Allowance

Remember when you were younger and if you did all your chores and kept yourself in line all week you got a little spending cash at the end of the week??? Mine was also known as a "paycheck"...I have worked ever since I can remember!! Well, at least since I was 14 or 15?? I never really had an allowance growing up- and I am pretty sure that this is why.....



Because I really, REALLY want to blow my allowance this week on this beauty right here!!!






Now as a grown woman with four kids who works very hard every day...I have an allowance! We aren't taking paychecks right now - and "with the economy these days" (the most loathed and frequently used words in my vocabulary right now!) I have put myself on a little, very little allowance! And, I am not too proud to admit it! lol....

I am becoming a firm believer in this "allowance"...it makes you think very carefully about what you need....or maybe you just want it??

And right now, I think that I NEED that fancy little shrug to serve the fanciest coffee in all of Deale!!


I have given the kids a $5 weekly allotment/allowance to use either on the school store, to buy lunch, or a little trinket that they want. Well...today is Monday - they got their allowance last night and my oldest promptly bought herself the BIGGEST, most GI-NORMOUS candy bar that the grocery store had. Seriously.....where does she get such decision making skills??? Allowance - Blown!

Shrug and an entire collection of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS - GORGEOUS - ROMANTIC lovelies are available from Bonzie on Etsy!! I really, really want about 6 different pieces that she has!!!

Up and Coming Indie Designer

You know the stage where our children decide that they are going to dress themselves???....I think we are there!!!

With my first born, a girl, I had "Perfectly" chosen outfits, all beautiful and girly.....I changed her frequently and always made sure that she was adorable, hair combed, clean face and most importantly....no residue on any clothing when we left the house. Not one piece of clothing was a "hand-me-down" or purchased at a consignment shop....boy how times have changed! I have to add that she has turned out to be the least fashion conscious 12 1/2 year old I have ever met!!!!!

Then there were the boys...one particularly anal, wore a tie to Kindergarten because he was "a professional now...", would not get in the car to go to my aunt's funeral because he shirt was not ironed, at the age of four!! Then one who is wild and all boy....could care less if anything matches...will wear anything if it "looks" clean...even if it is not his!

I think somewhere in the midst I caved under pressure....or grew up as a parent and decided that they are only clothes. I still get a little anxious about spills on clothes though...Every other parent in the world knows what "stage" you are in when your child chooses to leave the house like this.....

The pout came about when Breeanna (the oldest) put her foot down and said..."that is it, I draw the line at her wearing the life jacket!". I mentioned that miss Bree is not that fashion conscious, so for her to draw the line it must have been bad!

You should have seen the outfit put together for the next day....now, she is either just an adorably stubborn soon-to-be three year old or she is the next rising star in the Indie design world. I can't decide, but I can dream......

Just a thought...

In this world of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle..." I am AMAZED by the amount of catalogs that come in the mail! Thursday my husband thought the Library had been delivered right to our mailbox....it was ridiculous. One of the catalogs was the infamous Victoria's Secret catalog. I started flipping through it to see if there was anything cute....after a few minutes it became EXTREMELY clear that this catalog is designed and shot by Men!! One picture in particular stands out to me.....the model with her long flowing hair is standing there with her chest thrust out, shirt unbuttoned down to her navel looking super sultry. Now...REALLY???

I am sure that there are oodles of women without children who buy VS clothes and pretties - and even though I have four kids I still like pretty panties. But....as a woman with four children all I can think is that maybe they should have some pictures that are a little more Mom Friendly. ...realistic if you will.....

For instance...if they want me to buy that shirt, the woman should have at least one kid hanging off of her hip while trying to balance one of those trendy new bags on the other side. Hair slightly disheveled, maybe even with some smudge in her hair - and if her shirt is going to be unbuttoned it should at least have a small child's hand inside of it, we all know that that is really what it looks like when our shirt is unbuttoned - if we even realize that it is unbuttoned! They should actually be trying to promote how well the shirt will STAY buttoned!! And all bra's should be tested by woman bending over - from the waist - to make sure that your boobies are NOT going to pop out! Because that is just the worst..you bend over to tie a shoe and your bust has busted out of the bra!!! You stand up and things are facing the wrong direction and all askew! They should all be road tested.....I'd buy those!

