I'll take all the help I can get~

So last night we were all hanging out in the living room before dinner and all of a sudden I got this bug to go to the sunroom and make me a silver ring. I made a few for myself in metals classes but they're wider and not what I want right now...I just want something thin and simple for summer. Maybe even stacking rings-we'll see...

Gabe follows me in and shimmies up on the barstool I've got at my workbench. He starts asking me what's that? and why? etc...you get the picture-he's 2. So I made sure he was way at the other end of the bench while I torch fused the silver together. He was facinated of coarse by the fire but stayed put-still asking questions. So I gave him a mini lesson on making rings...I was surprised at how intently he listened and never acted bored to run off for toys.

Today we retrieved the ring out of the water where it was set to cool last night and he got to hammer it. He was so happy to get to "bang bang bang" let me tell you! He actually did a VERY good job of getting the hammer to hit the ring and not the ring mandrel! Now that they're napping I'll tweak it a little more. Hope it fits...I told him it could be his Mother's Day gift to me since he helped work on it. :)

Random babble

Today I'm kicked back on the front porch-happy that we chose to get the deep seater furniture so I can sit sideways and be cozy. Thanking Travis in my head for the forethought of the extra outlet he installed "in case I ever want to sit outside on the laptop" lol. Never thought I'd see the day...Thanks, Dove chocolate, for showing me I need to sit and chill every now and then :)

So I sit here thinking about how some big ole ferns would look pretty...2 I think. We also still need house numbers for our address, mailbox and entry rug (all left over from last summer's OPAM-lol) Maybe I'll cruise some websites while out here. Although I'm itching to get back to reading my new book...hmmm...

Here is our yearly birdnest in our side Magnolia tree-right outside of the dining room window. Yesterday the eggs hatched and Gabe and I got to watch her feed the babies for the first time. Interesting to talk to a 2 yr old about how they feed the babies as we ate lunch. He looked at me like I was crazy (they're eating worm puke?) lol...Ya-did wonders for my appetite. Sure are cute tho.

It was time

I made it legal. :)

Now no more sitting and thinking about it...no more wishing I was doing more but not...I decided that only I could make it happen. So here I am.

All I've wanted to do for years is participate in art fairs and have a website-I would LOVE that! (even if just a couple here and there...) This is my first step-and it's checked off of my to-do list. Currently I'm sketching out new ideas, pounding out the beads as often as possible and working on a couple of earrings prototypes that I haven't seen out there....I'm honestly not anxious to really do anything this year as far as fairs are concerned with the economy the way it is (too late for most fairs this year anyway) but this gives me plenty of time to do my research and get my ducks in a row.

Ok so don't hate me for this but....look at the name to the left of my DBA-I was glancing through to see if it was run this week and my eyes instantly went to that ladies name! Now i can't get that "Thong Song" out of my head!!!!!

Wish me luck!

Terrible 2's are showing up a bit late...

This rotten little stinker has been running me through the ringer lately. Man-I'm whooped. If you can imagine-this is the look I get all day long-it's meaning either "I'm up to something" or "You need me but I am going to turn and run and hide" or "I didn't hear a word you said".

*Prince Gabe*

The little turkey is so cute about it though that it's hard to really get mad at him. Especially when he's wearing princess crowns upside down.

Cousins, egg hunts and fun

Our day started with baskets overflowing with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, jellybean trails and games. Then we headed to Papa and Grandma's for lunch and the first egg hunt with cousins. Gabe had a blast-but it's a good thing we practiced how to do an egg hunt or he'd stop at the first one and sit in the grass and eat the candy out of it.

After Papa's we ran to cousin Jill's for another egg hunt then to Nana's for dinner.

We took a walk out by the field behind their house to take a few pictures. It was full of dead weeds but was a nice backdrop. Here's Chloe and cousin Olivia.
I decided to play around with some different photo finishes-this was a 1960's edit-kinda fun! :)
Chloe glancing out of the window while going through her eggs...
I love this of Gabe out in the field for some reason.
He loves to find "pig noses" (walnut shells) Yesterday was a no-nap day since we had so much going on (and too much sugar anyway!) so he wasn't cooperating for the picture. You get the idea-lol.

