completely unmotivated!

it's back to school time around here! generally that means that i get a much quieter house for at least part of the day and therefore get more cleaning and crafty things done...so far, not so much! while the house has been quieter (especially when jordan gets in trouble & is banished to her room), i have still been completely unmotivated to do anything remotely creative or crafty! i have done more cleaning though, so that's at least something. now, granted, school did just start back and i am still getting back into the groove of things, but i thought for sure some kind of creativity wave would just wash over me! wishful thinking on my part i guess!

so, i'm back to reading to kill the time and really, it's not helping. it would probably help if i expanded my reading out past twilight and harry potter, so suggestions are freely welcome! now, i've decided to turn to writing to ease the nerve racking feeling of time slowly dragging by and to purge all the useless things running through my mind! unfortunately, as i sit in front of my laptop nothing seems to be coming to mind to write about! isn't that always the way, though? as soon as i'm in front of a keyboard, all useless thoughts escape me...but the minute that i walk away i'm sure something will pop into my head!

here i sit, poised to write something of interest and yet, nothing is coming to mind! 10 minutes have passed since i decided to blog in the hopes of time passing...guess that's a good thing. or maybe it means that i'm a horrible typer who doesn't have a clear thought in her head & it takes too much time to write 3 measely paragraphs! i'm hoping for the first but leaning towards the latter.

unmotivated...and music obsessed, now!

i am so unmotivated these days and i blame it all on the summer! i haven't worked on anything craft related with any kind of regularity since last month. i have read more than i normally do...having read through the twilight series twice in less than a month! now i'm back to reading harry potter, having started goblet of fire today. the hope is always that i will reread the series up to & including the one that is currently in theaters, before i actually go see the movie...i give myself about 3 weeks from opening day before i actually breakdown & go see the movie. i figure that within that time i've read the books (again) and the crowds are thinned out so i can really enjoy the movie! it's worked pretty well in the past and this year i told stephen that i would take him with me. normally i wait til it's on dvd before i let him watch it, but since he is getting older i thought this would be fine.

but now my book/reading obsession has veered off to a music obsession as well! i've always liked music of nearly all kinds...i've never much enjoyed rap or metal so i tend to avoid those (nothing against those who do like that music, it's just not for me!). anyway, since watching twilight i have "discovered" two bands (paramore and mutemath) that i now absolutely love and cannot get enough of their music! i have purchased and downloaded their latest albums & listen to them daily, while anxiously awaiting their newest releases later this year! for the most part, i can be found with headphones stuck in my ears, either attached to my laptop or my mp3 player, listening to those bands while i read, workout, clean, and just generally go about my day! i find that music in my ears helps to drown out the shows that my children insist on watching, that i can't quite frankly deal with on a daily basis! luke thinks i'm just trying to ignore the kids, but it really is their shows, movies, games, etc. that i'm ignoring by always having the headphones in my ears!

that seems to be where i find myself today...unmotivated to do anything but read and listen to music. and a bit obsessed about the music that i am choosing to listen too!

a bit obsessive...

so, i must confess that i get a bit obsessive about things at times and it tends to consume me more than it should. in the past my obsessions have ranged from crafty endeavors, "business" endeavors and to the most recent...books. now you wouldn't think that books would be a bad obsession, but for me it is! i get so involved with reading and finishing the story that i neglect the things around me and that's where the problems are. the house tends to fall apart and i get angry when i get distracted from the story in front of me...it's bad!

my latest obsession is the twilight series, in the past 2 weeks i have been consumed by my obsession. i started reading twilight, finished it within 3 days (i'm a horribly slow reader), then watched the movie (which has become another entirely separate obsession!) before moving onto new moon. once i started new moon, i became even more consumed with the story...i like that book the best (so far) & finished it within 2 days. i really wanted to wait and just borrow the last 2 books in the series, but just had no willpower. so i ordered the complete series and had to really test my patience by waiting for that to arrive. i decided to reread both twilight and new moon while i waited for the set to arrive...figuring that if i read it even slower, the impatience i was feeling for my the arrival of the rest of the books would somehow be easier to take! it worked better than i thought it would and so i didn't completely obsess about the package that i knew would eventually arrive, hopefully sooner rather than later.

