Thursday and a prayer request!!

Here are a couple of shirts I did today. The cute stick fisherman and the watermelon with pink (instead of red) and turquoise seeds. I was trying to match some shorts and I thought it turned out cute! I was holding fabric up to my computer monitor, so hopefully it will match (I didn't actually have the shorts on hand).

I will be out of commission tomorrow afternoon until Monday afternoon. Browder's b-day party is on Tuesday afternoon so technically I'll be out of commission til Wednesday. I'm trying to monogram everything I can TODAY! Mainly trying to finish up everything I was supposed to do last week before the stomach bug. Needless to say I've been behind this machine for the most part of the last 3 days.

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Some friends of ours are up in Boston this week with their daughter checking out some heart issues she was born with. This sweet little Kindergartner will have SURGERY either tomorrow or the first of next week. Say a prayer for Caroline, her mom, dad, family & doctors! She will be all better after this but I know it's a tough thing to go through with your sweet child!! The Good Lord will know exactly who you are praying about!!

Nightlight

I did this forever ago, but here is Mallory's nightlight in her room done in her fabric. They sell the nightlight making kits at Hobby Lobby (or probably any craft store). Garrison had one too with his fabric and pom pom on the bottom, but it broke a long time ago. Kids love playing with these things for some reason...
And here is Browder (in his surfboard tee) bowling today at his end-of-the-year party! He will also have his 6th birthday party here (Ace Bowling Center) next week with his friend who is also about to turn 6! Very nice new bowling alley! We were the only people in the place bowling, but hopefully they are doing well! Of course it was 10:30 in the morning.

Wednesday

I ran by Atlanta Hwy Walmart today and again, TONS of boy t-shirts in stock! I'm kinda dissappointed that Walmart (or Garanimals I should say) didn't do anything great this year after last year's famous checked girl shorts. Also kicking myself for not buying up some sizes for Mallory for later on. Oh well! I also went to Old Navy and got Browder some sunglasses. He's been begging for a pair. He has been HILARIOUS with them. I really think he thinks he is about 10 notches cooler than this morning when he didn't have sunglasses. He is not even SIX!! In the car on the way home he admitted that the sunglasses kinda made him want to dance (in the car... to the music...). Now he just came by with a baseball hat and the glasses on. Back to Old Navy... as I was leaving I saw a mask walk in. I mean a woman with a mask on. Has swine flu hit Montgomery and I missed it? If I was that worried about catching it I don't think I would be out shopping at Old Navy. And it could have been purely coincidental. She may have some horrible disease!?
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I am back to normal, and off the Fraps (knock on wood)!! Me and a friend do Wednesday mornings at Starbucks every week and today I got the Vivanno again. The SB people were quite confused and shocked! And possibly sad that they may be losing some money every day! :( Who knows what may happen in a day or two, but for now I'm surviving without them and it's not too bad! Now I'm drinking a canned Dr. Pepper which is WAY cheaper and still has a little caffeine. I think it's all psychological anyway. The Frap was a motivation to come home and work rather than crawl in the bed and take a nap!
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Jeff just got home and Browder just darted out the door talking about his new sunglasses...

Eyelet bloomers

I did these eyelet diaper covers today and thought they were so cute!! I also did an applique snail and name on a pair (snail #1 as on the blog). Another thing to add to my list for Mallory...

Can a stomach bug be a good thing?

It has possibly cured me from my Frappacino addiction, or at least for the time being?? I got one today (first since last Wednesday) and it really wasn't that good. I drank about 1/3 of it and poured it down the sink. If the little bug took care of that daily hankering of mine then it may have been well worth it! Although the Vivanno still sounds good to me, but luckily is a tad cheaper than the Frap!
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Here is Sissy playing in my fabric. She is underneath my table in this photo (notice the open disk drive as well). As I type this she is walking around with a long piece of plaid fabric draped around her neck like a scarf? 14 mos and already in to fabric??
I've managed to get some work done this afternoon thank goodness. I HATE being behind! Of course I have people ask me all the time "are you getting caught up?". The answer to that is always "I'll never be caught up..."

