Cleaning House

I just bought this book Cleaning House: A Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma. I'm only on chapter 1 where she describes when the problem hit her. For Kay, it was when her 15 year old son wanted an awesome - and expensive - car when he turns 16 and expressed this out loud to her in a less than "this is my dream car" way. I personally don't see this as a problem. Everyone wants that awesome car right off the bat - for me it was a soft-top Jeep Wrangler, you know, to match my dad's Jeep Cherokee already in the driveway - and a few kids get their dream car either by hand-me down of the mid 80's Mustang, hard work to buy their own pickup truck or they have generous or indulgent parents (2 different things) but most are just happy to drive the family station wagon without Mom or Dad in the car. It's good to have a dream/goal and to be able to picture yourself there - it builds the imagination where, by that age, being able to analyze literature, science and math wins the gold star in school and there is precious little creative outlet. For the record, I did not like driving the minivan regardless that it was the only automatic transmission that we had and still don't like driving one that I bought as an adult (the catch is that it easily fits 3+ carseats). I'll take my husband's Jeep any day of the week.

So to diverge from all that car-speak, I thought I'd post about my cleaning pet peeves.

1. Dry Cereal - I know it sounds like a great snack but when the kids grab for it, I think "empty calories and future mess" and they think "I can take this ANYWHERE because it's just dry cereal so it doesn't make a mess!" It's banned in my house because I'm tired of cleaning up the stray pieces of cereal that fall on the floor and get stepped on - even cleaning with my way-cool lobby set (broom and dustpan on a stick).

2. Tiny Scraps of Paper - it's one of the reasons that I still keep scissors on top of the fridge. I know that my children are old enough and responsible enough to know not to cut the table cloth, their clothes, their sister's hair, etc but they leave a PigPen style mess when they use scissors on paper - little pieces of paper follow in their wake and leave an unmistakable trail to the glue sticks. I guess they just don't see all those itty-bit pieces of paper that they just cut off of their lovely projects but I did...They can't figure out why I make them sign a waiver that reads "I will pick up all the tiny scraps of paper and return the scissors to Mommy" before allowing them to use the scissors even for homework...

3. "Almost" Putting Things Away - this might be the one that sends me over the edge - they get something out of a bin and almost put the bin back. You see here an example: This is the paper bin (perhaps I went a little crazy at Staples' summer penny bin on loose leaf paper, packed it up when we were moving and didn't find it until October) and it sits like this most of the time, 1/2 pushed in and lilting to one side. It's next to my sewing box and no, I didn't leave it like that. It belongs in the cubbie behind it.

This weekend, I'll be taking on my 9 year old daughter's room with her. 7-10 is a tough age for keeping your room clean mostly because you're in-between little kid stuff and big kid stuff so you end up with both. This 9 year old has an active imagination (read: lots of stuffed animals that are integral to her imaginary life), is very artistic (read: has art supplies under her bed, projects both finished and in progress and scraps from previous projects the she'll "use on another project") and loves clothes (read: refuses to recycle clothes that are too small or have holes or very noticeable stains on them and has about 50 pairs of underwear, of which 1/2 are way too small, 1/4 are still too big, and 1/4 have holes or elastic pulling off. I'd try to weed them out when doing the laundry but she really only likes 4 pairs - wanna bet I can find 2 new packages of the same type so I can convince her to just toss the rest?).

What are your cleaning pet peeves?

eta: Here's a hat that I just finished last night and ironed (for better photographs) this morning. The pattern designer, Crochet by Jennifer, calls it the Fleurette Bonnet but I haven't decided what to names it when I list it later today. (it's overcast today - I couldn't make the room bright enough even with 3 photography lamps! sorry for the pink hue - photographers, I would appreciate any suggestions!)

How to have sick kids and get work done...

So I decided that I need to keep up on my blog and will try to be posting every Wednesday. I'm off to such a great start - here it is noon on Wednesday and I'm typing the first line... I do have something in the way of an excuse - 3 of my kiddies plus my husband tested positive for strep this morning (yay!) and have been sick for the last couple of days. I'm the crazy hand-washing healthy hold-out. I haven't gotten any work done since I can't go a full row of stitches without someone interrupting me (it's not my husband, he just wants to be left alone). All I can do is follow behind them with a can of Lysol, box of tissues and stack of towels (to clean up their messes) praying that I'm not next (is there a Thirty-One Bag for that?). You'll notice that there's no hand sanitizer in this mix - I have a child who is allergic to the main ingredient so we all wash our hands with soap we bring with us.  I hate when I run out b/c this stuff smells SO GOOD! I've tried a couple of different travel soap brands but no one does it as well as SudsNSuch - I just put in another order.

