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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

These nutty children of mine.


This is an old picture of the girls, but one of my most favorites.  So I thought I would use it again.  Because it makes me happy...those cuties with their 3-d glasses on...

We had a talk (the 3 of us) of the way home from school today.  A talk about not putting all of your eggs in one basket.  Casey wants to go to Julliard.  Chandler wants to go to Rhode Island School of Design.  But they have a list of other places to apply to, too.  You know, so that they're not putting all of their eggs in one basket. 

But really, this is the nitty gritty that I want to share with you...

Chan:  So, Mama, did you just go to the University?
Me:  No, I started school at a little place called LaGrange College and then I transferred to UGA.
Casey:  What????  You went somewhere else first???  Why?  Why did you do that?
Me:  Well, during my junior year of college, Mems and Pops and I went to visit a lot of schools and I really loved LaGrange.
Casey:  So then why didn't you stay there?
Me:  Well, I wanted to work in theatre and I started college as a theatre major...(rudely interrupted)
Casey:  I think we can all see that that dream's not gonna come true.
Me:  GASP!!!!  Case!  That's not very nice!  It could still come true...you know...when I'm done raising the three of you...
Casey:  Yeah, but you'll be, like, 50 then!
Me:  It could still happen!
Chan:  Yeah, if you use a lot of moisturizer.

Big sigh.  What am I gonna do with these nutty, nutty children of mine????

Monday, January 30, 2012

This little boy...


...melts my heart, in his dinosaur slippers and his sister's old pool dress...which he now wears as a nightgown...while sleeping in his own bed...by himself.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

It was kind of like Evita's Rainbow Tour.

I went on a craft store tour yesterday.  Kind of like the Rainbow Tour that Evita went on...only...not.  You see, securing some of these supplies for the big PW hit is becoming my own personal nightmare.

1.  On the morning of the16th I went to one unnamed craft store to order in bulk.  They told me the order would be placed that Wednesday with the store's order and would be in that Friday.  No problemo.  I relisted what I knew I had ordered the correct amount of supplies for.  Done.

2.  Friday came and they called, left me a voicemail that said they couldn't get them but would try again the following week.  What, what????  I stopped by the store on my way home and begged.  The girl was very nice and told me that she would call the other stores and get them to send their stock and she would call me this week.

3.  In the meantime, I found similar beads online.  Ordered them.  In bulk.  Only for them to arrive and be MUCH smaller than I anticipated.  Ugh.

4.  The girl from unnamed craft store never called.

5.  I had a ridiculous week at work and could not make it to the store until Friday.  Girl explained that all of the stores are in the process of completing their inventories and therefore other stores cannot send stock to their store.  She would try and figure out something and call me on Monday. 

6.  I think my frustration may have hit an all time high.  Just sayin.

7.  When I got home I began calling other locations, only to be told that they cannot hold things overnight. 

I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday, got dressed, made some coffee to go and drove to a store that made me wish I was spending the day somewhere else...


...like there.  That's Stone Mountain in the distance.  Yep.  I drove to stores in Stone Mountain, Snellville, Lawrenceville, Duluth and Roswell.  In my travels, I saw this sign...


...sweetest thing ever.  Some high school boy asking a girl to prom.  If I were that girl I would have totally melted.  Just sayin.

My mom went to the store in Douglasville and then we met for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Yay!  {and thanks for your help, mom!}  We did a little shopping.  Mom bought a cute, cute dress for me at Charming Charlie's.  And I really wish that I had bought this...


....giant globe at Pottery Barn.  Originally $229 (who would pay that???  I have no idea!)  marked down to $57. 

I am officially down to the only open orders in my shop being ones that I am waiting on supplies for.  In case you were wondering, PW doesn't give a heads up (not that I am complaining...not at all!!!!) when she posts about a shop, (or at least not in my cases), so I had to scurry to order supplies and then I am kind of at the mercy of others.  And I hate that.  Cross your fingers that things start to arrive at the beginning of the week.

In the meantime, I have a few new things to post in the shop...





Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Um, yeah.

Last night, no joke, I went to bed at 8:04.  Seriously.  I was exhausted.  I am currently in a holding pattern in the shop - waiting for supplies to arrive.  Argh!  Ugh.  This is what was on my craft room floor on Sunday afternoon...

...and I added more to it before shipping on Tuesday.  Shipping...I love my post office ladies.  I hate the fact that I am SUPER busy at work right now....meetings, meetings and more meetings and have only been able to leave school once this week to make it to the post office before closing.  Frustrating.  And I have meetings again tomorrow and Friday, which means that Saturday is my next shipping day. 