New bracelet design!

It's been awhile...

My friend Cathy came up with a color combo for a set of beads~I got to work and made a boatload of them. It was hard to choose which ones to use ~and I love these colors together!! All cobalt, teal and transparent pink and added a smidge of lime green. The whole time I was torching all I could think of was Hawaii-maybe the fact that she's heading there soon put that in my head...



I'll tell ya-it takes me forever until I'm happy with something. I think I remade this 3 times until I was happy. And happy I am! I love this design! I think it's a keeper-whatcha think?

It's official:

Spring is springing...we'll get a hot day with mosquitos and bees then back to jackets and gloves and snowflakes. Goofy Illinois weather.

Yesterday we ran outside for an impromptu easter egg hunt in the front yard. lol-not many places to hide eggs concidering some landscaping we planted last year is just starting to sprout a few leaves but oh well...

I had to run across the street and get a shot of the magnolia tree in bloom-Chloe's so lucky-how her room is situated she's got the front magnolia tree and the side magnolia tree so out of all 4 windows right now you see nothing but pink fluff. Gorgeous.

Note the finished porch :) I'm so happy to have that to enjoy all summer now!!


You can see by Gabe's feet my hydrangea's are popping up! Yea! Now...how to keep them and all the neighbor kids out of that area....hmmmm...

My goofy egg I just had to make after seeing some similar ones in a store. It's made from window screen. Any idea how hard it is to "sew" w/ wire? Not real fun... A little blood involved. In any case-I started it well ahead of time-then forgot about it-then messed some more-then forgot again. So it was hung only a couple days before easter-oh well. Better than nothing-which is what I've always had since the house was always such a work in progress.

It doesn't take much...

to make me feel my age. Ugh!

So Trav and I were asked again to sub for adult indoor soccer. I was doing just fine til Mr. 7 foot tall decided to take me OUT with a body slam. Sprawed like a big ole loserrrrrr on the astroturf...Astroturf burn down the whole leg? Sexxxxxxxxy -lemme tell ya.

{{I am still feeling it in my bone-ow.}}

I'd take a picture of it but then I'd feel like even more of a loser-lol. Ya ya ya Kim...and you wanted me to take my camera tonite-ha! That would have been the million dollar moment Trav would have snapped you know... :P

Playdate

I love facebook. I can't believe I had it for 2 years and totally forgot about it. It's been so long since Cindi and I have seen each other. The internet can do amzing things. It's found a long lost friend for me.

Sweet little Jonas~


Here's my Gabey swinging~gave me some good toothless grins today...
Jonas again before the squirrel came to eat all his leftover cheerios~

Her other boy Isaac who poses the same each time he saw my camera~couldn't sneak it by him-lol.

It turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day so we grabbed a pizza, strawberries and cheesesticks and hit the park.

:)

Holy cow!

The dr just called again to keep me informed of final test results. He said definately a bad UTI (so continue on the med prescribed) and wants a follow up and retest in a couple weeks. At that time they want to discuss an ultrasound to rule out bladder reflux.
We had a nice day in the park today visiting with my old friend, Cindi. Once I go thru and upload photos I'll post em up. :)

Updates

I just LOVE our pediatrician.

I was at the grocery store last night when Travis called me. It was around 6 pm and said the doctor just called to fill us in on labs as they come in. I had already spoken to the nurse earlier as well-I think it's great that they want to keep us informed as more come in and that he actually sits and calls HIMSELF to discuss. You don't see that often. He's great!

Well, as it turns out her final urinalysis results don't show glucose! Whew. The blood test showed high blood sugars over the last couple of months-but the overall result is no diabetes!!!! Thank God.

I also called on Gabe's chest xray. They want a repeat in 6 months with 3 different views as opposed to 2. The radiologist is questioning whether or not it's a nodule. Ok-so what does that mean? He didn't mention comparing it to old xrays...so I get to stew about this one for 6 months.