OK, I just made my own self chuckle....Stupid catalog....

I had to throw it away before my husband got any crazy ideas!

Merry Christmas!

Spell check is NOT working right now, so if there is anything spelled incorrectly....ooops!

Let's talk GREEN...

I have this REALLY exciting - REALLY fun - REALLY cool news!! Maybe you picked up on it in my post from yesterday???? We have a new business!!! We bought a coffee /Antique Consignment Shop! It is going to be more like a coffee lounge/Antique consignment/retail of handcrafted items shop by the time we get it open. I am so excited - I haven't been able to sleep in days....When I say "we" I am referring to my mom and I. We make a good team...she has a great eye for the antiques and merchandising, and I can do all the other stuff!

So, why green you say???? Well, did you know that coffee beans are actually GREEN before roasting??? If you did know, good for you! lol.. I didn't, I am certainly NOT a coffee expert, just your regular coffee, little splenda (or Agave) and a dash of milk kinda girl! I really don't like that "St**bk's" kinda coffee - too bitter, but I will drink it if the caffeine is necessary!! Anyway, back on track here....We went today and toured the Roaster, and sampled this great brand of coffee, Cafe Pronto, it is such a nice coffee. The people were awesome, and so supportive of our new venture - really exciting!!!

We also are being GREEN by bringing in local artists, recycled goods....aka Antique Consignments! The good stuff people, not the dusty crap we pull out of grammies attic! LOL. I have been on Etsy, shopping away...making wholesale arrangements, consignment arrangements for jewelry pieces and larger items. It is so much fun, I love it! We are going to bring in as much "talent" as possible. I love the idea that we can use handcrafted items to fill our shop! I could go on for hours about this, it is a concept that I really love! I have one girl who is making "shopping" bags out of old vintage/recycled linens! Talk about cool!!!!

Miss L is going to be the smallest Coffee chick ever!! I am going to try and get some aprons made before next week....o yeah, did I mention that we take over on May 1st???? Talk about being on the fast track! She is going to be part of the working class before she even gets to her first pre-school class! She can remind me of it daily when she gets older, the same way I remind my mother that she let me man a produce stand on a major roadway at the tender age of 10 - all by myself!!!! Hello People!!!! Although, I get much more mileage out of the "I fell out of the car and you kept driving...." reminder. No pun intended!

I am going to start a NEW blog for the shop - I will hopefully get it up and running by the weekend. Check it out at here.

Can you say Pack Rat?

Today I spent the better part of the day moving/emptying my mothers storage unit that she rented after we cleared out my grandmothers house...the other half of the day was spent putting things BACK in trash bags that my curious little trash picker daughter pulled out of the bags! She is a mess...it is truly an inherited trait! I go through and throw away and "someone" in the house will pull it out and act like it jumped out of the trash all by itself!! Crazy how this seems to happen! Anyway....moving all that stuff was a little like an adventure....stressful, fun and a little overwhelming! There were some great finds in there! Buttons, vintage notions, beautiful fabric, some fun retro/vintage fabric, UNBELIEVABLE/FABULOUS vintage patterns!!! She was a VERY talented seamstress!! Great silver pieces that I plan on using in my office and studio!! Old jewelry - looking to make more fun rings, tons and let me say again TONS of mason jars! They will come in handy for the big ol' garden we have started. Plus, the greatest selection of cookbooks....my grandmother wasn't a great cook, but my grandfather sure did buy her a lot of cookbooks! He was such a hopeful man!! LOL! I had almost forgotten about all the great "stuff" my grandmother had. I am going to work my way through a bag buttons I found and start sorting through the fabric to see what I am going to keep and what I am going to purge!

Look for pictures soon...gotta run!!

Extra day???

A WHOLE extra day...really??? What will I ever do with so much "extra" time on my hands?? I am sure that I will get soooo much done today with a WHOLE extra day....sense my sarcasm, won't you?!?!?! Did you do anything fun today??? I spent my "whole extra day" doing our taxes..NOTE TO SELF: put all the receipts away each and every month this year!!

