Grammar No-Nos

 via

Let's talk about my love of grammar for a minute.  If you've been here with me for awhile, you'll know that it is very important to me and I'd likely hide under the covers for the rest of the day if I were to discover a typo in my post after publishing it.  (Now that I've said it, it's bound to happen in this post.)  There are few things that bother me more than glaring errors in what I read online, but reading blog comments is the worst.  Let's run through a quick list, ok?

1. awe vs. aw:  "Awe" means overwhelming fear or admiration (think awesome), while "aw", as in "awwwww....." means that something is super cute, like a puppy.

2. etc. vs. ect.:  One of these is real and one isn't.  The Latin term is "et cetera" from where you get the etc.  Unless they change it to "ec tecera" it doesn't work.

3. congrats vs. congrads: "Congrats" is short for congratulations.  Just because someone is graduating, it does not suddenly because "congrads".

4. An obvious one:

via

5. Amanda is right.

PSA: it is voilà, not wala or vwala.
— Amanda Cobb (@DragonflightGal) June 12, 2013

6. I can't remember where I saw this but it was brilliantly stated: apostrophe s does not make something plural, it shows ownership.  "Father's Day" is correct.  "All the father's went to eat" is not.  It is only acceptable for single letters and numbers, such as "Look at all the A's!"  For the love of grammar, stop using the apostrophe for wrong.

What's on your grammar no-no list? (or are you guilty?!?!)

Ouchie.

If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize for the monotonous pictures you've seen over the last week focused on one thing: ouchie pouches.  But for this week and the past month or so, they have consumed my every waking moment.

I was contacted by a woman who ordered an ouchie pouch from my shop, and said if the size worked, she'd need.  35 more.  35 more!!!!!  So I sent that little pouch off right away and that's what it turned out to be: little.  She asked if I could make them bigger to accommodate a small water bottle- the pouches were going to be hangover kits for a 40th birthday party- water, aspirin, Tums, vodka, and Bloody Mary mix.  (A very fun idea for a party favor.)  Of course I said yes, I could make them a little bigger.  And that's when she said she needed 70 of them.

70!!!

Cut to me ordering materials like crazy and working on appliqueing crosses to fabric and hand-embroidering "ouchie" 70 times.  Those bag fronts went to Florida with me, people!  I was sewing while watching tv, sewing while sitting on the porch, you get the idea.

The cat loved me.  I think it had something to do with the moving string.  She camped out in my lap a few times.

Anyway, while we were on vacation, the woman told me she needed 10 more, and then 10 more again (growing guest list) so by the time we got home I still had a lot of work to do.  Fortunately, I found old episodes of Project Runway on Lifetime online and proceeded to watch those and sew after everyone went to bed.

Over the past week and a half or so I started in on the construction: cutting, zippers, making labels to go inside the bags, trimming, etc.

I can't even explain how deliriously happy these labels made me.

90 bags done.

90 bags packed up and ready to bring to the post office in a gigantic 17-pound box.  I am so happy that this undertaking is done with, and I am so proud of myself for being able to not only get it done, but get it done early (I am very much a last-minute kind of gal usually.)  My husband is awesome, not only letting me sleep in until 9am one morning, following me going to bed at 2am that night, but he also helped me trim up a bunch of the bags once they were sewed together, saving me hours of work.  Because of that I promised him a sparkling-clean house this week, since nearly all cleaning efforts have ceased.  I think it's a fair trade.

I hope to be back in this space more now and hopefully my Instagram feed will have something in it other than tan and red.  Like these new fabrics that I just got in for new scarves:

I'm looking forward to working on something new!

Currently.

I apologize for my absence lately, but I'm working on a huge order that is taking up all my free time, aka 8pm-1am, aka the time I usually write blog posts.

I'll be back with regular posts soon, I promise!

In the meantime, don't forget that Google Reader is disappearing in a matter of weeks.

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to

What have you been up to lately?

Favorite Finds.

Even though I was away last week, I was still roaming Etsy looking for fabulous things, which aren't too hard to find.

via

I would love to do one of these portraits for our family.

via

This print would be fantastic in my sewing room.

via

One of everything in this shop for Greta, please.

via

Beautiful stoneware.

via

Chocolate-coffee soap.  Enough said.

via

All too true.  I can think of many, many people who would agree.

What have you been loving this week?

Vacation.

