Elle’s Book Club

  • Artsy Fartsy

    • Handmade goodness

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    For quite a while I’ve wanted to set up my own Etsy shop.? There are only so many handbags I can make for myself.? I’ve hoarded way too much fabric and something has to get done with it.? I finally bit the bullet and got that checked off my list.? Now the task becomes actually listing everything (which is not the easiest task in the world).? I had to describe everything, type it all up, take decent photos, edit the photos and decide on a price for the items.? Putting a value on stuff I make is always hard for me.? I usually give everything away.? But since money is tight around these parts I’m selling.

    I currently have 3 handbags listed (I sold one this afternoon), 2 quilts and a few lavender eye pillows (with lavender from my very own garden).

    One of the quilts is a bitter sweet sale for me.? I originally made it to sell it.? That was always the intent.? But it sat around in our house for quite a while and then one day I hung it on the wall.? I was tired of the cat laying on it (I’ve since cleaned the cat hair off).? I’ve grown fond of the quilt and there is a little story that goes with it.? It is an adoption quilt and to me it tells our adoption story.? The little story is listed with the description on the item.

    Go check out my stuff.? Here or follow the link over there —>? The adoption quilt is the Forever Home Adoption Quilt.? I am always making new stuff (mostly bags) and hope to have a few new fun items listed n the next few weeks.

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  • Depression

    • When the depression kicks your ass

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    There is a spot of dried cat puke behind my couch.? How would I know there is dried cat puke behind my couch?? Because I walk past it a bazillion times a day.? Behind the couch is the main thoroughfare from there to everywhere in our house.? Why haven’t I walked to 2 feet to the pantry to get a rag and the floor cleaner?? Because the depression is kicking my ass.? What makes it worse is a little dust bunny army is forming around the cat puke to defend it when I come out of the fog.

    Every time I walk past that spot I look at it and think, “I really need to clean that.? What’s the point.? The cat’s just going to puke again.”? Kinda like I haven’t washed my car in months.? Sunday the trusty husband took my car through the car wash.? That night it snowed.? See.? What’s the point.? I considered it a protective layer of dirt.

    We are finally nearing the end of January and I am hoping to emerge from this annual fog, but February isn’t looking much better either.? The weather right now is 32 and raining.? How can it be raining when it’s freezing?? It’s Washington.? Snow gives us the big middle finger and says, “I’m going to be shitty slop and make your joints hurt.”? The sky is gray, it’s soggy and cold.? My furnace has been running non-stop for a week and my house is still cold.? I’d build a fire, but our chimney has a crack in it.

    The child has played “Interjection” and “Fake-believe” over and over and over again and I want to take those fucking CDs and break them into little bits.? Not to mention I think he’s getting an ear infection and is super cranky.? The trusty husband is on a business trip until Thursday leaving 2 extremely bitchy people holed up in a house for 3 days.? I’m not sure both of us will make it out alive.

    Someone please send brownies and seasons 1-5 of America’s Next Top Model.? If not I might have to resort to my last remaining bottle of Russian Vodka.

    24 Comments
  • Elle's Book Club

    • New year, new you

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    Ok, new me.

    Every year I swear I will not make resolutions.? Resolutions are made to be broken.? How many times have you said, “this year my new year’s resolution is to go to the gym every day and eat nothing but broccoli.”?? Then somewhere around January 2nd you find yourself sitting in front of the TV, watching Dancing with the Stars eating a cheeseburger.? Hey, you’re watching someone else exercise, that counts right?? See what I mean.? The only time I ever “resolve” to do anything is during Lent.? 40 days.? 40 days I can handle.? 365… I don’t have the attention span for that.? And heaven forbid it be a leap year.? Never gonna happen my friend.? That one extra day would totally put me over the edge.

    So I don’t make resolutions.? However, I like to start the year off with a clean slate.? Make some changes in life.? Look forward and forget about all the shit that happened in the past year.? Hopefully this year will be better than the last, and last year was pretty good for us.

    In 2008 you get a new Life of Elle logo.? See up there!? I like it too.? No changes to the site layout yet.? Oddly, I’m still happy with the basic layout I have.? It’s versatile and easy to update.? You will still get a new look each month.? I can’t stare at one color for more than a month.? And think about it, you only look at it for 1 month.? I look at it for 2.? I design the coming month’s graphics at the beginning of the preceding month.? That way I can tweak it to look just right.? I’m just not telling where I hide the design so you can sneak a peek.

    There is also a new feature.? “What’s on the Calendar.”? Under pages over there <—————.? Not only do you get to see what we are having for dinner, you get to see what I do during the week.? Now this isn’t ever minute detail.? It is the major things I have going on.? Again, this is something to keep the trusty husband up to speed on what the boy and I have planned.? It is also to show my mother that I really am as busy as I say I am.

    I am also going to try to spend a little less time in front of the computer and a little more time starting project “Get all of this shit out of my house.”? I am a huge pack rat and the stuff is making me feel like I am suffocating.? I am starting today with the boy’s bedroom.? I already went through his clothing, and will be filling my 6th giant Rubbermaid container with clothes that don’t fit.? Next it to tackle the actual closet and then *gasp* his toy box.? Heaven help me when he figures out what I’m doing.? Notice I say when and not if.

    A Happy New Year to you all and may your new year be full of great things to come.

    I’ll defend explain this month’s slogan later.

    16 Comments
  • Elle's Book Club

    • Sorry about that

    Posted on

    I had a moment there. Let’s just move past the post where Elle says her cousin is attractive. I don’t really want to be labeled any more of a redneck than I already am.

    I must say that currently the Life of Elle is quite boring. Granted I am up to my eyeballs in projects, but there isn’t really anything of particular interest. Look for a few new blog designs to come out pretty soon.

    I unearthed my office a little. Evidently I have 2 desks in here! Who would have thunk it? I am still doing a little freaking out about that whole parenting thing. Still not quite sure what to feed this thing when it arrives, but I suppose I will figure it out.

    On a totally unrelated subject I have to recommend a book to all of my readers. On most days I am a pretty smart person. I love to read and read just about everything. I do tend to shy away from trashy romance novels and anything suggested by Oprah, but that is a whole different story. I picked up one of the greatest books I have ever read. I know you have all heard about it. The book is Freakonomics. This book if fantastic. I was quite in the need of a good dendrite fluffing (oh, you will hear that phrase from me on occasion). The guys who wrote this are geniuses. They really do look at the hidden side of everything. It will simply astonish you as to how clueless we are to the pressures of "conventional wisdom."

    There you have it. Elle’s very own little book club. Pick yourself up a copy of this one today!

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