Look!

So I am done being negative. Everybody has bad days and I am so grateful that you all offered sympathy. It was just what I needed. In addition to a hissy fit, colorful language and a couple of rum and cokes.
ANYWAY

Rex's first Mohawk!
He has been talking about it for a while now. When I asked him why he said he wanted to color it green and spike it like a mutant stegosaurus. Well, okay, I said.
So the day before he starts Vacation Bible School, Mike gives him a Mohawk.
I think he looks good. We have to wait for the money to buy the green hair coloring and proper gel though.

I have been making clay bezels like a mad woman. I enjoyed their altered look so much I had to design necklaces for them. Here are a few of my favorites;


I relished the process of creating a pdf tutorial so much that now whenever I sit down to experiment I take pictures of the steps involved and make notes about what works and what doesn't.
I now have 4 different tutorials in the works.

The Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ugh. It just keeps getting worse as it goes on. Is there a hole I can crawl into?
Cars are broken down, husband tries to fix them but doesn't, then doesn't mention to me that I am without a car, I tell mom, "No thanks, we don't need to borrow the car." She goes off to paint in a church building that doesn't get reception on her phone.

I print all the paypal labels and start to look for the keys, shoot, Mike must have them. I will get the kids ready and walk down to the mail drop box, it's only 110 degrees. The packages do not fit in the drop box, they need to be taken to the post office which is too far away to walk to.

But before we get back up to the house, my daughter who is trying to be like mom and carry a mail bag stuffed full of things she is "delivering" bends over to pick up trash, jumps in surprise when I exclaim loudly "NO!" spills her mail bag of toys down the hill. I go running after the various cheap toys that she is crying over, hurt my foot again and look up in time to see a car turn wildly into our subdivision nearly missing the hysterical 4 yr. old, sobbing on the side of the street.

We get inside, both of us a wreck. My husband calls, tells me the landlady has lost the info needed from the state to keep us from being evicted, gives me the info to give to her, THEN decides to communicate about the state of the cars, with the information that he cannot get home until after 5 pm.

I now need to void all the labels, contact the customers that I gave my word to that I would be shipping out on Monday and let them know of the delay.

As I am doing this I receive news, through email that the book deal I was offered has been canceled.
This was the thing that kept me going, "I'm going to be published!" who cares that sales from etsy have dropped to less then half of what they were, wholesale and consignment orders are at a stand still, there is no money to advertise and a general overall lack of creativity!?! I was going to be an author.

Sadness overwhelms me.
I cannot find comfort in food because I have started to eat healthy and there isn't a scrap of chocolate in the house or nearby vicinity.


Good God. My self esteem has taken a beating today.

Summer Stuff

Mike took the kids and their cousin Katie to Grandma Dee's over 4th of July weekend.
They had a wonderful time, boating, swimming and watching fireworks.
It was very quite here, I spent most of my time creating but I do not have photos to show just yet.
Here is a closer shot of Grandma Dee. The kiddos adore her and are talking excitedly of their next visit!

She is one of those blessed women that become more beautiful as time passes.
Here is Rex under water, a huge milestone...

And another of Miss. Pinky on the boat....

Then they came home and we had the combined birthday party. Friends out of town, work schedules, etc kept us from scheduling the party earlier so we planned it for the 6th at Monkey Joe's, a huge bouncy fun place.
I could not for the life of me get a good photo...
But they had a blast.
Then to the park after wards, for cake and presents.
Fun was had by all!

We have watched movies like Zathura, Stuart Little, Annie, High School Musical, Veggie Tales, Pokeman, Barbie Nutcracker Suite, Madagascar and have read fantastic books like The Tale of Desperaux, Ruby Valentine, Hunwicks Egg, Insect Soup, Spanish Shapes, When I was Five, and Twoo Twit.

