New listing new posting.........

A friend of mine started a blog the other day and her second posting was about inspirations.

It was a really wonderful post and I loved everything she spoke about.

This weekend, for some unknown reason, I was inspired to make a Mickey Mouse Hat for my Etsy Shop.

Hmmmm, maybe I dreamt about it............

My cat and my hat

A week in the life.........

In my last posting, I wrote that it had been a month since I blogged.......and now it's two months after that!  I don't know where the time goes, but if anyone finds it can you send it back to me?  I'd really appreciate it.

I am so busy........my little Etsy shop (www.thebabycrow.etsy.com) is doing better than I ever expected or dreamt.  I'm thrilled!

I am getting compliments from my customers that I never expected or dreamt also.  It's so wonderful!

John (my husband) and I are leaving for Florida for the winter in 7 days and I'm really trying so hard to get my act together.  If you know me at all, you know my organizational skills are the best....but lately I seem to be falling down on the job.

I have lists EVERYWHERE!  Lists of what I've sold....lists of what I've bought (bookkeeping-wise), lists of names, lists of items to make, lists of items I have made, lists of things to buy to take to Florida, lists of things to buy in Florida, lists of things to bring back from Florida and of course, packing lists galore!!

Some of my lists

I don't like lists, at least not ones that don't have checkmarks beside everything......I like having everything organized and done......especially with only 7 days to go!  Heavens.....I used to be all packed and ready to go at least a month before and now.....don't remind me....7 days.......eek!

On Tuesday we went to a wonderful luncheon for a 50th Wedding Anniversary for a great couple who live here in Sandycove.  There were 21 of us and it was really so nice to see everyone before we leave.  3 other couples are heading south too so that gave a lot of people an opportunity to say "so long" until the Spring.  We were there for just over 2 hours......I was joking with some of the people that I had to get home to see if I got an order in my email and they laughed.

I got home and it wasn't funny...........I had FOUR ORDERS waiting for me!!!  Holy Cow, I have to leave in a week!  I have to get organized!  I have to pack!  I have to make:  One Sock Monkey Hat,  two Firefighter Helmets and a Hat and Bootie set.

Okay, I can do this no problem!  Then I noticed that 3 of the 4 orders were for Halloween so I had to get them done immediately in order to get them in the mail on Thursday morning so that they'd arrive in time!  Holy cow!

I sat myself down...took a deep breath....then got back up again....I'd better check my yarn supply to make sure I have enough of the yarn I need to make these Hats/Helmets.  Whew!  I had enough for the sock monkey hat and lots of red for the two helmets so everything was fine......remain calm and start crocheting!

I thought I'd make the Sock Monkey first because it is the most finicky with having to sew on the ears, mouth, eyes and make braids for the ear flaps......good idea, get the hard one out of the way and then on to the helmets.  I decided to multi-task so when I was making the Monkey, I checked the helmet order to see if there were any special instructions such as size and numbers for the shield.  Uh oh!  Trouble.

One of them wanted the helmet to be YELLOW.......YELLOW?  Why yellow you say?  Dad is a Firefighter and his helmet is yellow so he'd like it to match his real helmet so they can go out together on Halloween...... also would like to have his number "31" on his baby son's helmet too so they would look alike.  Aww, how sweet!

I turned to my retired Firefighter husband and enquired "honey?  What colour  yellow would a yellow firefighter's helmet be?  Would it be bright yellow, pale yellow, golden yellow?"  He said "I've never seen a yellow firefighter's helmet".  WHAT?

Okay time to email "Dad" and ask him.  **working away on the sock monkey**  No reply.
Waiting and working on the sock monkey.  Still  no reply.

I finally finished the Sock Monkey Hat and by then it was getting really late,  time to go to bed.  No reply to my email yet.  No sleep.  Oh no!  I need to sleep so I can get up and make these and get them in the mail by Thursday at the latest!  No sleep, can't stop thinking about the yellow helmet.  I get up and Okay!  There is an email from "Dad"........"sorry I don't know what colour you would call it....I didn't realize there were different yellows".........my response "Please send me a picture of your helmet right away"...........back to bed........no sleep.  I really want to help this guy and his son have a great halloween but I can't sleep for thinking about the damn helmet!  Argh.

I guess I finally fell asleep and when the morning came I jumped out of bed (not really, I have bad knees and that would really hurt).....I roll out of bed, walk to the living room, turn on the computer and there it is!  A picture of the yellow helmet!  Wonderful........

"Dad's" Yellow Helmet!

UH OH............!

I don't have any yellow that colour in my stash!

I have my breakfast....and we make a run over to Michaels to get some yellow yarn.....easy right?  Wrong!  They don't have the right colour either!.........OH NO!  What the heck am I going to do, I don't want to disappoint my customer or his precious little baby boy.  I know, I'll run over to Walmart and see if they have any!  "Marilyn!!".....my husband yells "I found some"......I go over to the next aisle and there is a HUGE ball of the right colour of yellow yarn!  I'm saved!  Holy crap it's $9.99 plus tax!  I'm only charging the guy $25.00 for the helmet.  Oh well, it's for a good cause............so I buy it and we head back home.

I thought I'd make the red one first because it was going to the U.S. and I wanted to be sure that it was ready to mail in the morning.....the yellow one was going to a town in Ontario near the Quebec border...no problem, it will get there on time........right Canada Post?

Next I start on the yellow one.  I've never used the yarn I bought before and I can only hope that it's the same as the regular yarn........I measure as I go along and everything is starting to come together, and it's looking good!  Yahooooo!   Hours later I make the shield and start the numbering.....why oh why can't it be a zero?  Just a simple zero?  No, it's a 31........going to take longer, of course.

It's time for dinner........I'll do that and relax and then put it all together and give it to John so he can get it ready for the mail (he's my wrapper and get-it-ready-to-ship unpaid employee).

After dinner, I sew on the shield and stand back to look at it............I've done it!  And it looks great if I do say so myself.  And all 3 items are going to get to their destinations in time for Halloween!

I'm exhausted, but so happy, 3 more satisfied customers!  Now tomorrow I'll do the hat and booties......good night......zzzzzzzzz..........