45th birthday, earth day, a swap meet, and a wicked girlfriend

it has been a slow but busy couple of weeks, so there may not be much to say but i never let that keep me quiet.

april 22 was my 45th birthday.  FOURTY FIFTH!  My brain just does not comprehend it.  i don't feel what i thought 45 would feel like.  proof that age is all in your head, a mindset.  i am so happy and feel so blessed to be alive.  so happy to have been able to celebrate another birthday......and to share that day with earth day makes it even better.

steph and i are still working out our photography issues, and working on adding to the items we will stock in our etsy shop.

as a birthday surprise, steph gave me the first of four paint splattered blue jean purses that will be for sale on our etsy shop, accessory 2 fashion.  i love love love it!  i will post pics of it on my next visit. 

sunday was the annual swap meet that bill and some friends attend to sell the stuff that takes up space in the garage.  the last couple of years though he has pretty much run out of stuff and has been selling hot wheels, new ones that are in demand.  usually this is his guy time, something he does not get enough of.  this year the kids and i were going to go for the first time.  i was going to sell some of my larger items that i will not be selling on etsy due to shipping costs.  steph and i also had a few handmade lovelies to sell as well.  the boys were looking forward to checking out what others had for sale.  the forcast all week called for rain, rain, rain....and that it did.  with 90% of what we had to offer for sale not being water proof we opted to stay at home. 

the beast, vertigo caused by  menieres, and i battled fiercely sunday and monday.  2 of the worst days i have had in a long time. it left me clinging to walls, furniture and at times nearby peeps and exhausted by days end. 

this morning bertie bert jumped on my belly at 5:30 this morning waking me up to play, or so i thought.  trying to focus my sleepy eyes, which i found only possible by keeping one closed and squinting the other, i thought he had a zip tie hanging out of his mouth.  i am buying this *%^# cat a watch i thought....it is wayyyy to early to play.  so i grabbed the 'zip tie' to throw it in hopes he would give chase and leave me to return to dreamland.  well, it wasn't a zip tie.  apparently bert was in distress and was looking for help.  when i yanked, he freaked and ran across the bed.   3 - 4 feet of thick string was pulled up from his stomach....covered in the ooey-est of gooey stomach gunk, it hit me in the face.  ewwwwww.  what a way to start the day.  looking back on it now it is quite funny, now that i have recovered from the trauma. 


this week while reading some of the texted chit chat between my oldest son and his girlfriend, i grew to really really dislike her.  alot. my mothers intuition had prodded me to take a peek at what i had previously left alone and private.   when we took sam to the mall so that they could go to the movies she hid her horns and talons very well.  evil  beast she is.  her brother has threatened my son in one of those not-so-threatening-in-a-legal way-ways via facebook.  at looking through both her and her brother's facebook photos i have come to know the family a bit.  bud light is the beverage of choice at family gatherings.  her brother and a friend seem to think that half gallon bottles of what appears to be vodka well represent the size of their manhood, and he has posted pictures of a girls house he vandalized with an album titled 'she got what she deserved'   she seems to drop the 'f' bomb on her posts to facebook as though it were the words 'and, the, to...'   technology has made it more difficult in some ways to keep track of just what is going on in our childrens lives, but it has also made it easier.  right now i am liking technology, just really really not liking the girlfriend.  

(OK IGNORE THE YELLOW HIGHLIGHTING. FOR SOME REASON SPELL CHECK WENT WONKY ON ME)

tonight my youngest, my sweet sweet boy, is sick and i will be staying up with him for awhile.  hoping tomorrow i will still be productive. 

today i found the ahhhh that comes with finishing the unfinished and started a few new goodies that i will be adding to our etsy shop. 

i am off to try to get some sleep.  my wee little eyes are finding it difficult to remain open as i type, but i have a feeling my worries of my youngest being icky sick will keep me from giving in and letting them close for quite awhile. 

i will be back soon with lots of pictures and maybe a tutorial.  thanks you ever so much for stopping by.

