The Remarkable D

I met a lady quite by chance at my recent yard sale. Long story short, Dee came back by to visit yesterday. She was getting ready to go to field day this week with her niece. She brought some gifts she had made to show me and I fell in love with them. She is a very talented lady and I think I may be having her make me some items in the future.

The first thing she showed me was this cute gift for the teacher. It is a Thirty-One lunch tote. Since I sell Thirty-One, this intrigued me.

She had purchased some strawberry scents from Bath and Body works and placed them inside this adorable Thirty-One lunch tote. She made a cute strawberry card to coordinate with it. On the back of the card, it says "You are 'berry' special."

Since she didn't want the class to be left out, she purchased a huge lollipop for each kid in the class and placed them in this box.

She had cut the monkey out of leaves and heavy card stock and glued him to the box, then she made little monkeys to stick on the suckers. She will be tying a card to each sucker that says "School's out, school's out. Teacher let the monkeys out." These are going to be for their class party.

But the item that I fell in love with is so unique and the craftsmanship is unbelievably detailed. It is a birthday card for her niece's 7th birthday. It is a card in a box. It looks like an cute little box that might hold a small gift.

But she told me to take a peek inside before I opened it. This is what I saw.

Then we took the lid off and the card opened up. Complete with the niece's picture, a place for her to write a little note, a happy birthday wish and a signature card. And right in the middle of the box is the little three tiered birthday "cake". You can't see really good, but on the top layer of cake in the upper right hand is a green 7 with a little yellow flame on it for the candle. There are 7 roses down the cake for each of her niece's 7 years.

I am in love with this little box. She is very talented.



The birthday boy



Nine years ago today, my second grandson was born. He had been trying to arrive for a couple of weeks but the doctors were trying everything to keep labor from coming. He wasn't due for six weeks. But on May 16th, it was out of their hands. He was still a little over a month from his due date when he decided enough was enough and he was ready to face the world. He's been going full steam ahead ever since then.

I just absolutely adored that curly hair he had when he was little. It broke my heart when they gave him his first hair cut.

And sometimes, you can tell by that little mischievous grin on his face that he is about to get into something.

A boy and his dog. Caleb and Spike. He was so proud of his little puppy, but Spike keeps growing as fast as Caleb does.

We are beyond amazed at well he took to being a big brother to Shelby. With 5 years difference in their ages, we thought he might be a little jealous, but he hasn't been. She is almost four and he takes his big brother role very seriously. It is comical at times because she has him wrapped around her finger. He caters to her and watches over her. He cuddles up with her when it storms and makes sure she is taken care of. He is so loving with her. You can tell he will make a great father some day.

He is so proud of his daddy and tries to be just like him. So when Daddy got a motorcycle, Caleb had to have a jacket and a do-rag for himself.

He is our little helper. He is forever wanting to help out with things. He decorates almost the whole tree for his mommy each Christmas. When he is over here, he wants to help cook and even has his own apron. And I can always count on Caleb to run the little Swiffer to pick up the carpet.

His greatest thrill in life will happen today. He is finally old enough to get out of a car seat and to be able to set up front in the car if he wants. It's all he thinks about every time he gets in a vehicle. His mommy had to call "shotgun" for the rest of her life to make sure he doesn't kick her to the back seat!

His daddy drives a Peterbilt and he is semi truck crazy. I can't even count how many semi's Caleb owns in his toy collection. And he can tell you every detail about how one works. He went to a truck show last year and got to set in a brand new Peterbilt. The child was in 7th heaven.

He is such a good kid and I am so proud of him. Happy birthday, Caleb. We love you!

WARNING.....

...reading this post could be dangerous to your relaxation time.

Yes, it's true. I am about to start on another room. Eventually I will get everything the way I want it. You patiently walked with me as I made all the crazy decisions on how to do the master bath.



You have listened to me whine and complain about my office because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it.



And I have changed and rearranged stuff in my kitchen until even I don't remember what it originally looked like.



