Mother's Day Ideas....

Thanks to my sister for taking over the blog yesterday. I am feeling much better today, if I could just shake the cough.
Mother's Day is just around the corner. Are you looking for that something special for your mother or grandmother. Or maybe you want to splurge on a little something for yourself or drop a hint or two to you family. What woman doesn't love a new purse with matching accessories.

Thirty-One is having a great special during the month of April. Purchase $31.00 worth of products and you can buy any purse in the catalog for 50% off. This is a really good bargain. I thought I would put together some gift ideas while the special is running and share them with you today.

This is the Paisley Parade collection. There are two different wallets in this pattern (top row left and middle). This pattern also comes in one of the mini zipper pouches which is perfect to hold your cosmetics.

I love the bright yellow on this pattern. It is the Awesome Blossom. The wristlet wallet (left) goes great with the mini zipper pouch and is a wonderful pair to go with the Awesome Blossom Skirt Purses (the skirt purses come with one free skirt and you can buy additional ones to change out your pattern any time you want without having to change your whole purse.)

This is a huge favorite this year. It is the new Lots-a-dots pattern featuring the new Casual Cargo Purse (left)

Another spring favorite is the Flutter pattern. This is the Retro Metro purse and you can see all the matching accessories (soft wallet, wristlet wallet, nail file, mirror compact and eye glasses case).

Denim is making a come back in a big way. Thirty One has a multitude of products offered in the Dark Denim line.

This is the Painted Snakeskin Wristlet Wallet and Skirt purse.

This is a very elegant new pattern that is perfect for any occasion and any season. It is the Black Paisley Parade pattern.

You can check out our full line of products and prices by visiting my website

www.mythirtyone.com/brendakeefer

I am planning another giveaway for my blog. I would love to hear what your favorite pattern is so I can decide what to do for the giveaway. Come back on Friday, that is when the giveaway will be announced.

Some family time...

This is Rachel taking over for a day or two. Sis told me she has a horrible cold on top of a sinus infection and her head is in a tunnel so she's not thinking too clearly. Of course, I volunteered to take over her blog for a day or two. I thought I'd send her some family time today....

Dear Sis, I know you are feeling a little under the weather so I thought I would help you out and do your blog today. We had a great Easter at Mom's. I thought I would share some photos I took so you could see how much the great nieces and great nephews are growing. Hope you and your readers enjoy. Hope you feel better soon.

Tara and her family went with Angie and Andy for Easter, but Angie had some great pics on Facebook of the kids so I borrowed them for your blog.

And, of course, I wouldn't be a very good blogger if I didn't post a pic of the food and point out that I brought the green beans in my vintage Pyrex bowl.

Now I am happy with the results of my post. I covered three important aspects of blogging....family, food and vintage dishes. :)

Hope you feel better soon and thanks again for letting me run the show today.

Love, Rachel



Saturday's Finds....

I am glad to see that yard sales have begun in our neck of the woods. Saturday we had 27 listed in the local paper. I was upset that I had an all day meeting for my Thirty One business so I was unable to go to the yard sales. There were several in my neighborhood. As I was leaving for my meeting, I saw one already set up so I decided to stop for 10 minutes to see if there were any great bargains.

I wasn't dissappointed. I found this gorgeous Pyrex snowflake casserole dish. It was released in 1959. This is selling online on some sites for $24.00 - $26.00. I picked it up at the yard sale for $1.00. I was beyond thrilled.

She also had this neat milk glass serving tray. I don't know what I'll do with it but it was milk glass and it was just $1.00 so I had to have it.

I went to the new summer premier for Thirty One on Saturday. They have some great new patterns to be released. Lots of exciting changes. I will be sharing more soon.

 

I am switching phone carriers. I've been looking at phones this weekend and think I have made my decision. One thing I have noticed is that the more technology comes up with newer phones, the bigger they are getting. As much as I love my Motorola Electrify, I would love to have something a little smaller. This one just doesn't fit comfortably in my pocket and sometimes I need that in a phone. But I am sticking with an Android. I can't imagine going back to a "regular" phone after having all my apps. I want something more this size.

