need to vent...

i just need a little venting...it's over something very very miniscule, not even in the realm of important but it's still bugging m.

Recently, I was a vendor at the McDowell School craft sale. When I signed up for it I made sure to ask the lady in charge if it was ok for there to be more than one vendor with similar products or if they were looking to keep it very diversified. She assured me that there would probably be quite a few different vendors with similar products but that was ok because it made for better shopping for the customers. I even made a point of NOT bringing certain items with me because they were pretty much the same as another girl's "bowtique" items.

I have been a customer of hers since mid summer. I have been making clips for my daughter since early spring after seeing some that my sister-in-law had purchased at a store local to her home. After the sale, where my "competition" did very well regardless of my presence, she blocked me on facebook from seeing her personal profile (along with my daughter and husband) and removed all 3 of us from being fans of her fan page. Even after clicking "like" again, thinking it was just fb acting up she removed us once more and blocked us from being able to comment on the wall or on pics. This didn't bother me terribly until last night's bash, where items were offered for sale prices in a game type setting.

After a few emails back and forth where I felt I was more than polite she made it possible for me to comment under photos but I still cannot even do a fb search under her name. Meaning, she has me blocked. I proceed to participate in the bash only to find out she can't see my comments. Again, because she has me blocked. This is not only a piss off to me but to others as well because by her not seeing my comments but others able to it throws off the count of comments (which was how you "won" by being a certain # comment). She then states that she knows why she can't see them but acts like I have her blocked. Hello?!?! I may be juvenile but not that much.

Then I get sent an invoice for 1 clip that someone told her I was the "winner" of. By winner, it means I win the chance to purchase it. I love the clip, it is a pink leopard print flower, it would look great in cassie's dark hair!! Along with the price of the clip I am being charged $3 shipping!!! You have got to be kidding me! I saw on other comments on the fan page that 2 other women have shipping charges of $2.50 each and they won quite a few items. So why the outrageous shipping fee? Not to mention I still have a $5 credit with her from an online party i hosted this summer. I emailed requesting if I could apply it to this. Waiting to hear back. If not I won't be buying it!!

I understand that she feels I am in competition with her for her customers/sales but really, I only did the one craft sale (and I had other items than just hair products that she doesn't carry) and I haven't attempted to sell any clips since. She told me she felt "conflicted" because I started out as a customer and friend and now i am making "direct imitations" of her original work. Umm...original? not a chance sweetie. I actually found a website offering FREE tutorials on how to make ALL the items she claims are her own ideas, which is where I learned how to make all the ones I make. Ok, so because I make clips I can't buy from her? The items I wanted from her were ones I have no interest in making myself even if I think they are adorable! An analogy I used was this, if I owned a bakery would it mean I couldn't buy bread at the grocery store?

Did I mention her prices are a little inflated? By little I mean almost double what other "bowtiques" charge. Don't get me wrong, I believe in a healthy profit margin for the retailer but when an item cost $3 to make, and others sell it for $10-12 and she asks $18 its a little out of my personal budget.

Again, she has some really nice stuff, and for someone who isn't inclined to make it themselves it's great. But I don't much care for her customer relations.

After discussing this with a few people I have come to the decision to go make a go at my cassabella bowtique, although i may change it to boutique as it will be more than just hair accessories. I also have appliqued shirts, onesies etc, reuseable snack bags, crochet (by me) hats, and depending on my newfound sewing skills I may even have handmade clothing. For now until the new year I won't be doing a whole lot, just the inventory I have already, but after that I will make an honest go at it!!

Sorry to any of you who read this and know who I am talking about and are her friend. Maybe I should keep this to myself but hey, my blog, my rant right?!?

my son is going to be a serial killer....

I can see it now.

Or maybe he won't be but I am seriously worried about it after tonight.

You know how they look back into a murderer's past and say, "dude used to torture small animals, it only escalated from there", well document today people because it's the milestone in my three year old's serial future.

Cohen. killed. our. cat. I'm not even kidding. The poor thing loved him even though he was sooo maul-y with him. Cohen would grab the cat (have you noticed yet the cat had no name? an omen perhaps?) and bundle him in a blanket and sit down to watch tv. The cat would stay put (he knew how the boy rolled.) Then after Cohen was off in dreamland, you'd find the cat all cuddled up to Cohen purring away. (What's that about victims being sympathetic to their abusers?)

