Last Call to Enter

The GIVEAWAY CONTEST!

It is seven o'clock central time on July 9th, and I thought I would remind everyone out there who reads this blog that the GIVEAWAY CONTEST IS STILL GOING ON!

We have some great prizes, including your very own limited edition Hush Baby Toy. Would you like to win it? You know you would. Here's how you can:

Click the FOLLOW button or leave your email in the FOLLOW BY EMAIL to connect with this blog.

Tell your friends to do the same! Once they are following this blog, have them leave a comment on one of the posts telling me who recruited them.

Both the most recent follower AND the person who recruited them will win a prize! Hurry now to be in the running!
QUICK LIKE BUNNIES!


And speaking of bunnies, I have new toys done. True, none of them are bunnies, but they are just as adorable. When I get the photos taken and put up tomorrow, you will have proof that I do not lie.

Also, I have started the countdown for our big move back to Minnesota. Only a few more weeks to go! To be honest, I will be really sad to leave the area we live in now - everything is so convenient and safe and friendly, and with my husband's parents so close, we always have a lot of fun. Even so, I know our new home will be delightful, and can't even tell you how absolutely excited I am to be living in an actual house (right now the three of us all squish into an efficiency apartment that consists of one large room and a teeny tiny space that is not a legal bedroom because it has no windows. Our apartment is also in  a basement, so there is no natural light). What am I looking forward to the most? Having space to stretch out and play and SUNLIGHT! Bring it on! I can't wait for that. I probably won't be hanging curtains for a long time just because I will be revelling in the fact that we will no longer live like moles.

And on that note, I had best get back to work doing stuff that keeps me busy. Have a wonderful evening!

Just a quick hello!

Good morning, all of you out there in the inter-world. Hope your morning is going as well as mine.

Happy to report that my daughter is now back to sleeping through the night. She used to do this quite easily, but has recently gone through a phase where she'd be up a couple of times a night. My husband and I have really worked hard to get her on a set napping and eating schedule, and I'm glad to say it has paid off and carried over to her sleeping schedule too. She is now sleeping easily through the night almost every night. This means I am getting a much better sleep as well.

Of course for every good news, the universe must balance itself with a little bad news. In this case the bad news is that I have managed to injure my knee. At some point last week while I was visiting my folks in Minnesota, I did something to my knee, and I'm still in a lot of pain. I was pretty active while I was there, so I'm not sure what exactly I did, but a week and a half later, I am wondering at what point I need to see a doctor.

But enough of that. In other news, I dropped off four new toys at the Mom and Pop Place in Neenah, WI. We'll see if they sell like the last four did. FINGERS CROSSED!

There also may be a contest and giveaway in the near future. It will depend on things. Keep an eye out!

But right now the baby is sitting in her seat eating a good morning snack, so I had better go. Overandout!

Good morning, Starshine!

Hello hello, on this lovely, though rainy morning. I'm not usually a big fan of clouds and rain and cold, but as I sit here in the quiet of an early morning house, with my coffee in hand and Ziggy Stardust playing on my computer, while the baby is sound asleep for her morning nap, I can't help but feel that life as we know it is very very good. This feeling is helped by the fact that I am wearing one of my favorite shirts from before I was pregnant and a pair of size 4 jeans, thinking I could probably go down at least a size because I have finally lost all my baby weight. Only ten pounds of married weight to lose before I am back to my college size. And that was a good size, if I might say so myself.

As many of you know, I am out of town this week. We were over in Minnesota for my brother-in-law's wedding, and I have to say it was BEAUTIFUL. It was held in a historic church in a very historic town with the reception in a historic hotel (all very historical). Everything was small and elegant and absolutely perfect, and I couldn't be happier for the new couple. The staff at the hotel was far and away the absolute best staff I have ever encountered in any customer service field ever. They were so helpful and friendly and kind to us, and absolutely doted on our baby girl. Any parents out there know that many places can be downright rude to people with babies, because they don't want to deal with the extra work that comes along with a baby. This staff truly would have gone out of their way to do just about anything for you, so I am definitely going to use my blog power to throw a shoutout to them. If any of you get around to Minnesota, and are looking for a fantastic weekend escape, the Palmer House in Sauk Center is the place to be. On top of the fantastic service and charming surroundings, it is also a historical point of interest for any bibliophiles out there, as Sinclair Lewis did a lot of his writing in the Palmer House. It's also supposed to be haunted, but having a healthy dose of skepticism in my veins, I didn't happen to have any sort of paranormal experiences.

Our hotel room had fantastic light, which allowed me the chance to get some really great pictures of the newest toy I've been working on. In the next few days, you will notice some changes to the shop. The GALLERY will change names, and be called STORE or SHOP, or something like it. There will still be a GALLERY button, but it will take you to pictures of other Hush Baby Toys available in brick and mortor stores. This will let you browse all Hush Baby Toys, in case you were curious what is available in stores and not in the online shop.

Hope that makes sense. If I haven't explained it well enough, I'm sure when the changes take effect, you will be able to grasp what I mean.

Until later, I have an ear I need to finish knitting before the baby wakes up from her nap. Overandout!

