We know we were away a LOOONG time...guess where you'll find us next?

That's right.

We're doing our first craft fair on March 15--rain or shine (and this week we've had both here in sunny Austin.) We're hoping for shine. With all our might.

Dirty. Dirty. Dirty.

Well no, not really. My latest treasury at etsy is devoted to laundry day.

To be honest, I haven't had to participate in laundry day at my house lately. I have a stay-at-home husband at present and he is kind enough to take care of this routinely. I am a very lucky girl.

So in honor of him--the man who refuses to use anything but a clothesline, much better for the environment that way--and in hopes of passing along my good karma, I am featuring several sellers with laundry related products.

Some of them even make the process look fun.

The Buy and Replace Debate

For those not familiar with etsy (and seriously, if you aren't...click the link and discover the wonderful world that awaits), the phrase "buy and replace" probably makes absolutely no sense.

Oh what wonders await you at etsy. (click the link. click the link.)

The Buy and Replace concept works like this: a list or treasury is made with a number of sellers. If you buy something from one of those sellers, your shop replaces theirs in the list or treasury.

Some people love BnRs (as the etsians say). Some people don't. I have been putting us forward in them a bit lately because I am doing a lot of my holiday shopping on etsy and I might as well get us some publicity too.

Here are some Buy and Replace opportunities that you can find us at right now:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10527
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10573
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10579

Check us out there and tell me what you think of the Buy and Replace concept.

One day at a time...

So as I type this (ignore what blogger says at the bottom of the post), it is nearly 2 AM on the morning of October 1.

We're celebrating 10/1 over at etsy by offering our photo mats one at a time--for the first time.

Check out our store as we will be listing quite a lot this week.

So far--we've sold one of these funky monkey mats this evening (or morning). Wahoo! When I first saw this fabric, I thought it would fly out of our hands. Not so...yet. My sister says that is because some people love sock monkeys and some people are afraid of them. I am in the former category. She is in the later.

Question of the day: (in her best newscaster voice) Where do you fall on this crucial sock monkey matter?

Seriously, What's that Smell?

I called in sick today.

As Katie said--yeah sick of this place.

Call it a mental health day. Call it lying, if you must. Doesn't everybody wake up some mornings and think, there is no way that I can get up and go through with the normal routine today? Most of all, I have no interest in pretending my coworkers are funny. (Though Katie really is funny.) I can't stand that fake baby voice that one of them speaks in when she wants to be particularly condescending. And I don't feel inspired when I am making copies.

Instead, I am hanging out at the house today. I've got some cleaning to do--lots of cleaning actually. Yesterday, my sister--who lives with us--walked in the door and said, "this place stinks."

"Stinks like what?" I said, sniffing mightily.

She wrinkled her nose, "like--human."

She's right. Once she pointed it out, I noticed the smell of lived-in-too-long. Some people might call it stale, but to me, stale is locked-up and untouched. This is the smell of running in and out to work and school and meetings. It's the smell of family meals that don't start until 10 PM. It's the smell of burning the candle at both ends.

So my job today is to make this house smell less like human and more like comet. And while I am home, I'm going to fulfill our latest order (thanks jennynucity!) and if I get a chance, I'm going to stop and smell the roses, the ones in my very own back yard.

Hello. My Name is Rachel and I am a Televisionaholic...

Okay. I admit it. I am the TV addict in this duo.

Katie is pretty take-it-or-leave-it about TV. When I ask her, "What did you do last night?" She has answers like: went for a jog, saw Bill Clinton live, did a little bit of casual sky diving.

Yeah, but did you catch the latest episode of America's Next Top Model?!?

Lately, though, I have been renting a lot of DVDs of cable television shows. For one thing, I get tired of watching ANTM and CSI and SVU. (Note to self: Rachel, crack open a book or you will lose the ability to spell real words.) Cable does do it better. But I am cheap and poor so I only rent a single show at a time, instead of paying a lot for a few shows at once.

Watching TV via DVDs is great because:

1. I definitely get to see new, edgy stuff.

2. I get to watch them over and over and over again. I can fastforward through parts I hate and hit pause when I need to get up and find something. And I start to memorize stuff so that I don't really have to pay that much attention, but somehow the electric hum of the familiar show brings me comfort.

The second scenerio happens often as I particularly like to watch TV while I am crafting. Hope this doesn't blow your image of the angsty artist who shuns mass produced products of society like fast food and pop music...and cable TV. My husband is that guy. I am the girl who loves handmade stuff with quality and character (like you can find at etsy) and I like TV; in fact, the TV I like most is also cut from a different mold than the average stuff and has fabulous characters.

Here are the top five television shows (in no particular order) that I love to watch--or rather listen to--while I make new stuff. (Bear in mind that I have not included any of the British television shows that I love, mostly because they are often crime dramas staring little old ladies and I have to know you better before I reveal my full nerdiness.)

5. Dexter. For one thing, Michael C. Hall is brilliant. He needs so little dialogue to convey such complicated emotions. I love him for that. I just plain love him.

Also, this is great when I am really just listening to it because I don't have to see all the gory scary bits if I don't feel up to it. I just put my head down and focus on the photo mat I am making.

4. Gilmore Girls. I know. I know. My aforementioned husband really doesn't understand my love for this show. What can I say? The heart wants what it wants.

3. Big Love. What I like best about this show is that I really really am rooting for Bill. I believe that he loves all of his wives and I want him to succeed in making his polygamist lifestyle work

An accomplishment, I think, given that if my husband decided to be a polygamist--he'd be a polygamist living on the curb.

2. Weeds. It seems to me that this is a show all about grief and since my mom has always called me The Queen of Tragedy--it's right up my alley. Plus, it can be absolutely hilarious.

1. Six Feet Under. I lied when I said that these were in no particular order. Six Feet Under is my alltime favorite show. I love the Fishers. (I am the Queen of Tragedy, remember?) I love Michael C. Hall. I love Nate and Brenda and the way they never, almost, always find each other and get lost at once. I love the creepy funeral home flowers and the way that Ruth braids her hair. To be honest, I don't watch the DVDs--though I own them all--much any more because it depresses me that the series is over. I know everything ends, but maybe I don't like reality TV, even when it is as good as this.

It turns out that television is the real soundtrack of my life.

***

p.s. Katie does have a new secret obsession with The Batchelor, but don't tell her that I told you that.