Click click click

I'm finally hearing the click click clicking of my embroidery machine again. She has had a rest since Tuesday! Wednesday I was just too busy with errands, birthday party and dinner to do any work. Thursday was the day of the bug and I'm finally feeling NORMAL today, although my appetite is still pretty off. I highly recommend the Starbucks Vivanno when you get sick (I like the mango banana one). Today I managed a banana for b'fast, took the kids to church and lunch at Tips on the way home (our usual Sunday routine). The tea was wonderful and I had some cheese dip and rice. For dinner... a bowl of Cheerios (well, half of it). It's been a rough few days! We did go to a wedding last night - it was outdoors on a farm and BEAUTIFUL!! A lot of standing though (I'm not a good stander anyway) and unfortunately the food didn't look good to me (because of the stomach bug), so I missed out! :( Hopefully whatever I had is long gone, because I am way behind on monogramming!! Again, sorry for the delay! I'm going to hopefully catch up this week!

El stomach bug...

It's been a crazy week! I'm FINALLY feeling better tonight from an apparent stomach bug/virus. Threw up last night after feeling horrible most of the day and had fever this afternoon. I thought Moms weren't allowed to get sick?? Hopefully that was it?! We were supposed to ride to Birmingham yesterday afternoon and I tried to WILL myself into going. We made it to the I-65 exit and turned around and came home! Good call! This morning I got a pedicure and went to bible study and had a Vivanno for lunch from SB (great when food doesn't sound good). I picked the kids up and we all took a good nap. I woke up STILL feeling achy so I took my temp and had a little fever! Took some ibuprofen and feel better tonight. Needless to say... I have not had my machine on since Tuesday I think! I washed my tablecloth yesterday so I've got it back on, I'm organized again and hope to get a few things done tomorrow and Sunday.
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I am a week or so behind on my work! :( Sorry for any inconvenience!

Target find...

Here is my Target find for the week! Pants and t-shirt $7.99 (for BOTH)!! I thought it was cute for the price and great for school! I got her a 12mo but I think it goes up to 18 and maybe 24 mo??
3:30 b-day party and bible study group dinner tonight. No sewing today! We're supposed to ride to Birmingham tomorrow afternoon too, so possibly none tomorrow. We'll see. The pile is growing.... It's 2:45 and I have not had lunch....

Towels, towels and more towels...

This is what a stack of 12 towels looks like! All 12 monogrammed and 8 with hanging tabs, as requested! Nothing better than brand new white crisp towels!
Hanging tab sewn on for easy hanging:

I looped a piece of grosgrain ribbon and folded it under, sewing around (on the back side) twice. I'm pretty sure it's secure and will hang with no problem. Be sure to double it under so you're sewing 2 layers of ribbon (really 4 because it overlaps) to the towel.

Towels were all color coded per child in primary colors. Like Mallory would have red, Browder would have blue, Garrison would have green. Can't get away with leaving your towel on the floor now!

Here are a couple more towels I did earlier this week. I believe these are just regular towels, but add an applique and a name and it looks like a cute beach or bathroom towel.

And the raggy fish which is one of my favorites!!

It has been a wild day, so I'm off to bed! Someone requested pics of the towels - Graduation is coming up. There are so many things you could do - colored ribbon hanging tab? A more adult applique (recycle, peace sign, etc.)....

The guitar...

Here is one of the precious Apples & Oranges rompers I did for someone last night! I can't say enough about these rompers (www.jiffyshirts.com) and this brand!
And... the thread pic I had on the blog doesn't do this guitar justice! Cute?? I think so! This was done on a pullover towel bib with blue trim that matches the center. Name in blue - very cute bib!

I've just finished monogramming 12 towels - I'm going to attach some sort of tab on 8 of them (for kids to easily hang up). I'm not 100% sure of how yet? Will figure it out tonight so I can deliver these tomorrow morning!

Two Brothers...

Shouldn't someone be paying me for shots like this? I've got both machines running this afternoon! My sewing table (aka dining room table) is a MESS!

