It's the little things

My daughter's new favorite word is little. She always talks about her little doll, or her little cup, or her little toothbrush...you get the idea. Then the other day when we were getting ready to go down stairs, she took my hand and with her sweet little voice she said, "Come on little momma". I just about died from the cuteness of it. If anyone else called me "little momma", I'm not sure I'd be too pleased, but coming from her, it was just the sweetest thing. Soon enough she'll be all grown up and the days of her darling toddler vocabulary will be long gone. So for now, I will gladly keep the title of little momma, and will savor every silly little thing she says.

Friday Flower: Zinnia

Now that we are well into September, the Zinnia crops from our local growers are nearing their end. Farewell to the vibrant Zinnias of summer...I will miss you.

Theme Thursday: Autumn in Maine

Tuesday marked the first day of Autumn, which has always been my favorite season. The crisp air, the rich warm colors...what's not to love? And since I moved to Maine, I love it even more! There's no better place to be in the Autumn than in New England. And nobody knows it more than Maine artisans. Check out these beautiful Autumn inspired items from my fellow members of the Etsy Maine Team:


Carnelian and Brass Bracelet -- Rolling in Autumn from Folk Art Tree Fandangle

Little Wool House No. 1 from Harvest Textiles


October - Beaded Glass Necklace from Faerie Glass


Dulce de Leche Handmade Encaustic Wax Paint set of 3 from Jamie Ribisi

Set of 5 Wee Needle Felted Pumpkins from Moon Dog Farm

Not your typical 2 year old's dinner request

As I was preparing dinner tonight, I asked little g if she wanted peas or broccoli. Her reply? "I want both of 'ems". Really? In disbelief, got them both out, showed them to her and asked again. Same reply. Both peas and broccoli? What child is this? I thought 2 year olds were supposed to demand nothing but goldfish crackers for a week straight. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I thank my lucky stars that my daughter likes vegetables and will happily eat a bowl full of peas and a bowl full of broccoli for dinner. Now whether or not it will stay that way remains to be seen. But until she decides she wants "neither of 'ems", I'll keep serving her "both of 'ems".

Friday Flower: Felt?

My usual Friday featured flower post is going to be a little different today. I'm having a BOGO sale on all of my hair accessories this weekend, and I just found out that my hand sewn felt poppy hair clip is going to be featured in Etsy's Weekend Deals article today. Yippee!!

I'm super duper excited about this, as it is really great exposure. It's been a rough couple of weeks around here with the daycare crisis and all, so it was really nice to get some good news! So be on the lookout for the article on Etsy today, or go sign up to receive the Etsy Finds email, and get it right in your inbox! Now here's a little sampling of goodies that will be on sale in my Etsy shop all weekend long:

Theme Thursday: But No Elephants!

One book that I have fond memories of reading as a child is "But No Elephants" by Jerry Smath. It's a delightful little tale of a lady, Grandma Tildy, who lives alone in a house. Each day, a pet salesman comes to her door, offering a different pet for sale, and each day her response is the same: "Very well, but no elephants." Until the last day, when the pet man offers an elephant. At first Grandma Tildy refuses to take the elephant, but eventually she takes him in.

When I saw a copy of this book at a local Goodwill, I had to snatch it up! And now it's one of my daughter's favorite books as well. She especially likes the part where the elephant gets stuck in the door. So today's theme is inspired by the animals that are featured in this story:

Yellow Canary Bird Bath Ring from Crea Shines

"I'm Canadien, eh" Knit Beaver Pattern from Pog Knits

Little Pet Turtle Playset from Wish with Me

Red-headed Woodpecker from Sandra Healy

Organic Cotton Fleece Plush Elephant from Wood Pond Designs

When life throws you a curve ball, swing.

Two and a half years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I knew I would be returning to work and would need child care for my soon to be born baby. I knew I had to start looking early, as many child care providers had waiting lists of 6 months or more. So my husband and I began our quest. We spent a great deal of time researching different child care options. We visited and talked to many child care providers, discussed between us our options and what would be the best possible place for our precious bundle to go when I returned to work.

