SeaBird Chronicles

SugarChills 2.0 … a shop is born

SeaBird — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:50:13 +0000

Last June I launched a natural body care shop on Etsy called SugarChills. I listed a few things I’d created for myself and really liked. Just for fun, mostly. But then someone bought something. And they liked it. Then someone else bought something. And they liked it, too! Ack!

I had to buy more ingredients, containers, and packaging/shipping supplies. I participated in a couple of sampler boxes. A few blogs hosted giveaways. I made a note to myself to never again start a business right before having a third son. I traded with several fellow Etsians ...

... all of which provided invaluable feedback. I really liked what I’d created – and now a few other people did as well!

I expanded my product lines a bit. I worked to improve my photographs. I calculated my expenses and adjusted my prices. I found better suppliers for packaging and ingredients. I made another note to myself to never again start a business right before having a third son.

I bought a scale to better estimate postage and save trips to the post office (NOT FUN with three young children in tow). I added a few products and removed a few. I found the note to myself about never starting a business right before having a third son (it was in Benjamin’s pillow case) and highlighted it in yellow.

Recently, I’ve created a Twitter account for SugarChills and began tweeting. I’ve upgraded my packaging and photos yet again.

Now (whew), it’s time to consider advertising...

But a mother can gag on a day

SeaBird — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:13:33 +0000

My 2009 summed up in one quote I just read from Jean Sherrard:

“The years rush past, as every older woman will tell the young mothers who complain…. Oh no, they say, time flies – enjoy them while they’re young – they grow up so fast.

The mothers agree that indeed the years do fly. It’s the days that don’t. The hours, the minutes of a single day sometimes just stop.

And a mother finds herself standing in the middle of a room wondering. Wondering.

Years fly. Of course they do. But a mother can gag on a day.”

(Emphasis mine.)

I Bust a Window Out Your Car... by Benjamin

SeaBird — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:19:58 +0000

Untitled from SeaBird on Vimeo.

Chocolate Pie #1: pecan pie without the pecans

SeaBird — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:11:59 +0000

If my Mom is making pecan pie when I’m around, she always reserves some of the goopy innards (corn syrup, egg, butter, and sugar part) in a separate dish and bakes it along with the pie.

Just like this, it’s really good. But then it occurred to me to sprinkle chocolate chips on top after it came out of the oven.

After a moment, I smeared them around, kind of like a frosting.

Then I ate it.

Tasty!

Surprising no one but myself

SeaBird — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:50:42 +0000

Benjamin and Jonah are working their way through the Handwriting Without Tears workbook for preschoolers. Tracing around shapes, circling insects, drawing triangles, etc. After they traced around a circle, Jonah noticed that it was like a face. So I told him he could turn it into one. He didn't know how. I asked him what was on a face.... and there they went, they both drew faces!

I photographed them and put them in my "to post on blog" folder, and noticed they matched up nicely with some photos of Silas, also in the "to post on blog" folder. I know the spacing is all wonky on this post, but it keeps messing up -- I give up and am publishing it as is.

Jonah

Benjamin

Jonah

3 kids. 2 bedrooms. Somebody has to sleep in the closet.

SeaBird — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:18:42 +0000

And suddenly, the whole first year of his life was worth it

SeaBird — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:01:54 +0000

Benjamin: “Mama, when the bad guys come I’m going to protect you. Because you’re my Mom.”

A healthy sweet potato casserole (except for the marshmallows, of course)

SeaBird — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:47:04 +0000

Both Benjamin and Jonah, who currently perish at the thought of consuming sweet potatoes, love this. So do I. That's because I eat the marshmallows off the top of their's before giving it to them.

1.   Bake 4 sweet potatoes at 400’ for 1 ½ hours. Cool 10 minutes.
2.   Scoop out insides into food processor.
3.   Add ¼ c milk and 1 tsp cinnamon. Puree.
4.   Add 1 egg and puree again.
5.   Dump into casserole dish (or small ramekins as below) and sprinkle marshmallows atop.
6.   While baking at 350’ until marshmallows are toasted, munch remaining mallows and ruminate on attempting to make homemade marshmallows, particularly chocolate ones.

My first night out on South Beach

SeaBird — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:00:23 +0000

Preemie comments – “18 Kids and Counting”

SeaBird — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:00:45 +0000

As mentioned, I watched the episode when all the kids go to the NICU to see their new baby sister for the first time. They (all 18 million of them) were huddled around her isolette. But none were wearing hospital gowns over their street clothes. Nor did they scrub their hands and lower arms for two minutes before entering.

Just watching this on television would’ve given Jonathan an epileptic fit. Because if you so much as touched your dirty, filthy, germ-ridden camera to take a photo of Jonah and Benjamin in the NICU, he insisted you leave to decontaminate yourself again.

In hindsight it was obviously a blessing I was on narcotics the 2-3 weeks the boys were in the NICU. I don’t know if our marriage would’ve survived that type of behavior had I been sober.

And if Jonah and Benjamin would have been in the same NICU as that little girl when her family visited, Jonathan would have sued the hospital for malpractice.

After three shots of epi.