Mahar Dry Goods Selling Bertie and Owyn!

Robert Mahar, from Mahar Dry Goods, could not be a nicer, more thoughtful guy. I met him on the craft show circuit last year and fell in love with his online retail shop and blog. He's the real deal - a former contemporary art appraiser with impeccable taste in kid gear, toys, furniture and clothing who carefully selects each piece for sale in his store. In addition to his shop and the blog attached to his shop, he runs...

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Coffee Talk

This was my day today. Check out the coffee from 9:00am this morning on the table saw. I took that shot around 4pm today. You'll be glad to know that the coffee is still sitting just like that in the dark garage...at 10:51pm. Tomorrow I'll have the energy to walk it ALL THE WAY to the kitchen. ** Oon, aren't you glad to see my toes painted?? I do toe painting goods, don't I? Did I mention I'm not a neat-freak,...

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Modern Nursery

Super cool online retailer, www.modernnursery.com, is now selling Mod Mom Furniture! You can even look up furniture by designer. If I'm being honest, it blows me away when I see my name under the designer list. I get a tiny thrill each time I do it. Which is like 45 times a day :). One can never get enough ego boosting- aka, motivation - in between table saw cuts (in a dress)....

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Adventures in New Table Saw Shopping...and much more!

Pneumonia! Table saw shopping! LumberJocks!SO much has happened in the past few days I'm not even sure where to start! So this post will serve as a catch up post and will most likely make little sense and have no cohesion and MANY run-on sentences because I haven't slept much in a week. And here's why...Pneumonia! Grace was showing signs of pneumonia last Monday so we, as good parents who didn't take the other son to the doctor until he had full-blown pneumonia, decided to take her in right away on Tuesday. The doc told us she didn't hear anything...

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New Website Design!

Check out the the Mod Mom Furniture website for the new design!!Thanks so much to Lisa Sommer at Venturesom for the fantastic web design!! She's an amazing web design guru who also manages to run several other companies all while taking care of two little Sommers. Check out these links for chic baby gear and so much more!www.chicshopsbaby.comwww.chicshopsconnect.comwww.pulpfactorycalendars....

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Happy Friday!

I've been building like crazy the last couple of days so that I'm able to go on a field trip with my son's third grade class on Friday. It's the first one I've been able to go on so I'm thrilled and a bit nervous all at the same time. It seems silly to me that I feel that way...about the nervous part...because, after all, I actually HAVE a third grader. I do know something about them. But somehow knowing I'm responsible for five or so other third graders at an art museum with those velvet ropes to jump over, paintings featuring naked boobs...

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Procrastination Station

I'm a bit like that Dunkin Donuts guy from the 80s(?) who says in a very tired voice at 4:00 am, "it's time to make the donuts." I feel like that today but I think I have time for more procrastination by way of looking at photos from our family Christmas trip!I came across these today (thanks, sis) and hadn't really looked at them since January. My carpentry mentor known as Dad, is featured in two of these.Two woodworking...

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Workplace Dress Code

I now have a new woodworking outfit. No longer am I wearing my hip-slung jeans. Since the thermometer outside says 104 degrees, I've decided for a change in workplace dress code. Mod Mom Furniture is now being designed/built by me in the following attire...flip flopsbikini top under white Hanes haltercut-off shorts that used to be thin sweatpantstwo pencils in hair (one for marking, one to keep the hair up) - bun type updoBack out to sweat to some country song about drinking in Mexico....

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Sunset Blvd and Heels

Last night, Scott and I got all dressed up (complete with 3 inch spiky heels) and headed down to Sunset Blvd for dinner with a friend. During the evening, two things occurred to me. 1. The three-inch heels spiky heels hurt like HELL. And they make me 6'1". So I end up looking like a giant on wobbly feet. When did I lose the ability to wear those heels? Either my feet have changed or my tolerance for pain or both. 2. If we stay in LA, there's a chance my kids, when in high school, will want to walk up and down Sunset Blvd with their friends...

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Design Mom

Gabrielle, a designer/art director and mother of five, at Design Mom said some really nice things this morning on her blog! It was a nice surprise to see a message from her in my inbox this morning because I'm actually DREADING working today. It's supposed to be close to 100 degrees and shockingly, my "workshop" built in the 1940s doesn't have air conditioning. I'm trying to look at it from another angle. It'll...

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Chicago Noah

Why is it that I can't really remember what my kids looked like when they were little unless find a picture? Like the one above, for instance. I think Noah was three here. I was thinking about how different his life was then. Scott and I both worked full-time in downtown Chicago so he spent his days, from 8:00am until 6:00pm, at daycare/preschool. I would sometimes have to go get him from daycare around 4:30pm...

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Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all you Moms had a great day today! I returned home (from an overnight in Palm Springs with the ladies and gin and tonic) to baked cookies, flowers, handmade cards and artwork. It was the best! Even got a little cat nap in while I was "watching" some horrid cartoon movie with Grace. Periodically, she'd hit me with the balloon she bought for me to wake me up. Or atleast open the eyes that I said were "resting." Then it was on to Denny's for dinner. Noah gave me a card that was so damn cute. It read...Marvelous is the word that describes...

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Keeping Me Grounded

Scott excitedly showed Noah (our cool, techno wizard 3rd grader) the LA Times article this morning before taking him to school. He asked if Noah wanted to take it to show his class. "Um, I don't think so. Now if this were a day where we were talking about what our parents do, then that would be appropriat...

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The LA Times Article Online

Thanks to Lisa Boone for a great article! It's up online and will be running in tomorrow's Home section of the LA Times Thursday Edition.http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-scoutmom8-2008may08,0,2679062.sto...

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Hot Mess!

I was a "Mom Jean" offender. I just found this photo that was probably taken in 1999, given Noah's age. I don't know what else to write except I promise to never do it again.Although, they do tempt me a bit because when I bend down to work on a toy box, they would cover everything without me having to hike up my jeans. And, ....OH STOP IT KIERSTEN. There's no way I'm going back over to the dark side. Stay strong,...

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Mod Mom Gyerekbutorok

After trying every language I could come up with to translate this blog post, FINALLY, I figured out it was Hungarian. Had I noticed the link address had "hu" at the end of it, this might have proved a less time consuming task. But remember, I only had a few hours sleep last night so.... Oh hell, who am I kidding, even with sleep I would've been a tiny bit stumped. Here's what the Hungarian to English Online Translator...

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Awake

It's 2:13 a.m. and I'm awake. And at the computer pretending I got up to work on adding the Bertie Toy Box to my wholesale line sheet. Because doing graphic design at 2 a.m. is really going to produce some GREAT work, right? Ok, now I'm getting tired again. More tomorrow...er, later this morni...

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How'd it go?

So many of you have so kindly asked about the LA Times photo shoot/interview. Thanks for all your support. Here's a little bit about how it went....It was great! Both the photographer, Annie, and the writer, Lisa, were so easy going and supportive and seemed to enjoy being in my little garage world for an hour. On a vanity note, I tried so very hard to suck my stomach in (wearing Spanx) while pushing wood through the table saw while being photographed. Scott pointed out to me that I didn't have my safety glasses on after the fact. "Oh, yeah, the...

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