We found a wonderful daycare that was the perfect blend of center care and home based care. It had the benefits of a larger center, but was in a home, so it wasn't too big, and had a nice warm feel to it. The care givers were all happy, friendly, and loving to the kids, who got to play outside everyday, and did lots of creative projects inside. We knew this would be a good place for our daughter to go.

Of course, when she started, it was a difficult transition for me. But as time went on, I adjusted, and began to see the benefits of her getting exposed to other kids and gaining social experience. She was always happy when I picked her up, and I knew that she was being well taken care of.

And then it happened. A working mother's nightmare. On the Friday afternoon before Labor Day, I went to our daycare to pick up my daughter, and her care giver handed me a note. Judging by the look on her face, I knew this couldn't be good news. I nervously opened the note, which was informing me that the daycare would be closing. In 2 weeks. My first reaction was shock, which was immediately followed by panic. I gave my daughter a big hug, took her by the hand, and walked solemnly to the car. Being the weekend, there was very little I could do start looking for new child care, so I tried to put it out of my mind as much as possible. But the "what if's" kept coming back. "What if we can't find any openings anywhere?" "What if the only places that have openings are not to our liking?" "What if she doesn't transition well to a new environment?" "What if..."

On Tuesday morning, I immediately started calling around, searching for a suitable place for her to go. The first place I got a hold of had openings, so we went to visit it. This was a large daycare center, with many rooms which were completely closed off from each other, and it was lacking that warmth that her old daycare had. There wasn't anything particularly bad about the place, but something just didn't feel right to me. Of course, maybe it was because my daughter clung to my leg the whole time we were there, and didn't let go until we left.

I called several more places, leaving messages, and waiting for them to return my call. What seemed like an eternity later (but was actually later that same day), I finally got a call back from another place. I set up a time to go visit the next afternoon. This one was also a larger center, but when we got there, I instantly loved it. It was bright and warm, very well organized, and my daughter seemed very much at ease there. She even played with the kids a little bit while I talked to the director! In fact, the only problem I could see with this daycare was the fact that they didn't have openings on all of the days I work. But we knew if we didn't snatch up the opening they did have, it would be gone in a matter of hours.

I feel relieved that we found something on such short notice, and I'm actually kind of excited for her to start at the new place. I hope the transition won't be too difficult for her. I think experiencing a change like this may actually be good for her. Hopefully it will help her learn to adapt to new situations, which is a very useful skill to have in life.

Growing, growing, growing...

I haven't had a haircut in quite some time. I think maybe my last one was sometime this spring, but in all honesty, I really can't remember. It's one of those things that I kept meaning to do, but never got around to. Then it was getting so long that I figured I may as well keep growing it out, so that when I do finally get it cut, I can donate it to Locks of Love. Locks of Love is a wonderful non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children that suffer from long-term medical hair loss. In order for them to be able to use the hair, it must be 10 inches from tip to tip.

I typically prefer to keep my hair short, so it can be a challenge to get it to 10 inches before I chop it off. But I figure if I made it through the summer without cutting it, I can make it a month or two more. And as you can see in the picture, I'm getting close! And yes, I really am planning to go that short! I'm thinking maybe a super short angled bob a la Louise Brooks, but we'll see.

Friday Flower: Milva Rose

A little late with today's post, but better late than never, right?? For this Friday's featured flower, I thought I would share one of my favorite varieties of roses: Milva. This rose is absolutely gorgeous! Milva is a stunning combination of vibrant color with subtle tones, with a deeper orange center fading out to a lighter edge with just a tinge of pink. Perfect for an autumn wedding!

Bouquet of Milva Roses, red Hypericum berries, and Aspidistra leaves.

Theme Thursday: A little nutty

There are several oak trees in my neighborhood, and now when my daughter and I go for walks, she always stops to pick up the acorns (the real ones, not the ones I mentioned in this previous blog post). Fall is my favorite season, so I am always happy to see the return of these delightful little first signs of autumn.

