A sunrise and two spooky dolls

Remember when I said one of the only good things about getting up early is catching a sunrise?
I caught one.
Right outside my front door. To infinity and beyond! I wish I had a personal spaceship. You know, like in the Jetsons, where I could hop in, sail up to these clouds, keep going, and stop at the moon for light refreshments.

Sigh. And I want Rosie the Robot as long as I am fantasizing.

Back to Earth. I've made a couple of spooky plush dolls that I will be putting in my etsy shop this week (making things isn't hard, posting them in my shop is!).

This is Elizabeth.

She comes with her very own pumpkin.

Elizabeth is terribly excited about Halloween. You can tell just by looking at her.


This is Posey.

Posey comes with her very own zombie bunny. Posey can't decide if she is a witch or a gypsy, so she is going to be both.

Trick or treat!

P.S. I haven't forgotten about having another giveaway. I am just waiting for October to get here!

Happy Birthday, Lucas! And the giveaway winner is...

My youngest became a teenager yesterday.

Yep. I am officially as old as the sea. Maybe older, I'm not sure.


It seems like yesterday he was like this:



And now he is like this:


He's still as sweet and funny and kind as ever.
As a mom, I can't ask for more than that, right?
Happy birthday, Lucas!

And who won the giveaway? Where will Zador be living?

He will be going to live with Miss Val! Miss Val if you would email me and let me know your address, I will get Zador packed up and in the mail to you.

And because I love Halloween and Fall, I will be having another giveaway in a few days (I just have to make something!).
I hope you all have a great weekend!

I made my deadline, so let's have a giveaway!

I did make my writing deadline. It took 6 hours a day to do it, but it is DONE. A big thank you to everyone who encouraged me. It is so nice to know so many lovely blogans (those are people who are like humans, only they are bloggers :).

To celebrate, I am going to have a little "Blogan Pre-Halloween!" giveaway! Weeee!

But first, can I admit that I get a little grumpy when I am stressed out?

Can I admit that I had just the teensiest little meltdown? Just between us blogans (and some of you already know this!) I cracked like a Halloween walnut and swept all of my family's clutter from the kitchen countertops into a pile in the middle of the floor.

I got tired of looking at it. I also swept coffee grinds, bread crumbs, and other miscellaneous foodstuffs.

My pug appreciated this, lemme tell you. He climbed up on the mountain of hoodies, Magic cards, water bottles, school work, etc.,etc., and took himself a nice little nap. I would have taken a picture, but it was not one of my finer human, or blogan, moments.

But let's not think about that! Let's think about a GIVEAWAY!

This is Zador.

Look into his eyes...he is a mesmerizing vampire-rabbit-monster-thing.
He wants to come live with you!

All you have to do to enter, is leave me a comment.

You'll be happy to know that the mound is gone, and my family is giving me a LOT of room.
I'll pick a winner this Friday night (I'll close the drawing at 6pm on Friday).
And since I love Halloween so, I will have another giveaway after this one! Or I will make another mound on the kitchen floor, I'm not sure yet. :)

Changing hats and other ramblings...

I've had to change hats these last two weeks and put on my writing cap. I have a deadline (this Wednesday) that I need to keep for the book to move forward on time.

Even though I hate them, I know that deadlines serve their purpose. Although just look at that word, it makes me nervous just to read it. Dead. Line. Eeek! Where in the heck did that word come from? I'm going to go look it up.

Here is what I found in Websters:

"a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot"

I dug around a little on the internet and found that it possibly originated during the Civil War. Prisoners in that war didn't always have prison buildings. They were often herded at gunpoint into a drawn boundary. There were two lines. A prisoner who stepped outside the inner boundary was warned/ordered to go back. But if you kept going, and stepped over the outer boundary, you were shot.

Interesting stuff, yes? And yet another example of how the internet keeps me from getting any work done.

So I am going back to my writing cubby now. I offer my heartfelt apology for not visiting your blogs and commenting. I will be back in force in a few days, and I am thinking it is just about time for a pre-Halloween giveaway! In the meantime, here are some pictures to get your mind off of that horrible D-word, and to remind you that my most favorite season (that being fall!) is just about here:


There are pots of mums sitting on my front and back steps. Soon there will be pumpkins!

The apples are ready for picking in Frederick, Maryland!
And this Mr. Sinister. He is hanging out over at Spooky Time Jingles with all the other sweet and spooky offerings from those wacky artists this month.

Boo!

Someone flipped on the Time Accelerator...

So I want someone out there to switch it OFF. Surely one of you lovely people can find the button. If you don't, I am telling you - tomorrow it will be 2011! It must be there somewhere - look next to the "Make Pam feel as old as dirt by noticing new wrinkles every morning" lever. That one is stuck, so don't bother.

I feel like someone is dragging me into the future, and I am digging my heels in hard, and all I am getting for my effort is worn-out shoes.

I think it's time for a little relaxation.

Deep breathing. Chant my mantra. Watch the birdies in the trees.

Now I feel much better.

I have, as usual, bitten off far, far more than I can possibly chew. Something is going to have to give, and I am really hoping it is not my sanity.

The holidays are coming. Can you hear the drumbeat? Mine says "You're not ready, you're not ready!". Or maybe it's just laughing, it's hard to tell with drumbeats.

I am writing a lot lately. When I am not writing, I am sewing. When I am not sewing, I am cooking, or doing laundry, or running errands or staring vacantly off into space trying to remember what I should be doing. Sound familiar? That's because we are all too busy.

Since you are taking a little break from your equally hectic life by visiting me, let me share some WIPs and some sneak peeks at holiday plushies. Maybe they will help put you in a holiday frame of mind (not the drumbeat kind, but the ho-ho-ho kind).