Cohen is a mischievous boy, to say the least. Once I found the cat in a dresser drawer. Another time in the portion of the coffee table top that opens into a storage area. Once he shoved the cat down into the back of the couch and to get it out Rob and I had to flip the couch onto it's front. So I guess he sounds a bit sadistic right about now but he really did care about this cat. He fed the kitty, and pet the kitty and kept the puppy from using the kitty as a chew toy. (poor kitty)

What happened tonight was very tragic and yet morbidly humourous at the same time. Wait, you'll see why. After school our neighbours 5 year gets off the bus and stays here until either parent or his grandma pick him up. Tonight he wanted to stay longer so I agreed. In retrospect this was the defining moment. His presence here meant I had 3 wired boys as opposed to 2. They were WILD. This boy also loves the cat. He loves it as much as Cohen does, if you catch my drift (shit a neighbourhood full of potential inmates-Cohen might just luck out with a cell mate from his choldhood).

Ok, this is what we gather happened, Cohen and neighbour kid hunted out the cat. At some point Cohen attempted to put the cat in the aforementioned coffee table cubby. The cubby has a hinged lid type area. Cohen was ON the coffee table. Poor kitty ended up half in/half out of this cubby and somehow Cohen ended up squashing him. I'm pretty sure it was instant since NO ONE noticed. Including the 10 year old and 8 year old who were in the living room watching tv.

Poor kitty. I really miss him. But here's the morbid humour. Cohen didn't realize anything was wrong with kitty.(you see where this is going?)  He chased his older brother and the neighbour boy around the living room/dining room/kitchen/foyer circle holding the cat out as if the cat was "gonna get them". Still NO ONE NOTICED!! At this point Rob declares it's time for neighbour child to head home as it's getting seriously loud and wild and out of control. I go into the living room to settle them down, turn to Cohen who was lying ON the cat (not abnormal for him to this either). As per usual I shoo Cohen away from the cat so the cat has a chance, however slim, to escape for a few minutes, when I realize the cat is NOT moving. I panic and call Rob over thinking Cohen had just suffocated kitty. We realize at this point that this had not just happened and of course my big mouth had just informed 5 kids that the damn cat was d.e.a.d.

Cassie starts bawling, Ryan was more curious than anything, Neighbour boy didn't seem fazed at all and Cohen wanted to play with the damn thing. Ashton was crawling around, had to keep him away. My oh-so-manly husband would not touch it. He went to get the dustpan (it's a really small 7 month old cat).

I took Cohen aside to try to find out how and when this all went down. He put his two little hands on each side of my face, looks me in the eyes and says, "Don't worry, mommy, cat is dead. In 2 or 3 days we'll have a new one." I think maybe we need to reconsider video games, he now thinks when things die you wait a bit and they come back. Not quite pet sematary here kid. (that's how the movie spelled it right?)

I miss the cat. Right now he would be cuddling on my bed, purring away. Instead, he's in a shoe box in the back porch.

And I am not going to bed until my future Ted Bundy falls asleep. Gotta watch my back from now on.

busy week ending with cold hard cash

This week has ben super busy. Along with day to day household life, 4 kids and planning for Ashton's upcoming 1st birthday, I have been crafting like crazy. I found out a litttle over a week ago about the McDowell Home and School craft fair and wanted to have a table there to promote some of the items I have been working on. In retrospect I wish I had been better prepared and had a more polished looking display but I think I pulled quite a bit together in quite a short time. I didn't sell everything I brought, and I was told by 2 different customers that I had priced my stuff too low, but the way I figure it is I price the items at a price I would want to pay. Sure I would love to make oodles of money but I would rather sell lots of items at a decent price than a few at a high price.
The strange thing is that the items I thought would sell didn't and the items I made last minute just because I wanted some for myself almost sold out! hmmmm
So hopefully in the next couple of days I get my remaining items photographed and my website up and running for ordering. I also am looking into any other craft/vendor fair going on in the next few weeks. So if you hear of any, please let me know.
And a big thanks to anyone who actually reads this blog who came out and who bought an item from me.

mom? entrepreneur? *mompreneur*

Lately I have been embracing my creativity. When I get a few free moments that is. In other words, instead of putting away the folded laundry or emptying and reloading the dishwasher I have been dabbling in the dining room with trinkets from my cabinet of craft goodies.

Some of the items I have attmpted have been boutique (or bowtique) hair clippies, wooden beaded pacifier clips and reuseable sandwich/snack bags.

I am in the midst of creating a web site for online shopping. Since this is all new and I'm still "testing the water", I am giving it a go with a free web hosting site. The name of the *business* (and I use the term quite loosely, is Cassabella Bowtique. The website is going to be http://cassabellabowtique.webs.com/. I've started it but who knows how log it will take me to really get it up and functional.

Here is a preview of some of the items I have been working on:

                                         
                                        

I am SuperWoman!!!

