Housewifery: Day (I don't want to count that high)

I quit my job in February of 2011. At the time, there were medical things that made life complicated (turns out there still are, but there were more pressing ones then), work was DRAMA filled and not worth the pay, and I was burned out there, anyway.

It's been almost two years. It has gone REALLY fast.

I've spent my time getting our fledgling hot sauce business off the ground and creating recipes that are healthy, delicious, and/or use our sauces as an ingredient.

I had to say goodbye to our much loved senior Boxer dog, Buster, and have welcomed two young goofball Boxers (Bento and Rousey) into our home.

I have become involved with a group of business women that promote small business, the local economy, and give back to worthy community charities.

I bought a sewing machine for $50 at a friends' estate sale and have been remembering all of the things my Grandma taught me as a youngster. I have a huge stack of fabric in my craft cupboard and took advantage of a sale at Joann's that netted me 15 patterns for $1 EACH.

I've been sewing wrap dresses inspired by Diane Von Furstenburg, and recently started a fundraising project turning donated people sweaters into doggie sweaters. The "upcycled" (this is a popular term with the hipsters and on Etsy, which, let's face it, is mostly hipsters anyway) sweaters are sold in my Etsy shop and then 50% of the profits is donated to a different animal rescue every month. (November is STARS, December will be Boxer Butts and Other Mutts, which is where Bento came from).

I've been hand-embroidering sneakers like crazy, mostly for weddings, but some for softball teams, family pictures, etc.

I've also been traveling a lot, taking trips to Oregon two to three times a year and also to Arizona, California, New York, Virginia, Washington DC, and very nearly Chicago. I'm hoping to take a month and do a big cross-country road trip next year... we'll see if I end up with the time.

Mostly, I get up every day and try to be a good animal mommy and housewife, try to ignore my fibromyalgia instead of whine about it, and try to clean at least one thing.

Sometimes it's even me.