I would rather have a smaller phone and have some type of tablet to use when I'm on the couch browsing at night and too lazy to get up and go sit at the computer. I just want an inexpensive tablet that is Wi-Fi only since I plan on using it mostly from the house and I can hook up to wi-fi there. At least that is my current plan.

I guess I need to spend time doing some research and comparison shopping. It doesn't have to have a lot of bells and whistles. I simply want to lay on the couch and surf the internet and read Facebook. That is all I require of it. My phone will be good for internet functions when I am out of the house and if I travel, I always take my laptop. If anybody has any thoughts or reviews on inexpensive tablets, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

A week in review...

Lots to be thankful for this morning. I had a great week this past week. I was able to spend time with each my grandchildren during spring break. I went to Ripley's Aquarium on Wednesday with Caleb and Shelby and went to Wonder Works on Friday with Garret and Alexis. I didn't get to take Colby anywhere since he is just getting over walking pneumonia, but I got to spend a little time with him at his house. Grandchildren are one of God's greatest creations.

I had to go to ER Friday evening to get a wicker splinter removed. My finger is still a little sore from the poking and prodding to remove the splinter, not to mention the two shots in my hand. My arm still hurts from the tetanus shot. But I must say that I have never seen such efficiency at an ER. I must have timed it right. I checked in at 4:44 and I was released at 5:46. One hour and a couple of minutes. Not bad for an ER visit.

I had a wonderful time at my Thirty One meeting yesterday. Got to hear some very emotional stories about why people get involved with Thirty One. I love working with a company that puts God first in everything they do. We had some devotionals and prayer before we started each of the day's sessions. It was truly a blessed day.

I won't be singing in choir today. I have been coughing all day yesterday and all night last night. I don't like to be in choir and have a coughing fit so I'm just not going to sing today.

All in all, it has been a very blessed week. It reminds me of a song my choir sung back when I went to Sunrise Baptist Church in West Virginia. It was our "signature" song for the church. I believe they still sing it today. My brother-in-law is an awesome singer and any time we would sing that song, you could hear him so good in it and it always touched my heart. There was usually never a dry eye in church when the choir sung this song because it was such a blessing. I leave you with it today. Please listen closely to the words as Gordon Mote & Jason Crabb sing "Thank you Lord, For Your Blessings On Me."

Busy Day ahead

Very excited about my Thirty One meeting today. They are going to unveil some new products, some new patterns and a brand new summer catalog.

It will be an all day event so I am sure to be tired by evening, but it is going to be so worth it.

I have to meet with one of my customers tonight so she can turn her order in.

Lots of exciting things going on. I just love being a Thirty One Independent Consultant.



Wicker, laundry and sore knuckles



Yesterday afternoon, I went to put some clothes in my wicker laundry hamper like the one above. It is about 10 years old and over time, the wicker will break off once in a while as it comes loose. As I was putting clothes in with my right hand, the basket lid slipped out of my left hand. My right hand was in a forward motion and collided with the lid, breaking off about 1/2 piece of wicker and lodging it inside my finger right across the top of my knuckle.

The pain was horrible. It shoved the splinter deep into my finger and there wasn't anything sticking out to pull it out with. I numbed it with ice and dug at it as much as I could stand with a needle so I could get it with tweezers, but nothing happened except to cause me more pain. I waited about 30 minutes till hubby got home from work and he tried to get it out and couldn't so we headed to ER. I figured they would just take a super tweezers and pull it out. No biggy.

The RN came in my room to start the charts. She took one look at it and said "Oh my gosh!" Then she went and got an intern (who wasn't even going to be waiting on me) so he could see it and his reaction was the same. Not an encouraging way to start an ER visit, especially considering I didn't think it looked that bad. By the time my doctor came in, there had been about 4 people by to look at the splinter. If you look closely, you can see the knots on the knuckle where it was lodged in and starting to swell.

My dream of a quick little "let's get the tweezers and pull it out" didn't happen. First off, they did some type of shot they called a saddle block. This shot was right inside the palm of my hand at the bottom of my middle finger. You can see the little dot where they poked me. The pain was horrendous. I about bent the metal on the bed rail I was gripping it so hard. The shot itself hurt and then the medicine was stinging as it went in. Imagine being stung by 50 bees in one spot at one time. Unbelievable pain.