I've got an old friend coming over today who I reconnected with on facebook. We met in 5th grade and hung out til after high school then lost track of each other. It's been about 15 years since I've seen her. So hard to believe so much time has gone by! I'm so excited to see her again and meet her boys. They're got about a 2 hr drive so they should be here soon :) Yea!

Breaking point

I used to handle stress just fine. In fact-I thrived on it-I worked better under pressure. Still do-depending on the situation.

But once I had kids-and those stresses came in the form of medical issues-that does me in. Not to mention that anything bad comes in 3's for us.....so I hope to God there isn't anything more coming my way or I may just crawl in bed for the next 2 weeks and not show my face.

Two days ago I took Gabe for an appt w/ the ped pulmonologist for a checkup. Everything was fine as he listened to him and all then he looked at his chest xray and kept looking at it at all these weird angles (was waiting for him to stand on his damn head to look at it) then kept doing hmmmmmmm...hmmmmmm...omg spit it out man! "i don't like this area right here-see this?" um no not really but...he says looks like some kind of nodule or something. Probably having to do w/ fungal stuff in our air here in Illinois but I want to talk to the radiologist first and I'll call you this afternoon to discuss. Greaaaaaaaaaat.

Gabe was sick last week (the only good about that is it's the FIRST time he's been sick where it didn't require antibiotics, nebulizers,etc to get him out of it-good sign!) BUT-he passed it to Sawyer. He wasn't so lucky. I kept waiting for it to be on the downhill slide but each day seemed worse than the last.

Yesterday morning I woke to him screaming. Thinking his leg was between the rails I rushed in there to stop short at the wall of stench that hit me at his door. Up to the changer and off goes the pj's to have me standing in stunned silence while he wailed. I've never quite seen anything like the diaper rash he had. The diarreah he'd had (from being sick I suppose) had evidentally sat in there all night (can't believe it didn't wake him!!) and had just burned his whole front and inner thieghs...So heres me-crying and panicing and getting him into a cool bathtub since wipes hurt him too bad. As the morning went on he was choking on the mucus, lethargic, fever and wheezey sounding. Their ped is great-got us in at 1 pm.

So I'm changing Sawyer to go to the dr appt and the school calls. Great timing. The school nurse is telling me that Chloe's in pain when she goes o the bathroom and is actually having quite a bit of blood when she pees. I had just enough time to grab her from school (of coarse on the other side of town) and get back over to the dr office w/o a minute to spare. The dr was great and went ahead and did a urine specimen. Now more stress...

So he was saying the little dipstick tester showed elevated everything...including sugar. I'm like ok...so what? He says well...concidering you shouldn't have any sugar in urine that's not a good thing so...
hmmm
So he says well, I doubt she's got diabetes but...
oh great.
So after talking it over about waiting for the urine to go thru lab testing, etc I decided to have her blood drawn (after asking what would YOU do if it were your kid?). She cried so bad while they drew her blood-I think more scared about what this meant that pain from the needle. She's got 2 good friends her age who have diabetes and has watched all the finger pricks and insuline shots.

So 2 calls I need to make today. To find out if my son has something weird growing in his lung and to find out if my daughter has diabetes.

This is great-2 minutes ago my phone rang and caller ID says it was the American Diabetes Assoc. Please tell me that's not a sign.

Owwwwwwww!

Ok-I admit I am way out of shape. I can't even cross my legs today without the help of my arms lifting my legs into place. Pathetic. Trav and I were asked to sub for indoor soccer on Chloe's soccer coach's adult team. It's been how many years since I've ran around like thaton a field? 15? 17? oh my... Let's just say every.single.stinkin.muscle.hurts. Even my shoulders. Weird! Hey-at least I (kinda) kept up?!

