Hi, my name is Robyn...

and I'm an Etsy junkie. 

For those of you who haven't been to the Etsy website yet, I highly encourage you to do so. However, I can't be held responsible for any addictions that might ensue or for time lost from your family for the hours spent on the website. 

Etsy is a wonderful website that is for selling and buying handmade. If it's handmade you will find it on this site. I am constantly amazed at all of the talented people out there. The Etsy home page changes constantly and I love the way items are displayed. They have themes like black and white, jellyfish, hearts, and polka dots to display items from various artists. That's just one of the ways they get you to look, and then you can look things up by category, like clothing, paper, ceramics. I have so many bookmarks for this site. There are so many creative people out there. I'm in awe of them all. 

I suppose I wouldn't be enough of a junkie if I didn't have my own store. So here it is, introducing Polka Dot Dreams, my own Etsy store. I'm very excited! For now I will be putting up some of my jewelry. I've been sitting on some of it literally for years and I'm tired of looking at it. Hopefully I can sell some of it. Check it out if you get a chance. 

Poll Results

Here are the results for the favorite cider poll:

     1 vote peach
     1 vote nectarine (that was me)
     1 vote berry

I'm coming up next week girls so maybe we could have a cider tasting. I'm up for the challenge! How about you?

Check out my new poll.

My New Hero

There was an article in our paper last Saturday about a local woman who made it a goal to read 200 books this year. She's not reading any old selections, but all 200 that are listed on the Everyman's Library (www.randomhouse.com/everymans). I'm proud to say that I have read a few selections on the list, including the book I'm reading now - This Side of Paradise by F. Scot Fitzgerald.  To accomplish this task she must read 216 pages a day. Did I mention that she has a newborn, a toddler and her own bookstore? She also blogs her progress every day. She puts my  "I have three kids and I'm too tired" excuse to shame. If you want to check her out her website is 200books.com. She also has a link to her book store, Veritas. I didn't even know that the store existed, but now that I know where it is I will check it out soon. 

I've always loved to read and remember the days when I had lots of time and not a care in the world. I'm trying really hard to make the time to read again which usually means at night after the kids go to bed. So far I've been doing well and have finished a couple of books that I had already started plus added a few new ones. (See my Recent Reads list on the sidebar.) I'm so thankful that Will is a reader and Moira and Kyla love books as well. I know that I will never be able to accomplish what this local woman is doing, but I will be happy just being able to read a little bit every day. 

Poll Results

Thanks for voting in my favorite potato chip flavour poll. Here are the results:

1 vote plain (that was me)

1 vote ketchup

1 vote barbecue

1 vote sour cream and onion

2 votes dill pickle

If I had to choose a favorite snack, I would choose chips. I love them! There are so many great flavours out there. I ultimately chose plain because I like the salty flavour plus you can pair it with dips, but I also love curry, creamy dill (versus regular dill) and cracked pepper. Do any of you remember the pizza flavoured chips? I think Old Dutch made that one for a while. It wasn't as good as the name sounded. I have found that there are many more flavours of chips in Canada than there are here in the States. Now when I go home I always have a standing order of chips to pick up along with So Good soy milk (strawberry is my fave) and Grower's cider. There are so many great flavours of cider now too. Hmmm - that gives me an idea. Check out my new poll. 

The Week in Review

Well, we got our computer up and running again, but to do so Will had to buy a new hard drive. He's still trying to get the programmes back on, but it's a slow process, especially because we lost so much. When we get the photo programme back on I will post some new ones. We didn't lose all of our photos after all. Will had made a back up some months ago and he had burned some on to a DVD for me, but we are still missing quite a few. Will still hasn't had a chance to play with the old hard drive to see if he can salvage anything. Unfortunately, it's physically broken rather than it being a software problem. When he gets a chance he will play around with it and see what he can do. 

It was a rough week for our family this week because my Nana was in the hospital and it wasn't looking good. I thought I was going to have to make an emergency trip home, but things are looking better so I've postponed my trip for a few weeks. It's a horrible feeling being so far away from the people you love. I was a zombie all week. My poor husband and kids! I neglected them because I was too busy wallowing in my own sorrow. Now that Nana is doing better I feel better and so I've been trying to play catch-up around the house. 

