My New Hobby

Well I guess it's time for a post, I don't want you all to think I am still sick. I actually suffered for another day and a half of sickness since my last post, but since Monday I am feeling pretty good. It's really nice to feel good and be able to eat food and not feel sick. It's also nice to be able to take care of Anthony and not constantly feel like I need to be in bed. Baby's have needs, and apparently they don't care if your sick or not. I am thankful no one else seemed to catch my sickness. Okay, enough about that, here is the real post:

I come from a family of the artsy, crafty type, and I sometimes think I don't really fit in. I don't have much artistic abilities, I can't sew, draw, paint, or crochet like many of my sisters can. Rachael recently started a new hobby of sewing purses and handbags. She even has an Etsy store, Simple Wishes, where she sells them. Natalie paints pictures and has her own pottery kiln and also has an Etsy store, NatiSuzanne, for her pottery. Francie crochets scarfs and blankets, and my mom can do just about anything, and I do nothing. Okay Shannon doesn't have a thing she does either, but she is in school and probably doesn't have time for a hobby right now. I've been thinking I need to take up a hobby for myself, but couldn't think of one. Rachael suggested photography. I pondered this for a while, I would really like to learn to take great pictures, but it seems like a pretty expensive hobby, with classes and fancy cameras. I mentioned it to Todd and he wasn't too impressed with my new hobby idea. He says blogging is my hobby. Well, yes that is true, I do blog enough to call it a hobby, but I still want something more. Then the other morning I suddenly came up with an idea. The farming season is just starting and I thought it would be neat to take pictures of the whole process along the way and put it in a book for Anthony to show him how a tomato is grown, starting from a seed to when it ends up in the grocery store. Or to show him what his daddy does all day at work, take pictures of him on the tractor and doing all the things he does with little explanations beneath the picture, then we could read it like a story book. Then I was watching The Bachelor, (yes I am ashamed to admit I watch it) but anyway, Holly, one of the bachelorettes, is a children's book author and I thought that was really cool. She said she used to be a nanny and then she moved away, missed her little girls she nannied for, and so she wrote a book for them and got it published. Cool right? I don't really think I can write children's books and have them published, or maybe I could, I mean how hard can it be? Have you ever read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? There really isn't that much to it. I think the real talent to writing a children's book is illustrating them, which means I need to have an artist to help me out. Hmm, I wonder who I could get to help me with that. (hint: Natalie) Okay, I think I'm getting way far ahead of myself, for now I am going to start with my original idea, take pictures of the different farm processes and make it into a story book for Anthony. But, making it into a real children's book is still an idea I'm going to ponder for a while.

And completely off the subject, Anthony got a new chair. He is still a little wobbly in it, but he seems to like it. You can buy a food tray for it too, once he starts eating. Pretty cool huh?

America's Next Top Model & Etsy Shop

My niece Kristen may have just gotten her first modeling job. Unfortunately it doesn't pay anything since she'll be working for her mom modeling purses for her new Etsy shop. I was over at their house when we took all these pictures and Kristen was loving the camera like a professional model. She told us she was America's next top model. This is all so different from when she was a little girl. She used to hate having her picture taken, and therefore in almost all of her pictures as a little girl she was rarely smiling and often looks grumpy. It sort of became her signature look in pictures. I think she finally started to like the camera in part due to Auntie Francie who is a bit camera happy and is always taking pictures. Once Kirsten's little brother Jack started allowing Francie to take pictures of him anytime she wanted without putting up a fight, Kristen started to get a little jealous of all the attention. (at least that's how I think it went down). Anyway none the less were all so happy that she is now more than willing to pose for pictures.

A little more about my sisters Etsy shop:

It all started when she taught herself how to sew to make her kids halloween costumes, and she made them all these cute little candy bags to carry (as opposed to a big plastic pumpkin). Then next thing you know she's sewing cute little bags for Kristen and Katya's piano books, and now she's making purses for her Etsy store. The great thing about it is that since November is National Adoption Awareness month she has decided to donate all the proceeds from the store this month to buy christmas gifts for orphans in Russia. You can read more about it on her blog or at her Etsy shop SimpleWishes. Or better yet go online and buy something from her Etsy shop. It's only been up and running for less than 24 hours, she started with only 2 purses on it, and now there is only one left, but check back often, she has many more cute purses that she has already made, she just needs to add them to the store.

Here is pictures of the Halloween bags she made that started the whole thing.