Not much was accomplished this weekend. Trav had to help a guy from work move, we had the soccer game then helped his mother with delivering her new washer/dryer, installing, etc. Then Sunday I had a highlight all morning and cleaned all afternoon. On a high note: I do believe we have siding picked out for the garage-now we just need to settle on a size.He's given me the ok to start measuring the attic and staring with "a plan" for up there...(MY plan is to do a huge master suite w/ 2 walk-in closets and a nice big bathroom) but use it as sort of a rec room for awhile-a place Chloe can play w/ friends, have air hockey,etc up there...who knows.

I've started reading "The Secret"...very interesting I've got to say. Lie to yourself-make yourself believe your lie-and it will come true???- that's all I've gotten out of it so far. We'll see...lol

Angela asked~
"This is so cute! when it is on, do the silver circles lay completely over each other? do you ever add beads or stuff to them? lastly - what do these run? enough questions??..lol.."

As you can (kinda-bad photo/lighting) see in this picture-the disks do lay right on top of each other. I chose to stamp the name along the bottom so it was hidden from view so that it is a bit of a "secret"...The piercing and sawing of the heart takes the most time, honestly. The disks are a smidge bigger than pea-size, very petite-which is why I didn't add any beads. The ball chain necklace is 18 inches. I would charge $36 for this.

I've made one other piece similar to this a couple years back for my mother-in-law. It's rectangular and has a poem stamped on the inside behind the heart cut out. I should get a photo on here of that one as well-it's really cute.

I'd be happy to answer any more questions or be open to suggestions...:)

This was a gift for a friend~



Very petite and lightweight. If anyone is interested in something similar just drop me a line...

Ongoing projects...

During a few milder days over the winter Trav decided to flip the garage door around to face the alley. It's hard to explain, but the way whoever built it situated the garage on the wrong side of the backyard-so basically our driveway goes diagonal across the yard. I'd rather have a grass yard than concrete,thankyouverymuch.



There was quite a dip when you pulled out of the garage to the alley so Trav had rock delivered and played hookey the other day when it was 77 out. (wow-77 degrees in March-gotta love that!) Now all that's left is to pick out some siding for it to match the house...

The big mirror is now attached. I guess that means it's time for me to get the paint bought...

Since it's been so nice out I've finally gotten to sit and make some beads. I love being able to throw open the window and torch away while the boys nap...

A peek from our week

It's been relatively boring around here lately. Lots of cabin fever that is partially relieved by breaks in our weather and I've been especially antsy to start spring cleaning.
Since it's gotten a little warmer I jumped in the sunroom and made some beads yesterday-although I don't care for any of them...

A few shots of the kids-Chloe doing sommersaults in the rain, Sawyer snoozing, and the kids looking rather freaky w/ magazine eyes they cut out.
Chloe's got a sleepover at a friends house tonite. I think we'll go to dinner and wander around a couple stores. Trav's attaching the base for the big mirror as I type...Still so much to do in there.....

Just having a little fun...

I've gotten yelled at for not having any photos of myself on facebook by old friends so I went hunting thru old albums. None of me...lol (i'm always behind the camera)
I snagged this old pic off my myspace page that I had forgotten about-and decided to play~






Go to http://www.befunky.com/photoApps.php# if you feel like playing around w/ any of your pictures-it's fun and so easy. I think the drawing-style ones. I'd like to print some off for the kids of themselves and friends to use as coloring book pages. :)

Spring can't come fast enough!

I really hate March-don't ask-I just do. But-it means that spring is around the corner so I've just got to trudge through it to get to the other side, right? :)

Taxes (or avoiding doing them) has been consuming my time. My good friend Kim just lost her sweet dog to kidney failure and that has me sad. Girl scout cookies are arriving in time to put those 3 lbs back on that I recently dropped. DWTS is coming back on next week (yea!) and I just finished the Twilight book series. That about sums up life lately.

I was thinking: there must've been some truth in the Artist's way morning pages I was doing back in January. They did motivate me and clear my mind and make me feel the urge to create throughout the day...I am not, however, motivated to wake up earlier than I have to do-especially when I have 2 who wake me 5-6 times each night...know what I mean? I miss doing those pages though. I'd really like to get back to it.

