a cheese grater to my feet.

A CHEESE GRATER.

I know the place I used to go to in VA used some sort of tool with a blade, which is pretty similar — but I swear, I am mentally traumatized now. I may never be able to grate cheese again.

Next, she kind of buffed the sides of my toes, but the hard callouses are still there — mostly because…

They painted my toes before doing any moisturizing! So they couldn’t moisturize my toes, because they were drying from the polish on them!

Anyway, it’s good to get this off my chest. Never going to that place again!

1st world problems, I know!

-amy

Our house is now on the market (YAAAAAAAAAY!) which means that now at the drop of a hat, we must scurry around cleaning up and then vacate the premises so strangers can tromp through (not a booo, because the more strangers tromping through, the more likely it is someone will want to BUY!)

So we’ve spent a good bit of time in the car, out doing things, away from the house this weekend.

Cute the FIRST:

I was working in my studio, which is (now) in a smaller room off the big room in our basement. The big room has tall Ikea furniture holding many bins which hold toys. I could hear Jocelyn as she hummed and sang away as she pulled toys out – a Barbie head whose hair she could brush, some Strawberry Shortcake dolls and assorted furniture, a variety of very small stuffed animals. She hummed and played and then skipped off upstairs without cleaning up, so when I emerged from the studio and saw the toys on the floor, I called her down, saying, “Jocelyn, come clean up your toys!”
Continue Reading »

In case you haven’t heard, we’re moving to Colorado this summer.

Which means we need to sell this house. Which means we need to get it ready, just like the little piggy, for market.

So the last two weekends have been avoiding the house like crazy while workman paint it from head to toe, and then install carpet from head to toe.

Have I ever told you how awesome new carpet is? Ours was AWFUL. And so the new carpet is doubly sweet! It’s sooo beautiful!

Also? Big empty rooms with newly laid carpet is perfect for fiddling around on the floor.

Ethan likes to just settle into a certain position that makes me cock my head to the side and say, “Whaaa?? HOW?!”
Continue Reading »

We did a lot of stuff in March. And we’re still doing a lot of stuff in April, like getting ready to put our house on the market. So image only posts seem very appealing to me right now! I may throw more words at you later. When I have time to breathe.

Jocelyn decided to get her ears pierced about a week after her birthday. She was very nervous, but she did great! She choose Hello Kitty studs to pierce her ears with. Of course.

All these photos were taken on my android phone (HTC Incredible) and run through the Vignette app for fancy retro awesome-sauce.

This dollhouse was built by James’ grandfather. It’s been waiting in a closet for this girl to be old enough to appreciate it.

Continue Reading »

It occurred to me that a lot of the time I struggle to do all the things I WANT to do because I don’t think I have enough TIME.

I don’t blog as much as I want to — not enough time.

I don’t create NEW jewelry as much as I want to – not enough time.

I don’t stop and play with my kids as much as I want to should – not enough time!

I know this is really all bullshit. I have plenty of time if I would just DO IT ALREADY. It’s this mindset of — but I work full time, but I have a husband and 2 kids, but I need to clean the kitchen, but I really want to watch old episodes of Doctor Who while I sit here and make copies of jewelry I’ve already made — it really is bullshit. Just clutter in my head that I need to clear out to make room to DO IT ALREADY.

So this is a new years resolution. There’s lots I can do — even if I don’t have hours of time at my disposal. If I have 10 minutes – I can jot my thoughts right here in this blog. I can doodle in my sketchbook. I can grab a nerf gun and/or barbie doll and fire away/braid away.

Here’s to getting past all the stuff I need to do to the stuff I WANT to do — 10 minutes at a time.

And that’s 10 minutes. I’m off to my first enameling class of the term now! Can’t wait!

-amy

This morning I created a monster.

Well, 2 monsters, really.

Every morning (unless we’re on the ball and up and rarin’ to go — yeah, not usually happening!) when I hear a kid stirring, I give our family whistle, and wait to see if a little blur comes running into our room. After a few whistles, we usually have 2 little hot water bottles climb into bed with us for a little morning snuggle.
Continue Reading »