flirting with penguins

After a few days of spring-like weather, Texas said, "Naw, Ya'll. I ain't done with this winter business." It snowed again (Monday I think it was) and once again the whole dang city shut down. Well, I say it like it's a bad thing. If I want donuts I just send the husband to get them. I don't go anywhere. Me no have no car...

BUT I'M GETTING IT FIXED THIS MONTH!!

WOO!! Thank God for tax returns and lots and lots of patience!

That means I can re-open my Etsy store now that I can get to the post office!

And thank God for fresh eggs, right? Eggs so fresh they still got the chicken poo on 'em. YUM!

My husband met a dude that sells large batches of poo eggs for half the price of the grocery store. Since I'm going low carb these days I'm going through some muthah flippin' eggs like crazy.

Since I don't get gussied up to work on blogging stuff at home and since we kinda sotra forgot about daylight savings time, we missed church so I've got no outfit to feature.  I did, however, go to my nephew's fifth birthday party yesterday but I wasn't feeling very photogenic - probably because there was nothing to eat at the party and I was staaaarving- so I just took pics of other folks.

Someone took a pic of me tho.

So the whole pro-blogging thing is working out ok. It's VERY time consuming though. I spend about ten hours a day networking and promoting- but hey, it's SO worth it! I've made $70 whole dollars in three months! At this rate, I'm sure retirement is right around the corner. 

I'm not even blogging about my kids like I first intended. Turns out that wasn't really as fun and exciting as I thought it would be. Is that an awful thing to say? I did a couple posts about saving money and being frugal and all that jazz and it turns out I like writing about money a little more than... my kids. Sheesh that DOES sound bad!!! 

Sorry Cedar and River. Mommy loves you...  she's just not very good at writing about you...

Speaking of, here's my little butter boo, 6 months and trying to crawl already!

Well that's all for now. Time to go get caught up on reading your blaaaaawgs.

Laters!

wiggle worm

Hey gals (and dudes). How's everyone doing today? Good? Ya feelin' well? Ya hungry? Can I make you a sammich? Getcha some tea?

Me? Thanks for asking. I'm super busy. I am in the middle of so many projects right now.

I'm a little frazzled but I'm never bored and I love it. 

I can't be still. I friggin' hate being still. If I'm bored for more than a few seconds I start getting suicidal... kidding...

Or am I?

On the 20th, I'll be hosting our annual Christmas/Husband's birthday party at our place. 

Then comes Christmas and New Years. (New Years? Do I smell an excuse for another party?)

January 20th is River's birthday party. We've decided on a gothy circus theme for that. Squee! Can't wait!

February 7th is our 4th annual Valentines Day fundraiser for the Faire. Last year we had a masquerade and the year before was steampunk. Both events were pretty successful so we've decided to blend the two together and throw a Valentines Day Steampunk Masquerade ball. Sweeeeeet.

Let's see...what else?

Oh yeah!

I started a new blog, I've started back belly dancing AND (drum roll please) I've started my first novel!! Ok, "truthishly", I've started novels before but I get so swept up in the dialogue, it just becomes a script. And because I don't know how to format scripts properly I don't submit them. I just keep them to myself and read them for my own entertainment. But not this time! No siree! I'm gonna write that dang book and I'm gonna get it published!

Err.... my mom's a publisher so hopefully she'll hook me up right? 

With two kids, a husband and a home to take care of, how do I have the time to do all of this?

Ok. Here goes:

My car died last year. Every time we get the money to fix it, something disastrous happens and we have to hand over all of our dough. So we have one car that my husband takes to work everyday so that means what, dear readers? I'M STUCK AT HOME ALL DANG DAY - EVERY DANG DAY. 

