In honor of Small Business Saturday I've decided, very last minute, to have a little sale over at my Etsy shop. Right now I'm sitting on a bunch of cells left over from the Woodland Art Fair and I'd like to see them go to a good home! Oh, and if you happen to stop over at the shop, can you do me a favor? If there is a cell that you like can you "favorite" it? This helps me figure out which colors/style of cells that people like. Thanks! 

If you are local and would like to buy cells in person I am one of several artist who will be participating in the Black Friday Art Sale at the Lexington Art League, Dec 6-7th. I love this sale (and often spend more than I make…oops) because, well, if I do say so myself, all the artists are pretty dang cool, and all of the art is under $50.

It's always a bummer when you spend your weekend feeling like crap, isn't it? I don't know what the heck is up with me and sinus infections but it seems like whenever I get one, which seems to be quite frequently this year, they hang on for dear life. Heath had one that he passed it on to me early last week and I think (crossing fingers) that I might be close to being done with it. I slept a LOT this weekend and as you can see, Ruby had to fend for herself: 

I woke up this morning feeling incredibly frustrated that I was still feeling so shitty so I swept the floor (it was horrendous), did the dishes, and put a pork roast into the crock pot. Makes sense, right? I was hoping that I could just ignore it and it would go away but by lunch time I was very ready for another nap. Oh well, I tried. Less than 5 hours after waking up from that nap I am pretty much ready to go back to sleep. I am hoping that I'll feel better tomorrow or at the very least before the end of the week. I have a whole lot of celebrating the fact that I don't work Black Thursday/Friday to do!

Before I got pregnant with Ruby I'd only ever had one massage. My then-roomates bought me a spa package for Christmas. At first I was a little underwhelmed by their generosity (I was like 19, forgive me) but then I went and redeemed it. I was treated to a soak in a hot tub and then a one hour body massage. It was so amazing that I left the spa feeling either drunk or that I had woken up from the deepest sleep ever in my life. 

Even though it was awesome we'll have to fast forward about 14 years to when I got my next one. Like I said I was pregnant with Ruby. My doula, Lauren,  just happened to be a massage therapist and since I was a tad, read: super dee duper, stressed out at the beginning of my pregnancy she suggested prenatal massage. I ended up having a massage for every OB appointment. So one a month for the first while and then as many as one a week towards the end. 

One particular massage session was very emotional. Since Lauren was our doula we had a short session where we just talked about the whole birthing process. I basically wanted to know every. little. thing. about what was going to happen and asked a ton of questions. After that I had my massage...I was maybe about 34 weeks at this point? I can't remember exactly. Anyway. During that session, Heath was there with me, and as I lay on the table I was overcome with emotion and burst into tears. I sobbed like nobodies business for a while, Heath probably totally freaking out and Lauren assuring him that it was perfectly normal behavior for a massage room. Heath and Lauren both sat in chairs around me, letting me know by their touch that they were there for me. After I was done, Lauren finished the massage, and as I got dressed I said to Heath, "Everything is going to be okay." It was incredibly cathartic and I am tearing up just thinking about how relieved and calm I felt after that moment. 

Massage was one of the best things I could have done for my body and my mind. It allowed me to have time to let my mind relax and not stress out about all the things I was stressing about (there were plenty!), and Lauren's magic fingers eased the annoyance of stretching ligaments, sore hips, and helped me prepare for labor by learning just to chill the eff out. If you add up the total cost, yeah, it was definitely a splurge but one that I cannot recommend highly enough. 

Since giving birth I've only had a few massages. One to fix some crazy foot pain that I lived with for a year before getting it worked on, one to help a neck thing, and most recently for a shoulder thing. And you know what? After only one session each of those problems went away. Completely fixed. I shouldn't be but I am still shocked when I leave, totally massage drunk, and I am no longer sore. It is such a simple fix! Have you ever had a massage? Do you get a massage regularly? What do you think? If you haven't I suggest that you run, not walk, to your nearest spa, Massage Envy, or local massage school! 

Confession: I don't ever rake my leaves. a) I think they look pretty, b) I like the sound of them crunching underneath my feet, and c) there is just so dang many of them. Oh, and I always miss the day when the city comes by and sucks them up with the giant leaf vacuum. But the other day I decided to rake them up, for the sole purpose of letting Ruby jump into the pile. I remember loving that as a kid and I wanted her to have the same experience. We have two oaks and a maple in our front yard so the pile was HUGE. When she got home from daycare she saw the pile and went right for it. Must be in a kids DNA to just know that you just jump right on in! 

One of the great things about having a kid is that you have a perfectly good excuse to jump in the pile without the neighbors giving you funny looks : )

She was just as excited about helping to clean the leaves up at the end. I hope that she's that happy about yard work in a few years. I'll happily pass the lawn mowing duties on to her!

'Twas a good thing that I raked the pile when I did because the next day we had a little bit of snow! She digs that too. 

To get ready for Halloween there wasn't much prep. I don't really go crazy with the whole decorating things, although I wish I had it in me. All there was this year was pumpkins, and we painted those instead of carving them. I made our table worthy of a Dexter kill room and Ruby had a good time slapping paint around. 

For Ruby's kitty costume I bought some white fur from the fabric store and sewed it onto a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt. I also sewed the tail that came with the ears onto the butt of the costume. I figured it would be more likely that it'd stay ON if it were attached. 

Halloween festivities were a little all over the place. Originally Trick or Treating was on actual Halloween night but due to the weather being hella windy, the mayor changed it to Friday. When the government started butting into things like Trick or Treating I don't know. I could write an entire diatribe about how I feel about that but I'll move on. Turns out the next day was so perfect it was hard to be annoyed about the whole thing.

H's work always has a big ToT event at the office. Last year Ruby scored two plastic grocery bags of candy. It was a little insane. This year I was late to the party and so she ''only'' got half a bag (thank goodness). I also couldn't find the kitty ear headband that went with her costume so she got to wear the uber cute hipster cat glasses instead. I also forgot to grab her white shoes.

After H's work thing we went over to a friends house to ToT in their neighborhood. Right as we were walking out the door she shat in her costume. I was not pleased. Especially because I suspected she was going to (she farted several times while at H's office and boy, was it stinky!) and had asked her several time if she needed to use the potty AND she had even used the potty like 15 minutes prior. Thankfully I was prepared with a back up but it had no tail BUT I found the kitty headband and the eyeliner pencil I'd bought for her nose and whiskers. 

This was Ruby's first ToT out in a neighborhood. I try to be Super Laid Back Mom but a lot of times I'm just not. Sometimes I have absolutely no patience. I don't like whining and I don't like when she doesn't listen to me. And she's almost 3. So you can bet how much fun I had.  Plus I was still miffed about the whole pooping in the costume thing. She was a little crazy but she had a good time. She ran from house to house, sometimes grabbing more than her fair share of candy. Most people were all like, "Oh she can take as much as she wants!" So much for trying to teach her to share and that she doesn't get everything she wants. I at least insisted on her saying thank you to everyone. 

The kids all started to melt down about an hour in. We hadn't eaten dinner yet and Ruby was cracked out on Kit Kat's, Reese's, and random suckers that I let her nom while they were walking around. (Eventually I took the suckers away because she started leaving them, sucked on and sticky, behind in peoples bowls in exchange for new candy). We got her home, let her eat dinner and munch on some more goodies, and then it was off to bed for her and Project Runway for Heath and I.