Thursday, 23 July 2009

3

Get 'em while they're hot (or at least dry)!

As you might have read, my summer fairs have been a total disaster due to inclement weather and now I'm in a bit of a pickle... I have a tremendous amount of stock! With my trip to the States quickly approaching, and a chance to replenish my now-meager fabric stash, I'm starting a big sale today. I've been loading all my ready to ship stock into galleries on my Facebook fan page with the available sizes.


First, the peasant tops. Normally £14, sale price is £11. Click here to be taken to the gallery.

Tunics, normally £18, sale price is now £14. Click here to be taken to the gallery.

Organic t-shirts, normally £12, sale price is now £9. Click here to be taken to the gallery.

Dresses, normally £20 to £25, sale price for all is now £16. Click here to be taken to the gallery.

Rompers, normally £14, sale price for all is now £11. Click here be taken to the gallery.

Coats, normally £45, sale price a massively discounted £30. Click here be taken to the gallery.

If you want to order anything, please email me at blog@kitschycoo.co.uk and I'll send you a Paypal invoice. Shipping is a flat rate of £2 for orders up to £25 and £3 for orders over £25. If you tweet, blog, link the sale in your Facebook etc I'll throw in free shipping! Please spread the word, this has really been a terrible summer for the business and I'm so keen to start over with new fabric :)

This sale is on only until Sunday, and then I'll be closing up shop for a couple of weeks!

Oh, and my US friends are more than welcome to order as I'll be in the States in less than a week and can ship from there!

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

3

Eight things

Ooops, Vonnie tagged me a scandalously long time ago...

8 things I am looking forward to:

  1. Our trip to the States next week. Meeting the new nephew, seeing how much my niece and other nephews have grown since Christmas, hanging out with my parents, sunshine, Dairy Queen, going to the movies (in particular The Drive In) and possibly a couple nights on our own to celebrate my big birthday
  2. Jamie sleeping all night long, in his own bed
  3. Having enough money to buy some clothes that actually fit. At the moment I can pull on all my trousers without unzipping them. I look like a vagabond.
  4. The kids going to university. Think I'm going to go all Doogie Howser on them and make them go when they're pre-teens.
  5. Not wiping anyone's bum for them
  6. A hair cut
  7. Receiving the massive lump sum we're owed from being underpaid on Tax Credits
  8. Reading The Girl Who Played With Fire which my husband kindly bought me yesterday

8 things I did yesterday:

  1. Made one of these and one of these for orders
  2. Had my t-shirt on inside out all day, only realising my folly at bedtime (see 'vagabond' above)
  3. Pondered what the kids would do if I had an aneurysm in response to their fighting
  4. Tried to get a close up photo of Maia's eyeball
  5. Watched a thunderstorm through the window
  6. Tidied up the maelstrom, all day long
  7. Discussed experimenting with resin (off the crafty not druggy variety)
  8. Cleaned the inside of my sewing machine and chastised myself for not doing it more often

8 things I wish I could do:

  1. Find the correct balance between having ready made stock and actually selling it
  2. Drive in the UK
  3. Master my procrastinating tendencies
  4. Take an uninterrupted shower
  5. Speak foreign languages and be able to travel there to put it into practice
  6. Not get so stressed
  7. Make clothes for myself
  8. Put makeup on without looking like a transvestite

8 TV shows I watch:

  1. Criminal Minds
  2. The Street
  3. The In-Betweeners
  4. Lost
  5. Dexter
  6. CSI
  7. True Blood (well, the first episode anyway!)
  8. In. the. Bloody. Night. Garden. (makes my ears bleed)

I'm not going to tag anyone because I'm pretty sure everyone's already been tagged!