Ok so I'm totally not. But I accomplished something today that I am very proud of. It involved plumbing.

Well, not quite plumbing. Ok, not plumbing at all but there was a faucet and water involved.
Recently, we bought a second hand portable dishwasher I found on a facebook *yard sale* group. It matches our current appliances and for $180 NOT having to rip apart the kitchen cabinets was a big selling feature.

So this great buy of mine became somewhat of a headache when we first brought it home. When we bought this house this summer we changed the kitchen taps to a set I found at a discount price, brand new, online. I paid $35 plus shipping to a canadian retailer (bonus) for a set that was retailing at a big box store for $179. Only problem was that the adapter piece for the dishwasher was too big for the end of the faucet. After searching every possible store I conceded that my stylish taps had to go. This meant buying new unimpressive taps. But hey, the dishwasher works well, so that makes it more than worth it in my mind.

Ok, so, back to what I did. This adapter piece leaked like a mother____ you know whater. And if it was left on the faucet, when you ran the water  it sprayed out these little slits in the sides ALL OVER the kitchen. So every time I ran the dishwasher I had to switch end pieces. Sounds simple. Surprisingly not. Anyways, to get to the point, somehow, I fixed it. See, last night I tried to take off the adapter and it came off in 2 pieces (not so good) so this morning I had to put a bunch of inner workings back into the bottom half and I guess I did it right (which meant it had been wrong) because now it can stay on the end of the faucet for good. No more pain in the ass switching ends just to use my damn sink!! Yay Me!!

Ohhh Rob....

My husband has been coming out with the oddest things lately. Or maybe I'm just paying attention to him. Who knows?

First funny/interesting convo went something like this...

I was walking up the stairs behind Rob carrying a laundry basket (I was carrying it, he wasn't)

Me: ......something...something...something.....you don't even lift a finger around here, ...blah, blah, blah

Rob: (turning around) see, I lift a finger! (as he flips me the bird)

At this point I am laughing uncontrollably, not because of what he did, but the giddyness in his voice and the look on his face. Priceless! (maybe one of those "you had to be there" moments)

Today, though, my dear hubby was sent into the grocery store to get apples and a loaf of bread. I told him this was ALL we needed. He comes out, his pocket $47 lighter, and with the apples, bread, 2 bricks of cheese and A CASE OF TUNA. Not just a couple of cans. An entire flipping case. I usually buy a few cans a week because it's one sandwich both my school aged kids can agree on and Rob makes the sandwiches for them when he makes them for his lunch.  He said, and I quote, "ehh, I get tired of only having a few in the cupboard, now i can see that I'm not going to run out. My husband has a problem. He is a canned food hoarder. He doesn't necessarily even eat the stuff in the cans but if it's on sale and even remotely interests him he will stock up on it. He is a sale junkie! Nothing makes his day more than walking out of the grocery store with a cart (or 2) full of sale priced goodies he won't have to re-buy for the next 6 months (if not longer). Ask him how much toilet paper we have! Or ask him what happened with all the canned soup we bought over a year ago. I gave it away just before it expired. That and a bunch of jars of spaghetti sauce.

Ahhh but how cute is he right now? He is camping out on the living room floor with Cohen, Literally, In a sleeping bag. I guess I'll keep him.

you're done? that's it? that didn't last very long!!

Get your mind out of the gutter! Bring mine with you.

I was referring to Ashton's nap. Lately, he's been taking a sweet 2 hour nap around 11am or so. And, IN HIS CRIB, to boot. Ok so he falls asleep on my bed with me cuddling him and giving him a bottle, but then I move him to his crib so that when he wakes up, which he usually does quite quietly, he won't take a header off my bed. (yes, he has before, a few times).

We are having a pretty cool day, though, short naps aside. I discovered that there still is one box left of Quaker dino eggs oatmeal left so you know what's for lunch today. I might be stinkin excited because we have, like, no food. well, no food I feel like making and/or eating. Grocery day here we come! Rob has been working in Petawawa all week and since grocery shopping is a family affair (cuz apparently I don't buy enough or what *they* like), we will be going tomorrow. Nothing says quality family time like dragging 4 kids through no frills and walmart and bribing good behaviour from them with good ole artery clogging Rotten Ronnies, Mcdonald's. Rob has actually called it McPukes (while suggesting we go there for lunch) and I refer to it often as McRuns (as in what it will give me if I eat their nuggets ever again).

