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.}

All is well

Thankfully!
Gabe's scope was yesterday. He did great-all is fine (no reflux,etc) I've never seen one of my kids have to be put under for anything-so to see him beforehand after getting his "happy juice" then afterwards while he was coming out of it was a bit upsetting...But the bottom line is he's fine.
:)

Busy busy 2 weeks ahead of me. I'm still trying to get more beads listed so bear with me.

Here come the beads...

I've posted 2 bead sets in my etsy shop today. I've also decided to run a Valentine's promotion for free shipping on any listing with a heart in it- jewelry OR bead sets.




Just click my shop link to the right side over there>>> if you want to come take a look around. :)

My big mess and stiff fingers...

Bead sets coming your way!

Need to flex my fingers for awhile. I photoshop my photos so the beads show w/o blah backgrounds but my poor fingers hate it! Takes quite awhile. Oh well, I think it's worth it. I took all of the pictures in the nic of time. It was nice and sunny then all of a sudden we've got that winter storm sky look. Yuck.

Ok-break's over-time to get back to work...

Of coarse I'm going to worry...

So we just braved the -28 degree windchill to go to the GI dr for Gabe since it takes at least 6 months to get into him. Of COARSE the appt fell on today of all days.

He is scheduled for a scope/biopsy next Wed to check him for reflux. Since he's always been so easy to get sick and sick so bad (upon other issues) he was diagnosed with restrictive airways-the GI dr says reflux and restrictive airway disease kind of go together (I'd never heard that but ok...) then asked if he's wakeful at night? (omg-like allllll nightttttt longgggggg he's talking in his sleep,calling for water,etc) he said yep! I was just going to ask if he was always asking for a drink while in bed-that answers that. He's fairly certain he's got a reflux issue and he's got to be put under for this procedure. I've heard plenty of others say their child had to have this done but having your kid put under just scares*the*crap*out*of*me!!!

Sighhhhh...so I'm gonna have to get a grip and know that whatever comes from this and whatever med they put him on will make him feel better.

School's been called off today due to the weather. I've got Chloe "playing school" right now w/ mom homework assignments (lots of math and reading a chapter book for her reading minutes for school) so I can hopefully start getting some of these bead sets ready to photo.

I'm thinking a hot chocolate break is in order soon tho...:)

Be on the lookout...

I'll be listing lots of odds and ends bead sets on Etsy over the next week...Just need some sunshine for decent pictures.

Nothing much going on around here to gab about. Lots of organising and freecycling mainly... Nothing beats the feeling of getting rid of your trash especially when it's someone else's treasure. Chloe's finally back to school after her bout with strep throat. Working on the 2cd art card challenge...This one is a bit tougher so I'm sitting on it for a few days trying to figure out what I'm going to do with it. I am thinking it's going to be low-key and simple.

A-choo!

I've been hit with a nasty headcold. What a way to spend a weekend. *wah*

I renewed a few items in my Etsy shop and will be adding more over the weekend. Pop by if you feel like looking around. :) My shop has been empty for far too long.

52 Q

I read Emily Falconbridge's blog regularly and she has started a new art challenge for 2009 that I decided to sign up for. It looks like it will be fun/interesting and hopefully stir up the creative juices. I'm always up for a challenge and something new.

Basically each week she will ask a question and you take that question and make a mini art card (or whatever you so choose) with your answer. After pitching the first one I started I finally completed one last night and posted it in the Flikr group where everyone who joined will be sharing their completed projects.

Stop by and take a look through some of them-they're really interesting! I love seeing what everyone comes up with. Here's mine:



In other news: yesterday me and my friend Kim were gabbing on webcam and-the goobers we are- gave each other kitchen tours (cabinets and all-lol) I think it started with my whine of feeling so unorganized lately. As Travis says "organised chaos" and I hate it-but I feel like I never have a free arm to get anything done lately. SO-I've been a busy bee today-my kitchen looks like it was hit with a tornado but lots of cabinets have been rearranged and shelves readjusted up or down and things OFF the counters. Loving it so far. Doesn't take much to get a fire lit under me.

Off to finish it up!

Uh-oh...it starts this early???

She'd kill me if she knew I was doing this -lol!

(written by a boy on Chloe's bus)

Dear Chloe,
this is for you, (picture of a dog)*(i think?)
love,gabe (ya his name is gabe too)

next note-torn from his notebook by the kid sitting w/ him to torture him and get it to chloe

I *heart* chloe
she is cute
and when she smile
she look
beuteful

Say it with me now...AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW...(and eek! 2cd grade?)

She came tearing through the yard from the bus yesterday with this look on her face and papers in her hand. She says READ THIS all exasperated sounding BEFORE I TEAR THEM UP!!! I read-did the awwwwwww-then when she tried to tear them up I told her she should keep them and put them away somewhere. I think it's sweet and she'll appreciate it one day when she's older. I can't beleive she listened to me. :)

Last night she started indoor soccer on an older league (10 and under-she's 7 1/2) and I've just gotta brag for a minute-SHE ROCKED! Usually she's a little timid on the field for some reason-runs alot but not many kicks in. But for some reason with these girls being MUCH bigger than she was she was aggressive and getting her foot in there to steal and blocking-I was so proud! She did end the game with a smacked ball to the gut and some tears but was fine and I think she was pleased with how she played as well.