Good morning Starshine,

The earth says hello!

I am writing to you from my parents' house, where I am staying on a mini vacation before I go to my brother-in-law's wedding. Though I love being back home for a visit, I have to say that so far this vacation is a little more tiresome than the day-to-day for me (perhaps because my parents' house is noticeably less baby-proof than my own,  so I am CONSTANTLY chasing my pre-toddler around and keeping her out of "owies")

In relevent news, I have been thinking of holding contests to gain followers. I know your number of followers shouldn't matter, as long as you have a good group (and I do!). But I just figure that the more people know I exist, the more likely it is that these toys will find good homes. I think as soon as I figure out something I can give away as a neat little prize, I will be holding a conest.

Currently I have two toys in the works for the Mom and Pop Place, where my toys are consigned. I would REALLY love to have 3 done and a fourth at least started by the time this little trip is over. That means I have to really get to work. Since I name my toys after authors with some kind of connection to the animal (with the exception of Daisy, who is named after a bunny), here are some clues:

1. Elwyn
2. Vern
3. Doyle
4. Martha

Two of the names are tricky, as one of them is the author's lesser known first name, and one of them is not an author's name, but the first name of the main character of the books (the animal is purple and the author's last name is pretty masculine, so I did it this way instead).

You can post your guesses in the comments, and I will let you know if you're right. Maybe I will end up making this a little contest, and maybe there will be a prize for the winner at the end. We'll have to see.

HAPPY GUESSING!

You can post your guesses as a comment, and I will let you know if you're right! Happy guessing!

Productive!

I love that feeling at the end of the day when you stretch out in bed and know that you've actually accomplished something. It's even nicer when you have your own bedroom in which to do it. Let me explain...

Because of a small snag that left my husband and I jobless, eight months pregnant (me, not the husband), and at the end of our lease, we moved in with my in-laws about a year ago. My husband and I packed most of our stuff into a storage unit and shoved the rest of our life into a teeny tiny guest room in his parents' house. After our daughter was born, that teeny-tiny room got even teeny-tinier, as we were now sharing it with a baby and all the necessary accessories. In January or February, my husband was able to find a job that allowed us to move out into an apartment of our own. Sounds great, right?

Well...sort of. The apartment is nice. It would be perfect for one person or maybe even two. But not a family of three. You see, it's essentially a studio apartment. It is one large room (in a basement with no natural light), with one small, windowless adjoining room that is not a legal bedroom. Until now, we had our computers and our television in this small adjoining room, and once again the three of us and all of our stuff was cohabitating one room. This worked until our daughter realized that she had the power to keep the rest of us up all night long, and things have had to change.

SO we rearranged furniture! My husband and I are chancing it in the windowless room (we keep the doors open, at least) and for the first time in over a year, I am enjoying the feeling of having a bedroom that is mostly just a bedroom - though it is also part office for my hubby. It is so nice. So very, very nice. In fact, I am writing this as my daughter sleeps in the other room and I am stretched out in my own bed, typing without fear of waking her up.

As well as moving the furniture around, I also managed to do the laundry today! Woohoo! And I have two toys that are on the verge of being finished. Since I am being so productive, I think I might continue my streak and throw on some Scrubs while I finish one of the toys. Then I shall brush my teeth and go to bed knowing that I have worked hard and accomplished a lot.

And really, that feeling brings the best dreams.

Overandout!

THIS IS MY FRUSTRATED FACE

So I hate it when things that SHOULD be easy end up not being easy for one reason or another.

Specifically, in this case I am referring to my inability to post comments on my own blog or any of the blogs I follow. I'm not sure why I am unable to post comments, but there you go. That's why I'm frustrated. There is a little comment box, I write my little comment, I click "post comment" and what happens? Nothing! Well, not true. Sometimes it takes me to the sign in page four or five times before I just give up and figure that if signing in four or five times does not secure my right to comment on someone's blog, it's just not worth it.

Of course this means I will never be able to be more than a lurker on some of these blogs, which is terribly unfortunate, because there are some that I really truly do want to comment on. For example, this one. There is some BEAUTIFUL stuff there, including a particularly perfect little dress that I would love to get my hands on for my daughter. But no, I can't comment to ask where to get it or how to get it or if there is a tutorial on how to make it or any of that.

So this morning I am wearing my frustrated face. If any of you can solve my posting problem, I would appreciate it, because it seems to me that  blogspot has a ridiculously complicated system for something that should be dirt-dumb-easy.

Until later!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Did you notice them? Probably not, because nobody follows this blog yet =P

The look of the blog has changed dramatically, and it was all relatively painless - upload your artwork as files to the blog and it pretty much does the rest. Neat, huh?

In case you're wondering, the picture at the header is my daughter snuggling Mouse, the first HBT I ever made. Mouse has become an essential part of bedtime.

The bonus to this blogs for dummies aproach to customization is that I am not only finished, but pleased with the result of my efforts just in time for bed.

And now as I get ready, I am reminded that in the chaos of chasing a very grouchy and very squirrely baby, I neglected to brush my teeth this morning. Ick.