The foyer is coming along nicely. Trav is almost finished with the mudding and sanding. Next step is to prime the walls and get the huge mirror bolted back onto the wall. I chose a wall color called Spanish Olive by Benj Moore and am anxious to see how it will look in there...it's a soft light olive green. We still need to lay the wood floor and strip, sand and stain the stair treads and find spindles. No new picture since it pretty much looks the same-just smoother walls and holes filled in.

Funk

Funk funk funkedy funk. There, I said it-and I'm bout waist deep in a big fat bowl of funk and fighting my way out. I think some major sunshine is in order here! That and/or a vacation since it's been over a year now since we were went on our last trip. I think my body knows when it's overdue.

Stagnant. Blah. I don't feel like going anywhere. I don't even feel like making beads. I've got quite a few sets still waiting to be listed-waiting patiently off to the side.

I'm hoping that once the dirtiest work in the foyer is done I can get in there and start painting and find that creative streak I need to give me a boost. Guess it can't be too bad if I'm looking forward to that, huh?

This weather-ugh! Man, why do we live in Illinois?

A much deserved ice cream with sprinkles

Here's Gabe right after hollering "wah hoooooooo Big Boy!!!!!!!"

I've been promising him ice cream with sprinkles if he pooped on the potty. He was so excited and could tell he thought he was somethin else. Of coarse no such luck since Saturday when this occurred...

*Boy, he's gonna hate me for this someday-lol.*

Can ya tell I have nothing else to talk about? lol

More foyer pics

A shot look up the stairs-note the lack of spindles now that there is no wall. Add those to the list of architectural details we need to hunt down.

Base of the stairs. There is no rail or spindles here at the bottom either since someone had built a closet there to the right at one time. See the hole in the floor? That's where the ductwork was run for Sawyer's bedroom originally up inside of that closet...
Another shot-side of stairs. I need to figure out what to put in that spot-some sort of table w/ a lamp I think. It will be directly opposite of the big mirror.

We will move the big mirror about a foot over to the right and it will go back up onto the corbeled ledge thingie it orignially sat on taking it back up to the ceiling. We just dicussed running the cold air return under it again like it was so we won't need a big grate in the floor.

Sorry for the dark picture. This is where he's wanting to build a bench across under the window. Most of these houses along here have some sort of built-in bench that hinges open at the top. That would be great for the little stuff we don't use all the time-like gloves and scarves,etc. I hate having to go to the attic and switch stuff out for the seasons!


Today Trav's been piddling around closing the air return off, moving some wiring and right now he's mudding up the holes. I think I'll be able to picture things better w/ holes patched-since that's all I can see are the holes for some reason-lol.

Gabe's back to his old self today-appetite is back and fever is gone-how bizarre! I wonder what it was that hit him? I'm just glad it's gone. I was pretty paranoid last night that it was working it's way on me-lol.

Foyer progress

After the mirror was taken down and moved aside. Omg it was heavy! I think it's so funny that someone, at sometime decided "hey, let's chop the foyer in 1/2 and make a weird little room behind it"

And here's the same shot after he removed the wall behind the mirror. It totally opened up the staircase now.
While the wall was still being removed. My dad stopped by to help out.

No more shampoo room! A little sad about that but the foyer is really going to look cool! I'm already thinking about garland on the stairs for Christmas-lol. We counted 3 different spots where the previous people had moved the cold air returns. Jeez! All of the old hardwood has been removed as well. You can see that huge mirror propped up by my dad there.

These were taken 2 days ago actually. Trav's torn out lots of other little bits,taken down a light, moved some electrical and will add a couple more outlets. Yesterday was filling in big holes w/ drywall so I'm sure today there will be some patching going on. I need to get online and find some inspiration for wall color or something! :)