I've been Lysol bombing my house including my crochet hooks, current projects (it's fresh linen scent - that fits in, right?), camera, keyboard, all the lightswitches, doorknobs, drawer pulls, backs of chairs, pens, pencils, scissors, railings - any surface that I don't wash down daily. The cars are next. I've changed and washed their pillow cases, purchase dollar store tooth brushes (the 4 pack) to change daily until they are better and called the school nurse only to find out that they're having a raging outbreak.

Back to business - Last month, I purchased a collapsible 16" softbox light tent and 2 lamps. I've been so excited to use it but I didn't have new products. I was in a rut. So, I bought some new patterns - a couple new hats and some new booties. One was a bit complicated for me to want to sell so I just gave those away and then I spent an afternoon (and one evening) photographing all the crochet items I had in stock. Here's what I learned:
1- choose your location carefully - you need plugs.
2- if you put the tent on a blue cutting mat, your photos will come out blue
3- 2 lamps isn't quite enough - photograph on a sunny day in a sunny spot and don't put things on top of the tent
4- sometimes the camera doesn't love you and takes blurry pictures even on a tripod and with autofocus - have a backup
5- models don't fit in the 16" tent so find a pro

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures I recently took of new products.

baby cloche:

cowboy boots:

I got an order for these booties with poor photos (see the white ones) and took new photos:

And here's one that I left to the pros:

Show Off Your Stash - Link Party!

So one of my favorite fabric suppliers, XO Gigi Fabrics put up a blog post about sharing our work spaces. I, of course, waited until the very last minute. My office is a mess and I'm about to head out of town. So, here's the quickie tour:

My work space - 

multipurpose table: sewing machine, glue mat (brown), cutting mat (teal), glue gun, woodburning tool (to seal ribbon ends), tripod and lamp for product photography

behind the table: my "chair", ribbon, uncut fabrics, shipping supplies, train tracks (for my son's Lionel trains - I keep thinking that I'll get it cleaning up enough so that he can play with then in here), ironing board, craft show totes and that white cabinet is where I put my sewing machine manual and oil and photography prop backgrounds.

in front of the table: lots of supplies including unsorted ribbon, elastic (FOE, lace and skinny), clippies, fabric that's already been cut to size, unsold finished products, note cards, and, um... extra school supplies...

Here's my "stache" of cut fabrics - I need to ramp this up a bit because fabric sandwich bag selling season is coming up quickly!

Seeing this reminds me that I need to place an order - the tub on the bottom is my fabric stash and it's not as full as I like it (overflowing gets me moving!). Most in the tub are 1-2 yards of fabric that I will cut to become cloth sandwich bags. The one on top, Michael Miller's Send in the Crowns in white, is one of my daughter's favorites but I'm afraid to use it on anything because she gets things so dirty! I had put it away for her along with Andover's At the Barre quilt blocks, but I think it's time to get it in the mix! My real stash addiction is ribbon though - it's where my shop started! You can see it organized on top and I need to make another one (bigger/better) of these ribbon racks for the unsorted piles that I tried to hide in the picture of my whole office!

So, that's my stash!

The Marketplace Fairness Act

I don't do "political" very often - it has to be something I feel very strongly about so when I spent 5 house researching this (without even dipping into my chocolate supply!), I knew I had to write about it. This morning, after reading that the Senate had voted to bring the Marketplace Fairness Act to the floor for debate, I spent a good amount of time researching it. The idea of the act, if passed, is that online retailers will need to collect and remit Sales and Use Tax to municipalities that they do not have a significant nexus or physical presence (the hallmarks of due process) thus affecting interstate commerce. In VA, like many other states, when you make out of state purchases via mail order (phone, catalog, or internet) or in person where you did not pay sales tax where your purchase cumulatively totals more than $100 per year (not per purchase), you should be paying Use Tax (it's the "other half" of the 1966 Virginia Assembly Sales and Use Tax Act). It's not a well enforced tax and would be a significant revenue source for states if passed. Currently, it is the duty of the consumer/resident to report and pay these taxes but the MFA is seeking to change the burden of filing and remitting Use Tax from the consumer to businesses. The Supreme Court has held for almost 60 years (most notably Miller Bro.s v. Maryland and National Bellas Hess v. Illinois and more recently in Quill Corp v. North Dakota) that if states and municipalities were allowed to impose tax burdens on out of state businesses, "the resulting impediments upon the free conduct of its interstate business would be neither imaginary nor remote".