We have built Lego habitats, put on Barbie plays, enacted a paper doll beach scene, conducted music, shot out parachutes from Rex's rocket fishing pole (doesn't work for fishing but it sure does shoot things far up in the air!), built Hogwort's castle from Klutz's building cards, watched a puppet show, a magic show and Pinky has given herself a haircut.

We also visited Missouri Botanical Garden's for the free night with free admission into the children's play park and music. There was a fantastic mosaic artist called Niki.

It was extremely hot and I had injured my foot a few days before that started to hurt again after 3 hours of walking, but I would love to go back , my sister met us down there with her sweeties and our G.G. and Poppy came, it was a wonderful family time.

They have fountains the kids can play in!Right after this photo, Pinky pulled her pants down and mooned us. When we asked her why she said "I wanted a picture of my butt and I wanted to feel the water there." Oy ve!

Well, I have actual orders to pull and pack all because the lovely Steph Gibson included me in one of her glorious treasuries that made it to the front page!!!

Happy Birthday, Boo/Rex!

Okay, Boo/Rex. My gamer, animal lover, explorer, engineer, archer, fisherman, swimmer.
How does it feel to be 8?

From last year;
His favorite color - orange
His favorite food - fried chicken legs
His favorite drink - sierra mist
His favorite movie - any Star Wars
His favorite song - Gospel Boogie by T-Bone
His favorite thing to do - new computer games
His favorite place to be - home (I'm serious. He NEVER wants to leave.)
His favorite person - his Dad


And this year;
His favorite color - orange
His favorite food - pizza
His favorite drink - root beer floats
His favorite movie - Star Wars 3 - Revenge of the Sith (he is a huge General Grevous fan)
His favorite song - I'll need to find this out and get back to you.
His favorite thing to do - create Spore creatures
His favorite place to be - home
His favorite person - his Dad


Doesn't he look natural? He is now interested in archery. And shooting. Any weapons in general come to think of it.

This makes me queasy inside but I refuse to make a big deal about it. Thinking along the lines of... if I make it forbidden, he will still be interested but he will keep it a secret and try to find out about shooting behind my back. This is speculation on my part because he is a completely honest person, I am perhaps thinking of the future when he is not always under my watchful eye, ie....
"Hi sweetie, where'd you go today?"
" Oh, just a friends house"
" What did you do?"
"Hung out in his woods behind his house"
"Cool, I'll bet the woods are pretty this time of year "

While in reality they have found his dad's gun, figured out how to undo the safety and are going to call some friends and shoot cans off each others heads.

My plan is to give the facts.
How people each year have died from gunshot wounds, where the lack of knowledge is and the correct way to go about learning how to shoot properly.
Pray with every fiber in my being that he gets bored and moves onto a new and safer interest.
(breathe, G.G. just breathe.)

He recently won the City of Warrenton Kid's Fishing Derby 2008 for total weight of fish caught.
He received a plaque and a ribbon and a feature in the local newspaper!

But the best thing was the way his Big Pappa's chest almost split in 2 from pride.
Mike is an avid fishermen and he has been struggling to find common ground with Rex, outside of gaming, that the both of them could enjoy doing together.


This photo above is one I caught after finding out Pinky has been sneaking into his room in the middle of the night and snuggling up with her big brother. Look at how he grabbed her star pillowy!
When she is mad at us she goes to her Boo, often telling us that "Boo is going to take care of her and put her to bed" . Would you believe he does? He even remembers to have her brush her teeth and reads her a story!




When I think about your future I am so overwhelmed with hope, I begin crying. There is so much potential in you. Potential to change the world with your words and actions.
I strongly feel the need to stand aside and keep out of the way of what is happening in your life.
Always there to comfort and encourage but keep my own flaws away from your fresh thinking.
You are intense, passionate, caring, brilliant and strong. You instinctively seem to know right from wrong and you hold me to this standard. I am so grateful for your presence in my life and the huge, tremendous blessing I have been given to be your Mom.
Please God, don't let me screw it up.