i was very surprised when the books arrived about 3 days earlier than i expected, but very relieved too since i didn't think i would be able to control my obsessive need much longer (see, it's very bad!) i did manage to wait to start eclipse until i had finished new moon for the second time & caught up on the cleaning that i had neglected around the house. as a quick side note, i do try to control my obsessiveness enough to continue to take care of my family & myself...i don't neglect meals, showers, bathes, familytime, things like that. i simply slack in the housecleaning department, which is already very slack! so i started eclipse on wednesday this past week, finished it by thursday morning & then moved quickly into breaking dawn, finishing it late friday night (really it was early saturday morning). i stayed up until 2am, two nights in a row, completely consumed with reading the books. sleep means very little to me when i'm obsessed with something!

the last book that i got so obsessed over was the final harry potter book and the day waiting for that to arrive in the mail was not good for me or my family for that matter. in all fairness i had given my husband plenty of warning that once the book arrived i would be completely useless since i would be buried behind the pages of the story. i simply had no idea at the time that i would be a basketcase waiting for the mail to arrive...had i known that it would take all day for the mail to arrive & thus increase my impatience, well then i would have simply bought the book at the store the day it came out! but i'm a sucker for a bargain so i preordered deathly hallows foolishly thinking that i could be patient! i wasn't patient & that was my first true glimpse into just how bad my obsession really was!

but once the book arrived and i fed my need, i was fine! starting and finishing the book within the weekend, even caring for my family while walking around with my nose buried in it. i was rather proud of myself and assumed that my obsession was simply with the harry potter series and would therefore die away since the final book had been published, read & reread several times over by myself. yet, nearly 2 years later i sit once again with my nose buried behind yet another book series!

i have now read twilight & new moon twice, eclipse & breaking dawn once, and the unfinished midnight sun once over the last 2 weeks. i also watched the movie 4 times within a week, breaking down and buying it for myself so that i could watch it whenever the need struck. however the movie caused it's own separate kind of obsession...one that revolves more around music than the actual movie. i'm hoping that once i reread the last two books that my obsession for all things twilight will then fade away as easily as the harry potter obsession...allowing me to freely reread the books as often as i like whenever the mood (not the obsession) strikes!

i'm not holding out much hope though as i head upstairs to pick up eclipse and bury myself once more in the pages of the story!

too many thoughts...

i have far too many thoughts floating around in my head at any given time on any given day. and that can be completely frustrating! today is one of those days...too many thoughts mixing with too many memories...driving me close to the edge of insanity. i'm a horrible, hormonal mess who could cry at the drop of a hat and actually has already broken down into several small crying fits already today. yippee for my family and to a lesser extent, for me.

it's hard to know why i'm really crying, all i know is that i can't seem to stop. so now i'm writing to try to make it all go away or at least lessen the tears...figuring that by getting things out of my head that will therefore stop the build up of tears. or it could cause a bigger downpour, but either way i'll feel somewhat clearer headed...if that's even what i could call it.

my deepest desire is to be a writer, but there are lots of writers out there...those published and those not and i know that my words are nothing special, at least not at the moment. but, i'm gonna try, yet another "hobby" to add to my long list, to be a writer even if it's only to purge the many thoughts that run through my head...it's something that i'm going to try. every writer has to start somewhere and my starting point is my blog. it may come to nothing, my words and writing style may become so mixed up that they only make sense to me & really i'm fine with that. but, i'm still going to try...that's all i can do. the hope is that i can at least empty out my brain each night before bed so that maybe i'll fall asleep faster & possibly put everything together in some coherent fashion.