Monday, 20 July 2009

13

A plague on our house


Since the summer holidays started it's been illness after illness here. First it was Maia and a middle ear infection, treated with antibiotics. Then one week later, with the mother of all nappy rashes and ulcers in her mouth, we were back at the doctors. I have to admit that I was a little bit shocked when the doctor said it was Hand, Foot and Mouth. Mostly because it seemed to me to be more like Mouth, Bits and Bum, but also because this is how they treat Foot and Mouth in the UK:

Luckily Hand, Foot and Mouth is not related to Foot and Mouth so we didn't need to burn Maia on a pyre. At my insistence, we were also given treatment for Thrush for the Bits and Bum element. Which she responded to, so it appears that my genetic contribution to Maia is not strictly limited to unruly hair and a persecution complex. And the half of her right eye that's blue:


And now the most terrifying affliction of all, which manifested in the boy child last week. I'm not, however, speaking of swine flu but of the less-publicised but more serious affliction: The Whys. Other mums have been talking of the dreaded Whys in hushed tones, eyes lolling in anxiety, "They just won't stop, make them stop, please God, make them stop..." Although I sympathised, I didn't appreciate how maddening The Whys is, until it struck our very own house. Now I don't just have to tell him to do or not to do things, I have to justify it:

Me: Don't use the puppet to fondle yourself.
J: Why?
Me: Because I said so.
J: Why?
Me: I don't like it.
J: Why?
Me: Because it creeps me out.
J: Why?
Me (crying): Just stop! For the love of God, stop!

Research suggests that this condition is terminal (for me at least) but there is palliative care:

2

Mini Mod dress winner

Great participation in my latest giveaway, thank you everyone! There were some pretty exotic food choices!

And without further ado, the winner is....
KID, MD! Congratulations and I look forward to seeing what you make.

Sunday, 19 July 2009

10

Treefest: Day two debrief

Today was off to a good start, because I had Friend Sarah in tow to keep me from committing harakiri company. Until we got to the field. Tent, tent, tent, tent, no tent. 'Hey Sarah,' I said, 'look, no tent!' I left my tent overnight, as did everyone else. But whose tent wasn't standing in the morning? That's right, mine. It was dissembled on the ground. 'Hmm, guess we'll have to put it back up,' I puzzled. As we started to collect the poles, one of the event staff came over. 'Good luck with that,' he smirked. 'Did you take the tents down overnight?' I asked. Because it was stormy during the night with some seriously heavy rain. 'Nup, I tore it down this morning.' I didn't think tore sounded like a very good verb. 'See, when I came in this morning, your tent was upside down on top of that tent.' Me and Sarah looked at where he was pointing. 'My tent was upside down? On that tent?' We looked again. 'Yep, it's legs were sticking up in the air.' I had a mental image:


'So I had to take it apart, and most of the poles are broken. You'll not get it back together again,' he said. 'Whatever, Humpty Dumpty. This tent is going back together again. I am not buying a new tent every single outdoor fair I do.' So Sarah and I set to task, with a lot of tape and some cardboard to reinforce the breaks. We were nothing if not ingenious. Well, nothing if not ingenious and delusional. 'What am I going to do?' I asked Sarah, 'We have to have a tent!' Because the sky looked like this:


'Well, we can't borrow his one,' I thought, looking across the way:


Another vendor suggested we ask the organisers if we could have one of their tents for the day. You know, the ones they put up so the public could cower underneath them and not get wet. And luckily they agreed.

Here's Sarah in a rare non-t-shirt-chasing moment:


Yes, she does have a scarf on in July. And here's me and my depressingly over-stocked table:


And here's the sky by the time I got home:


And here's God laughing:

2

Little show offs

These were taken last weekend, when it wasn't raining.




Can I just remind you she only just turned two?



Because counting is for babies...

Saturday, 18 July 2009

12

Treefest: Day One debrief

Weather fail:


Attendence fail:


Rail fail:

I orderd two extra rails on Wednesday, with overnight shipping. They're not getting delivered until Monday. My rail is c-r-o-w-d-e-d.

Table fail:


Laundry line fail:

The arrows indicate how they took turns getting blown up onto the tent roof and then sticking on the wet canvas

Competition fail


Child labour law fail


It's a shame that Failblog has already been registered or I'd be snapping that shit right up.