I have been pretty happy with my living room from day one, other than moving a few little things around to make room for new stuff. And my guest bath has wallpaper with pink and blue flowers and I had blue bathroom decor so I stuck with that for now.

But I have never really paid much attention to my bedroom. I have some primitive Americana type items scattered throughout the office that don't really match my decor but I really like them and don't want to put them away.

It had never dawned on me until yesterday that the colors in my quilt in my bedroom are the same colors in most primitive Americana decor. So guess who is getting ready to start on redoing her bedroom decor...Moi!

Stay tuned.

A new week...

It's going to be a busy day today. I am having an open house for my Thirty-One products tonight. I love the new summer catalog and the new Spirit Collection. I want to give everybody a chance to check it out and to see some of the other new patterns.

If you don't live close enough to come to the open house, but would like to see the new catalog, just visit my website.

I had a busy weekend. Friday's yard sale was a huge success. But I still have some cleaning up to do from things I just piled in the guest room.

Saturday I went shopping with my friend Sherrie. Then that evening was my grandson Caleb's birthday party (his birthday is Wednesday).

Sunday being Mother's Day I just laid around the house and relaxed other than church that morning and evening.

Today it is back to the grind. I have to finish cleaning house since I didn't do it Friday like I normally do because of the yard sale.

I have to bake a chocolate cake for tonight. One of the young girls at church has been longing for chocolate cake. She might be coming with her mom to the open house and I promised her there would be chocolate cake if she makes it.

 

I am still trying to decide on food. It is rainy and cool so I may just make a big pot of chili and put it in the crock pot. I could have some chips and crackers with some cheese and onions for those who want it. I could may be make some rolls or cornbread to go with it. I'll have to contemplate that.

Well, with so much to do, I guess I had better get busy. Have a great day!

The Perfect Mother

My beautiful Mother. The perfect mother. I am sure if you could look up a definition for the perfect Mother, it would be Mommy. She is the epitome of what a mother should be.

Someone who loves their family unconditionally. Someone who always shows her support in anything we wanted to do. She never belittled our goals or dreams and she never made us feel put down or unloved.

As we were growing up, she was teaching us about love simply by showing it to us every day. In my eyes, she is perfect.

She let us have cats and dogs when we were growing up. She took us to the library and taught us a love for books. She made cakes and candy and cookies. She would fix us picnics to eat in the yard. She let us play and romp around outside all we wanted. She did make us stay off her mopped floors till they dried and I am sure we tried her patience many a times over the years.

She didn't beat us or constantly scream at us. We were raised to show respect to others and to behave our selves in public, be polite, have good manners and to always wear clean underwear in case we were in an accident.

She loves our children and our children's children. She will be 82 years old in June and doesn't have any major health issues. She still gets around good and is on the go almost as much as I am. God has blessed her with four children, eleven grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren. Is she perfect? In my eyes, yes she is. If I had to find just one fault with my mother it would be that she always made me sit at the table until I ate all my mashed potatoes. That's it. That's the only thing I can complain about in my 55 years as her daughter. And now mashed potatoes is one of my favorite foods so I realy can't complain.

I love you, Mommy. Have a happy Mother's Day.





Where did yesterday go?

Yikes! I didn't blog yesterday. I meant to. I had it all planned out. I even turned my computer on. While it booted up, I started on a few things I wanted to get done before setting out my yard sale. Next thing I knew, I forgot to blog. I apologize to my faithful followers. Then again, maybe nobody even noticed I was gone since it was just one day. Anyway, I'm back today. A little tired, a lot worn out, but I am back.

The yard sale was a big success. I got rid of most of the stuff I wanted to get rid of and what didn't sale, I donated to the NKFD Cadets for their upcoming yard sale.



I am excited to go shopping today. You know I love flip flops. They are one of my weaknesses. I am a firm believer that a girl can't have too many flip flops. However, I don't feel that way about tennis shoes. I am not hard on shoes so when I buy a pair of good ones, they usually last me a long, long time. I have had a pair of Sketchers for about four or five years. They are starting to get scruffy looking so I think I will treat my self to new tennis shoes today. I tried a pair of Danskin's on recently and oh my! Comfortable. I may check them out today.

