Sunday, August 21, 2011

Updates on Grandad, the Grand-Girls, and Etsy

It's Sunday afternoon. Grandad is playing "Words With Friends" on his new HTC Evo Shift phone while relaxing in his recliner. We both made the switch to smart phones this summer and we're both addicted to "Words With Friends." If you play, hit me up for a game. My name is "v2valenta."  I've just finished watching The American President on television. It's one of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it many times and I still love it.

Grandad is finishing up his last week of wearing a 30-day heart monitor to verify that he is no longer going into atrial fibrillation. He is still experiencing symptoms several times a week which include tightness in his chest, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, and extreme fatigue. However, several months ago when he last wore a monitor, he did not go into a-fib a single time during that 30 day period, in spite of experiencing those same symptoms. The electrophysiologist believes that these symptoms may be caused by another problem that has not yet been detected. So, on September 13, Grandad will have a nuclear stress test to see if they can find anything else.

The granddaughters are growing like crazy. Her Highness is big enough for her baby doorway jumper and she loves it. She started day care this week for the first time when her dad went back to teaching high school English after a summer of taking care of the girls. She did not seem to take right to day care and had a rough few days. You may remember that I told you she wants to be held all the time. This is still the case, and the day care ladies said she cried a large part of the day. But by the end of the week she was doing better and seemed to be adjusting.


Our Little Princess is also getting big really fast. She's big enough now to enjoy arts and crafts. She loves going to day care and spending time with all the other kids. She made the necklace that she's wearing here.


I've been busy sewing. I have an entry in the WholePort Creativity Expo. Voting is a two-step process. First you have to "like" WholePort on Facebook. Then you have to look at the entries and vote for mine by clicking "like" on the picture. Here's what my entry looks like. I would really appreciate your vote. The ten winners will each get a $50 certificate for craft supplies from WholePort. Voting is open through the end of the month.


I also made this kimono-style dress for Our Little Princess. I'm very proud of it. I think it's one of the best I've done so far.


I took two outfits for each of the girls when I visited them a couple of weeks ago. But, since I didn't take photos of the other two, I'll have to show them to you another day. I've asked Katy to send me photos of both of them.

And I have some fairly big news to share with you. For several years now, friends and family have been encouraging me to sell my homemade items. So I've been thinking about it for a while now and I've decided to take the plunge. I'm going to open an Etsy shop. I'm working on getting some stock made and I'm hoping to open it around Labor Day. I wasn't really planning to announce it yet, but Katy told all our Facebook friends yesterday, so I thought I would let my readers know today. I'll be starting out with dresses and clothing for little girls and the summer-weight cotton baby blankets that I've been making for years. I'm hoping to eventually add some items for little boys. You are also likely to see a variety of other crafty items like wreaths and such from time to time. Basically, whatever I feel like making. 

School starts tomorrow, so I'll be back to my substitute teaching gig, probably by the end of the week. The best part of substitute teaching is that I'll have lots of down time. I will be the first to admit that it's been a long summer with no income from me. It's still a few years until I'll be old enough to start drawing on my retirement. If I can get a little income from sewing and crafting, which I love to do, maybe next summer will go a little easier. 

Watch this space for an official announcement about the opening of my Etsy shop. It won't be more than a couple of weeks.

It's still unbearably hot and dry here in South Texas. We don't really expect a change in the weather until around the first of October. We've got a very busy autumn coming up with family reunions on both sides of the family, the family golf tournament and our annual Valenta wive's day out. I'll keep you informed. I hope you've had a great summer and that your fall is cool and colorful.