I just have time to pop in for a quick update before we start our day. Sundays I take henry down to the bakery and he plays and gets his hands all sticky with "rock and roll" (a huge cinnimon roll that Henry re-named) and I drink copious amounts of coffee and do the Sunday crossword. Then...packing. We have been having a hard time getting into the packing groove this time around. I did the big bookcase and... that's about it this time. I ahve been cleaning things out and trying to get rid of a lot of things I don't want to take with us, but we haven't been doing a lot of putting things in boxes quite yet.

I did star to thin the stash. Yup, you read that right, I sold off some fo my yarn yesterday. I sold some old synthetic stuff that I'll never use and some cotton I've had forever. I even sold 8 skeins of my Malabrigo. I know. It hurt a little, but it was all colors I could part with. I still have lots and lots of yummy wool to look at and pet, since it seems I may never actually get a chance to knit it up. I've been thinking of trying to do a couple of knitted/felted cuffs for my next stocking. I feel like knitting something other than pants for a change and those would be super quick.

I worked my extra 2 hours a day last week and... what a waste of time. I think I need to start bringing a book with me. I spend more time waiting around for kids to show up than I do actually teaching the kids. And I get so little time with them that I seriously doubt any of the information will stick. I really wish I could go back and turn the job down. We can definitely use the extra money, but that 2 hours is a big deal as far as getting other things done in my life outside of work and what I'm doing at work seems so completely pointless that it's frustrating. Ah well, it's only 5 more weeks. And it will pay for our IKEA spree.

I have more to ramble on about, but I am being paged. The bakery opens in 15 minutes, so it is time to get out of pjs and get movin'.

Cross your fingers and pray for a snow day tomorrow...

I now truly understand the definition of the word overwhelmed. I have had a few email exchanged with the Peace Fleece staff in Maine and Russia and it looks like this thing might actually be able to happen. After aout a million hours of work and research and whatnot. The next step is to set a price to pay for each piece. Sounds simple, right? Yeah. Before I can set a price I need to find a yarn supplier who can ship to Russia. I found a Russian yarn company, but they don't carry 100% merino wool. They do have a worsted weight 100% wool, so I ordered a sample card and a skein of the regular wool to see if it might work out. Hopefully it will be here soon and be soft enough. They do ship inside of Russia, so it would really cut down on duty shipping on the supply end of things. After I figure out the cost of supplies, I need to figure out shipping costs of the longies to me here. I will need to figure out international shipping costs and duty on importing them here. I also need to figure out how much woven labels with proper manufacturing disclosure will be. After I figure all of that out, I need to sit down and decide how much I can sell them for, both wholesale and retail, and set a price I am willing to pay per pair of longies. I have a meeting with a local small business consulting firm on Thursday, so I am hoping they can help me with filling out all of the paperwork to get legal and get my wholesale and tax licenses. Kyle has made me a database that is linked to a spreadsheet that calculates cash flow, kind of like Quicken, but attached to all of my customer files. This means I can get back on track with bookkeeping, tracking my spending and paying back my loan. It also means that I can keep better track of my customer base and I can even send out a mass mailing to all of the people in the database.

*deep breath*

We went and looked around the new house this past weekend and there is going to be a nice little space in the basement where I can set up a workspace and office. There will be plenty of room for my filing cabinet and a desk with my sewing machine and my knitting machine when I get one. I decided I am going to wait until after we move so I can set it up in one place and don't have to move it around at all. Pretty exciting stuff.

Okay. It's bedtime for me. Night night kids.

I am a pretty lucky girl today.

1. I have a rockin' friend who is willing to put up with my little beastie for 4 days in a row so that I don't have to take the whole week off of work while Henry's preschool is closed for testing. And Henry and Adella have actually played really well together for 2 days in a row! And Henry hasn't refused potty help and pooped in his pants! What more could a mother ask for? Kyle decided he is going to stay home for Friday's optional teacher workday, so tomorrow will be the last day Liz will have to be mama of two.

2. I had a snow day today! No, that doesn't mean I got to stay home. Apparently they don't want the kids to die when their car slides off of a bridge, but they're willing to risk us. It was nice to get a mid-week break from the kids, though. Since in bizarro public school world the assistants have to get there at regular time (8am) and the teachers don't have to show up until 9:30, I brought my laptop and busted out a customer feedback form while I was waiting for a teacher to assist, per my job title. After that I did really important things like talking about music and making 7000 transparencies.

