Celebrating 100 sales!

Had my 100th sale on Etsy last night! We have cause for celebration!

To help celebrate this momentous occasion, there is a special coupon code on my Facebook fan page that can be used at checkout to receive 15% off of your total order.

Thanks to my amazing customers!

L.Peek Designs

Games We Play

If you've been with me for any amount of time you've figured out that I'm a total dork, and that I'm also completely okay with my dorkiness.

I occasionally play games on Facebook. Not Farmville. Actually I have never stayed interested in Zynga's games for very long at all. For awhile I was pretty interested in a game that outlined the Harry Potter stories, but then they were threatened with a lawsuit and asked to change the characters and the story line, so I lost interest in it. Didn't play anything for a long time after that.

Now I've been playing an HOG called Gardens of Time for awhile and aside from being addicted the soundtrack quality music, it's probably the best FB game I've ever played. Pretty graphics, really awesome story. Only 5 of my friends will play it with me! Those who have tried it before have more or less given up, and the others just ignore the invites.

I too, hate being invited to these games that I don't care about. For a long time there was nothing more exasperating than countless invites from your friends to come water their crops! I blocked all invites to Zynga games. Now I feel bad for doing that because I want friends to come play Gardens of Time with me!! Arrrrgh! I feel like these FB games set themselves up for failure by closing off parts of the games unless you have certain amounts of friends or only letting you buy into it. Well no wonder no one plays the game to the very end. Either you have to have a lot real money to dump into the game - and believe me, I refuse to put hard earned money into overpriced Facebook 'gold' , or you have to convince 120 other people to play it too. Computer gaming sites like BigFish will give you whole games for $6.99. Why not FB Games? At least offer a one-time subscription that allows serious players to get all parts of the game. I actually DID buy coins for this game, I'm ashamed to admit it, but they were used up far too quickly and they are much too expensive to purchase again. I'm not a millionaire and I haven't been able to find any reliable cheats (that don't contain viruses) to get out of it.

Well anyway, this game caught my attention because it's got elements of things I adore anyway. You get to design and build a beautiful garden! The theme is time travel! It's STEAMPUNK too! (YAY!) It's a hidden object game (HOG)! Even better! All my favorite things combined! Let's add more exclamation points for dramatic effect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You join the Time Society and travel through time to different eras and landscapes. You search for the hidden objects, earn coins and then go back and build artifacts and building from different time periods into your garden, which gains reputation points, which unlocks more scenes and allows you to continue the game. There is a pretty cool story that goes with it too involving a traitor in the ranks who is using Julius Caesar to change the course of history. Quite entertaining.

History lovers, steampunkers, and fans of HOGs should give this one a try. Yes, it's on Facebook, which means you're going to be bombarded with invites and updates from your friends, but try to be nice. It's a good one.

Facebook Down

What do you mean my Facebook profile is down for site maintenance!? I don't know what this means....

I might be the tiniest bit addicted to Facebook. I put up a status that Alex and I were at the St. Joseph County fair last night and I wanted to see if anyone had anything to say in response. I also wanted to add that a county fair seems to be the single largest collection of white trash, ghetto booty, teenage cleavage and jailbait in the county right now. That may seem to be a cruel thing to say, but it's true.

We went primarily for the food. Nothing feeds a summertime craving like carnie food - elephant ears, funnel cakes, caramel corn, cotton candy and while you're at it, ruin some perfectly healthy veggies for me and dip them in batter and deep fry the vitamins out of them please!! Love fried veggies. Mmm!

We got our elephant ear, and then went to the ticket booth where they were selling 4 tickets for $5. We gasped, unsure of how to proceed. Wristbands made sense, but they were $23 each. Sad to say, we didn't get to go on the ferris wheel, which was our one hope as far as rides go.

We did get the opportunity to go into the exhibit hall for the crafts and other projects, and I was so impressed with the quality and the talent of the kids in our 4-H, but I found myself being disappointed that OUR little town had very, very few entries. Most were from the outlying communities - not many at all from the city. Sad. City kids (and those rich snobs up North of us) could really benefit from 4-H - it is my belief that 4-H is better than forcing them into a sport or team they don't like all summer, or allowing them to stay in the house watching television and playing video games. But hey, who am I to judge? I don't even have children.