Back to our good day, Cohen has been wearing underwear all week and today he hasn't had any accidents. Yesterday there was one, quite the doozy, but so far so good today. He missed the toilet completely when he peed but as long as he gets near the toilet I'm happy! (it's not like his 8 year old brother has perfect aim by any means. He even had a nap and stayed dry. On a side note, that's what happened to Ash's long nap. He donated an hour and a half of it to his brother!

you're NOT from a small town when...

My dog (well puppy but he's big) got struck by a car yesterday afternoon. Honestly no fault to the driver. Coco was across the road (which is a first for him) and bolted out in front of the car. The driver of the car, came to our door to let us know that she had hit a dog and to ask if we knew whose it was. As it turned out it was our 4 month old great dane puppy, Coco. She thought she had hit him pretty hard but he had managed to run off. Even though she had an appointment to get to she still helped me look for him. After about 10 minutes he emerged from under our back porch. He seemed ok. He jumped up onto the front porch to head inside. Yup, seems ok to me. She finally headed off to her appointment, still apologizing, and facebook'ed me later that evening for an update on the dog. That's small town. Mighty neighbourly!

What's not small town was the woman, whom we didn't know, who knocked on my door about an hour later to ask if "the lady who hit that dog" had stopped after hitting it. She was very snide and quite bold about it. I politely told her that it had been my dog and that, yes, the driver had indeed stopped and if she hadn't I wouldn't have even known about it. The woman said she saw it happen. Really? Then she would have seen the driver get out and stay for quite awhile. If she saw it happen, and was sooo concerned, why didn't she come over sooner?

Anyways, someone, who used to reside in this small town, who is super fun and just happens to be one of my favorite cousins is having a giveaway over at her blog. Mrs. Ashley Johnston, and it can be read here. How sweet of her to host a giveaway on her birffday!!  Thanks Ash!!!
 

I'm a bad neighbour...

We recently moved. Same town. New house. (well old house but new to us) Anyways, in our old neighbourhood we were *those* neighbours. Messy yard, cluttered front porch, unruly children...you get it. Keep in mind, though, that we were surrounded by mostly elderly homeowners or childless. Upon moving here we realized a few things: we would not have the messiest yard by any means and our children are far from the unruliest. Yay us!!

So being the nice person I am (stop laughing, Ashley!) I offerred to put our neighbour's son on the bus in the morning and be there when he gets home. So far Rob has taken care of the mornings more than I, and the days I *forget* to be at the bus stop are starting to mount in number. Monday my 8 year old son met him (he happened to be outside), Tuesday another neighbour brought him over and today I barely got outside and he was waltzing up the walkway. Thankfully we had a yard full of kids so the bus driver let him off.

Tomorrow should be fun. Rob is starting a new job and will be leaving much earlier in the morning so I will be on my own...yikes!!

babies...babies...babies...

Babies everywhere...

My poor parents...not even 50 yet and my mother has 12 grandchildren. We live in the country. Not much goes on here. We get bored. What else can I say?

So, almost 11 months ago we added our 4th monster to the mix. This followed my younger sister's addition 7 weeks earlier (her 4th). Then this summer came my other younger sister who had her 3rd. At this point we have a ratio of 8 boys to 3 girls...then came my baby sister's first baby...a GIRL!!! She is itty bitty, adorable and absolutely perfect!!

I admit I have baby fever right now. Not that I already didn't. I have been wanting to add one more child to the crazy house for awhile now. (well a couple of months anyways).  When I go out with all 4 kids (not that often) I always feel like there is still one missing! A sign perhaps?!?!

Did I mention that my sister in law has a 6 month old daughter and a close cousin just announced her pregnancy? Like i said BABY FEVER!!!!

Late Night Activities...

It is about 4 am and I am getting busy...creating a new blog...because there are one or two out there that I have started over the years but for the life of me I can't remember passwords for them.

Why am I up at this hour? Because I co-sleep with my beautiful baby boy and he woke up...well, I woke him up after the cat woke me up and now I can't fall back asleep. It doesn't help that a few of my favorite shows play re-runs every night (NCIS, Bones and House).

Feeling a little nauseous too, pretty sure it has something to do with all the grease consumed at dinner. Thanks Rita C for the all-you-can-eat fish and chips at Irvings in Pembroke for my birthday!!

This year my *special day* fell on Thanksgiving Monday. We had already had my family's dinner the day before at my parent's and I had offerred to host Robert's family the following day.

The best gift I could have asked for came a day late. Well it started on my birthday but arrived around noon October 12th. This gift weighed 8lbs 8oz and is named Brandi!! My *baby* sister (THE baby as she is the youngest of 4 of us) had her first itty bitty teeny tiny perfect little baby of her own! Congrats Kate and Andy!! We LOVE her already!!!