TIRED, safe arrival

We are in California, safe and sound! Maya was amazingly good! We left late evening Thursday night, so Maya slept most of the night. Then she like cow watching and chillin in the backseat with Grandma. She did a lot of napping. We mostly just stopped for gas and potty breaks and let her run and walk a couple times. After 5 hours left of the drive, 22 hours in, Maya says, "maya has belly ache, owie owie owie." She got fussy then and there was nothing we could do. Grandma rubbed her belly and she finaly crashed for the remaining two hours. We discovered this morning by the leakage of her diaper that she was holding her pee in her seat and that is why she had an ache. I did not know kids did that since she is not potty trained. It broke our hearts to not be able to help her. Her ears were bothing a little from the altitude as well. We are very proud of her, its hard enough for us to sit that long. Currently she is happy playing with her 2 year old cousin, Haylee.

It seemed like we were in Colorado forever, and a hybrid doesn't love the mountains.

We saw 18 deer at one time!

My Mom and Maya snoozin' in the Prius.

APX. 4000 Prius Miles here we come...

Mike, Maya, my Mom and I are leaving in less then 3 hours to drive straight (gas,and potty exception) to Cali! I'm sure I will have plenty of stories before I get back! I may have time to blog on vacation. Stay tuned...

My pride, joy, and humor!

I can not have a blog whether it be professional, personal or otherwise, without posting Maya. She's my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She is such a huge part of my life, my happiness, inspiration, and laughter!

Last night after Mike had put her to bed I heard her door knob turning like she was getting up. I waited a bit and she never came out of her room. I went to check on her and imagine finding her sitting on the floor by her book shelf "reading" her books. I opened her door and she was by her bookshelf, but to my surprise this is what I saw:

After taking this photo, I scooped her up and set her back in her bed for the night. :)

*Continuing on to other adorable, funny or just some favorite Maya photos:

She absolutely LOVES her Maya pillow created by an Etsy artist pillowhead!

Post bath wrapped up in her personalized towel crossstitched by Carol from GrandmaHansen
She was SO proud of dressing herself, even if her shirt was backwards!

How I feel on monday morning...

Just because I could kiss those feet no matter how dirty everyday of my life!

The photo above was also dear to me because Maya's feet are actually propped up between Mike's leg and arm are they are sleeping perpendicular to each other.

Spreading the Love

I've always found it to be wonderful thing when you can "teach an old dog new tricks." That saying sounds a little harsh; however, it is quite sincere! I have a co-worker in my "day job" that is very talented. She loves to sew and make crafts and sells them here at work quite often. I introduced her to Etsy months ago, but she was afraid of it since she didn't even have a digital camera and has dial-up internet. Awhile later, her son bought her a digital camera! She has been trying very hard this past week with assistance to learn how to move her photos to the computer and how to attach files and list them into ETSY! She has 7 items up thus far!!! I am very proud of her, it is a lot to learn. She will be a pro in no time. Her name is Carol and she is a kind hearted christian Mother and Grandmother. She sews the most adorable apron and bonnet (like the kind in Little house on the prairie) sets, little girls nightgowns with MATCHING ones for the dolly's, and American doll clothes. The American doll clothes fit other dolls around 8 inches tall.


Carol also will accept custom request for only $3 more, WHAT A BARGAIN! Her prices are really reasonable too, please check out her Etsy shop
GrandmaHansen! I've attached some samples of her work below. ENJOY :)

Not well adjusted

More than a week has passed and I can not seem to adjust to daylight savings time. Last night I was up til 1am and still not tired. I finally made myself lay down for bed and today I am quite sleepy. I should know better than to go to sleep late on a Sunday night! I have a slight cold and have been trying to figure out if perhaps feeling lathargic was not due to daylight savings but my body fighting off a cold was the culprit. Either way, it makes for a confused sleepy Meredith who would not flinch at the idea of completely doing away with the daylight savings time system. "Let's join Arizona", I say!

Anyone else feeling like it has been harder this year to adjust to the time change or am I alone in this?

Interesting Daylight Savings Info:

-There's a spike in heart attacks during the first week of daylight saving time, according to another study published last year.

-Studies have shown that auto accidents increase by 17% on the Monday immediately following daylight savings time.

- U.S. law signed by President George W. Bush in 2005 extended the length of daylight saving time by four weeks. It now begins at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March. It ends on the first Sunday in November.

-In March 2007, a Pennsylvania honor student was mistakenly accused of threatening his school with a bomb. He had actually called an automated line to get info about scheduled classes. Someone else made the bomb threat an hour later.

-Milking Cows have to be "weaned" 15 minutes at a time to the new schedule otherwise they will not produce as much milk since it is an hour before they are used to their current milking schedule.

Sources:U.S.News & world, USlaw.com, Co-worker.

FIFTY Years with the same person. WOW!