{and now I am going to stop whining...I've had a whiny day...}

Chris made a great new dinner over the weekend...baked polenta with sauce and sausage, side salad {spinach, tomatoes, fresh mozarella and balsamic} and, well, you know, my usual milk with dinner.


{and yes, we are still using Christmas napkins at our house :) }

And hopefully these will be listed at some point this week...

Monday, January 23, 2012

Things Around Town

I see things that make me laugh all.the.time...especially when I am driving.  But typically I don't get to take a picture of them because, well, I'm driving.  But twice last week, I came upon a red light with the funny thing staring me in the face.  I had no choice.  I had to take the pictures.


1.  Can you make out that sign in the air?  Far above the red truck?  It's across the intersection and it just says, "NO."  No explanation needed.  You think you're going to drive in that lane?  The answer is no.  The sign says so.

2.  And the back of this truck gave me a good chuckle.  It is for Admiral Nelson's Spiced Rum.  And all I could think was, "Humph, I wonder if he was on the same ship with Captain Morgan?"  Because, now, I've heard of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum...never heard of Admiral Nelson's though.  Apparently it's the #1 Best Tasting Spiced Rum...according to the back of the truck. 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

King of Jokes


This silly boy is becoming the King of Jokes.  Here were some of my favorites from this past week:

Quinn:  Why was the gorilla's belly full?
Me:  Why?
Quinn:  Because he ate a lot of food!

Quinn:  Why was the ice walking away?
Me:  Why?
Quinn:  So the monster wouldn't get him!

Complete and total nonsense and well, we all find it to be pretty hysterical!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Whew! Coming up for air...

I am nowhere near being finished with making/packing orders, but have definitely made LOTS of progress!  I am still waiting on quite a bit of supplies that I've ordered, and you know, if I didn't have a full time job (which I do love and am grateful for) and 3 kids (I love them too and am grateful for them also) this process would be a whole heckuva lot easier. 

That being said, here's some progress that you can see for yourself...


That's Thursday's and Saturday's outgoing packages.  (I failed to take a picture of Tuesday's!)  I'll be shipping again this week on Tuesday and Thursday...probably twice as many packages!

Prior to last Monday, my table was a disaster.  I worked on top of the disaster all week and then after my post office run this morning I had to take a cleaning break.  Usually I have to take a break from cleaning, but today I had to take a break from jewelry to clean.  :)


Not perfect (by any stretch of the imagination) but definitely better!  Lots of light?  Um, yes please.  And that is an Ott Light in the right hand corner.  Have you heard of these?  They are FANtastic!  Truly.  I bought mine on Black Friday for $17 at Michael's (they're normally around $80).  Watch for the sales and pick one up for yourself!

I spent the majority of my day at the table....working on one thing or another and the children kept begging to help.  So I let them.  And now I can honestly say that I've run a sweatshop.  I paid them waaaaaayyyyy less than minimum wage.  :)


Casey was putting stickers on the boxes and Quinn was handling the return address stamping.  Then Chan wanted to get in on the fun, so they decided to tackle the WHOLE box of uline mailers.  All 200 of them!  They had an assembly line going and when I asked who started the assembly line, Chandler responded, "George Washington!"  Um, no...Perhaps she should have been studying some history instead of stamping envelopes.

I have been (prior to this week) thinking about some things that I want to include in my spring line and thought I would share some with you...




Cloisonne beads and some color block pieces will definitely be some staples in the spring line!!!  Can't wait to get started on them!  {and what you see above will be in the shop at some point over the weekend}

Monday, January 16, 2012

In case I fall off the face of the Earth this week (you'll know why)


Holy sockamoly!  PW posted about my shop again today!!!!!  Hooray!  Hooray!  {insert dance moves...and now I am doing the cabbage patch...the running man...making the pizza}

So you'll have to forgive me if my blogging is less than stellar this week.  I have to go make jewelry.  And package jewelry.  And bake something for my post office ladies.  
{Ok, so the baking might not happen this week.  But it will soon because I love those girls!}

And if for some reason you haven't seen the post, you can find it HERE.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Just Some Randomness


I'm not really sure when my girls got to be SO big!  I love that they are getting older...except for the fact that it means that I am also getting older.  Terrible how that works, really. 

Now, go ahead and ask me what Casey was wearing in this picture.  The answer?  Yeah, I have.no.idea.  I saw her at breakfast...but only the top half...see, when they're sitting at the table, I have no idea what they are wearing on the bottom half.  And clearly, this bottom half is a fail.  There is no purple in the skirt.  And I'm not sure why she thought the sneakers were a good choice.