so, here i go venturing down another path, because it goes along so well with all the other started but never finished ventures that i've tried in the past. i'm horribly good at starting new things...it's the finishing that seems to elude me so often.

finally, finally, finally...

i'm finally getting around to updating my blog! i'd like to say that i've just been so busy with the kids, sewing, making things, selling things, etc...but alas, it all comes down to my laziness! i am a lazy person and have finally come to accept that part of myself...i really have tried to change, but it's just too hard & quite frankly, i've given up. so now i am fully embracing my laziness & sprinkling in some productivity throughout the day just to seem like i'm doing something!

my productive thing for today, other than laundry & toilet cleaning (yippee.), is to finally try out one of the many sewing patterns i have purchased over the last six months or so. and as an added bonus, i'm going to blog about said pattern and post pics of the completed item. i'd like to say that this will be a regular thing, but my laziness will more than likely kick in & i'll only make it through one project (maybe 2 if i really try).

so, now i'm off to make a skirt for jordan...just have to decide which skirt pattern i'm going to attempt first.

what to say...what to say...

today was a somewhat lazy day for me...it's been raining all day and that just makes me very unmotivated to get anything done. i did, however, get the bathrooms and mirrors cleaned so i wasn't completely lazy after all.

i spent my non-cleaning time working on a couple more necklaces, both made using seed beads. i have now found the kind of beads that drive me near insanity when working with them...but i will continue to work with them since that's all a part of expanding my horizons! i have more things i want to make this weekend and hope to get all kinds of inspiration from the flowertown festival that runs through the weekend.

more sewing and bow making do need to be done, as well...i've got too much to do and not enough time to get to them...just like always! i only have myself to blame for that though and i'm very aware of that...it's all apart of my tendency to procrastinate with everything!

there's still more thoughts floating around in my head but i'm too tired of typing to get them out!

been busy trying new things!

i've been busy trying to expand my crafting talent! i've made some new little ribbon princess hair clips that i found some free tutorials for and am now trying to figure things out from just pictures. they weren't as hard to make as i thought they would be, but the little pieces are a bit of a pain for my big fingers! my hope though, is that i sell some of them and that way i'll have to make more and will therefore get better at making them!

i'm also trying to move out of my jewelry comfort zone by making things that i wouldn't normally wear, but that i can sell. so far, so good! i'm really trying to build my confidence with all the different crafting things that i do. that's my goal for this year!

these updates and things always sound better in my head...the words never seem to come as easily when i'm actually sitting in front of the computer. oh well, guess it's just further proof that i am not destined to be a writer!

sew much to do!

ha ha! that's my play on words for the day! i have tons of sewing to do and lots of hair clips and jewelry to make. i'm happy that i've cut out all the pieces to get some outfits made for jordan for spring and into summer...now i just need to get them put together!

again this year, she will have more outfits to wear than she really needs. but i'm ok with that since i really do enjoy making things for her. my hope is that she'll let me continue to this for at least a few more years and one day i'll have enough sewing confidence to make her prom dress or homecoming, whichever! seems like a silly dream, but it's my silly dream!

i'm also searching out display options for the upcoming moms club sale. i would like a new, bigger table and have gotten lots of ideas from various websites and social networks that i belong to. busy, busy, busy for the next month...just taking a quick break to update my blog here!

i've also gotten myself a twitter account, since i need more time wasting things to do in front of my computer! so updates will now appear here as well just cause they can!

brand new website for me!

i finally did it...i've opened up my own online store, complete with my own domain and shopping cart feature! woo hoo! i'm so excited about it! i'm still adding items everyday but i just had to take a break to blog really quickly about it.

http://www.chunkybugdesigns.com

check it out! i'll be adding more items in the coming days and weeks in the hopes that i will have a fully loaded store by the end of the month!

the drama in making dresses!

