{updates x2}

{excuses, excuse, excuses ...}

As ya'll remember, I had a give-away going here. Two FQ bundles of Anna Marie Horner's "Good Folks" and Amy Butler's "Daisy Chain."

Well, I got majorly distracted over the weekend, starting Saturday. Hubby went to the local nursery we love and bought some sea-grapes (didn't even know you could buy them), a funky plant called a "Troubichina" (which has the coolest leaves -- huge with a felt-like texture -- they'll also have ginormous purple flowers, too!), and bought me some tulip plants ('cause he *knows* I loves the tulips!). Along with the new "babies" he bought 14 bags of soil and 8 bags of mulch. Great, right? I congratted him on his awesome purchases and ducked back into my studio. We've been together long enough to know that if he can *see* you, he can put you to work.

Twenty minutes later, 3 things happen.

1. My pre-teen son comes into my studio, taps me on the shoulder and says quietly "Um ... I'm going to go help Dad in the yard." What?! My son was happily playing video games in the living room (he's been around long enough to know the whole "see you, put you to work" thing, too). My son is about as into yard work as he is into voluntary amputation. Already, I know this is Not Good.
2. I hear cursing in the yard (my studio window faces our backyard and pool - awesome for inspiration, terrible for guilt when DH is doing yard work) and "chop-chip-chop" sounds.
3. I drag my eyes off the compie screen (and pull the earbuds out of my ears) to see my dear hubby chopping our azalea bushes as though they had slapped his momma. We had five in the backyard when I started my project. Within moments, we had 3 1/2 -- one was already *gone* and the other casualty was quickly following. I'm serious, you could almost see terror on the little azalea flowers' faces.

(Azalea's *were* hurt during the course of this story, but not only were they already w-a-a-a-y past the prime of their lives, I had **nothing** to do with their early demise. I can say, however, they are living a "second life" in the form of compost and will go on to help make beautiful flowers, trees, and veggies)

So ... of course, at this point, I go out to not only see if I can help, but to render first aid if necessary. Trust me, I was not only groaning as I walked outside, I was also mentally preparing excuses for why I could only "stay for a moment."

"A moment" became 10 HOURS. I kid you NOT. We dug up the Azaleas, planted the sea grapes in their place, spread "cottage garden" wildflowers seeds (pulling up the azaleas left LOTS to real estate to plant new stuff), and potted the Troubichina and tulips. And then, in the way we gals will often wrangle new drapes to go with new carpet or furniture, DH had me scrubbing the oogie grime off our concrete pool "skirt"/patio.

So, out of that 10 hours, I spent 2 scrubbing the patio to a lovely gleaming shine (I kid you not). But once I did that, I noticed how lonely and sad (and utterly UNattractive) our patio was. So I cleaned our patio furniture, put the potted plants next to the door (which is my studio door, too, so I *did* have a vested interest in how it looks), pulled a potting table (for lack of a better word) of the poolhouse and gave the patio a makeover. So far, I've been getting compliments - though I don't think that my imaginary friends count for *that* much, do they?

Sunday: I'm sure there's *OODLES* of women out there who can commisserate, my MIL came for dinner. At least, I *think* it was dinner. Felt more like Hell but with stories about her childhood. I think I was more worn out once she left than I was after scrubbing our patio on my hands and knees for two hours. I dunno.

Monday: I napped. 'Nuff said.

Tuesday: Laundry, dishes, entertaining dear daughter's friends, made dinner, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned our *&^%$# hardwood floors, did the big shopping trip ... had to make up for Monday, yannow.

Today: Took car into shop (makes a *really* embarrassing grind-y rattl-y noise) so our awesome mechanic could order me a new catalytic converter.

All the spaces in between: I can't STAND nekkid fabric squishies. I'm not criticizing others who're fine with them ... I just can't stand it myself. So, everytime I did an errand, I'd take a pit stop to look for small goodies to add in the give-away squishies. Vintage buttons, new buttons, bookmarks, notepads ... greens/blues for the Amy Butler fabs, and pinks/reds for the Anna Marie fabs.

I'm going for the big, fun kinda giveaway. Where for each give-away (and I do have more coming up), the excitement isn't just for the fabs you'll get, but the little add-ons, too. Just ... kitschy fun stuff. Silly stuff. Just so maybe you'll take a sec and remember that the biggest inspiration for creativity is FUN. Not deadlines (took me YEARS to understand that), but pure, silly, goofy, dorky, FUN.

And I know I had dorky, silly, goofy fun picking out the add-ons! So I've got THAT! :)

Okay, I'm going to go officially close the comments section for that post and then I'm going to print out all the names so my dear daughter can draw the names. I'll take pix-ies, too, so ya'll can actually see my dear sweet daughter's face! ;)