TTT: Season 3, Episode 40

1. It's late, I'm tired, and I'm sick, so I'll (try to) be brief. It has been a bit of a long week around here as we've all drudged through our first cold in a long time. No, unfortunately I speak not of cold weather but more of the sore throat, watery eyes, congested head, runny nose variety. And for the little ones, fevers too. Oddly enough, Mark and I were the first to pick it up. Usually it's the other way around with the kiddies getting it first. And honestly, I really haven't been sick in a long time. Like maybe before I was pregnant with Grant??? At least not that I can remember. (Oh, the benefits of pregnancy/nursing mom immunities!) But it has been long days of fussy babes, long nights of restless sleepers, and quite a bit of Motrin and Tylenol. We are actually expecting our first good cold front this weekend so hopefully by the time it arrives, we'll be feeling well enough to go out and enjoy the cool weather! (and by cold front, I mean the high on Sunday of 70. Not 50 or 40.)

2. My hair saga continues. As I mentioned last week, I was relatively happy with my Locks of Love chop but wasn't totally sold on the all-one-length 'do the stylist gave me. I mean, really, it was all one length. No shape or style to it whatsoever. I tried tapering the front around my face just a tad on my own but realized I was going to need a lot more than just that to make it look like an intentional hairdo. So I went to the salon again. I rarely go to the salon twice in a year, let alone twice in one month. But as a stay-at-home, newly thirty mom of three, I've just been feeling a little ugh about my appearance lately and just wanted a little something to help me put my best face forward. Unfortunately, I got anything but that. I even took pictures with me of a cute cut I had in college. Specifically told her that I just wanted some shape to the sides and around my face but no length take off. Even told her how much I loathed super stacked hair cuts where the back is way shorter than the front. And what did I walk out of the salon with? The exact thing I asked her not to do. I was a little worried as I watched seemingly long pieces of hair fall to the ground, but when she pulled out the blow dryer after about ten minutes of cutting, I gave a little sigh of relief assuming that a cut that quick couldn't have been much. But then after drying it she kept going. And going. And going. And going. I think she could tell I was not a happy customer; she gave me a free styling brush and a discount on my cut without any prompting. Let me pause for just a moment. You're probably picturing me with a spiked out Kate Gosselin looking mess. It's really not that bad. In fact, the front looks okay. It's just the back that I hate. It's short. Really short. Like I walked in there with a pony tail and I won't be wearing a ponytail until at least next summer now. Yes, it's just hair and I'll make the most of it. But making the most of it is going to require lots of work and styling every single day to make it look good on me. Not to mention a truck load of styling supplies. And actually, I think I've had it shorter at previous times, it's just not what I was hoping for so I'm bummed. Mark swears it looks cute and that he's not just saying that to cheer me up. Sweet, but I still don't like it. And no, I don't have a picture to show. Lord knows with our colds I've yet to style it anywhere near picture worthy in the past few days. Now if you would all pull out your violins and play me a sad, sad song, I'd appreciate it. Whaaaah.

3. I feel like I'm in a calm before the storm with my shop right now. Why? I've signed on to participate in my first ever open house/ handmade market/ boutique/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it. It's not until the 2nd of November so I've still got a month to go but there's one major problem: In order to succeed at one of these functions, you have to actually have a product to sell! With my etsy shop, all of my sales are made to order. So even though I already have the fabric, I don't produce the item until after it has been ordered. My work time each day is essentially just keeping up with all of the incoming orders online. With throwing this open house into the mix, I'm going to somehow have to squeeze in quite a few products so that I'll have something to sell at the event. Really, I'm not sure why I bring this upon myself. Not to sound smug, but I'm certainly not struggling to get business. I guess I've always just wanted to try out something other than online sales and get the experience of actually getting to interact with my customers. Plus, two of my local girlfriends are doing it with me so it should be a lot of fun. Just might not be fun over the next few weeks trying to build up a little inventory!

Despite our warm temps, it was time to break out some of the fall decorations. Now if only we could make some decisions on Halloween costumes....

My brother, Andy, his wife Abby, and their two boys, John and Will came to town this weekend and we had a blast getting to visit with them. We watched the Tech game at my parents' on Saturday night and Pa just had to squeeze in a five baby wrestle-mania! 

Abby's mom, Miss Mary, is the wonderful creator of Grant's beloved "Blankie Blue." The only problem with Blankie Blue is that he's huge. So when Grant carries it around, the majority of it drags on the floor. Plus, it's size makes it difficult to take along from place to place but perfect for cuddles at night. When Abby arrived this past weekend, she delivered a new mini Blankie Blue from Miss Mary. Grant (and Mama!) were thrilled! Can't you tell?

Uncle Mark found someone willing to lend his baby legs for a drum solo. Poor Will! At least everyone else was entertained by it! 

Kolbe and Rudy scored scrub caps and masks in the dollar bin at Joann Fabrics the other day so they could be just  like Dada.

Grant has started trying to steal the iphone. Trouble!

This fella has always been a "witching hour" baby...enjoying a good meltdown almost nightly from roughly 5-6:30. The best way to end a meltdown? A nice bubble bath always does the trick.