I do love Chan's outfit though!  And I made the mistake of telling her that and now she has worn it just about every other day since.  Her cute, cute boots?  Yep, they're ladies boots from Target (they also had them in brown) for $35.  She bought them with some of her Christmas money.

*****************

We went shopping today.  Casey bought a couple new pairs of shoes (with her Christmas money) at Rack Room.  She was (as she should be) quite pleased with herself!

{rose gold pair are the rack room brand, $15, the pewter pair is Rocket Dog, $35...and of course, buy one, get one half off}

She was wearing them around the house when I offered to take pictures of them.  And then the others wanted to get in on the picture action as well.  Only Q has a really hard time standing still.  Imagine.


In the top left picture, he wanted me to take one of his foot with Casey's.  So I did.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Visit Me at A Little Etsy Love!

Visit me at A Little Etsy Love!  It's another great week of awesome giveaways!  Yay!  Go.  Hurry.  Enter.  Have fun....and may the force be with you!

{happy deliveries.}


{floradornments}


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

One Year Ago.

One year ago we were in the middle of the snowpocolypse.  I have lived in Georgia for a VERY long time and I can say, last year's weather was crazy.  Seriously.


The first day or so was really pretty awesome.  We stayed in jammies.  The kids played.  Chris and Drew went on a beer walk to the gas station.  We drank hot chocolate and ate chili and chicken pot pie.  


And every afternoon Chris and I waited for the automated phone calls from our school districts...we would be out again the next day.  A few days in and we started to dread those phone calls.  And then it was MLK weekend and we had another day off.  And then came the fact that we had to make up our week off.  Awful.  Really, really awful. 

But I must admit...I miss that week.  I would really like that week to be next week and we could stay at home in our jammies... guilt free. 

And of course, I would like to see what Chris would fashion this year into a shovel. 

We still don't have a real one.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

See Dan Paint

And speaking of my friend Dan...you know...the one that rained on my Simple Shoes parade?  Let me tell you a little bit about him...

He is an amazing artist!   {And the art teacher at my school!}  He has a fantastic website.  I think you should pay him a visit...  HERE.  He just finished up his 52 in 52 Series...like this one...


...which makes me laugh "Stan the Stinky Sock is a Natural Leader"  Fantastic.  :)  So fun!  Chandler picked out one of his star ornaments for Chris for Christmas...and Chris loved it!  He wants one every year for Christmas. 

And, he just opened up a big cartel shop...HERE!  The t-shirt that he has in his shop?  Yeah, no joke, a member of The Dead Milkman bought one last time they were in Athens and wore it at their show in town.  I think it may have made Dan's day.

New Shoes



So I have a crazy love for Simple brand shoes.  Like, I love, love these shoes.  Seriously.  CooCoo for Cocoa Puffs over these shoes.  They are the only sneakers that I have worn for the past seven years.  I am loyal to the Simples. 

And then last week, my friend, Dan, informed me that Simple is closing. Screeeeeeech!  Say what????

The first thing I did when I came home that afternoon was check the Simple website.  And it was true.  I had hoped that Dan really didn't know what he was talking about.  Turns out, he did.  Big sigh.

So, I headed over to zappos and scooped up two new pairs.  I don't know what I am going to do when those pairs wear out.  It will be a sad, sad day.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Quinn's Big Boy Party

I don't know where the weekend went.  Is it like that for you too after the holidays?  After having two weeks off, having two days just doesn't seem like nearly enough.  At 7pm on Sunday night I finally felt like I was hitting my groove.  3 hours before bed and the start of a new week.  Ugh.

So here's what we did...
1.  Chris and I watched The Change Up Friday night (we rent movies from Amazon and stream them on the tv.  Do you do this?  I love it.  Seriously.).  I must say I liked it better than some other movies we have seen lately (for example, The Hangover 2).  I now feel the need to tell Chris that I am going to cut him.  Because that makes me laugh. 
2.  Saturday morning Loralai came over for Quinn's Big Boy Party.  More on that in a minute.
3.  Laundry
4.  Dinner at Drew and CB's.  I really love hanging out with them.  So easy and enjoyable.
5.  Chris took the kids to church and Sam's Club.  I worked on jewelry.  So long overdue.  I hadn't made anything NEW in almost a month.  What?  What?  I blame the holidays. 
6.  Grocery shopping.
7.  Yummy quiche and salad dinner. 