Miller Brothers established that there was no due process definite link in delivery of items purchased across state lines.
National Bellas Hess established the same with products sent via mail or common courier.
Quills Corp was actually interesting in that it addressed semi-online catalogs (floppy disks with software that could check the out of state warehouse inventory and place orders - precursor to internet sales) which thus established that having the software or disk did not constitute a presence in the state.
All reflect on the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution combined with the Import/Export Clause and find the same - that states may not impose tax or duties on out of state businesses - but the work-around of this proposed act is that Congress will be regulating this commerce, not the states. I'm not sure how Congress regulating this type of commerce will be less impeding...

Previous attempts to pass similar laws have been rejected due to complicated tax codes. The difference this time is that software could be created to do the legwork (there are programs out there that currently have this functionality) but who would take the blame and pay the penalty when it is incorrectly calculated? The MFA lists both software vendor and merchant are liable.

My proposition being sent to my senators and congressmen is to educate consumers on their duty to pay this tax on their own purchases rather than to make me, as a business owner, become a sales tax expert in literally thousands of tax jurisdictions.

Please take time to write to your Representatives to share your feelings about this Act. And remember to file your own Use Tax to show that this act is not needed!

Info on the Marketplace Fairness Act:
http://www.marketplacefairness.org/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324493704578432961601644942.html
Contact your Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Contact your Congressman:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Virginia Use Tax Form (also can be paid on your personal income tax form 760): http://www.tax.virginia.gov/taxforms/Individual/Income%20Tax/2010/CU-7%20and%20Instructions.pdf

How to Wash Your Snack Bag

The most common question I get about my sandwich bags and wraps is how to care for them. People are really only going to reuse something if it's easy to do so. So here's my mini-tutorial on How To Wash Your Snack Bags.

What you need:
Hamburke's Sandwich bag or wrap
lingerie bag
washing machine
laundry soap (so you can use any that you like but my house has sensitive skin so we don't use detergent)
Sponge/paper towels
Dish soap
water
clothes pins

Everyday Care: When my kids some home from school Monday through Thursday, they put their lunch boxes on the counter and get a snack. While they're eating, I empty their lunch boxes and sponge off their snack bags. I then turn them inside out and set them in the dish drying rack.

Weekly Care: On Fridays when the kids come home from school, instead of sponging off my kids' sandwich bags and wraps, I get them ready for the laundry.

First, I empty the bags and wraps and for the bags, set the Velcro askew so that the bag will stay open like this.

Second, I toss them into my lingerie bag so that the velcro doesn't stick to anything else in the laundry and zip up the bag.

Third, I wash them in hot water with the rest of my laundry - sometimes towels and sheets, sometimes white clothes without bleach.

Lastly, I hang them to dry on Mr. IKEA Octopus making sure that the Velcro is pointed away from the spendy transition toe dance tights that were washed in a separate lingerie bag.

And here's one of each for sale now:

Builder Extraordinaire!

So I make hair bows and I have ribbon EVERYWHERE! You wouldn't think it but it's actually really hard to keep it organized! I've tried several ways to get organized:

Girl Scout Cookie Boxes and Dowels

Plastic mesh basket and wooden dowels (ahem - the same dowels as above)

Best Craft Spooler and Ribbon Organizer

They all ended in a mess of tangled ribbon and laziness. Over the last 2 days, I finally created something that I hope will be a timesaver and won't leave me frustrated! I made with my own hands, a ribbon rack!

It seems like such a little thing but it took 2 years to figure out exactly what I needed and how to do it. The idea is simple - build a wooden frame, brace it and hang dowels. The tough part is how do I hang dowels? There's a couple ideas - 

1) drill holes, stick the dowel thru and cap the ends so that it can't come out - easier said than done since I've  split several dowels trying to get the 2-way screws in them (okay, this crafter figured it out - use pre-threaded bar!)