Then, while it was starting to numb, he gave me something called a local. He shot that right into the area where the splinter was. It wasn't quite as bad since my hand was starting to numb, but I could still feel it. Then he went to work with his tweezers to pull it out. Sounds easy, but he couldn't get a hold of it. So he used a little scalpel that looked like an exacto knife to "pick" away at the edge of it. Once he removed some of the tissue that was covering it, he used the tweezers again. After many tries alternating with the little scalpel and the tweezers, he asked the RN to find smaller tweezers. The point on the pair he had was to big on the tips. They were looking everywhere and couldn't find any so he kept trying with what he had and kept saying he needed smaller tweezers.

Now, I am the wife of an Eagle Scout so I have been taught to always be prepared. I even own my very own dainty little Swiss army knife. I jokingly said "I have a little tiny Swiss army knife and it has a pair of tweezers in it." His face lit up and he said "That's exactly what I need. Can I use them?" So, hubby got in my purse and got out my trusty knife and handed him the tweezers. (Thank you to my daughter who bought me the little knife at her work.)

Once we handed him the tweezers, he went back to work and you could hear the click-click sound as the little tweezers made contact with the wicker. After just two attempts, he locked on to the splinter and it slid right out. I was still numb so I didn't feel a thing. I was so relieved that it was over. The painful part was done. Until I heard him tell the nurse to give me a tetanus shot. I hadn't had one in 13 years.

Bottom line is that here I sit 15 hours later no more splinter but my middle finger and part of my palm is till numb and where the numbness is wearing off a little, I am starting to feel the pain in my finger. It is really sore and I am having trouble bending it. Typing without it is hard but I had to share my story. My left arm is sore from the tetanus shot so I am not quite up to par today.

I have decided that the whole process was very traumatic. And now, just the thought of laundry traumatizes me so I may have to have hubby do the laundry from now on. Think I could get by with that?

Knocked my socks off....



If you read my blog very often, you know I love office supplies and that a trip to Staples is like taking a kid to a candy store. Well, I went there this week and all the new stuff just blew me away.

First thing that caught my fancy was this display of (can you believe it) duct tape (or duck tape as some call it). Anyway, the new colors are fabulous and it is very apparent they are geared toward the female market. I want to put a big sign up that says, "Duct tape. It's not just for men anymore." Check out the cool colors and designs. You can even buy it by the sheet or the roll.

Then I walked to one of my favorite sections that has some cute file folders and binders. They have some new designs in that are just precious.

And have you checked out all the neat Post-It tabs that are available. It is mind boggling.

But what really knocked my socks off was when I went around the corner and there, in the middle aisle was an entire section where both sides of the shelves were dedicated to the entire new line of Martha Stewart Office Products. I had to hold my tummy because I got a little nauseous and was totally overwhelmed by what all is available.

First thing that caught my eye was top load file folders instead of the normal side load. Now, really, I couldn't imagine what these would be good for. They wouldn't fit in a standard file cabinet as a stand up file. But they could be good on a desk in an organizer/sorter maybe. But whatever you would use them for, I thought they were pretty unique.

The next thing that blew my mind was the sheer variety of notebooks and journals. The choices in style, size and color were unbelievable.

And the Build A Binder section is phenomenal. Buy your binder in your favorite size and color and then buy the "insides" for it based on what you are using it for. Kinda like Build-a-Bear for adults.

They had tons of folders and organizing file pockets. You could literally find something here to fit any need as far as folders and paper organizers go.

Something they have that I had never seen before that really impressed me was a section of boxes and trays. You apparently select the sizes, styles, and colors you want and build your own desktop tray system. Check it out.

Then there were tons of labels and tags so you could customize and organize every box, bottle, jar and container in your whole house. I didn't get a picture of that section because I was so impressed with one item in that section that everything else just faded away. I fell absolutely in love with this one item....Labels. But not just any label. But a blackboard label...with chalk. You simply peel them off and place them where you want them and you can change what it says on it with your very own Martha Stewart Chalk. How cool is this...

And the good part is that nothing is extremely expensive. I had an appointment and had just stopped in for a printer cartridge and had to hurry home so I didn't buy anything yesterday. But you can bet another trip to Staples will be in my near future.