Secret Santa Surprise

Sure many of you have ever done one of those Secret Santa or Secret Sister trades, I expect a few of you will understand what I am about to blog about. I have done several of these only to generally come up disappointed. I have always put some heart into whatever I was purchasing. Working very hard to ensure that the receiver would think "WOW!! How thoughtful!" But when it came time for me to open my gift, it was a rushed just grab something type of thing. Or even worse, one time I was in a woman's group that continued the secret swap for 3 months. There were 2 Kim's in the group and I am sure you can already see what happened. Yep, Kim B. was lavished with wonderful gifts, while I got nothing for 2.5 months because I was too "polite" to say anything. Finally the organizer of the swap realized I never spoke of the little things I received and figured it out on her own. Anyway, I am not picky, and I defiantly don't look at price tags when it comes to something I have been given. If it is from the heart it shows no matter what the cost. But I have always ended up on the short end of these swaps. Seeing the wonderful things that others received, the pretty earrings, sun catchers, hand knitted scarves, picture frames, journals, etc and I would get the dollar store bunny statue (I am so a chicken person). A very good friend of mine made an excellent point. She said "You really can't expect to much. After all, it's stranger picking out something for you." Very true!! And even with all the wonderful lists we fill out of our likes and dislikes, sometimes you are still left to guess. Well this year, I wasn't going to do it. No secret Santa's between cyber friends for me. Not falling into that disappointing trap again. Then it happened. It is no secret that I sell handmade crafts on ETSY. Many of my readers know what Etsy is but did you know that as a seller you can join into the community with other artisans in teams? Teams allows you to connect with other ETSY sellers of a like mind, interest or geographical area (there are many different teams to choose from) to really get some support and feedback. Well I am on the EasternWaTeam on Etsy. A wonderful group that really seems to enjoy helping and learning from each other. And of course, the Secret Santa sign-ups went up. I signed up once again, this time lowering my expectations knowing that even with the $20 guideline, I would be happy to just receive something. But, this year was different. It appears that when you get a bunch of handcrafters together, they know about heart. The put effort into their gifts. I was delightfully surprised!! My gifter was Monti of http://www.glitznglass.etsy.com/ . She really blessed me!! Look at those pictures!! I got to tell you, the earrings are right up my alley, I love handmade jewelry and the Peppermint Cinnamon Candle is Divine!! It had me scrambling for something to eat it smelled so good!! So I wanted to to blog about it. I had to put a shout out for her. Check out her shop! For that matter, go to http://www.etsy.com/ and under TAGS type in EasternWaTeam. Check out what all my fellow team mates have to offer. I promise you won't be disappointed!! Oh and with my faith in the Secret Santa restored, Anyone up for a swap?

Blessings, Kim O.

New CPSIA Regulations

I am all for legislation to protect our children. In light of the recent issues with lead and other hazardous chemicals on and in the toys and other products intended for children, I KNOW that something has to change. It is time to create effective legislation that will aid parents in securing healthy products for their children. However, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement ACT (CPSIA) goes well beyond this goal and into bankrupting many many small businesses. The act requires testing on every component of a product for each color and batch. This testing is quite expensive ($500-$4000 per component) and would have to be repeated for every new batch and color. As a home crafter of children's products (baby and doll slings, hats and clothing) I would have to test to the tune of $2500-$20,000 per item. I am not the only one in this position and hand crafters are not the only ones being effected. Large corporations will have to do this testing too, of course they have teh legal resources to find the loop holes in these sorts of laws. Consumers will no longer have the option of buying handmade items from WAHM's or other Artisians just trying to make ends meet in todays economy. Instead, they will be required t purchase from large unfeeling manufacter's and settle for the limited variety of higher priced (to absorb the testing costs) items available. Grandpa can no longer hand carve wood toys to sell at a craft sale, grandmas baby quilt will be considered contraband, and I will be sitting along side them doing jail time and paying fines of $100,000 per item!! There are many proposed solutions that would result in a winning situation for all involved. One of them is outlined here http://twurl.nl/4y520m would allow for full compliance among trusted countries (and within our own) requiring testing only when a product is under suspicion. Countries that have proven themselves to be untrustworthy due lead and other hazardous chemical levels would still be held to the testing. It certainly would make an excellent arguement for the "Buy American Made" campaign. There is an excellent article that explains this entire situation even better then I can. You will find it at http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/ . This is another homecrafter who like me, is deeply concerned with both the issue of protecting our children and protecting our livelihood. Please read the informaytion and consider contacting your congressmen regarding this issue.