I love purses and I am tired of the ones I have. I wanted a new one from Thirty-One, but the one I wanted is $65.00. Ouch. I don't like to pay that much for a purse. When I received my free products from the April incentive it was supposed to include a Retro Metro purse, which is not one of my favorites but at least I was getting a new purse. The demand on the new Spirit Collection meant that my new purse had to be back ordered. So instead of making me wait on the purse, they sent me a gift certificate. I used it to order the purse I want. So I ordered my $65.00 purse in the pattern I love and got it personalized. I entered the order and applied my gift certificate and ended up paying $1.40 for my purse, personalization and shipping all totaled. Love it! This all happened on Thursday evening and I woke up to check my open orders and saw that my purse shipped yesterday. It is going to arrive on Tuesday. I can't wait. I'll show you a picture next week.

Wow! New shoes AND a new purse this week. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

Yard sales, plants and freebies..I love my life!

I am having my yard sale tomorrow. I have more stuff than I thought I did. The spare room is so full that you can't even walk in there. I'm selling scrapbook supplies, craft supplies, yarn, material, pattern books, a coffee maker, DVD, VCR, some of my Thirty One totes and purses, some regular purses, a full length winter coat I only wore about 10 times, kitchen items, baskets, knick knacks, a few collectibles and tons more.

Why do we accumulate so much stuff and then sell it off so we can take the money to go buy more stuff? We are a strange creature sometimes.

I am so excited because I won the new Spirit Collection from Thirty One as my April incentive. You just gotta love freebies. Didn't have to pay shipping or anything. Here is what I received yet from our home office for having a $1000's in sales the first two weeks of April.

I also won a Retro Metro bag in Navy, but it was in such high demand that it got back ordered. So they are sending me a gift certificate that can be used to purchase something else. I am in the process of deciding what I want.

My niece's Flutter Mirror Compact came in yesterday in another order I had placed. Isn't it adorable.

My friend Clara broke me off 4 leaves of her Philodendron plant. I stuck two leaves each in Mason jars with water and look at these roots!

This is the only plant that I can grow without killing it. Hubby sent me a planter our first Valentine's Day. It had a Philodendron that I transplanted and had for over 20 years until I just got tired of it and gave it away. I have missed having plants so I have decided to get some more. When I had my cat, I couldn't have anything except a phily plant because K.C. ate them. Now that she is gone (R.I.P.) I think I will try my hand at it again.

I didn't think to take before and after pics, but here are the pots I put them in. I used left over birthday paper to place on my tables when I paint or plant or do anything that will make a messy. It is easy clean up.

One is for the living room and one will go in my lavender bathroom. I am going to look for a couple of other plants that I used to have good luck with. I know I want a peace lily. You can almost ignore them, give them some water and they perk right back up so I should be able to handle one of those.

I have been looking for several weeks now for one that I know I can grow. It is Swedish Ivy. You can find English Ivy everywhere, but I can't find Swedish Ivy yet. I've tried Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart and several of the local florists and green houses. Nobody carries it. Allen bought me one when we were dating and I had it for about five years. We moved and somehow missed getting it off the front porch. When we checked back on it, it was gone. The day he bought it for me was the day he asked me to set a wedding date. So it had sentimental value. I get all mushy when I see Swedish Ivy so that is why I want one so bad. Mine was about the size of this one, but a little longer. I would love to know if you have any ideas where else I can look.

As you can see, I have lots going on right now.....again! I need some down time and soon. But it doesn't look good for May. Right now, I have on my schedule (in addition to my job) a Young at Heart supper, my yard sale, a grandson's ball game, a grandson's birthday party, learning the movements to VBS song Zip, Zoom, Zing!, a Thirty One open house, a trip to McKay's with Sherrie and Bobbi, teaching our Sunday School class by myself next Sunday, helping set up a wedding reception, attending the wedding reception, my annual Memorial Day shopping trip to Tangers with Diana and Sherrie, and that is just what I can remember off the top of my head. I am in need of some beach time.