2) using a routing tool, make a path for the dowel to come in like this one.

3) use some sort of hardware to hold the dowels on the sides - the most common one I see suggested on DIY blogs is screw in brass hooks

4) last ditch - buy one but these are pricey and don't usually hold a lot of rolls of ribbon

 Yesterday, I had the best idea ever - I'd use the Closetmaid wall brackets that we had leftover from when we put shelves in our old pantry to hold the dowels! But we only had 4, not a single screw that would hold them and those suckers are a lot more expensive than I remember! I thought - well, I'll use the ones I have and then   try the hooks from my picture hanging kit that I never use.

I went to the wood area of my local home improvement store to purchase 4 48" long pieces of wood (1"x4" for the top and bottom and 0.5"x4" for the sides, 0.5"x1.5" to brace the back and 1"x1.5" to hold the hardware). I used a hand saw to cut the wood into 24" pieces, glued and used a brad nailer to make the frame, added the supports in the back and decided where my dowels would go (I decided that they needed to be 10 cm apart - I realize that I go back and forth between metric and emperial, if I can do it, the rest of the US can too).

VOILA!! I have a frame! I started to add hardware to hold the dowels and realized that I had out-thought myself - the ClosetMaid wall brackets are too wide to fit in the space I had left - oops! 

 Well, I still had the brass hooks and I found these pipe clamps (Hillman 5/8" rubber lined clamps) in the hardware section of the home improvement store but I'd only bought one pair.

A trip back to the hardware store (because no project can be completed with only one trip to the hardware store) to buy more clamps and some self drilling, attached washer screws to hold the clamps (not clamped) onto the brace. I cut the dowels to right size and sorted the ribbon on to the dowels.

YAY! It's so much easier already but I have a whole box of ribbon that isn't spooled... I may also need to build a second one... All in all, it cost me about $40 (same price as a much smaller version I've seen at craft stores) and I have lots of screws left over!

Now, to make some actual product for 2 upcoming craft fairs this weekend...

Camping...in December

I think my husband is crazy - like absolutely insane - for many reasons, most recently, while drinking more beer than usual and texting, he agreed to go camping with his friend in December. So this past weekend, he camped along the Appalachian Trail in some primitive cabin (it's just a shelter, no amenities - too primitive for me. I require a toilet - it doesn't have to flush or be attached to the shelter but it needs to have some walls and a seat). It turned out not too cold (40/day 20/night) but I was a little worried when there was snow in the forecast last week.

Camping in cold weather isn't too much different than camping in mild weather - but it takes a bit more prep. He did a lot of research - really, it occupied a vast amount of our conversation over the last 2 months. His take: It's really easy to go from cold weather camping research in the blogsphere to apocalypse prepper blogs.
cold weather camping --> good post on extreme camping --> detailed further advice on...OMG this is a prepper blog!!

New Christmas present idea proposed: a BOB for everyone, you know, in case there's a natural disaster on the East Coast.

Anyway, I think he was well prepared for his trip, except for being physically prepared to carry all the stuff. His pack list was nearly as long as our pack list for vacation...
hiking pack
day pack
"mummy" sleeping bag (borrowed)
sleeping pad
pillow
lantern/extra batteries
headlamp/extra batteries
multi-tool
knife
polycord (survival macrame bracelet is non-girly colors - yes, everyone in our house can make them but I haven't found a good supplier for the clips)
2 ways to start a fire & dryer lint (tender)
clothes/sleeping clothes (one extra outfit and something warm to sleep in)
extra socks
layering elements - long underwear, fleece, vest, warm jacket
rain suit
snow pants
mess kit
aluminum foil (heavy duty)
food (they split the menu but hubby now owns a 6-egg travel carrier and a hip flask)
1 gallon/day/person water (I think this is where the real weight comes into play)
TP
washcloth
toothpaste and toothbrush
biodegradable AIO soap (wish I'd ordered some from my favorite soap people, Soap for Your Soul, but he wanted liquid)
did I mention that he grew a beard?

He got home mid-afternoon today and I immediately put him to work bagging leaves until dark because, you know, he's already grimy and I spent the day with the kids getting the leaves in piles!

Donated to the Silent Auction for the PTA:

New in my shop this week is a few ponytail holders: