I have been tagged....

I literally jumped out of my seat when I clicked the Heather link on Jen's blog....boy do I love her!! I enjoy stalking/reading her blog on a regular basis!! I have never been tagged before - so this is my first time...I hope that I get it right! Oh, yeah...and I hope that somebody actually reads it, lol!!! 6 quirky/non important things...pretty much my whole life falls into this category, but I will try to shave it down some!

1. My mom and I just bought a coffee/antique shop....neither one of us know the first thing about using the BIG espresso machine!! And, really I would not be one of those moms who has lots of free time on their hands..lol..4 kids, 11, 10, 7, & 2!

2. I fell out of the car when I was about six, my mom kept driving...for about a block....felt like a mile! I tease her to this day about it!!

3.I am never caught up on laundry!

4. I secretly long to be "June Cleaver" from Leave it to Beaver and make lunches, bake cookies and have dinner for my hubby and children - WITHOUT - all the modern day stresses!! Let's not forget vacuum in heels!!

5. I loved waiting tables! It was fun, even when you have jerky customers!

6. I am pretty sure that I have adult ADD....I can produce the unfinished projects to prove it!

ONE MORE FOR GOOD MEASURE....
I sweep obsessively when I get nervous or stressed or their is dirt on the floor....no wonder I never complete any projects!


So....the rules:
1: link to the person that tagged you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. 4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. 5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Here are the victims of my tag....they don't all know it yet, but we are friends....lol!! OK...I can only do four...I don't have that many cyber-friends!
Betz, Jennifer, Jaime, Crop Girl

Let me go warn them....lol! Thanks Jen, I really enjoyed being tagged!!!

What to do....the Potty Training Blues!

What do you do when your two year old has decided that she will no longer wear the diapers that have the little blue dog on them???? Or the magenta dog, or the green dog....It took me a few diaper changes to figure out what the problem was, but once I did I kept thinking I must be wrong - or at least crazy!!! Not only does she have NO interest in going "Potty" on the potty, but she refuses to wear the diapers that don't have the little purple kitty on them! I figure that with 34 diapers in each pack, 4 different characters to rotate through the odds are not in my favor! Yesterday, I changed her diaper and explained that we were going to sit on the potty and wear our big girl panties....she proceeded to have a major diva fit...stomp over the the diapers...whip through the stack until she found the kitty... lay down, and stomp her little foot at me! Not only does she stomp her foot, drop her shoulders and exclaim..."Gaaa" (which I am sure means God - thanks to the older siblings) but she stomps away and throws her arms up!

Seriously...when did come to live with us??

I started trying the "Potty" thing kind of early since the little darling is allergic to most, let me rephrase that, all commercial diapers, and now she doesn't want anything to do with it!! I bought the organic diapers for a while, then I was forced to purchase the "Luvs" one day because Whole Foods was out of her size again..they worked, and now...no kitty...no diaper!! YET, she doesn't want to use the potty!!! What am I going to do?? I thought that maybe I could go back to the organic diapers because they obviously don't have characters on them, and we can just stick "kitty" stickers on them!! Gotta be creative and a little crafty!! Then when she decides to move on from the kitties, we can choose a new sticker! LOL!!

OK...not your typical "crafty" project, but I will let you know if it works! I am off to find some potty training advice on the Internet! It seemed easier the first three times!!!

Ohhh, Ohhh, wait till you see my new finds!! I will take some pictures for you tomorrow!! AWESOME buttons, some great costume jewelry that I plan on turning into rings...and then more treasures from my grandmothers stash!! So exciting just thinking about it, my potty training blues have almost passed!!

Got my Swap Partner!!

I am SO EXCITED.....add a little nervous to that too! I got my swap partner for this super cool swap!! I can't wait!! Actually, I think the information came yesterday but that darn Spam folder ate it first!! Ok...off to obsess over fabric...I hope she likes what I choose! Geez, the pressure!

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!!

All the little PEEP's...

are tucked in and waiting for the morning egg hunt! Who doesn't love a big scavenger hunt first thing in the morning to get your day started off with a kick!! However....there might be a mist of disappointment in the air, cause Mama forgot to get "filler" candy! OOOOPS!!!! With the Sugar-ban in full effect, I forgot about filling the eggs! So with minimal coins lying around and a small bag of sugar free chocolate eggs and a few left over gold coins from the Lucky Leprechaun...we made do :)

My last post was a little "deep" compared to my normal posts, it must have been the full moon that made me so inclined to share.....

Today the house was FILLED with activities; egg dying, garden building, Babka bread making and furniture moving, and more cupcake experimenting!! It was busy and tons of fun!! + add one extra to the mix and we had a house full of "crazy" going on!! Here is a quick run-down of how "it" all worked out for us today!!

• Garden building....need more dirt, the girl shovels more than the boys...
• Furniture moving....went really well, and I am almost GIDDY about working in my new space!!
• Babka Bread...not so good, that was the husbands mission to bring his Ukrainian heritage to the table.....it was not a success! I am going to try and sneak a picture in when he isn't looking!
• Egg dying....was hysterical...we have never had so many smashed dyed eggs!! Miss L had a unique style, I will be posting on this soon - Quote of the evening; "MOMMMMMMM - there is an egg in the toilet!!!!"
• Cupcakes....success! Sugar-less to boot!!

And I signed up for this very cool "swap"...I love this concept, and I totally love the inspiration for the project from one of my favorites... Amy Karol!!

OK, that is it for tonight! Have a beautiful EASTER!!! ~ Heather

Good Friday!

This is my Happy Apple....I cut this apple for a cranky baby and there was a smile waiting for me inside!! At the time, I thought it was cute, but I didn't realize how it would coordinate with this post!!
Alright....I might ramble a little, but it is what is on my mind!! Today is Good Friday, and I think that we can all safely say that Good Friday was not such a great day for Jesus. He was betrayed, tried unfairly, and killed.....not a good day in anyone's book! After stalking/reading some of my favorite blogs tonight I found the notion of "Good Friday" very thought provoking. I also realized that Easter is in two days and while Easter is actually one of my favorite "holidays", I have hardly participated in any Easter traditions. While I pray, actually beg God everyday to keep my kids safe & healthy, to keep my husband safe at work and to make my little superman "better". I didn't actually give anything up for Lent, I usually give up Shopping, and I am sure that we have eaten meat on multiple Fridays during Lent! I know that God still loves me, but I do feel a little bad about it!

And I find myself totally bothered by the commercialism of the holiday now! We saw a commercial from one of our major retail chains where they talk about the favorite/best part of Easter being CANDY!! What??? Have we lost total sight of what Easter is??? After seeing it one time with my kids, I looked at them and promptly said..."you do realize that Easter isn't about Candy, right???"...they responded correctly and said "Yes!"....

Sometimes - most times we need to be reminded of all the good things we have going for us in life. Life has a tendency to take over and cloud our "visions" and cause us to miss what what is good and going well in life! And even though Jesus died on this so called "good" Friday, his death actually did bring us all Good. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” So, for me Good Friday brought me an opportunity to reflect on the good in my life that is sometimes shoved under all the "stuff".


For me, today I had a little "clearer" vision of what is "good". You know nothing spectacular happened to me today, it was an average day...in fact I made a trip to the Doctor's with one of the little darlings because of an ear infection, but it still was a "GOOD" day. . It was one of those days where things just flowed really well. No, I didn't get my house scrubbed sparkling clean, I am sure that there is a dirty toilet somewhere, but I did get "stuff" done. I even got to talk to one of my favorite/best girlfriends of all time - for hours tonight, and I mean hours! It was great!! We realized that we hadn't actually "talked" in almost a year! We have had a few emails here and there, but not really talked!! Crazy!!! But, you know what....it added to the "GOOD" in my day! She is one of my FAVORITES, and has always been a very good thing in my life, you know the kind of girlfriend that you don't have to talk to every day but when you do, it is like you talked yesterday! We were laughing about how bad our memories are now that we are getting old, and I was telling her about having to go to the little local grocery three times today!! Now, normally that would irritate the daylights out of me, but today it just went with the flow.


As Martha would say.... a very good thing....the only way to have made today better was to have actually had some "Martha" moments and crafted some goodness!!

On another GOOD note!! I was working more on the craft studio-redo...yes, I am redoing it AGAIN! Remember we are calling it a Studio now because it sounds prettier than room! But, I am so excited about getting in there and actually working, creating! Always brings a big smile to my face - and relieves my brain of stress!!! It is almost done!! I am waiting for the cable guy to come tomorrow and move the cable lines....note to self, really look at where "lines" are before deciding to move computers! LOL!!



I will post pictures when it is done!

You thought I ran away didn't you???

....You thought I ran away??....I am sorry...as much as I would like to someday it just too crazy around here for that to happen!!

I have lots of catching up to do! I have been "making" all sorts of crafty creations recently, Nice change from the past month! Have you ever crafted out of desperation??? Any good crafter has! So here is my "desperation" craft AKA my brothers Birthday Gift! LOL. It was his 21st birthday (yes, there is a BIG age difference between us) and I am sure he would have loved some cold hard CASH, but so would I....so he is going to have to get a job, OOPS, I mean be happy with my craftiness!! This is not an original idea, I actually give him a picture of my kids for every holiday :) He loves his Nieces and Nephews so I am sure that he enjoys and appreciates it.

My craft desperation, I mean my lovely thoughtful gift, took about 30 minutes - yes I knew his birthday was coming...I was just procrastinating!! And I already had supplies on hand as any good hoarder, again I mean good crafter, does. I grabbed a few photos from my files, printed them in the 3x5 size, got a few pieces of paper, and a scrapbook size (12x12) frame that I actually had on hand. You could also do it with an 8x11. I didn't even have time to clear off my work desk, so I sat down on the ground and had a little "circle time" with my materials.

TA-DA!!!

I thought it turned out really cute!! Not a masterpiece, but for a 30 Minute project, not too shabby!

Then....on another crafty little adventure we decorated these cute little "Piggies" for our church. Our church is participating in the Heifer Project so the kiddies each decorated their very own piggie that we are planning on "fattening" up and then donating the money at the end of the Sunday School year. After the piggies are emptied, they are going to auction them to other church members, or if you can't bear to part with your piggie - take pictures of them to make into note cards also available for auction. I plan to get involved in the picture taking, can't you imagine how fun it would be to take the piggies "on location" and put them in a fun setting that matches their personality!! Fun, and charitable!! Love it!! I think they came out pretty cute! There are only 3 of them here, the other little piggie has gone missing! He is actually hiding from the big Big Bad Wolf...otherwise known as Miss Lil' who is in love with the Piggies! Oink, Oink...she loves to talk to them and oink at them. It is too cute! Anyway, I am rambling...

And on more for today's post...we made these yummy cupcakes last night...which you will be shocked to know are not only VERY YUMMY, but they contain a spinach/blueberry puree and are basically SUGAR FREE!! Which I PROMISE you - you can't even taste!! One of my guy's can't have sugar & carbs in the "simple" form so I am always looking for yummy treats that are sugar free or darn close. You can find the recipe for these little yummies here. My daughter made the cute little cupcake toppers and picked out the icing color.

There you have it...all the cards on the table! I am on a mission to finish the cutest little apron set for the me and the kids. I will show em' off as soon as they are done!