Montgomery finds

Today Mallory & I went to Hobby Lobby and they have some really cute ribbon right now - a lot of it matches the fabric they sell. It's mostly the thick kind (1.5"+/-) which I am not sure what all it can be used for. Big hair bows? I bought one roll (1/2 off of $3.99 by the way) of a light pink with white stitching along the edge to make some sort of a bow holder for Mallory's room. Thick ribbon is also great for sewing on burp cloths (easier than fabric - grosgrain works better than satin to me). I should have bought more and may go back without Mallory! Anyway, really cute stuff!
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We also went by Atlanta Hwy Walmart and they had a good stock of Garanimals tees in toddler sizes. More boys than girls, but a good stock of both. I got several just to keep on hand for EB samples or to make a tee or two for Garrison. We have some very old Custom Design tees that need to be thrown away!! My nephew wore them and he's now in the 3rd grade. Browder wore them, and now Garrison. And they are mostly white. Need I say more!! They are worn out!
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I didn't turn my machine on Saturday. I did several things last night and had great intentions of working this morning. But... Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Publix... it ate up my whole morning so now I'm trying to do a little work while the kids are napping and Browder plays Pac Man!!

Sailboat & Surfboards

I just did this sailboat on a T for someone matching the sailboat fabric on the bottom (shorts)! I believe you can get this fabric at PBJ (Pieces by Jola) in Montgomery (which is located on Carter Hill Road next to Sonic). VERY CUTE!!
And here is the surfboard design I tested today for EB. I was so excited that I had a sz 7 white T in my drawer, so I was able to sample this on a shirt for Browder. He wants me to add his name underneath. I did the gator T for Garrison last week so Browder was super excited that HE got a shirt too. Now I need to do something for Sissy...

I've also added several new designs on the top which can all be found at www.embroidery-boutique.com! I don't get a lot of requests for the bird designs, but the tweet bird is SO CUTE to me! I'm thinking that's what I could do on something for Mallory! I like things that are different though, so I love the cute bird designs.

Friday Friday Friday

As a mother of three, and I'm sure you all can relate, there are days when I survive off a granola bar on the way to drop the kids off at school. That may be all I eat til dinner. Jeff & I love the chocolate chip, peanut butter choc chip, etc granola bars. My only problem is that I have to eat at least 2 because they are so tiny! Today only oatmeal & raisin was left so my breakfast was a glass of milk. My thinking was that it would "coat" my stomach, right?
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Today was bible study day so I had a few minutes to kill between drop off and church. I ran thru TJMaxx and got a mattress pad for our bed. Jeff calls ours a g-string because the elastic band has separated from the meshy part so half the pad is held on by a string, literally! After that I ran through Fresh Market looking for anything I could call breakfast! I had a yummy cranberry orange muffin from the bakery in the back and a Dr. Pepper! When I pick up from school and get home, it's a 20 minute affair getting Mallory & Garrison in their beds and getting all of the lunchboxes and backpacks unpacked, car unloaded and everything back where it belongs! Next thing I know it's 2:00 and I'm STARVING! Well today I made a ham sandwich and happened to have a tomato, so I sliced it up and had the best sandwich I've ever eaten!!!! There's nothing better than summer and TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!!
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If I've typed this once, I've typed it 30 times. The fishing lure came from www.stitchontime.com. Someone told me about this site a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure if I should add it to my list or not!? If you go to Appliques and muddle through all of the "characters", on page 6 you will find some cute designs - boy stuff. A lot of them are the same designs as Kelly's Kids from this season. I'm not sure why or how, but they are there!? This is also a foreign website ($) but paypal will convert for you and the lure, for instance, was like $2.54 - cheap! I can't tell you how many people have e-mailed me, so there it is!
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I've been sampling some cute stuff for Embroidery Boutique this week as well! Speaking of, I have a 3-surfboards design to test today! Great for summer and perhaps an older boy! Off to work...

Easter and some of the twin gift...

Here are a few pics from the twin bucket I did a while back (and forgot to post!). This isn't everything, but a few of my favorites! Of course, the sheep burp cloths. You can't beat a good sheep design! It's one of those good applique investments!
And a couple of 'either/or' burp cloths. I can only imagine with twins you just want to grab whatever!! Color coordinated pair of course.