Blessngs, KimO

Work in progress

Well, I continue to learn new things everyday!! This blog is teaching me a lot. It is a work in progress. I am hoping to be able to add "comments" today. I thought I had done that earlier but apparently, it did not work out!! :) Anyway, isn't it great how we can be a work in progress. It allows for us to dismiss some of our imperfections as areas that we can work on instead of complete failures!! It allows are attitudes about our self to shift into something a bit more positive. I certainly need a bit more positive in my life right now. With everything on the news in the papers and on our lips being so negatively charged with the economy and such, I really cherish all things positive!! The little look on my babies face that says "Mom, I trust you completely." Or the Accomplishments that my older children make in their journeys to gain knowledge. That special word of encouragement that is spoken by my husband on my most down days. All things that I work to desperately hold onto.
If I am a work in progress then so are the people we deal with on a daily basis. Everyone, even the nastiest, most judgemental or most narsticistic of us all are a work in progress and should be given the allowances that we would wish for ourselves. The room to grow. My prayer for today is that I allow those that I would otherwise butt heads with the room to grow and see them as the beautiful creations that God made them and is growing them into being.

Blessings, KimO

SALE in my shop!!!!

Okay, it is Cyber Monday!!! Officially it should be a good day for me. SOOOOO, I am making it a reall good day for you! Free shipping AND 10% off all orders made today by midnight PST!! What can beat that? Well maybe the satisfaction of knowing that your loved one is getting a great gift handmade with a lot of love and you got a great deal!!

Just hit the ETSY button or go to www.RedheadO.Etsy.com

Blessings, KimO

Vacation from my Vacation

Home for the holidays sounds so, well, homey. Comfortable, rejuvenating, happy, peaceful, joyous. All great words to describe a seasonal journey home. All mostly describe my trip home this Thanksgiving. Packing 4 little ones, and a hubby into our overstuffed Durango reminded me of a can of sardines. It did not help that I wasn't in the least bit organized for this trip. Of course that results in bringing to much stuff and improper packing of those articles. The fly watching from our wall would have thought that we were permanently leaving. When we stopped for gas we were asked if we were heading out for a long camping trip!!! Peaceful rarely describes those family of 6, except for now when I am the only one awake. We spent most of Wednesday flitting around town doing last minute errands and becoming a bit irritable with each other when we fell grossly behind schedule. Sound familiar? If it does then you recognize how rejuvenating doesn't quite fit either. We had a great time, don't get me wrong! We spent our time up in the Cascades of Oregon doing the marathon see everyone you ever possibly knew during your 20 years or so of living there packed into 4 days sort of thing. All the while keeping the kids happy and STILL somehow showing up at all the obligatory meals with whichever friend or relative booked us. It is so good to be loved. SO very exhausting to be loved. We are home now, I should be sleeping but I had to catch up on orders and unwind a bit from all the busyness. I hope to work through the vacation hangover tomorrow and then if I am lucky, REST!

Blessings, Kim

The Nourishing Gourmet: In My Kitchen: Coconut Sugar

The Nourishing Gourmet: In My Kitchen: Coconut Sugar Found a wonderful blog I need to share with the world!

Monday, Monday

Here it is another Monday. Time to update my blog. wishing I had something interesting to write about today. Nothing comes to mind. So this will be the Sienfield Blog. The blog about nothing. Well almost nothing.

Friday was Susan's 13th birthday. Her insane mom (me) decided to host a swim party at an area hotel for her and 9 of her closest 13 y/o friends. I booked two adjoining rooms, ordered pizza, bought a HUGE cake, lots of chips, soda and popcorn. First let me say that 6 medium pizzas is not enough for 12 people. Who knew? But when you have one kiddo who only eats the toppings, it really cuts down on the pizza mileage. BTW, you get what you pay for in pizza. I am not real impressed with Pizza Huts Pizza Mia's. Not really so good. Anyway, once you couple the lack of protein with the overabundance of cake and soda, you end up with a very wired gang of girls!!! We somehow survived. No drownings, only a few grouchies. I decided to treat the experience as more of an experiment. A field study of sorts. I watched personalities change from polite, my mom told me to be good or else angels to the we are now comfortable and over sugared little heathens. SOme definantly worse then others. It's funny how they are changeing. Didn't I still have a clue yesterday? I guess now that they are all 13, I no longer "get it".

Saturday was spent with a sugar hangover. Since I have been on a sugar fast, I now notice how extreme it can hit me. This is foreign territory to me, I am used to eating whatever whenever and not noticeing it's effects because it was the norm. Now that has changed. Sugar makes me feel like poo. Funny, cause I had always believed it was my friend!!

We did some recovery napping and sewing and then took the kids to the park. Hubby came down with something as soon as we got there. Usually that is his ploy to stay in the car while I chase kids but this time it was for real. He was sick. Which meant that after the park we went on a hunt for soup and nuesua relief. What fun!! How budget breaking it was too!! I declare that NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO GET SICK IN THIS HOUSE! People, we are trying to get ready to leave on wednesday and we have gotta stop spending money. It is eating away at our already tiny Christmas fund. Sunday was spent here at home. Recovery sewing. But I got 3 slings done and ready to ship. One more and I will have all my orders out before I leave. WAY to busy today and tomorrow. Gotta fit everything in before we go. Why can't some of this wait until after the holiday? I guess I have a knack for cramming everything together. Or maybe it is procrastinating until the last possible second.