By far, the big hit of the weekend was Q's Big Boy Party.  You see, Chris and I have not been overly concerned about his pacifier.  Or, as Quinn called it, his Baby. 

Quinn is potty trained, super smart, a fairly good eater, kind, and polite.  He is NOT a good sleeper.  At all.  And the only time he had his Baby was at home to sleep.  (Or those times when he would smuggle it out of the cabinet and walk around in his unders with a Baby in his mouth.)  So, we weren't pushing him to get rid of the Baby.  Think what you may of me as a parent, it just wasn't a battle I was going to fight.  The girls were done with their pacies when they were 2, Quinn just wasn't ready.

So last weekend Q and I had a conversation about being a big boy and that the Baby was keeping him down.  So he gave it up.  Chris magically disappeared them.  And then we bribed him with Loralai and a cupcake party...if he could go all week without one, he and Loralai could have cupcakes with candles and a play date.  Sold. 

He screamed the first 3 nights but we persevered.

And on Saturday, Loralai came over to make cupcakes, eat lunch and play.  Then we lit candles in their cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday (by request) over and over again.

  
The big girls were my mini babysitters (so good at this job!) and Casey was my cupcake photographer.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Just a Few Changes!

So, did you notice anything new around here this weekend?  ;)  Yep.  A make over.  It was time.  I used Tank and Tink and let me just tell you...Molly is wonderful to work with and everything was super easy.  I highly recommend her.  :) 

{Just wait until I show you all the new packaging goodness that I ordered for the shop.  Oh, such fun!}

Some new stuff will be posted in the shop {cross your fingers} later tonight...Can we say Valentine's Day????  :)


Friday, January 6, 2012

Visit Me at A Little Etsy Love!

I've got some super great giveaway posts this week over at A Little Etsy Love!  And  believe you me, I hate not being able to enter them myself!  So you should.  Go.  Enter.  Have fun.  :)

{Jessica N Designs}



{studio kmo}


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Chandler...how I love this child...part 2


This child.  Oh how she cracks me up.  This was part of our conversation on the way home this afternoon:

Chandler:  Mama, when you were a little girl did you go to a one room school?
Me:  Chan, how old do you think I am?
Chan:  Um, 33.
Me:  Right.  And when did they have one room school houses?
Casey:  The 1800's.
Chan:  Oh, yeah.  I forgot about that part.

And then as I was telling my mom about this conversation I told her that if I was old enough in Chan's mind for the one room school house, then that means that she (who grew up in downtown Chicago) must have not gone to school because she was too busy milking Mrs. O'Leary's cow.


 She also said this on the way home....

Chan:  So there's this girl at school, Gwen, and she's half Ireland.
Me:  Irish?
Chan:  Oh, yeah, Irish.  Not Ireland.  That's the place.
Me:  So it would be kind of funny of she was half Ireland.


And then there was this last night...

Me:  So do you think you're going to be happy at your new school?
Chan:  Yeah.  As long as my underwear isn't wet.
Me:  Um.  I just said, so do you think you are going to like your new school?
Chan:  Yes, and I said, as long as my underwear isn't wet.
Me:  I don't understand what you're talking about.
Chan:  Wet underwear.
Me:  I'm really confused.
Chan:  I just sat in something wet in the kitchen and now my underwear is wet and wet underwear is really uncomfortable and so as long as my underwear isn't wet, then, yeah, I'll like my new school just fine.

What I Wore Wednesday Week 26

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy!


raw brass and gold filled hoop earrings - IKE & CO 
mustard ruffled scarf - the pleated poppy (Christmas present to myself!  Yay!)
cute, cute new tank (I bought one in each color!) - Target


khaki pants - banana republic outlet
orange cardi - gap outlet
tank - target
mustard ruffled scarf - the pleated poppy
shoes - born

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Transformation of the Entry Way

Summer

Fall

Christmas

January, 2012

I'm kind of in love with January's table.  Just so you know.

{p.s....The girls are starting a new school today and prayers would be much appreciated.}

Monday, January 2, 2012

Overheard in My Living Room

Chandler and Quinn were playing together Sunday morning in the living room with the big cardboard blocks and a handful of beanie babies.  They made homes for all the animals and then pretended they were under attack.  They were trying to save the animals.

Quinn:  Oh no!  He's dead!!!  Oh no!
Chandler:  Oh, no, it's Giraffie!
Quinn:  He's DEAD!!!!!!
Chandler:  We have to get him to the hospital a.s.s.p!