These are the super cute Apples & Oranges onesies from www.jiffyshirts.com. They have cute zig zag stitching on the neck and arms. I wish A & O would come out with MORE STUFF! It's all precious!

Again, Apples & Oranges rompers (these have a little leg, not just a onesie bottom). I have a pink one for Mallory that is collecting dust as we speak... These have white trim. Love the whale design too (www.embroidery-boutique.com). So those are a few pics from the big bucket. All pretty simple and cute ~ I think I did 10 burp cloths, 10 bibs, 4 onesies, hooded towels, paci clips and I can't remember what else.

And here are my 3 yesterday at "The Farm" after a little egg hunt. We had to put a moratorium on candy when we got home. I had to hide their baskets in the pantry as well so we could go through the eggs and get all the candy out and put the plastic eggs in another bag for next year.

I'm currently working on another baby gift for another baby Mallory! The hostesses ordered several things to be hung around the room at her baby shower this weekend! Cute idea!

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Mallory is officially walking and very proud of herself! Yesterday she spent the day walking a little, then she would pivot around and go back the way she came from. It's hilarious! She & I went to Prattville today. We went to Target and met some friends for lunch! I think I hear her so signing off....

New designs on EB

Here's an alligator I just did for Garrison. I've been wanting to use this fabric which goes great with orange. This is the first shirt I've made any of my children (I think) this season!!
Rachel at Embroidery Boutique sent me a few new designs to test today too! With the conversion to the new website she took a little breather and is now back to designing so YEAH!! A new kite which is great for spring/summer and a tweet bird which is cute! I'm sure they will be up very soon!
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Not much going on here. A little rain compared to the forecasted horrible storms?? I spent the morning outside with the boys (and WEEDED the back flower bed which was a JOB!) Then I took an Allegra-D and tried to take a nap after lunch, but basically laid there with my eyes closed. Allergy medicine always makes me a little wired.
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I'm doing a little sewing tonight and MAYBE some in the morning, then hope to turn my machine off til Monday and enjoy Easter with my family! I didn't finish everything on my shelves like I had planned, so I'll be busy busy next week! I hope everyone has a wonderful EASTER!! Just remember it's all about Jesus, not the bunnies or the candy or eggs!!

Swimsuits

So I monogrammed M a Target swimsuit and posted a pic and basic instructions on how I did it (a while back). There is something about the light pink & white striped one that does fine on my machine. Last night I attempted ANOTHER Target swimsuit, then had to e-mail my friend and tell her I'd be crediting $11 on her bill or going to get a replacement. It's a cute brown one with different colored polka dots all over it. For some reason (lining? material? design?) it DID NOT work! I had to take out the thread and re-try it 3 times (the middle initial) and it twisted and turned and gathered and just didn't work. With that being said, I'm going to try to avoid doing swimsuits in the future. I do have another pink striped one to do and I think I'll be fine with it, but just don't want to get in to the business of monogramming swimsuits (and then replacing them when it doesn't work - spandex is so tricky!!) Even the t-shirts that have spandex in them are a little tricker than plain cotton.
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I went to Toys R Us yesterday. Why they don't build a nice Babies/Toys R Us out in Eastchase I'll never know? Anyway, they have a lot of plain t-shirts - girls and boys (toddler boys at least). I also got their 10 pack of terry bibs. Poor Mallory is a slobbering machine lately and I'm slowly throwing away the stained embarrasing bibs. TRU sells a 10 pack of plain white terry bibs which are GREAT for monogramming!
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Jeff & I agreed to split the cost of getting our cleaning lady back and she is coming today. I am so excited! Linda has cleaned for us off and on since I was pregnant with Browder. Jeff said this week that he can't wait to walk in and smell chlorox and amonia today and might just have to give Linda a big hug! What is he trying to tell me?? I went to Walmart this morning and bought a new toilet seat for our bathroom. Ours was DISGUSTING!!!!!!!! I figured out how to take it off and almost threw up. BOYS!!!!!! It's just sick!! Next house I almost want my own toilet!! I also got a new shower curtain liner for the boys bathroom. I used to be completely OCD, and after 3 kids and monogramming I just don't have time (although it still haunts me!).
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I also went to bible study this morning. I am in a Titus 2 group that meets the 2nd Thursday of the month. Titus 2 is about mentoring and today we talked about the virtues we are supposed to adhere to and #2 was to not be slanderers. The book says "A critical and complaining spirit is devastating on those who come under its effect". Hello conviction!! I feel like I've been complaining a lot lately about not having enough time in the day! In the next breath I feel so blessed to have this "job" that I can do from home which I enjoy, and helps me to "contribute" to the family budget. I don't want to be a complainer so I'll try to watch my tongue!!