Less than 5 days from now, Mike, Maya and myself will be driving out to sunny California for my Grandparents golden anniversay:50 years! Having only been married 6 years myself it is hard to image fifty years. The thought is encouraging, scary, and exciting all at the same time. The idea of driving a total of 4,000 miles with a 2 1/2 year old is frightening, but have some tricks up our sleeves to keep Maya entertained! In more amazing news, this trip is being paid for by a relative and we are very blessed for that or we would not be able to share this special day!

My grandma is a card lady. She's sent me a card for every occasion for as long as I can remember! Regretfully, I do not send them to her often. I wanted to make a unique card for this occasion, especially since myself and a personal friend and co-etsian Wynter have started selling cards from homemade paper under the name Brent-Wade. Brent is my Dad and my Grandparents first born son who passed away at age 37 in the end of 1997. They will be honored that his name is on the card. Wade is the middle name of Wynter's Dad who passed away in late summer 2000. We hope the cards will start selling better, as well as receive custom requests for cards.

I've been sort of on a button kick lately, I just love those little things, they are just so cute. Hence, "cute as a button." LOL! I came up with an interesting yet semi chaotic design that serves a purpose. I will post what I wrote in the card below and it will explain that very thing!

(note: if you know Grandma & Grandpa and are reading this, PLEASE do not speak a word of it)

[Grandma,you always say you dislike how over the past 50 years we have become a digital world. I have created this card with that in mind. The colored paper is handmade from Wynter and has uneven thickness, the white paper is left over from another project. It is hand-sewn and hand written. The design and colors of this card do not flow as well as they could, and are far from "perfect."

This card represents 50 years of marriage. There were imperfections throughout the years, unevenness, ups and down, colorful bright moments and dull moments. All of which we wouldn't be celebrating today if there wasn't some time and handy efforts put into it to make it strong. You have both 'sewn' your buttons together moment after moment, and even if one got loose or popped of, they are tied together making the marriage as a whole strong. Each button on the number five represents all the people you have accepted as your children. It started with just six, through marriage,divorce and death that number has changed over time and is quite impressive! The number zero represents all the Grandchildren, and the orange button at the top is your Great-granddaughter!

We are so happy to be a part of this special day celebrating life; your lives, our lives, years of love, tears, friendships, family and perseverance! You are an inspiration for our own marriage!

God bless both of you in the time spent together from today forward!

Happy 50th! Grandma and Grandpa!

Love always,

Meredith, Mike and Maya

ps. My Dad; your first born, I know in Heaven is very proud of these 50 years!"]

Patience didn't pay off

Before I get into the post in which the title relates, I would like to say WELCOME to Mtartists! The obvious hope is to gain fans, friends thus more sales! The less obvious goal to have all of you gain insight into Mike and my minds. Read about our inspirations, projects, frustrations and excitement! We hope you enjoy, becoming a fan and suscribe to our blog!

Back to the title:Patience didn't pay off


Towards the end of February I decided to see what the hype of Mpix was all about an order a print for a client via Mpix website. I thought to myself, 'if I'm going to test out this company's printing quality and shipping time, I'm going BIG with it." I chose to print a 24x36 inch poster titled,"Brokenness" that a co-worker is purchasing for her bedroom. Brokenness is a two part series consisting of about 8 photos all of which have broken glass. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15152555

One week later, I had not received my package yet and needed more prints, I figured since it was a poster, it takes awhile and put in another order of 10 prints ranging in size from 4x6 to 11x14. Wednesday March 11th, I decided I had waited long enough since I still had received nothing from Mpix and e-mailed their help. They said the status was "shipped" check with my post office because sometimes they hold packages. I called the post office and they did not have any packages for me. I then asked Mpix for a tracking number and looked at my order receipt. Upon review of my order receipt, I realized it was my error! I had typed the wrong address number. Mpix replied with the tracking numbers and the poster had been delievered to the incorrect house Feb 28th, and the multiple print package on March 4th. I would have had my prints for over as week already had I not been paitent and did some digging earlier! I called the post office back and they said they were not returned or it would say so on the tracking.

Now, I get to go knock on a persons door I do not know and HOPE they are truthful and return my packages. I stop by there on my way home at 9pm and no one was there so I left a note on the door. The next morning around 10am, I stopped by again and no one appeared to be there and my note was still there. Since it was daylight I could see through the non-curtained door window (though I felt a little stalkerish) and the packages had been set aside the door and appeared to be unopened. This was HUGE sigh of relief. Friday morning, they still did not look home. Mike is off on Fridays, and he sent me a message that evening saying a nice elderly man delieverd them to our door. Whew!!!!!!

Lessons learned: A-always TRIPLE check your addresses are correct.
B-Don't be too patient, investigate your packages!

On a side note. Mpix exceeded my expectations in printing quality. I LOVE my prints and have nothing bad to say about how the company handled everything! THANKS Mpix!