Now that was a blogging break. A long, unannounced but seriously necessary break.
Let's see now. Where to begin. How about some bullet points?
* The Etsy shop did very well heading up to the Holidays. I made and sold 1,530 feet of felt garland, and made and sold about 55 pennant banners (that's 495 feet of garland), including one special order in January for 15 pennant banners. Yowza! I also made and sold quite a few coffee cozies, and completed some custom quilt orders. I'm so thankful to my customers for such a great year.
(One of my bunting banners in action. Love it!)
* The house and the settling in to our new digs is coming along. We're able to park our cars in the garage (thanks, honey!) and we haven't had any more basement flooding (knocking on wood). We're hoping to remodel our kitchen and most of the main floor this year. More on that in an upcoming post.
* I'm going gray. I've decided to never color my hair everever again. Since moving here I've met and seen so many women who proudly and beautifully wear their gray and silver, and I found that I was so ready to join them. I've earned every. single. one. of my grays and I'm proud of that. Same for wrinkles and stretch marks.
* Considering how much snow was on the ground and still coming when we moved here just over a year ago, this winter has been a serious let down. There's very little snow left on the ground because whatever has fallen has melted. I need some snow. The kids need some snow. Please!
* In December we took a trip to Trinidad for two weeks with the kids for Christmas. It was Chris' first Trini Christmas in 25 years or so, and my first ever. It was time. Overall the trip went really well. The kids traveled pretty well - except for the trip home during which we were all ready to kill each other. They made travel journals (I'll share those in another post) and were eager to write in them and pick their photos everyday (got me an Instax) and I think they really enjoyed the process. I love Trinidad and being with my in-laws but I don't ever want to travel over Christmas again. Not even to LA. We all just need to be at home in our jammies with our decorated house and our tree and hot cocoa and a warm fire in the fireplace. This year we only had up some lights. No decorations and not a whole lot of shopping. And while it was fun and great to be in the Caribbean and drinking and eating way too much, it just didn't feel like Christmas. I was kinda bummed. 
Getting ready to land in Miami. Love this photo.
Maracas Bay, Trinidad.
Store Bay, Tobago
Poolside at the Trinidad Hilton
* Aidan, our amazing 9-year-old-best-reader-in-the-world kid, received a diagnosis of PDD NOS in early December, and ADHD combined-type and a learning disability. He'd been diagnosed with ADHD at around 4 years old, but we were never convinced that was the right diagnosis, or that it was the only diagnosis. After many, many struggles in school and at home, we found a neuropsychologist and had him tested. PDD NOS is an Autism Spectrum Disorder, but neither Autism or Asperger's Syndrome. However, since the diagnosis and after reading about 10 books on ASD and Asperger's, I'm convinced that Aidan is more an Aspie than anything else. I've found "The Completed Guide to Asperger's Syndrome" and "Kids in the Syndrome Mix" to be extremely helpful to finally understanding our boy and to start doing the right things to help him. An incredibly wise friend, who is also an pediatric occupational therapist and parent to an ADHD child, recently told me, "It's time to change your expectations of him and of yourselves." Best advice ever. He's now back in OT and doing therapeutic listening, and the school (best school ever) is being very proactive and helpful in getting him in a better place in the classroom. We've all witnessed a great improvement these last few weeks. And my heart is very, very happy. We have a long way to go but any steps forward are very, very good.
* So, in order to be more available to take Aidan to appointments, help in school and be more available at home, I took a break from my Etsy shop a few weeks ago. Inventory is limited to what is in stock and ready to ship, which isn't much. Most of what I sell in my shop is pretty much made-to-order. It's been nice to have a break.
* But then this week I decided that, after a re-org of my crafting dungeon, I needed to unload some of my vintage sheet stash.
and opened another Etsy shop: shabbysheets.etsy.com At this very moment inventory is limited to some pillowcases, but I'm working on adding fat quarters and yardage as well.
* Makena is a Girl Scout and as such will be selling cookies starting Saturday. And as such, we will be consuming copious cookies in the coming weeks. And my rule has always been that no diet shall be started until after the cookies are gone. I'll try to be good, but hey - I'm a realist. If there are Thin Mints in my house, I will eat them.
* My mom just came for a visit for Makena's 8th birthday. We went to our standard birthday dinner extravaganza at Benihana, had a wee princess party for five girls, and then had to take my mom to the airport. I love her. I miss her. I want her to move here.
* Chris still loves his new job which he's now been doing for over a year. Working for everyone's favorite retailer has been very, very good. And now I get to think of shopping as job security for our family. Niiiice.
So I've got a few more ideas for how to keep things going on a regular basis here on this blog, like weekly posts for "Shit I've Made from Pinterest" and some quilting and sewing tutorials and other shenanigans.
Keep your fingers crossed.