Oh-and yesterday I didn't get those last 3 things done (trying to be accountable here!) so boxes,yearly goals and etsy didn't get done but I did figure out wii fit! :) So rollin em over to today-lol.

What can be done in a day?

Chloe came home with a cough after spending New Years with our friends up north. It's now passed to Gabe and of coarse blows up into this huge thing. Almost at 104 temp yesterday and was up most of the night talking in his sleep and acting disoriented even after his fever broke. It always settles into his chest and sounds so awful-scary.

I've been playing around with the blog if you haven't noticed. I messed around yesterday making the new header-that was fun. I have a boatload of blogs to add to my list on the side that I haven't gotten around to doing...maybe later today.

I started the artist way morning pages this morning. Oy! 45 minutes of writing when the alarm went off-so needless to say I didn't get a chance to shower. lol. I can't believe I'm going to have to set my alarm earlier just to WRITE...sigh. I wasn't at a loss for words like I expected to be though. Funny when you're used to typing more (like we all are these days I think) when you go to write so much longhand your arm and hand starts cramping up-lol.

Todays goals: rearrange Gabe's bedroom to accomidate the huge train table that's smack dab in the center like an island, clean upstairs, add blog list, make my bead goals for the year on here so I have something to follow and work on a listing or 2 for etsy. OH! And order some boxes! Doesn't sound like a ton but with one sick and one crying and teething anything is a challenge. Enough for the day I think-hopefully I can check em all off later :)

OH! I have had a facebook page for quite awhile but never mess around on there at all. I tend to forget I even have it until I get an email saying someone added me as a friend then I check it. Anyhow, got on yesterday and figured out the high school checker and started poking around adding people-it was so fun to see people I went to school with-some I didn't know very well and some who were great friends who moved and lost touch. I heard back from one that just gave me a huge smile when I read her note. I'm excited about reconnecting with her :) (yes,YOU,Heather!)

Happy Birthday to me...

After me telling Chloe that I was 26 quite awhile back she believed it and tells everyone I am 26. Works for me. She's 10 years off but I'm not correcting her. I figure as long as she thinks I'm younger I'll feel that way too. I told Trav if this keeps up year after year it she will sit and think gee, were you really 14 when you had me?

Here's a shot of what we were doing last year on my birthday~
MGM on our 2cd day at Disney watching Beauty and the Beast...



The light display there was so cool!



I can't beleive a whole year has flown by so fast. Feels like yesterday.

So I get to pick whats for dinner tonite. :) I'm thinking a run for Thai is in order-it's been at least 6 months. Hoping they're open since it's Sunday-and since I"m craving it they probably won't be...eek.

We had yet another xmas this morning (with Trav's dad and step mom) since they went on a cruise over xmas. Gabe got a new train table and I'm still trying to figure out who had more fun setting things up- Gabe, Chloe or Travis? I'm also anxious to try out the wii fit they gave us :) looks neat!

A year of goals

This was another custom order for a friend's sister. Thought I'd wait until after xmas to show it in case she stopped by-lol.

So I was reading Linda Lawrence's blog and love her idea of having the goal of concentrating on something in particular each month for bead designs. Especially things that you're not feeling too confident in or would like to tweak. great idea-and I work better if I have something in writing to follow along. I haven't written up what I'd like to be working on yet-I'll work on that this week. Ohhhhhhhh I got a few new fun mandrels to play with for xmas! I'll definately have to work in designs from them!! (a cone mandrel, button hole mandrel and a puffy one-helps with hollow beads-FUN!!)

Also, I think for awhile I'm going to concentrate on listing some bead sets on etsy. (and lots of hearts for Valentines day!) Oops-I also have a few leftovers from the art association show I need to get listed and forgot...Speaking of that show-it went fairly well, I sold more than last year but concidering the economy I wasn't expecting much anyway.

Starting fresh

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I've had a couple of days to just chill and gather my thoughts-they seem to be running rampant lately. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions-I think they're silly and I never stick to them-but this time of year does get me thinking about changes I could incorporate in my life.

So I like to call them GOALS. I haven't actually sat and written anything out-this is on the fly-some of my random thoughts lately.

Happiness. That's a huge one I want to work on-not just for me but for members of my family. I'd love life to be more stress free and just-happier. How does one make that happen? Not sure-but it's certainly a goal-as well as healthier eating, more quality time together(game nights?),etc.

Health. Our doctor kinda sucks. We've needed a new one for years and never get around to getting a new one. That needs to be lined up and also a new pulmonologist for myself to keep up w/ my sarcoidosis. With my recent allergy testing and breathing issues it's made me a bit paranoid about torching and want to speak w/ a lung dr at length on this.

I've started a new project as well. A book set I asked for for Christmas and received from my mother in law that I've wanted for years. It's called The Artist's Way and it's basically a guide for getting unblocked as an artist and freeing your creativity. I love the premise of it but so far it sounds like it's going to require a lot of time and committment. (Setting my alarm 1/2 hr early to write 3 pages long hand of random waking thoughts? Oh my...LOL.) We'll see how this works out. It's a 12week coarse-I'm optimistic though...

OH!!-it also requires a weekly artist date w/ yourself-forcing yourself to go somewhere alone to do something special for yourself. Whether it's going thru Starbucks for a coffee by myself or wandering around Barnes and Noble by myself for 1/2 hr (sounds like heaven!) just to BE. This should be interesting since my life revolves around the kids-my needs haven't been looked into for 7 yrs! I'm not quite sure where to start-lol.