Peep, Peep, Peep... PEEPS!!!!!!!!

Ok, I'll admit it. I LOVE PEEPS! How can you not love this face?????



Yes, I know that Easter is traditionally when you see them but I am so glad that they are now available for other holidays (and I have found a website to order from year round!) They even come in Orange Creme and Chocolate flavors. The only ones I will not, under any circumstances, eat, are the black ones that come out at Halloween. Not going to do those. Ever.

So I was thrilled when I came across the store GOODKARMASOAPS in the course of my online travels. Blaire has some really cool soaps including lego block soap, exploding frog soap, geode crystal soap, and light up soap balls! Way cool!!!

But what I really liked were her PEEPS! She had created a PEEPS soap that looks just like the squishy marshmallow blobs you find in the stores! A bar of 5 so you can cut/break one off at a time to use, just like you would pull one off at a time to eat.

But, alas, they were only in the traditional yellow. And I'm not really a yellow person. So I wrote and asked her if she had considered making other colors. She thought this was a good idea and a short while later I opened a box and out popped pink and purple PEEPS! Aren't they cute????? And they smell so good.



So keep clean and check out Blaire's Etsy shop GOODKARMASOAP to see all the fun stuff she has. And she says that 50% of her proceeds benefit local animal shelters.

Is your baby a Good Baby baby?????

(If you follow Princess Junior's blog you will see that this is a copy of what was posted there. But I wanted to let everyone know about this so please excuse me if you read it twice.)

I want to tell you all about some new "equipment" that Princess Junior now has in her arsenal. I can't even remember for sure how I stumbled across it but there were several things that struck me and I decided that I wanted to try it. When I arrived I was very impressed.

Princess Junior will most likely be in diapers for a long time. Diapers = the inevitable rashes. We don't have to deal with that often but when we do, we need something reliable. And what mother wouldn't want something that is not packed with things that aren't necessarily good for their child's skin?

What did I find??? Why did I ask if your baby was a Good Baby baby??? THIS is why...

Introducing the Mayron's Good Baby product line!

When I found this online what struck me first was that it was co-developed and created by someone I had actually heard of, Melanie Mayron, the actress I loved to watch in the TV series "thirtysomething", and not by not some big corporation that also makes furniture polish and drain cleaner. Then I read some more and saw that she and her dad really did have the credentials to do this. It wasn't just some Hollywood "star" slapping her name on some product in exchange for an occasional check.

Melanie cared about what she used on her children. She didn't want the chemical laden products that flood the market. She is in the trenches with this one because she believes in the products! And part of the proceeds from the Good Baby line go to support Womens' Health Research in honor of her mother, a breast cancer survivor. How cool is that!?!

Melanie and her father, David, have spent years developing a great product. David was an Assistant Director of Pharmaceuticals and Manager of International Pharmaceutical Services at SmithKline & French Laboratories. In 1988, he founded Mayron Research Laboratories, Inc., a contract laboratory specializing in formulation of liquid and semi-solid pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and personal care products, and re-formulation of products that need improvement in stability, texture or taste. He even holds a patent on the time-release tablet, among others. I know my son, who suffers from migraines, would thank him for that one!

So... what's so special about Good Baby? Simple. No Paraben. No sodium lauryl sulfate. No DEA. Just clean, natural ingredients including essential oils, vitamins, and anti-oxidants in the aromatherapuetic tradition.

When I first opened the tube, what impressed me was that it didn't smell funny. It was a nice clean, fresh smell! That was refreshing! And when I put some on the back of my hand, it went on smooth and wasn't at all sticky. Exactly the kind of thing I want for Princess Junior!!!

The barrier cream is currently available in tubes and in handy travel packets!


As you can see by the photo at the top of this posting, there is a complete line planned. And I have it on good authority (thanks, Melanie!) that there will be a new product launch in the next month or two. I know I'm looking forward to it!

So be sure and check it out! You don't have to be a baby or have a baby to use Good Baby. There are loads of reasons that it can be used by people of any age. I know when I was a teen I would get chaffing because I didn't listen and change out of a wet swim suit. I wish this stuff had been around then!

And, to quote a certain celebrity mom... ...you don’t have to be a baby to use it. After all, we’re all somebody's baby.

