Christmas Preparedness!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the 2-Oh-6!

Minne-snow-ta doesn't kid around.

We are snowed in. Literally. They weren't joking when they sent out a Blizzard Warning. I chose the right name for this blog!

However, we are fully supplied with cocoa, soup and Christmas music. Let the snowing continue! Being snowed in with the love of one's life is pretty great.

After a few false starts and lots of pep talks from B, my Etsy store is ready to open! Lovely things are made, photos are taken and *even before I've opened* I have 10 custom orders!

Check me out on etsy!

Coming up for my store in 2010:
-handmade wreaths
-handmade hair accessories
-embroidered lovelies
-some super duper gorgeous vintage items

Speak. Hear. See.

Today is World AIDS Day. Today, we renew our commitment to fighting for equal access to preventative education, treatment and support for the people who have AIDS, and for their loved ones. 33 million people live with AIDS. The need has never been greater.

On October 5, 2006, my uncle Sean Robert Donovan, died from complications due to AIDS. He was 36 years old. No one knew he was ill prior to July 2006. In that short period of time, our family, especially my mother, was thrust into a situation millions around the world face. 

Our first question was "How sick is he?" Immediately, our thoughts turned frantic. What about all the people who may have been exposed to the virus and not known it? I had lived with my uncle for a short while, during which there had been construction on his house and the cafe he owned (where I also worked at the time). What about all of my cousins (most of whom were under 10), grandparents, aunts and uncles... my mom cleaned up his bloody nose just a week ago. 

Fortunately, after being tested, we found no one else was infected. It was a miracle. It was also the most terrifying experience of my life. The thought that not only my mother, but my 19 and 13 year old sisters, 8 year old brother could be sick... even now, when I know everyone is okay, the thought paralyzes me.

That is how AIDS spreads. The virus is not limited to addicts and prostitutes. It doesn't live only in far away developing nations. It's here. And we need to do something about it.

For more information on what you can do, please visit:

Amfar

Aids.org

Youth AIDS

World AIDS day

Handmade Neighborhood, Day 1

I sold out! In three hours. So I'm making lots more tonight! I definitely underestimated Winona's desire to buy handmade and support local artisans. I also forgot my camera. Insert forehead slap. 

I will more assuredly snap photos tomorrow.

Three...two...one...we have ignition.

Oh my goodness, oh my goooooooodness! Tomorrow is HANDMADE NEIGHBORHOOD! This is my first solo fair! In honor of that (and because I had to change my name anyway) I have a new Etsy store! Currently it's on vacation until after Thanksgiving. I need a little break.

sixhundredkisses.etsy.com

It's been a little intense with our little apartment and all this craftiness. I'm sure B. will be thrilled to have a clean den again! Currently, the floor and sofa are covered in pieces of this and that. It will be nice to craft slow and steady again.

I'll make sure to take lots of photos, and post them. Wish me luck.

Handmade Holidays

This holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, secular Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus, take the Handmade Pledge!

Oh there ain't no bugs on me!

Darling Husband and Dearest Wife are flu-free! 

Take *that* you nasty virus!

Clearly the cure is to be found laying on the sofa and watching movies together. 

Before and After

Take that garage sale chair!

This wingback chair is really well built. Everything but the (dusty rose linen. Ack!) fabric was in great shape. I temporarily recovered it with some fabric from Target. I don't have a sewing machine in The Nona, so it's just stapled, pinned and hand sewn for now. I think that will work for a few months or so. The two (same garage sale) arm chairs are orange. They will eventually be changed, but we thought the print was a nice way to go. It makes the chairs seem a lot less 1970s than it was before.

Whoa Baby!

Oh my goodness, it's been nearly two months since I last posted something on this blog! I'd hate to see how badly my other inter-webs projects have been suffering!

What have we been up to lately? Well, nothing too exciting... except being married. It's pretty exciting, actually. B. and I are pretty good at this newlywed thing. We're big fans. Huge fans. 

Thank you notes, getting to know the Winona area, visits from In-Laws, getting the flu, and re-adjusting to working in a cafe while trying to find a new job have been the name of the game from my end. B. is no slouch on his end either. He's been working hard and taught several units in one of his grad courses.

My etsy/handmade business was going pretty well... until I was informed that the name was already taken. So I need to find another name, register a domain, and other such business stuff. 

Last but certainly not least... I am participating in a local craft fair! Eeep! I am so excited! 

Check it out!

Handmade Neighborhood

Heath, assurance.

We are Americans. We consider ourselves one of, in not the most, developed nation on the planet. We are as much a nation as we are an idea. We should be ashamed if just one man, woman or child dies from lack of adequate care within our borders. We should be ashamed that an illness that we are able to treat, an injury we can heal, claims any life. That you would declare one person more deserving of health than another speaks to an evil, a disease of the soul, that should be addressed. It is unacceptable and unjust. 

If someone is ill, and we are able to cure, heal, help or comfort them, we should. We should want to. Medical professionals should not be in the healing arts for money. They should do their job because it is their calling, because it is their life’s work. 

For the elderly, the chronically ill, the poor, the young, and all other uninsured Americans, we need to change. And soon.