Whatever

I can't find the site where they have totally sarcastic reviews of the bachelor. Jeff, husband of Mindy, mentioned it in his blog but I just can't find it. He posts a lot of blog entries and then I get really distracted when I am reading them.
Either way it is sad times.
I asked John what he wanted for his birthday under the guise of presents for other people. His birthday is the 5th of February. Here is his list.

Birthday list- John Madsen
Created 1/29/09

In no particular order, and not exclusive
or exhaustive, here are some things I'd like
to have:

iTunes gift cards
medium-sized tshirts from boto designs on etsy.com
wii lego games (star wars, indiana jones, batman, etc.)
wii points gift cards
interesting books about medicine, infectious diseases,
public health, or the healthcare system
waldmeister drink syrup
elderberry flower syrup
software for ripping DVD's to iPod (Cucusoft ipod video converter)

That is a lot of stuff for a birthday list. Except it isn't in a way. My birthday list is going to include a Subaru Tribeca and maybe now a house in Scranton. We are going there in August. John got into the Commonwealth Medical College.

In other news Danielle has a new love. Our puppy. But she doesn't want him to touch her. And I want these shoes. The other day someone told me how my blog had lots of vacation options. The way she said it made me think it was one of those- "you just talk about how much money you want to spend. That must be hard" comments. It is hard to only be able to talk about options not just blow it. I think you don't talk about plans on your blog if you are rich. Or post shoes you want. You just buy those things. Probably you don't blog if you are rich. or you pay someone else to do it. maybe you also don't facebook stalk people if you are rich. I wouldn't really know. Either way it almost made me not post the photo of the shoes I want and John's birthday list. The other day I saw how someone got a bunch of free things at the grocery store on her blog. I was so jealous I could have cried. I really am a slut for coupons.

Etsy had a baby shower recently- I loved it! All the moms on etsy that have shops or are members were paired with people who will donate items. They had a virtual baby shower. My shop donated some things. It was really neat. I got paired with a woman who was having a boy and she liked japanese fabric. I got really excited about making her items. I like how on Etsy they try to get people involved in the community- what a great idea for people with babies to get free things- you could also sign up if you adopted a baby. Next time I have a baby I will try to sign up. I think it's too late for this round but you can always contact them to announce your next pregnancy.

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Hello Little Bedford

Well I was pretty heartbroken when I discovered that I was allergic to cats after we got cats. So we are proud to announce we now have a puppy. We were going to rescue an adult dog but I fell in love with his picture on the rescue website and he is 8 weeks old.

We are naming him Bedford.

He already always asks to go potty outside. But he asks about every thirty minutes which is a lot of pee from such a little thing!

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It's the Leash or the Shoes

This time comes in every parents life. The time when they realize if they have one of those obedient children or the ones that would happily go home with strangers. I still have a childhood memory of running away from my mom on a walk and she had to get out the toddler hand leash. Rather than playing like all my siblings I had to walk with mom. I think was about 7 so you can imagine this was horrifying.
Danielle is super cute. This is probably my favorite age so far. But she thinks it is super funny to run away from her parents. At the half yearly sale when she was hiding in the racks I thought it was super funny. At church when she went on the stand I thought it was funny too but also embarrassing. I realized I wasn't really faster than her in my slightly uncomfortable but very fun shoes.
Now I, like my mother, will be able to tell her how terrible she was as a child. Once she has children and it's payback time. John was the loudest child his parents had and my parents thought I was very disobedient. I know- shocking! Danielle laughs in the face of danger.
Danielle is going to start having a baby leash. I don't know how to go about getting one that I like- I thought about getting a retractable leash for her but John informs me that there are products specifically designed for this. Some of them are cute plush backpacks that don't look very stylish. Am I really trying to hide the nature of the leash? To what end?
I only know one woman who has a baby leash. She also seems to think her children were and are the hardest kids that were ever born. It's like a statement about how hard her life is that she has a baby leash. What does this mean? Should I avoid it? does it mean I can't handle my daughter? I am sure that there is significant social stigma attached to the baby leash- both for wearer and parent.
Maybe I can find a way to blame John. That's what husband are for- right?

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Well Claire & Me just got bigger the other day. It all started when John surprised me with some yellow roses. Then they died a few days later. And I thought of saving them but realized I could do something better- take a photo of them and make them into a card for breaking up with friends. Or anyone really. The more I thought about the card the more uses I could see for it. maybe you are friends with a guy and you wish that you were more than friends. Bam- give them the card and maybe your problems could be solved. Maybe you have a friend that doesn't like you or takes up too much of your time and you don't know how to bring it up. Just mail them this card. They will understand and you won't have to talk to them.

Now I have another Etsy store. Claireandmedesigns.etsy.com Check it out. I really like these prints of the Venetian Cathedral. I decided to make them in lots of colors so people could get different prints and put them up in lots of colors.

Then I made some greeting cards of course.

There will be a few more products in my shop. We will see what happens during our shows tonight. One of my very favorite cards in the shop is about feelings. John and I are going to start a couples therapy program. One of the main tenets is that feelings are bad. Sharing them is hard and they usually cause confusion. So I made a card dedicated to talking about feelings with your spouse or partner. It also works with friends. and of course we had to have a card for Valentines day. I took that photo in London while we were riding in Camden Lock. They were really making out. I opened yesterday and I haven't had any sales so far but hopefully they will come. Wish me luck!

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Grouchy

Sometimes I am grouchy. Like today for example. Here are some reasons I am grouchy.

1. I still haven't emerged triumphant from my night time Janae chrysalis. Too many days staying up past two in the morning are catching up with me.
2. There is something that surprised me when I first moved her. Every now and then you would hear a wailing siren in the air and for a while it was a complete mystery why. I asked our neighbor and after laughing a little he explained that it was from the volunteer firefighter service. What a clever idea. Except when the volunteers are supposed to come in the middle of the night or over eight times in the past few days. I thought with snow there would be less fires. I realize that being upset about the number of fires interrupting my sleep just shows how narcissistic I am. So I want to know how I can become a better sleeper.
3. My crazy neighbor yelling at the other neighbor for parking in the wrong spot on the public street for an hour yesterday. During baby naptime.
4. That same crazy neighbor shoveling his walk for one hour this morning. At six o clock.
5. Some girl who's husband is in podiatry school who doesn't know he won't be an MD at the end. They are really nice which makes it even more annoying when she says he is in medical school. I'm pretty sure he isn't.
6. Dishes. They just keep on coming.
7. I realized I am greedy. I always knew this but I am trying really hard to be more frugal and it is wearing on my last nerve.

Anyway here is a picture of something I made this week. I have often wondered what the best way is to break up with friends. I have always been a fan of the fade but lately I've met people who talk a lot and they seem to have more peace in their lives. To find a middle ground where I can still be passive aggressive and direct I have been working on developing a greeting card. What do you think?

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