I plan to take more pictures today after I rest a bit. Ugh-last night was awful! I ended up getting sucked into the 2cd Twilight book and forced myself to put it down at 1:30...as soon as I reached for my lamp Sawyer started screaming. His 2cd top tooth is being a bear and he was hysterical. Sat up with him for awhile, laid him down when he zonked, Gabe started talking in his sleep...dealt with him...climb in bed-Sawyer wakes screaming again. By now it's 2:30 and I'm kicking myself for reading when I shoulld have been sleeping. So I sit up with Sawyer again...In bed by 3....4:30 rolls around to Gabe crying "mommy-puke" omg...and yes-it was everywhere. So much for nice steaks for valentines dinner-lol. He has a fever-that's usually how he reacts when a fever is coming on. Changed sheets,he woke at 730 crying that he puked again. He ended up in bed with us after getting his sheets washed,etc. I wake at 8:00 to him between us sitting up saying "Gabey poop potty" serious? (he just did that for the first time a couple nights ago) so I was getting up to take him and I saw him swallowing alot over and over and went to snatch him up but it was too late-all over our bed. Needless to say I'm on...how much sleep? Not much. Poor guy. He's zonked on the couch next to me. I'll bet Trav's tired enough not too do a whole heck of a lot in there today. We're supposed to take his mom to dinner tonite for her birthday but I'm wondering if that's just asking for it!

Valentines

As I was getting ready to head out to Target for the required store bought valentines for the class party I had a lightbulb moment and decided that yes, we'll still go to Target but not for valentines-but for chocolate! Here's the little valentines we whipped up for her class buddies and I must say-after looking over her loot after school hers was the coolest. :)

All in a pile... a great use for my tons of jewelry baggies...

Sooo-it appears that our daughter has an admirer. A younger man as well! We were all piled on or in front of the couch playing a game on wii and a car pulls up slowly in front of our house. A boy is in the car pointing to our house and they sit for quite some time. Next thing I know I see the mom jump out and run up to our porch with a heart covered gift bag, leave it on the steps and run. I'm like omg-what on earth???

So we go thru said bag and there was a teddy bear, a bunch of "roses" made of candy, a heart shaped box of chocolate and a valentines card. O*M*G. 1st and 2cd grade people! I am floored that this little boy thought of all of this-but a little more floored that his mom took him shopping for it all!

**(I guess I need to get over my flashback to 5th grade with an awkward moment similar to this with a boy who went over the top and made me feel as if I accepted said gifts that it was saying something-like yes, I'm your girlfriend-so I gave them back)

I am just hopeful that she doesn't feel weird on Tues on the bus when she sees him. Oh ya-and this is the same boy who wrote that note on the bus about how beautiful she is, etc. Remember that a few weeks ago?

Livin the dirty life again...

Up goes the plastic sheeting-but it doesn't stop all of the dust...

So we're on our last official room for the renovation! We've been living here close to 4 years now and worked on it for a full year beforehand just to make it live-able. It's definately been a labor of love. I'm so glad that Travis is on the same page as me-where we can look at how muddled up someone made an old house and say ok we can change this back and do this and open this and build this and wah-lah-it turns out great! I'm also very lucky that he knows how to do anything-plumbing, wiring, drywall-you name it. That sure helps money-wise too-but the downside is living in a constant state of "yuck" as opposed to paying a bunch pf people and having it done!

Here is the massive mirror that you saw as you walked into the front door. A huge selling point for us-but over time realised it wasn't original and the wall behind it must have been created to put the mirror against.There is a goofy little 8x8 room they made behind it someone had used as a large shelved pantry room at some point-I used it as my shampoo room for my salon since you could access it from the other side.

We are swinging the mirror over to the side wall on the left so you can see in it as you walk down the staircase.
Here's the front stairwell. The old carpet and wallpaper and handrail were torn out when we moved in as well as a weird closet someone had added later at the foot of the stairs. This is what I've had to look at for 3.5 years-gross!
Gotta love the flesh colored paint on all the trim-yes it was thru out the entire house. Blech.
Looking towards the foyer from the landing. It's a good thing we have a set of butler stairs we use all the time.
From the hallway upstairs looking down. We have to reconstrust the stained glass window you can see a smidge of too...fun fun...
Here's a peek at my shampoo room-it really worked great for this purpose.
This is inside the shampoo room under the stairs. Can you believe Trav ran cable under there so the kids have a "secret room" they go in and watch tv on and cozy up in a beanbag chair. It was originally intended for clients kids to go sit and watch videos or play playstation but Chloe and Gabe have adopted it and want to keep it. I'm just excited to have a coat closet finally! That's the one thing about old houses...NO CLOSET SPACE! (there's usually a curtain hanging to block out the light and it's a little clubhouse in there...the plan was hannah Montana posters lining the walls but that hasn't happpened yet)

I'll be adding pictures of the progress. It will so good to get this done! I can't wait!

