Same Old, Same Old

Well here we are at the end of another weekend filled with sleepovers and salt mines! The poor Dad in this house is finding it hard to keep up with all the antics of his women! He's taken to snatching sleep when he can! Note that he firmly maintains control of the remote even while napping!! While I took this to tease him I must admit to being desperately jealous of his ability to power nap. I always feel tired these days but I dare not lay down because my naps require HOURS of sleeping not moments! BFF/Cousins Deirdre and Julia spend countless hours every week trying to manipulate the Moms into allowing the maximum number of 'together' minutes possible. As is now becoming the norm, Deirdre was here for a sleep over AGAIN!! So while the posse played like mad I made a foray into the salt mine. Christmas is looming and I NEED to get cracking on raising money for the Tamale Basket which we send to Mari's first family. Tamales at midnight on Christmas Eve are a huge tradition in Guatemala. Those too poor to make or buy tamales go door to door begging for a Christmas tamale so it is also tradition to make extra for the poor. Our dear local shopkeeper made arrangements last year for Josefa to receive a basket full of the supplies needed to make the holiday tamales only to send me an urgent email....Josefa had ALWAYS been one of those too poor to buy/make tamales and therefore had no idea how to make the traditional recipe!!!!! Just heartbreaking to know that a woman who made such a huge sacrifice for her daughter had NEVER had the simple luxury of Christmas tamales. So not only do I have to raise the money for the ingredients but I also need to make a bit extra to hire the shopkeepers wife to make the tamales for Josefa and Manuel. This year I'm also hoping to make just that bit extra so that we could actually send a small gift from Mari to her first family! Found a clearance bin clearing out 'fat quarters' of fabric for 50 cents a piece. There were a couple of Hanukkah fabrics so I thought I'd squeeze out this one outfit to see if there was a market. It's a size 6x and I've already put it up on eBay. My ID is drsilk1 if you know anyone who might be interested! BTW, Our Lady of Guadalupe is on it's way to San Jose, California!! The interest was limited so now I've got to rethink what I'm going to do with the 2 1/2 yards I still have. I was thinking if I had somehow listed it in Spanish it might have garnered a bit more action but while I'm functional I'm not confident of my skills to do an eBay listing in Spanish. Started a few 'cutified' denim pieces! This is the first one completed... this is the back view of my Christmas Sweets jumper. It's a 4T denim jumper to which I've added appliques of candy canes and cupcakes. It too is already listed on eBay in the Custom Boutique section. Julia thought it looked "scrumptious"....so if I make another in her size what are the odds that the new found desire to dress up for Mr. C will last until December????? I think I'll wait a little on that project.