Now during all of this fun tax prep time, I did "rediscover" a little tidbit of information that as a mom of four I can't believe had slipped out of the memory bank....When a small child is QUIET - it only means BAD THINGS!! So another NOTE TO SELF: Put the syrup on a higher shelf!! Yep, that is right...quiet two year old = syrup river in the hallway!! Thank You!!!

After being a little "taxed" today, I decided to take a break and stalk, ooops I meant READ some of my favorite blogs..I do love to visit my blog friends...they don't know it yet, but we are friends. LOL!!! So in an attempt to get a little computer time and keep an eye on the two year old, I am sitting here having lotion - that for some reason smells like beer and bbq sauce - slathered all over my legs!!! She has a new obsession with lotion! Where is the baby lotion when you need it..she found the lotion leftover from the recent hospital stay, yuck! The things we will do for a little time on the computer!! Geesh!!

Well, little L has run out of lotion which means I have run out of time! I hope that you find some FUN in your extra day...and thanks for checking in. I promise to have some cute little crafty creation to share with you soon. That darn hospital sucked the crafty right out of me, but I am getting back in the groove!!! I have found some BEA-U-TIFUL fabrics that I am drooling over! I can't wait to get my little hands on them!! OOHHH OOOHHH I also have some nifty new little finds to show you....went in search of some vintage fabrics....can't wait to turn them into something - and bonus, they were FREE!! And I have been storing away some new scrapbooking ideas to play with...had time to "dream" up some new album ideas while we were away.

OK...now I really have to go! She is starting to throw things at me :) Enjoy what is left of your extra day - Get an extra cuddle in with your loved ones- watch a movie - play a game - Be Creative and enjoy each other!!

Happy Valentines Day

Oh, how sweet it is....no, not a box of candy or chocolates, but the sweet little Kiss from my little guy! I only have one close to me right now...darn hospital...but all my other's will get GREAT BIG LOVE from mommy when I get home!!!

We/I made some cute little construction paper Valentines today! I wish I could show them to you...but since you can't see my primitive/childish valentines, check out this beautiful Vintage valentine from a Blog I like to visit. You just have to scroll down a bit to see them. Very pretty!!! And look at these adorable CUPCAKES I found....these are right up our alley....they aren't edible, but they sure are pretty!!!!! I need to find some for Valentines...although the baby will more than likely try to eat them!

I have found some really cute things on some of my favorite blogs today....like this one, I love this challenge of "Scrap your Crap". I love it...especially since I am a total hoarder with paper, fabric, stickers......you name it...I am always drooling over my stash and not wanting to use it!!!

And of course I got a few chuckles - no more than a few chuckles from one of my new favorite blogs...check it out. Even the name will make you chuckle...."Boobs, Injuries, & Dr. Pepper" .

I mean seriously, she cracks me up!!!

I LOVE this particular blog....I feel like a bit of a stalker I love her blog so much....and again...the name...gotta love it..."Angry Chicken" oooh, and check out her friends AWESOME apron pattern, here...

You might be wondering why so many links and no "real" pictures???? Because this crazy server won't let me pull up any pictures!!!!

Enjoy!! And go create something in your crazy life! Heather

What? It's February???

I really don't know where the past couple of weeks have gone?? I love my blog, and I love sharing all the craziness of my world with you....how could I have neglected you so??? Well, I have been "busy" trying to get things "done" the whole while with the family being plagued with the FLU!!! It is CRAZY!! We think we are done and then someone else comes down with it!!

I have done a few projects in the interim of boogers and chicken noodle soup! Look at this ADORABLE (if I do say so myself) "PUNK" themed outfit!! I LOVE the way it came out!! Too cute! I wish I could fit myself into those cute little pants!! No - that is not one of my little "adorables" wearing the outfit...she is a friends daughter and OH SO PRECIOUS!!! She was the picture perfect model for me!! This outfit is listed right now on ebay under the id KIDBOUTIQUE.

I did "this" beautiful book for my cousin's baby shower....what? You can't see the picture??? Oh, yeah...because I am the nimrod that forgot to take a picture of it!!! DUH! It was really pretty, all vintage and shabby chic looking! I loved it! I am really into Chipboard right now with my scrapbooks and am "feening" for some new chipboard albums and letters after working on this project!