 

I do have a schedule. It's not strict, though, nor was it intentional. Things just fell into place that way:

In the morning I change diapers and snuggle and feed babies. Then I check my two email accounts, one personal and one for faire, and then my 2 Facebook accounts, one personal and one for my Faire persona Daniella Noir - I'll tell you about her later. Then 3 Facebook pages, the Faire's page, my blog's page and then my Events In Texarkana Page - that's a rather popular page where I share all the cool happenings in Texarkana and the surrounding areas. That page is the most important as over 2,800 people (and growing!) people are looking to me to help plan their weekends. I also have 6 groups Facebook groups: My faire staff group, a group for selling vintage and antique items, one for vendors looking for events to attend in the Arklatex (Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas area), one for people offering services in the area and 2 for the faire: a page for my gypsy performers and the other for the volunteers.
I know it sounds like a lot (and it is), but it takes less than an hour to get it all done.

After noon I do belly dance drills for 30 minutes to an hour while River wraps himself around my legs and/or throws things at me.

After I dance I feed babies again and start cleaning the house. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I like for things to look somewhat organized. Clutter drives me nuts. Sometimes I put on music and continue dancing while I clean.

Then it's "free" time: I blog, read blogs, get on Pinterest, plan events, etc - all while kissing boo-boos and cleaning spit up and poopy diapers. By the way I have 3 Pinterest pages. One for myself, one for the faire (almost 5,000 followers!) and one for Events in Texarkana.

At around 5pm my husband calls to let me know he's on his way home. I put on Netflix or some music (Christmas records this season!) and I start dinner and do the dishes at the same time. 

After dinner I usually do a little laundry while I browse Pinterest and/or work on my novel.

Then I bathe the babies, put them to bed and then I drink a little gin to help quiet my mind while I either work on my novel some more or read a book or magazine until I pass out.

Rinse. Repeat.

I tried to throw an ironing business into the mix but I had no takers. I'm still open to doing it if anyone needs some ironing done. I can make time!

I was supposed to reopen my Etsy store at the beginning of next year, but with no car, I can't get to the post office to mail out items, so BAH HUMBUG! 

So there you have it! Are you a wiggle worm too? Do you have issues with being still like I do?

^ All linked up ^

Modern Colors Two: an illustrated explanation

Hello folks! I've started a spinoff blog for mom and kid stuff. 

The original Modern Colors blog started off as a pregnancy style blog, but I had no style... so it became just a pregnancy blog. After the birth of my first child the blog became all about me since my baby did little more than just drool and poop. Not really blog-worthy. 

Now I have two kiddos and I've found my self desiring more and more to blog about them and all sorts of fun kid stuff. I know many of you ladies out there either have no children or you have children who have long since left the nest so I highly doubt you all would be interested in reading about how to remove spit-up stains and the best cream for a chapped hiney.

January, 2012 - 9 months pregnant with River.

When I first started off blogging about pregnancy and baby stuff, quite naturally I followed other mom bloggers and to tell you the truth - it was a pretty boring journey. I mean, are 15 black and white photographs of your baby wearing cloth diapers really necessary? Biweekly posts about vegan toddler meals? A 4,000 word image-less post about teething?

Mom blogs tend to be the same blog over and over. They lure you in with promises of eclectic awesomeness - calling themselves, "groovy", "crunchy", "hippie" and "bohemian". When you get to their blogs, you find that they feel they're SO unique because they wear  $300 Anthropology dresses, cloth diaper their babies, use coconut oil and buy organic baby food.

Woopdee-friggin'-doo. Let's have a party.

So, I know it sounds like I have a low opinion of all mom bloggers. Not all of them. Just the boring ones.  I would like to jump back into the game and try my hand at giving mom blog readers something a little different. Surely there's a mom out there looking for tips on how to create a steampunk costume for a two year old - or tips on the best way to introduce your child to Tom Waits.

WARNING:

Yes, Modern Colors Two will have annoying ads.

Yes, it will also have product reviews and giveaways that force you to follow me on every form of social media ever made.

I need the money. I need the freebies. I need the... attention?

I love to blog and if I can do it to help support my family then by gum, that's what I'm going to do. BUT I'm going to do it in the most awesome way possible - always with humor, a dash of sarcasm and little bit'o this:

No,worries, I'll still blog here. I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

So, if you're interested in following Modern Colors Two just click on the image below and sniff it out.

THANKS!