The Joys of Potty Training!!

The younger 2 were a bit under the weather yesterday, so I took them both to the Dr this morning. Mallory still had a little fluid on her ear that we just finished treating like a week ago, so another round of antibiotics for her. Garrison coughed a lot yesterday, but the Dr said he was fine!! He has bad allergies and with the drop in temps, it's probably all of that! He hasn't coughed much today at all. Anyway, 2 copays and an Rx = budget buster!!
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When we p-trained Browder, he did the potty part first and it took him weeks (maybe months) to do the #2 part. Garrison is the exact opposite! He's got the poop part down pat (when he wants to). Still in diapers and honestly we haven't seriously tried potty training him yet. Laziness. It's such a pain!! Regardless he's doing great telling us when he has to go #2. That would include in Target today as soon as we got in the door, got Mallory's cart cover all in place (which is hard to do w/ one hand) and got her strapped in. So I undo her, grab the cart cover and we make a dash for the bathroom. Of course the big stall is full, so the 3 of us cram in to a regular sized stall. I'm holding her while trying to wipe the seat, get G's pants and diaper off and get him on the potty. He touched everything in there and we sat there for 10 minutes. He had to know what every thing was, three times. Of course nothing comes out, and of course his diaper is a total loss, so when he says he's done I just pulled his pants back up and he was free-willy all over Target. He made it all the way through, shopping, waiting for an Rx, etc and I put a diaper back on him in the car!
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We've got some time to kill, it's noon and we're all starving, so we go to our East side McDonalds. Not to be compared with any other McDonalds. This one is new and it's pretty nice! We get all settled in and are eating our lunch when G informs me again that "he's got to drop some poo poo". I kindly asked the booth next to me (moms w/ kids) to watch our stuff and again, the 3 of us dash to the bathroom and all hunker down in a stall. This time it was a success! YEAH!! Now, if I can just get him to pee we'll be all set! He'll be 3 May 11 so that needs to be my GOAL!! Of course then you get to that phase where they want to use every public restroom they can find, just for the heck of it...
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After all that we got home and I got them all down for a nap including Browder, so I crashed for an hour. I haven't turned my machine on today! I did 16 shirts yesterday alone, so I think a day off is OK! Jeff took B to his soccer game - we stayed here in a warm house! I've got a girls dinner tonight at Jalapeno's so I'm just not getting anything done today! :(
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I've had a couple of people comment on the "ad" thing from Oprah! I don't think you get to chose your ads. It would be great if I could advertise for places I love or shop at, but I'm not sure how they determine what to put on your blog. If you log on and see an ad or two, it means I've decided to try it. Still unsure about that venture...