And then Chris and I died laughing.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Coming to terms

I have thought about this post for a long time.  I write the first sentence or few (in my head) and then I crumple it up (in my head) and start again (in my head).  Some days I rewrite it (in my head) multiple times over.  Some days, I get up from the vintage desk that I sit at in front of the window that overlooks a lake (in my head) and walk away (in my head).

But here it is.

The things that weigh me down.

{You can read or you can not read.  I am not whining.  I know what a great  life that I have.  It is just how I feel.  Period.}

1.  I reread my New Year's Resolution posts from the past two years and the top thing on both lists was being fit/becoming healthy.  I think this year I hit rock bottom.  And it has made me sad.  Very sad.  In January, I was a size 2, as I have been for the vast majority of my life.  Now granted, that size 2 was not a very healthy size 2, but whatever.  I have gained between 20 and 30 pounds this year.  In rereading blog posts this year, I started talking about it in February when I had gained ten pounds in 8 weeks.  Sheesh.  And sadly, I decided in July that this was a problem and went about my business to fix it.  Only I couldn't.  I didn't.  And then I spent the past six weeks drinking spiked eggnogs and eating chocolate chex mix.  No joke.  I tried to eat healthy/portion control/exercise and I sucked at it.  It became one more thing for me to beat myself up about and then I was failing miserably at it and then I was upset about it and so I would drink another and eat some more.  And then I would go to bed.  To the point where now my pants don't fit.  Like, the new pants that I bought in July to replace the pants that I bought in March, don't fit.  So now I have new pants, 4 sizes bigger than I started the year in.  I also went July, August and September, without drinking any sodas and a ton of water.  And I not only fell off the horse, but then the horse got spooked and ran off, so I couldn't even get back on the horse.  Damn horse.  So I am sitting here, drinking a diet coke, wondering if the horse will ever come back.  Horse!  Horse?  I need you!  So, here is my plan.  I am going back to logging everything that I eat/drink/do into the livestrong website.  I am drinking water.  I am buying a treadmill.  I am running.  Or something.  Because really, even the thought of running makes me want to go lay down.  I hate to run.  Truly.

2.  I have made monumental parenting mistakes this year and I hate myself for them.  I am quite certain that fifteen years from now my children will ask me to join them at a family therapy session and they will point to this year and say that it is where everything changed.  Big sigh.  I will have nothing to say other than I know.  And I am sorry.  I continue to be amazed by the fact that parenting has to be the one thing in life that never gets easier.  Like, with everything else, you practice, you spend time working on your technique, you self reflect and evaluate, adjust and it gets easier, better...but not with parenting.  It's just hard.  And when you do start to think that you have a thing or two figured out the other players change the rules.  Jerks.  See, and there I show off my stellar parenting abilities by calling my children jerks.  Sheesh.

3.  I am not a good friend.  Ok.  It's out there.  I am just not.  And this is what happens (for example...)
Friend:  We should go out to dinner.  Grab a drink.  Have coffee.  Something.  Whenever is good for you.
Me:  Um, ok.
And then I avoid.  I don't want to make plans.  I want to stay home.  I want to be with my husband and my children.  I want to make jewelry or play on my computer or watch instant streaming on Netflix.  I want to email or text (because they can be done on my own time, when I want) but I just don't want to make plans.  Period.  I think if I could find a way to become a hermit, I would.  But then I am plagued by this...So and so wants to go out but I keep making excuses not to and if I don't go out with them then I shouldn't go out with anyone.  And so then I avoid everyone.  (Except Chris.  It's kind of hard to avoid the person next to you in bed.)  I am just at the point where I feel like I am not a good contributor to friendships these days.  But this also makes me feel like I have to avoid a lot of things that I like. 

I am the kind of person where my knee jerk reaction to anything is to say no.  Seriously.  It is hard for me to say yes to things.  More often then not, I'll come around and say yes, but I have to come to it on my own.  I don't like being told that I have to do something or continuously being asked to do something.  It makes me dig in my heels and then you'll never get a yes out of me.

I have struggled with writing this because I don't want to come off sounding all woe is me.  Because I'm not.  This is just what is on my mind and I feel like I haven't been very honest about things on my blog in a while.  I am struggling.  I worry.  But really, who doesn't?  And now I think I should insert my favorite quote...


In the end it will all be okay.  If it is not okay, then it is not the end.

So, these are the things that I am going to work on.  Big sigh.  But I am hopeful for this year.  I am hopeful.

Happy New Year! {a gift to you!}


This week only, spend $20 or more in the shop and you'll get a free pair of these earrings!  Leave a message to seller when you check out letting me know which color you'd like (pink, white, yellow, lime, aged brass)!