Shut It

Man, it's hot out there today. But life is sweet because my office is organized and my garage is walk-through-able. Which it never really is. I can actually walk all the way around the workbench/table without being stopped by a piece of plywood with jagged edges or mounds of crumpled, used masking tape.

I'm just plugging away so not much else to report other than I found this post written on Aug. 5th and LOVED two things: first, that they wrote about my furniture and second, that the title was SHUT IT. Brilliant.

Here's the link to the very nice post on Urbanbaby Blog.

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Building...Building..Building...

I've not just disapeared and left with no warning. I'd tell you. All 3 of you who read this! I've been working on four different pieces so I'm keeping busy in the workshop. Also, I cleaned out the workshop. (Mom, catch your breath.) It's actually now a cleaned up, organized garage. For another two weeks. Then the old coffee cups, half-drunk ice teas, and Corona Lites, will be sitting on the workbench next to the foam rollers. Now where's that favorite tape measure of mine??!??

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Whiskey For My Men, Beer for My Desk

9:48pm. At my desk. Answering emails. Completely smashed. (just kidding about that -- it's just one beer, y'all.) If you know the blog title reference to a certain country song (Traci), then consider yourself country kin and a Willie Nelson fan.

Tomorrow I'll be cussing because I won't be able to find my favorite tape measure or the foam rollers. I'll mistakenly think I left them in a convenient spot like my WORKSHOP.

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Wood, Wednesday, and a Whale of a Headache

My head is throbbing this morning. Not sure if it's the fact I weeped for an entire hour watching the special on Randy Paush last night or that I've inhaled enough sawdust to make a whole new Patrick chair. Yes, I'll be better about using my mask today. :)

But one things for sure. It's gonna take A LOT of coffee and motivation for me to get going this morning. I'll be running out to Rockler woodworking store for more supplies while our babysitter keeps the kids happy...and thankful they too didn't have to go to Rockler...again. I've gotta say, I really do love having some help in the kid arena and it's certainly increased my production speed. I've always known it's near impossible to work from home and not have help with the kids in order to keep your sanity. And to make sure they're getting what they need out of their day. Sadly, like most work-from-home moms, it's not something I can do on a regular basis because it defeats the point of working from home because it takes away from my income. On an ad sales exec salary, sure, it works. But on a furniture builder salary, not so much. It's one of those catch 22s.

I get asked how I do it quite a bit. And by do it, I mean fit it all in with kids. I always tell them there's no way I could be doing this if my kids were younger than 3 and if I didn't occasionally have a total breakdown day and do nothing but watch Tivo'd shows and eat brownie batter from the bowl. I feel very lucky to be in the position I'm in so as hard as it is sometimes (with a pounding headache), I really feel so grateful for every moment of it.

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Minor Details on Her Favorite Etsy Picks

I just found this great article today written by Jenn, from Minor Details. Jenn has been wonderfully supportive of my furniture from the start and has even been kind enough to give her opinion/notes on The Bertie Box before I set it up for sale on my shop...and other shops.

If you're in search of really cool kid stuff, check out her website and check out this article. There are some really great finds here!!

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Saturday Morning

It's so very quiet with everyone still slumbering away. I LOVE this time in the morning when I get up to pretend I'll go work out and then I surf the internet for useless information. And then realize I haven't posted on the blog for a few days. So here I am!

Can I just say that Life in the Garage with a wonderful babysitter on Thursday from 11-4 was absolute HEAVEN! It's the first time since I started the business that I've hired a babysitter. Mainly, because of the money. But since orders are up tremendously and I've overbooked myself by committing to build four pieces per week, it was inevitable. And one of the best freakin' things I've ever done. I love the feeling of working and not being pulled in two directions. I had forgotten how nice it is to just concentrate on work without worrying about what's up for lunch...are they doing something educational...how much time do I have before Grace wants to swim. Seriously, work felt like a vacation. So for the next three weeks, 5 hours a day on two days of the week, I will be on vacation while building 16 new pieces of furniture.

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Hodge Podge

I'm back in my seat waiting for a few things to set up with glue. And my feet hurt so I'm taking a break. Here's a list of things I've been meaning to post about but can't devote the time to posting each one individually before I have to get back to the garage.

1. Bump Babies mentioned Mod Mom Furniture as one of their favorites. Check out this link for all the listing plus all the other favorites: http://www.bumpbabies.com/love.html
   
   
2. UPDATE: Ok, so two days into it and I ended up hiring a babysitter to take some of the pressure of me being pulled in every direction. So she'll come for a few hours a week so I can run to the lumber yard, build furniture without being interrupted 400 times, and basically, help me better manage the fact that I stupidly schedule double the amount of items (4-5 per week) to be built with both kids on summer break and no childcare. I'm a smart one, I am.
   


3. Here's a photo of a piece I finished before I left on vacation. I really had a good time building this one. If you've been following this blog for awhile, you'll recognize it as a Mick Toy Box with 3/4 inch ply.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Thanks so much to Heidi Gregory for posting a very nice review/recommendation for my furniture after purchasing and receiving the Owyn and the Bertie. Go here for the link: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a568015/storing_toys_in_living_spaces
   
   

I have some cool custom jobs coming up in the next few months. I'm excited to share them with you! But for now, I have to get back out there while the kids are happily playing computer games.

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