Surprise!

You mean you don't all secretly walk around with stickers on your belly buttons and flash people? hmm. You should try it sometime :)



Man, I have had nothing to gab about! I seriously think it's this weather-makes me so blahhh. Today though......68! 68 friggin degrees in February!!! I'm going to bust out the flip flops this afternoon-watch me-I'm gonna! Does that mean I have to paint my toenails? sigh...too lazy. Neighbors will have to deal w/ naked toes.

I started the 1st Twilight book a couple nights ago and am cruising right through it. Couldn't put it down last night.

I was finally able to sit and have a bead session earlier this week. I waited til the weather broke and got in the 40's since I need a window open-brrrrrrr. Sooo...I decided to play with my X-mas gifts-new funky mandrels! I did a double button hole button (a huge heart) but-well, that's just going to take some getting used to... then a cone mandrel-so it makes a nice hollow cone so it's not so heavy-it turned out soooooo cute! I really liked working with that even tho the mandrel is a bit on the heavy side. The bead looks like a funky little party hat-love it. What to make with it-who knows? Maybe I'll make some and list em and let someone else come up with that idea.

We are going to start with the foyer remodel of our home on Thursday.(Trav gets a 5 day weekend) It is the last room that needs to be done. I am really excited to get this going-I just want to be DONE! And since that's the room that people walk into I always feel it leaves people feeling yucky even once they're in the rest of the house. You'll see what I mean when I post before pics-it's seriously gross and we close it off and don't use it. That's what is nice about having the butler staircase to be able to use...Maybe I'll post pics tomorrow. :)

I spoke too soon

Sawyer started crawling for real yesterday! I was messing around w/ photoshop, he was playing on the floor and his Gertie ball (they're the best!) rolled into the dining room and Chloe says "mommmmmmmm...MOMMMMMMMMMM!!!" under her breath so I lean over to peek and off her goes one knee after the other after his ball. I have never moved so fast-I almost threw the computer to get to the video camera......and would have caught it-if the battery wasn't DEAD. Doesn't that figure? sigh. lol

I've got some pictures done today so I'll work on listing beads today. Have a great one!

The brave soul that I am...

...just let my husband chop about 5 inches off my hair. lol. Chloe says we're twinkies now. I still need to live with it for a few days and will probably chop a little more here and there-seems I always do that.

What a lazy Saturday! I'm NOT complaining-it's nice to wander up at 2pm to finally shower sometimes-lol. I've been going thru Chloe's mass of books thinning out the ones that are just too easy for her now and passing them along. Fun stuff I tell ya. Fot the kicker guess where we're going as an outing later on today? Walmart! woohoo...(sigh...)But I've gotta get my clear sleeves for my kickin new recipe binder so I can add to it...:)

Sawyer just this week started moving around the room. He's not crawling but just scooting, flipping, turning-getting to where he needs to be. Then while he was "napping" yesterday I was rummaging in the attic for a few minutes, came down and peeked in at him and the little turkey was sitting up in his crib just grinning at me like a damn fool! Panic set in and the crib mattress is now lowered. He has been practicing all day with this new skill of his to go from belly to sitting.



I finally got some new photos taken yesterday of more bead sets-I wasn't happy with the first ones I took so I'm redoing some...so a little more photoshopping and hopefully I'll be getting them listed this week.

A few things

I have absolutely nothing to talk about. It's cold and gross and I can't feel my feet they're so frozen. The blahs are definately hitting hard here-I can't wait for spring!!!