Felted Wool Covered Acorn Bowl from Maddy and Me


Out on a Limb - The Last Acorn Necklace from Block Party Press


Autumn Leaves are Falling Mobile from Molly Anne Make


Old Oak Hand-embroidered Brooch from Pippin Designs


Eco-friendly Squirrel Coin Purse from Bird Versus Bird


Six Felted Acorns - Lemon & Lime from Fairy Folk

Mispronunciations at their best and worst

Young children, as they are learning to communicate, often mispronounce words. Sometimes their errors are simply adorable, and sometimes they are a source of great embarrassment for their parents.

Mispronunciations at their best:
Some mispronunciations are just so darn cute, that you almost hate to correct them. One of my daughter's is "acorns". She has a little bit of eczema, and often gets an itchy rash behind her knees, so we will often put a little cort-aid on them to relieve the itchiness. Now when she starts getting itchy, she asks for "acorns" on her knees.

And at their worst:
Sometimes kids will unknowingly mispronounce a word in a way that is not so nice, like when little g was having trouble with her R's (imagine "fork" and "shirt" without the R's...eep!). She has finally mastered the letter R, but now is struggling with some others. In the morning when I ask her what kind of cereal she wants, she proudly announces, "I want Porn Quakes."

What funny mispronunciations do your kids have?

New look in my Etsy shop

Etsy shop owners recently got a new tool called 'Rearrange Your Shop', which enables us to move items around in our shops, much like you would do in a brick & mortar shop. I'm really excited about this feature, as it enables me to give my shop a more cohesive look, and also highlight certain items by bringing them to the front page. Kind of like changing the window display!

Since the default view is now 'Custom', which won't necessarily show you the most recent additions to my shop, I have added a section called 'New This Week' where I will list any new items I have added each week. And of course, you still have the option to sort by most recently listed or price.

So come by my shop and check out the new look! My 20% off of your entire purchase weekend deal is still going on today, so why not pick up a little something while you're there? Let me know how you like the new look in the comments here, and I will also give you free shipping. What a deal!

Friday Flower: Orchid

Exotic. Elegant. Enchanting.

People have been fascinated by the beauty of orchids for thousands of years. Orchidaceae, the family of orchids, is the largest family of flowering plants with nearly 25,000 individual species. The majority of orchid plants today are hybrids of Cymbidium, Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, and Cattleya. In cut flowers, you will most commonly find Cymbidiums (both large and mini) and Dendrobiums.

At the florist shop where I work, this weekend we have a wedding entirely in orchids. The different varieties of orchids in shades of magenta, pink, and white are a stunning combination. Here's some shots of the bouquets and boutonnieres:

Bride's Bouquet of white Cymbidiums, pink Phalaenopsis, and magenta Dendbrobiums.

Bridesmaid's Bouquet of pink Phalaenopsis and magenta Dendbrobiums.

Boutonnieres of white and magenta Dendbrobiums.

Wrist corsages of white and magenta Dendbrobiums.

Theme Thursday: Apple Picking!

September is here, and that means so is apple-picking season! If you can't make it out to an apple orchard today, why not "pick" some of these delicious apples?

Red Polka Dot Apple Hairclips from Tizzalicious


"He was different" open edition print from Nicky Bee Shop

Medium zipper pouch - Pomme red from Simbiosis by Julie


Apple Adjustable Wrist Pincushion from Bird Watching

And of course, with all of those apples, you simply must have apple pie!

Adorable Apple Pie Ring from Misty Aurora

Pingu!

I have always been a lover of claymation. It's an art form that never ceases to amaze me, as I cannot even begin to imagine how much work goes into it. My husband recently discovered Pingu, and little g has been absolutely delighted with this lovable little penguin and his family. Fortunately I have also been delighted! It's so nice when our little ones take a liking to watching something that we don't mind watching ourselves, isn't it?

If you'd like to watch some clips of Pingu, there are loads of them on youtube. Among our favorites are Pingu's Pancakes, Pingu Boogaloo, and Pinga has Hiccups. But as with anything you allow your children to watch, you should always watch it without them first. While most of these Pingu clips are wonderful, there's one called Pingu Dreams that has a somewhat creepy walrus that might be frightening to some. So always preview!

I hope you will enjoy watching Pingu (or "Mingu" as my daughter sweetly mispronounces it) as much as we have.