3. AC Moore is having a 25% off all yarn sale and they just got a shipment with black in. I stopped by before picking Henry up and got 4 skeins of black, a brown and a couple of whites to dye. Go me!

4. I came home to an email from Peace Fleece. They want me to send a business plan type dealio and a sample of my longies to their staff in Russia because they think there is a small Russian artisan coopertive that might be able to produce them for me. After they get my plan and my sample, a member of the staff will travel to the cooperative and figure out a price per item and what kind of volume they can do and we'll go from there. I would be producing more products while being able to help a small Russian artisan cooperative. Does it get cooler than that? I don't think so.

5. Auntie KiKi sent pictures of Sam in his easy peasy cardigan I made him over break and they are so. cute. Unfortunately, I am at the laptop right now so I can't post any, but I will tomorrow. Pinky swear.

6. I have the best husband ever. He made me chocolate, chocolate chip, walnut brownies AND made me a fillable knit graph in pdf form so that I can sell my duplicate stitch patterns. I think I am going to try to do a big stocking of knit gear on either Feb. 1 or March 1, depending on how the knitting machine works out. The Addi machine looks fairly complicated and it scares me, so I think I might stick with the cheap-o Michael's one for now.

7. I got up with Henry this morning (that's not the good part) so Kyle has to get up with him while I sleep in until 7 tomorrow.

8. Top Chef is on right now and we have enough time stored up in our TiFaux that we don't have to watch commercials.

Sam is hot, yo.

*yawn*

Last night Kyle went out to see a late movie and I hung out here and got some knitting done. I got sucked into Real World Denver. I know, I know. It was like a giant car wreck and I have trouble going to sleep when Kyle isn't here. I finally turned in at a little after 12 and laid in bed for an hour and a half thinking about manufacturing Crankypants. I just couldn't turn my brain off and go to sleep. At a little after 2, Henry woke up and called me in his room to tell me that he was hungry and then proceeeded to tell me jokes about getting dizzy and kept me up untol almost 3. He called out again a little before 4, but I thew Kyle the elbow and made him get up and deal with it. Unfortunately, my sad and soory brain glommed back on to the manufacturing idea and it took me quite a while to get back to sleep. I should have just taken some Tylenol PM and been done with it. Now it is 7:15 and I've been up for an hour with the bean. I'm tiiiiiiiiired and I have a lot to do today.

The bakery opens at 8, so I plan to drag Henry down there and stay long enough to drink a bigass cup of coffee and get a refill. After that, we head to Melissa's house to get Henry a haircut and have a playdate with McKai, who we haven't seen in a bajillion years. I am really looking forward to combing out the giant snarl on the back of Henry's head before we go. Except not.

I finished a pair of longies last night, so if I want to stay on schedule, I have to finish kniting the legs of another pair today. I got the trunk and bum design all done and then realised I had to hand dye the yarn for the stripes on the legs so I had to put them on hold until the yarn dried. I'd also like to finish the stitch marker sets I started in CT. And I have to finally email Robert back about the boo boo bags. I have been thinking about seeing if I can find a cheap knitting machine for things like that. I don't know though, I've never used on before so they might just be a pain in the heiney.

We lost a fish last night. When I went in to see what Henry wanted in the middle of the night I noticed it getting lodged under the filter. I was still kind of half asleep and getting the dead fish out before Hery got up and saw it in the morning became something I HAD to do. Right then. My brain gets wonky when I'm tired and stupid things seem monumentally important. So I took the top off and unplugged the filter and started poking around under the filter with the net to try to dislodge the little fish carcass from underneath while trying ot to let Henry see what I was doing. I finally go tit out and flushed him. By that time I had woken up enough to realise that it was completely ridiculous to try to get a fish body out of the tank at 3am while trying to convince Henry (who just wanted me to lay with him) that nothing was happening and I felt like a total idiot. Ah well.

Off to tackle the giant snarl before we depart for the land of the giant cinnimon roll.

Things are in the works around here, I can feel it in the air.

When I was in CT, i got an email from a designer asking me if I could do wholesale for 13 boutiques in the east and west coasts. I finally got around to emailing her back telling her I didn't think I could do that kind of volume and she offered to give me a crash course in manufacturing. We'll see if she actually follows through. Also today, Tyler emailed me a link for a no-fee small business consulting firm in WNC. I am thinking this manufacturing thing might actually be a possibility. I could still do hand knits for people who wanted them on a customs basis, and having an actual brand name might actually mean that I can charge more for the hand knits. I don't know. It's still in the fantasy stages, but it's fun to think about making my first million, lol.