That brings me back to the beginning of this post. Nothing to blog about. I am just to crazed with everything I am doing this week to truly think of any blog worthy subjects. Why blog this dribble instead you ask? Because I promised myself I would blog at least once a week and this is my only second to do that. Sorry!! I promise to be more entertaining next week. I am heading out to see family for the holiday. That promises to inspire many a blog upon my return!! ;)

Oh, one thing I did want to note, I was right about the ramifications from last weeks post. The "friends" I was referrign to never bothered to check it out. This is so very healing. I am figureing out my place in their hearts and that is allowing me to give them the proper palce in mine. Hey, I will always be there for them as much as possible, that is just who I am, but I don't have to bend over backwards anymore to make sure they are happy with me. AND, I am giving up the insane desire to model my life and family after theirs. I am starting to realize there was nothing really attractive about it to begin with!! Thanks Mom for that insite!!

Before I let you go, check out that ultra cute sling!! Yours free with a $50 donation!!

Blessings, Kim O

Well I figure I set this up, I might as well use it. Since sales are down, (slow economy, people just don't know about me, or whatever the case may be) I thought maybe I would just journel my thoughts here today.
Thought number one, blogs are a hard place to sell your product!!! Unless you have a grand following, nobody really sees what you have listed for sale on your blog. To solve this, I believe that maybe I need to spend more time just blogging and less time focused on sales here. Yes, my slings will still be available through my blog.
THought number two, I bet others are struggleing (and gettign flustered) just like I am!! If so, email me. Let me know what is happening with your businesses, lifes, etc. that seems to be a constant source of flustration, let me know if you have a solution too!! I could really use some solutions right now!!
Thought number 3, okay, this one will sound harsh but I am putting it out there anyway cause it seems to keep coming back up. (And I think there are many people out there that will understand this one too) I gotta let go of toxic friendships. You know the ones that drive you nuts because they use to be productive and now the people just annoy the heck out of you with their judgemental attitudes and such. WHY DO I CONTINUE TO SEEK THE APPROVAL OF THESE PEOPLE? They certainly don't care if I approve of their every whim, it's not healthy for me to put so much energy into seeking theirs!!! Okay, okay, I am a people pleaser I know. I NEED ofr everyone to like me all the time (sick huh). SO, maybe if I put these "friends" off to a healthy distance for awhile until I have this back into perspective.
THought number 4, there will probably not be any backlash for thought number 3 because these people don't read my blog anyway!!!
Thought number 5, I need to put this energy into something positive. SO I think I need to begin journaling. You all get to walk with me through this process!!! Cause Yep, I am chooseing to journal here! That should be scary enough!! Putting my heart out there for the world to see!! I should rename this blog from KimODesigns to Random thoughts of a grumpy housewife!!!
Thought number 6, you all think I'm nuts!! Yes, I'm a little paranoid (getting worse too!) But, really, if this wasn't in the least bit entertaining, you would not be still reading it. It is not like my blog is required reading for some college class!!! Of course, if I get real bizarre it could be. HMMMMM. No, that isn't my purpose. I just need a place to vent and if that helps someone else, well then great!!!

I am signing off now. I got soem required reading of my own to get done and a cyber meeting to attend.

Blessings, KimO

Slings, Ready made

All ready to ship slings (any in slide show above) are available for $55 Shipping is included in this price!!! Please email me with your selection or note it when you check out with paypal. This price is for US addresses only. Please email me for shipping overseas.

BabaRoo Pouches, The Custom Designed Ring Sling

Welcome to my Blog and Thanks for taking a Peak at my BabaRoo Pouches!!

You have seen them on the starlets, those cute baby carriers in the fun prints. The babies look happy, the papas and mamas look happy. They have the use of both arms and hands while going about their business. Plus, they are oh so fashionable!!! You may have thought to yourself "where can I get one of those?" Well look no further!! I offer a few ready to ship slings PLUS a Custom Design Service!! You can now order a sling to your percise taste and size!!

I am fervently working on making this blog a site to purchase my slings from directly with PayPal. Until that is completed, please hit the Etsy button. It will take you directly to my Etsy shop where you can purchase my slings. If you are interested in one that is not listed on Etsy (but is pictured here) let me know (use the CONVO link on Etsy). I will make you a reserved listing for that sling.

I am also working on a few new products to offer here as well. A few hats and leg warmers. Let me know in the mean time if you need these items. I'll get it rolling a little faster then!

BLessings, Kim O