I'm such a slacker.  I also meant to post some pics of Ayla's Lalaloopsie party in December.  I have to admit, I spent an awful long time on the decorating, cupcake toppers, etc. and not so much time actually planning the party.  I wish I had come up with some better things to do.  I did buy her a game where you hide the Lalaloopsie (I know, I probably could have made that game myself, but she asked for it specifically- and she gets everything she asks for because we have to come up with enough stuff for birthday and Christmas- except for a bird.  She didn't get a bird).  They were quickly bored with the game, then they watched the Loopsie movie on Netflix.  If I were more awesome, they would have made a cute craft or something.  Whatever.  I have to say, after that party I thought I might be happy if I never saw another Lalaloopsie again.  But then I saw Little Miss Muffet and several other fairy tale ones at The Family Dollar so that didn't last long. She's mine, by the way.  I have two of my own.  We are a little obsessed with them around here.  Btw, the button idea I got off Pinterest, of course.  They are just a couple different sized plates glued together and I punched circles for the middle. 

So I wrote a book

I meant to write a bit about the book, since I posted a picture of the cover and all.  Mostly it was there because I needed some opinions on it, and this was a good place to put it.  It's up for sale on Amazon now, and I'm working on making physical copies available. 
I've always loved writing, and wished I could write a book, but I felt completely blocked every time I tried to come up with a story.  Then one night I was thinking about it and something came to me.  More and more details fell into place until I had to get up and write my ideas down.  I tend to focus obsessively on one thing at a time, so once this was underway, it all went rather quickly.  It was painful, and since I'd never done this before I wasn't confident that I could complete the whole process.  But I wrote most of it out over the summer.  Then of course there were months of fine tuning that drove me crazy and made me sick of the whole thing.  I had help from family and friends and an online critique group and I learned so much.  Of course I'd really like to try it again, and I have lots of ideas and several stories underway, but I don't have the same drive as I did the first time, and my confidence wavers a lot.  So we will see.  Here is the link:  http://www.amazon.com/Goldenhood-ebook/dp/B00AJ1BATU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359157897&sr=8-1&keywords=goldenhood