Today I turned this pile of elastic’d fleece covers:

Into this pile of seamed and tagged fleece covers:

(ok, the actual pile was about 3x this large)

And this pile of cut flannel hankies:

Into this pile of finished hankies:

We’ve got a bit of the crud around here – both kids have colds, and I think Wally’s developed an ear infection. (We’ve never dealt with one before, but he’s definitely MUCH more whiney and the constant “ow, my ear hurts” crying seem to both point in that direction…)

I’m also working on two very large orders right now, with most of the items in the orders needing to be made (as opposed to being in stock).

Soooo…. the MTO’s that were supposed to be up this week, will be up next week. Sorry.

And suddenly, I find that I’m low on inventory on a few items again. I’ll be focusing on restocking through November, first pocket diapers, then on to covers..

Here I am, hard at work yesterday making one of my last batches of diapers before the new labeling laws – part of the CPSIA – go into effect. The law forbids stockpiling, but part of me wants to stay up really really late these next few days and sew as much as I can, just to be a snot, lol. I won’t, though. These diapers are medium pocket diapers. Yes! I finally restocked medium pockets. Get them while they’re hot.

No, not Genna. Not yet, anyway. Me.

Today was just one of those days – those GOOD days. We got up, ate breakfast, did some homeschooling, read a few books, and still got downstairs to work by 10. I got the week’s diapers all cut out and staged, so they’re ready to sew around and elastic tomorrow. I got the weekend’s orders packed up and shipped. I returned a few phone calls, updated my inventory, and almost restocked some fabrics. Almost, because my cell phone battery was dead, thus making it difficult to use to make long distance phone calls.

The two kids weren’t entirely happy the whole time, but Wally was willing to work with me to help keep teething and generally unhappy Genna at least entertained while I finished up a few things. She loves him more than me any way, lol.

All this, and we were upstairs and eating lunch by 12:30. Yeah. Wahoo. Spent the afternoon with my niece and nephew, then a quick trip to Staples for some school supply shopping. Who am I kidding, right? It was all for ME! But seriously, dry erase markers were on sale, and notebooks were ONE CENT!! And then, since we were at the mall, and the library is at the mall, too, we swung by the library to pick up a few knitting books I had on hold.

Awesome day. Hope tomorrow’s the same!!

(PS, they’re remodeling our library building, so our library is temporarily relocated at the mall. Between Target and Old Navy. Niiiiice.)

Genna and the 500 yards of PUL that arrived at my house last week. I’m folding and scanning this week and hope to have it all listed at DiaperFAB and as available fabrics at Wallypop by the end of next week.

Restocking hankies and napkins.

Restocking Snack Bags.

Snack Bags.

Holding Sad Miss G and snipping threads and zip ends on snack bags.

Thought I’d share some “working” pictures with you all.

This pic is from Monday, it’s my giant cardboard box that I use to carry labeled packages to the porch for the mailman to pick up. These orders are from the weekend.

This is a pile of five size small fitted diapers that were part of a large order for a new retailer. This order was shipped about 2 weeks ago.

This is the pile of turned diapers waiting to be topstitched, piled precariously next to my sewing machine.

Pinning out some pocket diapers

It’s March and that means Spring Flooding Season. That means Wallypop is prone to closing abruptly without notice for a week or more, any time between now and June – most likely in April after the ground thaws. This post is a warning of that possibility, and an explanation for when it happens.

My office is in our basement.

When we finished our basement, it had water problems in one portion, which we had taken care of. We use that portion for storage and finished the rest. That spring, a few weeks after Wally was born, the family room flooded.

And ever since, every year, that same room floods. Some years are worse than others. It’s not necessarily a huge deal for us – knowing this was a possibility, even though we’d never had problems in the rest of the basement before, we finished the floors with plastic laminated “wood” in one room, and vinyl tile in the rest. We store nothing on the floor (of any value, anyway) and the furniture is all relatively safe. The water has a clearly defined path – it overtakes the entire family room, then runs tidily towards the central drain in the basement, which is just outside my office.

Typically, the problem is just that we turn off the power to the basement to be on the safe side, so I can’t easily work.

Last year, a new hole sprang up, forming Lake Wallypop in my office. This proved to be much more of a challenge. Again, I store nothing (of value or that would be ruined) on the floor, and am obsessive about this during spring. It’s not a matter of things getting damaged, but rather a matter of getting TO the things. Also, I am reluctant to pack orders when there’s a chance I might drop something into the water and ruin it. And, well, it’s not pleasant working in an inch of water. And it’s neigh unto impossible to do so with a preschooler stomping around.

I want to emphasize that the water is merely RAINWATER that works its way into the basement. We’re not entirely sure if it’s high water table, a cistern that finally gave up, or whatever the deal is. But it’s just rain water. It’s very clean. The towels we use to mop up the shallower spots don’t even get dirty – just wet. It’s NOT sewage. You often hear about flooded basements with sewage backing up from the sewer, but that is NOT our problem (at least so far).

The Universe has been telling me to take a break and I am finally listening.

In the past week, I have:

• broken my sewing machine
• broken my backup sewing machine
• broken my serger
• had my computer’s motherboard and power supply replaced
• had to rebuild some information on said computer
• had my space heater consistently popping the surge protector, leaving my office very cold
• been dealing with Wally, who has a cold that’s making him grumpy and needy
• been dealing recently with Genna, who caught the cold and is REALLY needy and miserable with a 102 fever

Really, the computer was the last straw. There are very few machines in my office that I haven’t broken in the last week. I didn’t want to see what else could break. Additionally, my kids need me a bit more than usual right now.

I’m actually still doing what I can to process orders, and am hoping to be able to mail out everything that was ordered either Friday or Monday. I’m still sewing as I can.

This was one of Friday’s tasks. My sewing machine is being repaired (nothing major), so I’m left with just the serger, which is fine, since I was completely sold out of wipes! So Friday’s main task was restocking wipes, and then also cutting out all of the Made To Orders I am going to work on next week, as well as fleece and wool covers for the week after. Wahoo!