On the up side, Will got his nursing certificate and license this week. Way to go, Will! I'm so proud of you! Will also decided to stay working for the State. His new position allows him to work 9-5, Monday through Friday with weekends and holidays off. This is something completely new for him. His other job that he got but hadn't started yet meant that he would have to work nights and weekends. He would hardly get to see the kids. Even though the job would have better benefits in the long run, he wasn't willing to to turn all of our lives upside down. Thanks Will! I really (really) appreciate it. 

Liam is growing like a weed. Last weekend I weighed him on our home scale and he came in at a whopping 18.5 lbs. Wow! He weighs at 5 months what Kyla weighed at one year. He's a big boy!

This was Moira's last week of track break. After having three weeks off, it's time for her to go back. She says she doesn't want to go back to school, but once she sees her friends she'll be glad to be back. 

Kyla is well. She says a lot of words, although I think we are the only ones who understand her. Her latest words are:

hey hoo = thank you

noo noo = noodles

pliddy let = pretty dress

We are still working on the potty training. As long as we don't put a diaper on her she's pretty good about going on the potty. If we put a diaper on her when we go out, forget it. She won't tell us that she has to go. 

As for me, Avon is going well. It puts a few extra bucks in my pocket. I haven't done much this week, but next week I will keep working on my various endeavors. I'll keep you posted. 

Love to you all!

Poll Results

Thanks everyone! I hope you enjoy these polls as much as I do. If you have any suggestions on a poll you would to see up on the blog let me know. 

Here are the results for our favorite Winnie-the-Pooh character:

     2 votes for the Pooh bear

     1 vote Piglet

     1 vote Tigger (that was me)

     1 vote Rabbit

     1 vote Kanga

Check out this weeks poll. 

6 Word Memoir

I was listening to NPR yesterday and the programme featured two editors who put together a book based on Hemingway's 6 word memoir: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." People were encouraged to submit their 6 word memoirs and there was such a huge response that a book of them was published and a second one is in the works. I was intrigued by the concept and listening to other's stories inspired me to try writing my own memoir. Here it is:

Living the life of opposites dreamed.

Now I'm encouraging you to write your own 6 word memoir and share it here with us.

When it rains, it pours

Why is it that when things go wrong, they really go wrong? Things in the Rogers/Taylor household seem to be crumbling around me. First, I've been fighting a cold for over a week now. It's not that bad, just enough to make me feel cranky. Then our oven decides to quit on us and it took 4 days for someone to come out. The reapair man showed up yesterday and it cost 220$ to unlock the oven door and replace the heat sensor. While I was waiting for him to show up, I decided to go through the pictures on my camera and delete some of them. Instead of deleting just the one I wanted, it deleted everything. Fighting back my tears because I didn't want to have a temper tantrum in front of the girls, I sit down to check my E-mail. Suddenly the computer crashed before I had a chance to do anything. Will isn't very hopeful that the hard drive can be restored so it looks like we've lost everything, including a few hundred pictures. To add to the fray, our DVD player and toaster are crapping out and we've had more snow this winter than I've seen since the first winter I was here 11 years ago. Oh, and then this morning I went to fill up the bathroom sink with water so Kyla could play in it and the lever for the plug came undone. That means I'm going to have to crawl under the sink and see if I can put it back together.

It's times like these that I try to find something to be greatful for. So, here it goes: I'm greatful that the repairman called before he came out so I had a chance to put Suki outside before he came over and she went ballistic on him, possibly trying to bite him and putting a lawsuit on our hands. I'm also thankful for the makers of Lexapro who help to keep my sanity. I feel better already, dammit!

Poll Results

Thanks for voting everyone! Here are the results for "What is your favorite breakfast?":

1 vote pancakes/waffles

1 vote cold cereal

1 vote bacon, eggs, hashbrowns

1 vote toast

2 votes what is breakfast

I have to admit that I voted for the last one. We are horrible breakfast eaters. We don't get hungry until about 10 or 11 in the morning. When I do get hungry in the morning, my favorite thing to eat is leftovers. I don't really like sweet in the morning. I prefer something savory. Even Moira likes to have sandwiches in the morning. 

Check out this week's poll.