This past week we were in Florida visiting my in-laws on our once-a-year trek down there.  We pack up the kids and the dog and drive down the East Coast in one long 18 hour stretch.  We stay for a week and then make the trek back, stopping around northern Virginia for the night so we can get home in the daylight instead of at midnight.

While there we hit up the beach at least twice, which the kids love.  Greta doesn't remember her first time at the beach last year so it was like a whole new experience for her.  She loved being pulled around in the boat by anyone who would do so.  They chased crabs and saw dolphins hopping out of the water and got sand everywhere.  It was a great time.

My in-laws have two Boston terriers and one 20-year-old cat, who, despite being completely solitary most of the time, took a liking to my lap.  I think it might have to do with the fact that I had a needle and thread in hand most of the time.

We also take the opportunity to eat all of the foods that we don't get up here, like the best authentic Mexican food ever.  Three of my meals looked like this, which were the freshest tacos I've ever had at a restaurant:

And let us not forget the place where our lunchtime rest stops are planned around: Chik-Fil-A.  A classic #1 with sweet tea was just about the best treat on each drive.  (And let's just talk about how awesome sweet tea is, shall we?  You in the South are so lucky.)

So now we are home and getting back into the normal swing of things.  It felt a little odd to be back in our own house yesterday, but that feeling wore off quickly.  It was nice to have everyone in their own beds last night.

Have any of you been traveling lately?

Big Girl.

I have been running around like crazy the past few days trying to find bedding.  We decided it was time to get Greta a bed and get her out of her crib.  When Gus was her age, we had the side off the crib so he could climb in and out, but for some reason we never did that for her.  So instead of taking the side off we just figured we'd go the new bed route, so we ordered a bed and I tried like mad to find non-cheesy twin bedding, which is quite hard.  Everything I liked only came in the larger sizes.   I'm happy with how it ended up, and Greta's room is on its way to becoming a big girl room.

For the longest time we hadn't decorated her room.  We hadn't hung pictures or worried about furniture but as she's getting bigger we want her room to have a more finished look to it.  Some Etsy trades, some dump finds, and some creative pins from Pinterest have set us on our way.

New bed on sale from PB Kids. (Yep, hubby let me in there once more.)

Robin eggs (before) and baby robins (after) in our bushes a few years ago.

A painting done by the husband's late aunt.

Shelf found at the dump and repainted.

Pink rabbit handmade by Garden Birdie

Hoop art!  Scraps and pieces from my overflowing stash.

The changing table is right under this, but we're going to put a new dresser there soon.

Hello, Ikea.

 

Art print by Book and Bird

Cross stitch by me!

Overflowing shelves thanks to our loving family.

And a cute photo bomb by the poodle who wouldn't move.

Toy chest found at the dump, painted and a new latch installed inside.

I love that her room is a mix of nice pieces, thrifted finds, handmade goodies, and sentimental objects.  I think it's sweet and cozy and totally liveable.

I Heart Instagram.

The husband and I are not big on technology. We don't try to keep up with it, and are pretty firm believers that if it ain't broke, we don't need a new one.

We do have an iPhone. We decided to buy one just before Gus was born, in June 2009, already behind the trend. We wanted to be able to easily take pictures and videos of the new baby to send to the in-laws in Florida.

That phone died a few months ago, so we got a 4GS (whose camera is way better) and then discovered that though the phone itself wasn't working to make calls and to connect to the roaming network, it would indeed connect to our home network. And for that I was thrilled because it meant that I could use Instagram around the house during the day even when the new phone was off to work with the husband.

I love Instagram. I think it is such a neat app. I love that it can capture a quick snippet of your day and that it can be shared with followers. I have posted pictures of food, plants, things around the house, dump finds, library scores, and plenty of in-the-works Milo and Molly stuff (mostly taken at night while I'm working). I use it to advertise and to sell things. It's awesome.

Most of all, I love that it's real and real-time (for the most part). It's almost like a behind-the-scenes look into life. I love looking at friends' pictures because I realize just how different everyone's living situation is, from the place they live to how they decorate their house. You see what they're up to as it's happening. I don't think the photos need to be professionally done, then uploaded to your phone. I don't think you need to maintain a "wall" if you're a business. Everything you read points to the fact that customers want to know who they're buying from, and readers want to know who they're following, and I think that Instagram is a great tool for that.

I hope you'll follow along with me! 

Do you use IG?  How do you like it?

(The winner of the Baboo Art giveaway is Tara.  Congrats!  I'll be in touch!)