Charity for 2009

Last year I held an awareness giveaway for preeclampsia in May for the Preeclampsia Foundation. I made a baby quilt and gave each person who donated a dollar to the foundation one chance to earn that quilt. For each dollar a person donated, they earned one chance towards the raffle. I want to do something similar this year but I'm debating right now between three very important causes in my life.

May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month through the Preeclampsia Foundation.

September is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month through United Cerebral Palsy.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month through the March of Dimes.

If you have a moment to answer a couple of questions, I would really appreciate it as it will help me pick my cause. I'd love to do them all but I just am not sure I can pump out a large project for each of them.

If you were to donate to one of those causes, which one would you choose?

Would you be willing to offer a giveaway for any of these causes?

If you were to donate money to earn a ticket to a raffle, what sort of a prize would most entice you? Would it be a quilt? Would it be a handbag?

Would you prefer to buy a product from my shop where the profits or a percentage of the profits were then donated to the cause?

Thanks so much for your time. If you have any additional ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Lasiest Blogger Ever Award

So, here we are, 9 days into January and no posts. I've had a struggle getting into 2009 and am finally feeling like I've got my head wrapped around straight. Darsie started her afternoon preschool with the "older kids" and the time changed has made it so we had to reschedule every therapy appointment for both Darsie and Elise. What a hassle! I've just now this morning rescheduled everything so we can make it.

The change to the afternoon class has been a bit of a struggle. Darsie definitely is showing how defiant of a four year old she can be. I don't know if this is her coming into herself or just attitudes picked up from other kids. I know change is tough on these babes so I'm assuming part of it is adjustment. Right? Please?

We finally moved both of the girls out of our room and into their own shared room. It is torture...both in having them clear across the house and the fact that now neither of them are sleeping well. Sleep has always been a struggle with both girls for the entire four and half years we've been parents.

I'm trying to get back into sewing. I had a mini burn out with Christmas but I'm working on a new bag pattern and I'm excited again. I've recently picked up some fabulous fabric, which always helps. I created some sewn cards recently that were a lot of fun. I've put them up in my Etsy shop and hopefully will have some more soon.

Darsie's botox is finally scheduled for the start of March. I'm excited and optomistic about it. I will post a video of her walking without her DAFO brace prior to the procedure and then follow ups afterwards. Her rolling in of the foot is getting worse and worse and she is complaining that her brace hurts now because of the muscle pull. No matter how tight I put her brace on, she is getting red spots when she wears it, too. I just hope we're in time for the Botox to help, even in the slightest.

Jeff had a birthday this past week. So happy birthday Love!!!

A New Year

I am really looking forward to 2009. Closing out the books on 2008 and moving forward. I've got too many ideas swishing around in my head but I know that 2009 will bring good things. I've got one big project that remains unfinished for 2008 but am hoping to wrap it up in the next week or two. I am the constant procrastinator. Without hard deadlines, I tend to flounder.

The last couple of weeks we were hit with some crazy weather. We probably had close to two feet of snow here in the Pacific Northwest. It was beautiful but it sure made driving a crazy experience. We were pretty much fine until the snow turned into this weird ice/slush mixture.


Our Christmas packages are still rolling in from the various postal services but Christmas was wonderful. We had power. We had hot food. We had our health. It was good and I was definitely spoiled.


I hope everyone has safe celebrations tonight and warm beds to crawl into after the festivities are over.

Happy holidays, warm winter wishes, and ring in the new year!

A Thank You & Good News!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the nice comments on the gift tags. It really made me smile each time I opened an e-mail with a thank you! I promise more goodies like that in the future.

On to some really good news. Darsie's teacher called me up the other day and wants to move Darsie up the older class in her preschool! She has been in the 3-year old class for a second year for a variety of reasons, mainly being that she is still two years out from kindergarten (our cut off is September 1st and she was born September 19th) and the teachers also wanted to give her a good opportunity to really succeed in school and help her become a leader.

Well, she has. She has impressed us all with her growth this year and her willingness and eagerness to learn. So, after the winter break, Darsie will be in the 4-year old class! It is a nice class because there will be four other girls (she has been with all boys!) and there are also typical peers in the new class. A good mix for typical and outstanding kids like D.

I'm really proud, to say the least.

Happy Holidays from Us to You!

Because I can't send each and everyone of you a gift for the Holidays, I created a sheet of gift tags that you can download, print out, and cut on the guides. Write a name on the back in your prettiest handwriting. And just a punch a hole in a corner and string some bakers twine or ribbon to tie to your package. 8 tags per page.

Download Penguin Holiday Gift Tags

A Plea for Small Businesses

Come February 9, 2009 countless small businesses will have their means ripped away from them when the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) goes into effect.

It basically states that any product manufactured for children under 12 or that a child under 12 could come into contact with will have to be tested for lead. This isn't just the big companies, it is ANYBODY - people that sell on Ebay, Etsy, private webs ites, boutiques, wholesale, even craft fairs and garage sales. All of the charitable stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army) will not be able to re-sell any child related item. Educational materials will need to be tested. ANYTHING that a child 12 or under could come into contact with - clothes, soap, toys, books, etc. etc..

Only HUGE corporations will be able to comply. The little folks will be decimated. Seriously.

Below are some great and helpful links..please read them and lets get going on this!

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsial.html
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mfreisinger&view=videos
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/category/news-and-events/
http://mollyodesigns.blogspot.com/

Please help, this effects EVERY ONE.