ah, buenos Monday, peeps

I am feeling mucho MUCHO better, thank you. Rylie and I continue to mend… she by leaving a slug trail everywhere she goes and me by channelling my mother (who is not dead, but at a conference in Dallas) and stuffing kleenex in every sleeve I come across. If you could all have an extra kleenex ready for me in case I happen to randomly run into you this week, that’d be LOVE right there, people. Love. I’ll give you a minute to prepare… go ahead.

People. I have some homework for you. ‘Tis the season for buying and loving and dreaming of things you wish you had… and somehow relating all that to the Birth of Christ and/or the Winter Solstice and/or dreidels. Now. Let’s be a little creative here, ok? Mamma Mulder and our very own Sunday Grant prefer to have lists from which to buy from… you killers of suspense 🙂 I have an idea.

I’d like for you all to head over to Etsy and make yoself a profile. It’s free (and they won’t spam you, promise). This allows you to buy things, sure… but more importantly, it allows to you add favorites. Shop around… by color, by topic, by artist, by material… it’s crazy. AND, it’s all handmade… unique… different… lovely. Photography, pottery, art, clothing, fabric, stationary, purses, baby toys, magnets- anything you can think of- it’s there. And, you can talk to the artists… you can say, “Hey- do you make that in red? ‘Cause I would love one in red!” And they’ll talk back to you! It’s so great.

So you go, you log in, you start browsing and pretty soon you come across something you love. You click ‘add to my favorites.’ You move on. You find an artist you adore (perhaps TexasNorth, eh? She’s so cute.) and you add her to your favorites. You go to her favorites and see pages of things she’s inspired by and people she supports. And so, you click… and you look at their favorites. And then you find something you like, and you add it to your favorites. Come on, you know you’re wasting an hour today somehow anyway, so why not do a little wish-listing while you’re at it? Then, when your mother in law busts out the “TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT or you’re not getting anything” line you can hand her a website address (of your profile page) and say ‘I’m ready. Pick anything from my favorites. And now, I’m your favorite daughter-in-law. Give me some candy.’ Or something like that.

And, if you do this… if you make a profile and add some favorites and love on some hard workin’ handmade folks this week… and you comment below and I can check your profile, I shall send you a present. Mmmmhmmm. You heard me. And, if you’re an old hat on Etsy and have already done this, still leave me a comment and I shall send you something as well. I just think people are doing some amazing things out there, and I want you to see it. It’s not all knitted tissue covers and macrame, folks. Not anymore.

And also, you can go to Hopscotch in EastTown and get some CUTIE stuff… like TexasNorth bonnets (a limited version from the famous KingPod pattern– with permission, don’t even THINK about yelling at me) and stuffed animals and puppets and wooden blocks (in any language!) and clothing. Oh, break my heart.

The buyhandmade.org site also has some fabulous places to buy, well, handmade and the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog is doing a simple handmade project per day for the month of November. Check that out, too. I know you want to make something for all those nursery workers and Sunday school teachers and even, yes, your UPS man. Go to it.

Oh, Friends. So much to still tell you! Let’s just say you betta show up bright and early Thursday morning here at the ol’ blog, ’cause I got some FUN FOR YOU! Seriously.

*I would also like to say that The Boy dressed Rylie Saturday morning and headed out to the hardware store. He dressed her in pink and red (ew.) and then put her jeans on over her one-piece pjs.*