Monday Marathon

I just finished t-shirt #16. Yes, 16. I have been a crazy sewing girl today! I'm chipping away at my pile that I hope to finish by the weekend. We'll see! I had to pick G up from school early today b/c he started coughing. A few times today I was waiting for a lung to hit the floor. It's the cough like you get when a piece of popcorn skin is stuck in your throat. Mallory didn't go to school today (Monday is our day), and after dinner acted a little weepy so I took her temp and it was 100.4 under the arm. Not sure if you add a degree on that?? Anyway, tomorrow I'm probably taking them to the Dr. so I knew tomorrow might be a total loss, so I've been sewing away. She is supposed to go Monday for an ear check so I guess we'll go ahead tomorrow. Poor things! I wonder what it could be..... maybe the fact that the high was 50 today and there is a freeze warning tonight and it's APRIL??!!
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Jeff & I watched Oprah today, and he saw where some chick makes 40 grand a month off ad sales off her blog. So he's all over that. A minute ago he pointed out from the couch (on the laptop) that my blog had 40,000 hits. We looked back and my first post was on April 12, 2008, so almost a year ago! I'm not sure how the ad stuff works and don't really want to junk up my blog. I'm sure he'll have a full report tomorrow on how it works!
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I'm done for the day and off to bed!

A cute little baby gift!

A friend from high school who lives in Texas ordered this! She originally said "retro" or "gypsy" and this is what we came up with. Not your typical baby light pink but very cute!! A lot of people like the bright colors for baby gifts. From personal experience you get so much "baby blue" and "light pink" that a bright cheery colorful gift is a nice change! And anything personalized is always a favorite!

Thankful it's Friday!!

I had a Q about the swimsuit from a previous post. Amanda, I hooped a piece of sticky stabilizer and stuck the swimsuit to it (didn't hoop the suit) and pinned it in place. I was leary of any tight "curly curlz" type font, but had a friend who tried it and it worked. I figured for a $9.99 swimsuit I didn't have too much to lose! I've had a couple of people bring me more to do, so hopefully I'm as successful!
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This morning by 8:30 I was stressed out! I had a lot on the calendar today and woke up tired (plus the boys were up at 6:30)!! One of my committments was an hour and a half bible study at my church. I swear, everything that was said and every comment that I heard was geared towards me. I seriously got self conscience and felt that a couple of people were reading my blog and Facebook or that someone told them 'Rosemary has been doing this and this'!! It was on 'use of time' which is an area I have been struggling with lately! An illustration was given which I loved! If you take a jar, fill it with the big rocks first. Then you can add pebbles, then sand, then water to fill it up. If you put the water & sand in first, there won't be any room for the big rocks. Basically you should take each day and decide what the big rocks are. If you get all of the big rocks in, then you might have room for pebbles and sand (which might be Facebook or blogging or sitting on the couch reading a magazine). The big rocks should be #1 spending time w/ God, caring for your children, planning dinner, doing something your husband asks you to do, etc. You get the point! Anyway I have a lot of soul searching and praying to do b/c I've been struggling with time management and work for weeks! By the way, Jeff is at Target w/ B and M and G is taking a late rest on the couch, so I'm squeezing in a quick blog and a couple of shirts! :)
>Have a great weekend!!

Don't be scared!!

Jeff took the boys to the lake this afternoon, so I've been busy trying to get some monogramming done. I managed to squeeze in a shirt for me! This is an elbow tee I found at Target for 6 bucks - had to get a size L b/c everything is so tight these days. I have nothing to wear (the story of my life) so I need to find more tees!
Here is Sissy pushing around her "dadee" who appears to be falling out of the stroller. She gets excited when I say "baby" and sort of says "dadee". That and "uh oh" are about the only things she says. Excuse the white romper - she has been in it all day and is rather filthy!

So I keep getting e-mails from people saying "I know you are so busy" and "I hate to e-mail you" or "I hate to ask you". I guess my blog posts have scared people?? I didn't mean for them to! Yes, I am super busy right now with spring, but never too busy to answer e-mails or squeeze in some work! I've kind of mentally been giving myself goals each day of one person's monogramming. If I have more time I do more, but try to tell myself ' I'll finish these 5 shirts for so-and-so today". Seems to be working! I don't feel as stressed! My problem is my own... when I started this, I was doing this and that every few days for close friends or family. My sister in law used to say I would be done w/ her monogramming before she got to the end of the driveway. I was FAST!! A year or longer later and I still like to be fast, but have 3 kids and a crazy household and 5 times the work, so I'm doing the best I can!! Please never feel bad e-mailing me or asking me to do something! I'm happy to squeeze in a last minute baby gift or shirt for you anytime!