The fireworks were wonderful. I love fireworks. My favorites though are the golden-bronze or silver ones that shimmer sparks and embers. It always makes me think of the end of Peter Pan, when Tinker Bell showers Captain Hook's pirate ship with pixie dust to make it fly. I often wonder what America must look like from space on the Fourth of July? I bet it's beautiful.

I have some thoughts about our Nation's Independence Day as well. Weird ones. First of all, I'm no die-hard patriot. It wouldn't be devastating to me to move away from the US if we had to. But I do have a bit of patriotic spirit and I think we should observe and honor the amazing country we live in. But I find it a little disturbing that we honor our country by attending 'giant sales' at retail outlets that force their employees to work on a national holiday. 50 years ago, Independence Day was observed by all; everyone, every business, took the time to honor our founders, our fallen and our faithful. Now, in our post-consumeristic, legalistic society, our companies are so concerned with being open every single day and getting the extra bucks, that there is no honor, no observance. And the more we allow it, the worse it gets. I am never one to predict the future, but I would guess that Independence Day simply becomes another day in the calender, just like Columbus Day or Mother's Day, sometime in the future. I wonder if the banks will even close?

The best part of the evening was when we ran into our friends, Matt and Dana, and their 3 little girls. Bella and Jillian got to ride in the Crazy Mouse - some kind of hybrid between the teacup ride at Disney and a roller coaster, and Kailee, being only 3, had to sit out. And she was very upset about it, which was made worse by the fact that she was exhausted beyond measure. She let me carry her for a bit, but she's almost getting too big for me. She is definitely heavier than the other two girls were at her age. And everytime Mommy or Daddy came close, she would turn her face away and say "NO". Mad, cuz she couldn't go on any of the big kid rides. So Alex picked her up, MY ALEX!, and snuggled with her and carried her around for awhile. And the wild beast was soothed. Kailee loves Alex. We don't know why, but she does. And I think he likes her too. :) He was definitely working up his 'daddy muscles' last night. I may be allowed to have a baby yet!

Our day ended late, and happy, with horse poo on our shoes and the smell of carnie food on our clothing. This morning we are laying around, lazy for a little while, but I'm on my way out to get the grass mowed before it gets too hot. Besides, our jerk neighbors have made it quite clear that they've had it with our grass being the longest on the block. But you already know my feeling about our next door neighbors.... No? Let's just put it in short form - "Keeping Up With The Joneses" is their favorite game. And they've been doing it for so long that they don't know how to NOT compete with a young couple working on their first house.

Anyway, please be blessed, safe, careful and happy on this Independence Day. Take time to enjoy the life we have here in America - it's wonderful and there is no other place like it. Try not to lose any fingers, toes, eyebrows or other important limbs with firecrackers. Jump in the lake and love it. Hug a family member and honor the fallen heroes. That is all. :)

Grand Re-Re-Opening

It's official! L.Peek Designs is re-opening tomorrow morning!

It's actually open right now, with one single listing - a pair of orange Baby Chucks. :) But tomorrow I will begin the relistings and while I will not be crocheting full time like I was prior to March 1st, I will be devoting a good portion of time to maintaining the shop.

I'm really excited about this. This is one of my true loves so it's going to be wonderful to get going again.

New Discussion

L. Peek Designs now has a Facebook fan page! Look me up and 'like' me!

And if you do, please add your thoughts to the discussion board!

The topic is what you would like to see in the Etsy shop this spring.

Baby Uggs?

Baby Vans?

Baby Ballet Slippers?

Baby Blahniks?

I would LOVE to read your thoughts on the matter. :)

And while I'm shamelessly promoting myself, here's another look at what's in the shop right now!

Special Sale

Last night, after a day with friends watching the Green Bay Packers beat Alex's beloved Chicago Bears, it occurred to me that I have been making Baby Chucks in NFL team colors for quite some time, and I should run a sale on them from now until the day after the Superbowl. And so that is what I am doing.

So if you are interested in some super cool team colored duds for your little one, come find my facebook fan page (L.Peek Designs - in the search bar. It will take you right to me.), 'Like' me, leave a comment on the current status, and receive in return, a coupon code that is good for 10% off Baby Chucks in Packers or Steelers colors!

Good through February 7th! :)

L.Peek Designs Fan Page

L.Peek Designs

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