Calling all gardeners! (And wanna be's with space issues)

I just ran across something that I think is really, REALLY ingenious! A real space saver for those who are space-challenged for gardening - maybe no yard space available or no sun in the area where they could garden in. Problem solved!!! Check out this space saving garden idea! I would think that besides on a house you could install them on the side/sides of a shed or garage or other out building... and I can see where this idea would also be usable on the outside edge of a deck... Sort of a border along the railing. Anywhere they could get the appropriate sun. The deck rail is where I am thinking about using it. (Ironically, in following the links on the site I found that using it on a deck rail was the original incarnation!)

Besides being used for small veggies I can also see it maybe being used for seedlings... something to start bigger plants in.

I wonder if the neighbors would think I was crazy???

I've got BUDS!!

My thumbs are defintely NOT green. They never have been. Oh, I've been lucky a few times. I once had a Christmas Cactus that I basically ignored and at one point it had over 65 blooms on it! I guess I put it in the right window.

Last year I threw some bulbs I had in some pots. They were probably not the current year's crop of bulbs and I really didn't think anything would happen. But they grew!

Now I know that there are somethings you are supposed to do to bulb plants at the end of the growing season... cut them back, dig them up, seperate them, maybe even all of the above. But when I put them in the ground that is usually where they stay. So much to my surprise there were new green shoots popping up a couple weeks ago. And now those green shoots are starting to show signs of blue flowers!! I'm gonna have FLOWERS!!!


See the color starting to make it's way out. I love irises!!!!


Some day I'd like to have more and in more colors too! Pink would be nice.

I'm still working on Gamer Boy's spiral. I have been alternating between the spiral grannys and his spiral. Both are pretty big projects. But I am enjoying it. I saw a small afghan pattern in a really cool stitch that I liked in a new magazine but I don't like the border they used because it is too open for my taste. I might try and figure out another way to edge it but that will have to wait.

Wow! I love this square!!! A spiral granny?!?!?!

Ok... I'll admit it. You might not believe this but I hate to make something that is in lots of pieces and has to be sewn together. So while I love making different Granny Squares, I hate having to finish the project. I have even considered soliciting someone from one of the crochet groups I'm in to pay them to finish it for me. :) But this is a square that I might not have that problem with because I absolutely LOVE this square!

I really, really, really like the swirl pattern but we only need so many round blankets. (Although I do have some ideas on making something larger that will end up as a square. We'll see if it works out.)

A Granny Square and a Swirl all in ONE??? YES!!! The original pattern is in four colors. I didn't want to do that many so cut it to two and am bordering each square in black. I think the swirl shows up very well like this. If you want to try it yourself the pattern is at Crochet Me. And look around while you're there!

And I'm probably going to use "Dudessembly" (click here) by Drew Emborsky to put them together. Check out his other patterns too, he's a great designer.

Moving soon.....

Did I ever mention that hubby did something really sweet for me a short while back? Well, he's done many sweet things but this was totally unexpected and a really big surprise!! He bought me my own domain! So we are working on getting things transferred over there. Will let you know when we're all moved in. But I'm not hurrying... I want to get things nice and tidy before I invite everyone in. :)

Don't box me in!!!

I just can't seem to get away from the odd shapes. Above is the wool that I bought that I had custom spun. It started as a granny square but I didn't like the way that was shaping up. It just wasn't laying flat. So I frogged it and started a pentagon instead. This seems to be going well. I am still getting used to the white in all of it but that's what I asked for.) It is growing on me and I think I will be happy with the finished product.

And I finished the bamboo throw I was working on for Princess Junior to use in her wheelchair. Everyone is amazed that it's so soft and then REALLY surprised when they learn it's bamboo. If I could that is all I'd work with!


This is the center of it. One half is brown and the other is pink. Then I wanted to "finish" it on the edges so I did a few more rows of brown.


I like the way it turned out. It's about 30 inches square. We have an unexpected appointment with her surgeon on Monday so we'll get to give it a try!

I'm still working on Gamer Boy's throw and he asked about it today. I hope to have that done soon. I just got a couple new patterns but I'm going to have to be good and not touch them until I get his throw done.