who knew that there would be so much drama in making a couple dresses for jordan? since her birthday is coming up i wanted to make her a couple of really cute tiered peasant dresses with short little sleeves. so i went out and bought the fabric, getting only as much as i thought i needed having figured it out in my head before heading to the store. once i got the fabric home i ironed them and went straight to ripping them into the sizes that i needed...not once thinking that i should put the pattern piece onto the fabric before i rip. that was mistake number one! i had all the pieces laying on the ironing board and went to put the pattern pieces for the sleeves & bodice down on the fabric only to find out that my fabric was too short! well, no big deal i thought, i can just change the bodice and make it into a knot dress that all the sewing moms on cafe mom keep talking about! that was mistake number 2!

i had the bodice pieces all cut out, sewn together with the straps attached to the back and was ready to make the button holes on the front for the straps to go through. having never made button holes with my newer machine (i've had it for a year now as opposed to my old machine that i've had for over 6 years) i read the manual to make sure i was doing things correctly. i had everything set up with a scrap piece of fabric and was ready to go...my machine was not! the fabric just wasn't moving and the needle just kept pushing the thread in and out of the same spot! i drove myself near the edge of insanity just trying to figure out what the hell was going on! there were several moments when i was ready to throw the damn thing out the window and go buy another machine! but somehow my rational emotions took over and i fixed whatever the problem was...even though i'm still not exactly sure what the problem really was! but that whole ordeal left me not wanting to attempt button holes for quite a while so i changed the dress to just have plain straps.

And that's what the final dresses turned out to be...tiered dresses with straps! i think they turned out really cute in the end and i am very pleased with them. i have now moved on to make more clothes for her since i've gotten over the anger with the machine earlier this week! i have tons of fabric left over from last year that's really gonna be so cute for dresses since jordan has already told me that she doesn't want pants...just dresses! hopefully, i'll have no more drama with all the other things i plan on making!

i've been so lazy...

well, i'm falling down on my small job of growing my business! i was working on things for the first couple weeks of the year and even bought my own domain name from godaddy.com for the next 2 years with the full intend of starting my own website and store away from etsy. but so far, all that has stalled because i got lazy and just didn't feel like doing anything. so, now i'm back into business mode and exploring my webhosting options.

all this is completely new to me and i'm pretty close to computer illiterate so i have no idea what some of the things on the hosting sites mean! so, while exploring i'm also learning...at least i hope to be! i have kept up my etsy shop in the mean time just to have an additional outlet and to keep things on until i finally start my own hosted store. i don't even know what webhosting is and domain names are also new to me...but i'm learning and i'm putting my faith in the opinions of others and researching the styles of sites i like. so far i think i've found a hosting site i like with free basic store options...now if i can start making sales that would be so sweet!

i've realized that i'm rambling with this post and really, that doesn't bother me so much since i kinda already know that i'm the only one who keeps up with this! so for my own benefit, i'm just going to ramble! here's a couple of the newest things i've added to my etsy store!

getting back into the swing of things

for this post, i'll be keeping things short and sweet since i have tons to do! i was very slack over the last month and am now paying for my laziness with a seemingly endless list of things to catch up on! i've decided to start my own website and online shop so i'm doing all the research for that that i possibly can so that i can get some good results throughout the year...i don't hold out hope for becoming a huge success, i would just like some business and gradual growth. i've taken the first steps and bought myself the domain name for the next 2 years, just have to get around to creating the site and finding a web host!

also, i've decided to increase my inventory so i have more to offer. with that decision, i've signed myself up for creating more so that's going to keep me busy for the next month as well. with all the creating, making, and eventual picture taking and editing, my house and blogging may just fall by the wayside at least temporarily! i'll try my best to keep the house at least livable for my families sake and well, the blogging has always been sporadic so i make no apologies for not keeping up with that!

so, now i'm off to make up more bows and headbands, as well as more necklaces and bracelets...maybe i'll get to some earrings, too! i'm gradually getting back into the pre-holiday swing of things!