I've been spending bookoo amounts of time on facebook lately. Here is a 25 random things about me thing that I copied to put on here since I simply have nada to gab about...:)


1. We have no photos of me. I am always behind the camera. I told trav if I died tomorrow we'd have no pic for the obit.

2. I was born in Sydney Australia. My dad was in the Royal Australian Navy. I still don't understand how that works since he's American.

3. I have lived in Australia, Virginia, South Carolina and Illinois. For some reason I still concider South Carolina to be where I belong even though we moved away when I was 10. I hate Illinois but I am afraid I would maybe miss the seasons.

4. I am a blog NUT. I love blogs, I have a blog and I read blogs all the time. I have no idea what I did before blogs. What a waste of time-lol.

5. I don't know how to shop for myself. I physically cannot force myself to buy stuff that is meant only for ME. (mommy guilt??) I can buy each kid 10 pair of jeans that they don't need but I am going on 6 yrs of no snowboots for myself-and I live in Illinois-now come ON...

6. We are currently remodeling our 2cd old home. Our first one was a bungalow built in the 30's and was precious when we finished it. This one is over 100 yrs old,3 stories and we have only the foyer left to do and finish the garage. Exciting!!!

7. I am secretly petrified that I am indeed allergic to this house though...

8. One of my best friends I met online and we still haven't met in person. Most would think that's a little strange.

9. I've been a hairstylist for 16 yrs. I haven't worked hardly in 2 yrs but am still very close with many old clients and talk, email and have lunch with a few.

10. I used to be a good runner. I could run and run and my legs would never give out. Now I doubt I could make it to the corner of my street.

11. I make a mean pulled pork. Ask Trav.

12.I am not loving my new pillow I bought. It's too puffy.

13. I'm not supposed to be drinking hot chocolate-but I am right now (shhh!lol) -(kidney stone diet-omg I am so old!!!)

14. I am starting a book club with a friend hopefully soon. (oh the things you look forward to when you're a SAHM)

15. I wish I made more time for friends...(see #14)

16. When I was 2 yrs old I snuck out of out of our house wearing a see thru nightie of my moms and went to have a playdate with a friend down the street without my mom knowing. It was before 6am. Everyone was asleep. Boy-I would love to be able to remember the look on the neighbor moms face. My mom was mortified.

17. I've always wanted to write a children's book. I'm not sure why-I'm not any good at writing!

18. A blog I have been reading since August has made me completely re-evaluate my life. http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

19. I feel we made the wrong decision to send Chloe to a different school this year and am currently fretting over it alot!!!

20. I love to lampwork. It's like therapy to me to sit and melt glass in the flame. I can't get the boys naps configured so I can actually have time for that now though.

21. I have an etsy store and have sold thru the art association's holiday sale. When I have more tme to devote to my lampwork/jewelry I would love to have a website and be in art fairs-although how to arrange doing that and care for the kids seems daunting.

22. The furthest place we've been on vacation is Greece. It's got to be the most gorgeous place on earth. (well,the islands...Athens is dirty-but very interesting)

23. This one time in New Orleans- Travis and I decided to take the cablecar to the end of the line just to kinda "tour" the graden district expecting to pay and turn around or something. Ya-it was end of the line for these suckers. We had to walk more than 5 miles at like 2 am thru some sketchy areas. I still to this day cannot believe we didn't get mugged!

24. I love the show LOST. We both are sooooooo happy it's back on!!!

25. I am thinking about cutting my hair off. Like -tonite. Funny thing is I'll have to let Trav do the back. After cutting hair for 16 yrs how can I be so critical of other stylist's cuts yet let my husband hack at mine is beynd me...lol.

Just playing around

I had a few moments to kill and thought I'd play around on photoshop a bit. With the intention on working on bead photos but got sidetracked-ha-isn't that always like me...



Anyhow, found this sweet picture of Gabey after he had eaten lunch and was just kind of spacing out. It was taken shortly after Christmas. I could just eat this kid up. lol

{Besides changing to b/w- I sharpened, tweaked the light balance then did a canvas texture and added some extra grain.}