I finally finished my grad school application packet today. I just have to print out my resume and personal letter and we're off to the races. Of course, after I make my first million I won't have to worry about grad school or teaching. Maybe I could teach a little beginning knitting class on the side of my multi-million dollar retail empire just for kicks.

It is supposed ot be nice out this weekend so I am hoping that we can get out and about and hike around Bent Creek a little bit. It seems like we haven't spent any time outside lately. Of course it is raining out right now so it will be a big mud pile, but Henry will love it.

And now I think it is time to hit the hay. I have had a hard time readjusting this week after being spoiled rotton by my loverly parents taking Henry and letting us sleep in all week last week. I plan to catch up on sleep this weekend, with any cooperation from the bean. Last night he woke up at around 2am and called me into his room. When I asked him what was wrong he said "I took my pants off". I pulled back the covers and sure enough, his pants were around his knees. When I asked him why he said he didn't know. Kids are weird.

I can't believe it is already Thursday. So much and so little has been going on 'round these here parts.

Henry got some new fishies. I went and picked them up after volunteering on Tuesday. I got 4 different colors of gold fish so he could be sure to tell them all apart. And I got a net so I don't have to touch them if they die. That got really old, especially after fish #5 of the first batch bit the dust. Speaking of which, I should probably go see if they all made it through the day before Henry gets home from school...yup, all accounted for.

Today the principal of my school got a bunch of contracts and things in the mail from Billy Jonas. I went down to talk to her about it and she got the $250 approveds by the PTO! Woo! All we need is for the grant to go through and we are good to go. I will pee my pants if this actually goes through.

Speaking of peeing your pants, Henry had the biggest bedwetting experience of his life this morning. When this happens, he refuses to even let Kyle take his blanket off. He hugs it to his little chin and yells to me. While I appreciate that he is comfortable enough with me to let me see his "accident" and take care of it, I can't help but notice that special Mommy privilages seem only to include cleaning up pee and helping him poop. What's up with that? Shouldn't I at least get a hug once in a while if I'm so special? No such luck. And that reminds me that I need to go put pee sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers and clothes into the dryer. Pth.

I will leave you with some fabulous Christmas pictures that Auntie K just emailed me. They almost have me convinced that Kyle is right and we do need a new camera. Unfortunately, to get pictures this good I fear that Auntie K would ahve to come along as a package deal and I think that Sam would object.

Since Kyle got his...erm...OUR IPod for Christmas I have been banished to the laptop in the family room watching Dora with Henry while I type. This would be no problem (I realize I am lucky to have a laptop at all, even if it is school property, lol) except that I would like to post some pictures, which I can only do from the desktop. We took the most pitiful Christmas pictures ever, so I have to rely on the kindness of my loverly relatives to send me copies of theirs. *hint hint*

I finished the monster "boo boo bag" for mahar today and sent off pictures. The monjey one came out all wonky, so I am waiting to see if Robert likes the design of the monster before I redo the monkey. I am so over this project. I'll be happy when I get the thumbs down, or get the thumbs up and nail the process down to a science. Unfortunately, it seems like knitting them flat and sewing a seam is the way to go. Ugh. I hate purling. Maybe this is the universe's way of making sure I get faster at it. Yeah, that. I can't imagine they are going to be very cost effective, though. They take at least a couple of hours to put together. I think that either way I might whip up a couple of monster IPod cozies for my own store. I think they'd be super cute. We'll see.



I opened my customs list yesterday at the turn of the year and all the slots are gone already. Whew! I am getting better (slightly better) at setting limits and sticking to them. I actually said no to 3 people! Go me! Usually I would say yes and then live to regret it. Let's call limit setting a New Year's resolution, shall we?

In other news, we got renters' applications from the woman renting the little house down the street today. I can't imagine she is going to find anything wrong with our applications, but I am trying not to get my hopes up until we sign a lease. If we get approved, we'll move February 1, which is just around the corner! Man, that would be awesome.

Alright. Dora is over and it is time for me to wrestle Henry into bed. I am going to try to get him down early tonight. He was a BEAR to get out of bed this morning. Poor little sleepyhead.

Later gators.