somewhere, over the rainbow....

ok, don't keel over.  i know 2 posts in one day.  but i just had to post the pics i took earlier this evening.

today my muse was a very naughty practical joker. 

everything i touched today ended in utter disaster.

but that is ok, there is a reason for everything and i will find the answer somewhere down the road of life.

today, while outside attempting to paint and clear a few pieces to sell it rained ever so gently here and there.

afterward we were left with this, now how can you not end a day of artistic disaster with a smile at the sight of this?

sweet dreams. 

i found my pot of gold at the end, did you?

photo taking phrustration

i love taking photos.  love it, love it, love it.......until it comes to taking photos for the etsy shop. 

with photo taking as the next item on my to do list earlier this week i decided to conquer this booger with a positive outlook.  i would not let the etsy self help articles that stress the importance of the perfect photo being the key to make a sale intimidate me or wrack my nerves. 

i decided to start with one of the hardest pieces to photograph.  the beautiful colors in this necklace are camera shy as i found in the past when i had snapped  a few quick shots to play show-n-tell after i had completed creating this piece. 

start with the most difficult and the rest will be a breeze i thought. 

this is the closest i can come to capturing the greens.  ahhh but the hot spot in the center, not good.  i tried putting my finger over the flash and my camera screamed in agony, i swear it did....i never heard that noise come out of my camera before, and the photo came out red....creeeeeeepy.

with a white sheet placed over the french doors in the kitchen to diffuse the light the pictures look a bit better, but it looks pale and washed out, and the colors are not true to the beast necklace.

outside we headed, mannequin and i, the colors are more true, but there are  the dreaded sHadOwS....

this weekends project.  to build a lightbox.

with my tale of photographic woes now out of the way i feel better.

i am LOVING spring, the smell of life returning to all that is outdoors is one of my favorite smells.  the birds chirping and singing during the day and the frogs serenading each other in the evening are better than any song on my ipod.

as i  found a space on the kitchen table to sit down this morning to eat a biscuit left over from last nights homemade biscuits and gravy i realized the remaining top half of my drop biscuit was heart shaped.

not only was my biscuit heart shaped but to my right was a heart shaped rock that my youngest had found in his latest creek wading expedition and had brought home for me.

i would love to think that when you find a heart whether it be made by the hands of humans or mother nature and God that it is an angel letting you know that someone is thinking of you and loves you. 

today i hope you find your message.

pondering etsy shop grand opening free give-a-way on this beautiful day

what a beautiful day it is today!

a perfect day to take the mannequin outside to do some photos for our etsy shop.  the grand opening is just days away and there is much to do.

steph and i will both be hosting a give-a-way on our blogs to celebrate!

keep checking back here, facebook and twitter for the announcement!

here are a view blooming beauties for your pleasure i wanted to share.....

bertie bert who thinks 'laptop' where he belongs, not the computer.

two naughty girls, mollie and mia, who broke out of the kitchen to come see what we were up to outside.

hope you have a beautiful day!

a quick note to say hi

this time of year the weather changes so quickly, i have learned to have not only a plan b for the day, but a c, d, e......

sunday they said rain all week....plan a

monday they changed it to rain tuesday and thursday....plan b

today, no rain but windy.......plan c and d.


this morning while trying to figure out which end was up in the world plans c and d were thrown out and i decided to get some yard work done. 2 hours today, that is it.


saturday and sunday were such monstrously challenging days due to my meniere's, monday was wobbly. i did not want to trigger another attack so 2 hours was the most yardwork i was going to do.


9 hours later i hobbled back inside to take a shower. my meniere's monster did not act up until the last hour, 3 times i nearly fell, 2 of those times twisting a different ankle.


i hurt in places i did not know i had.


i hurt beyond words in the places i knew i had.


steph helped for 7 1/2 hours, max helped for several hours as well, and my hubby after putting in a day at work helped out so much so that we could get the middle 'island' section of the yard done. we worked for a half an hour in the pitch dark. heaven only knows what the last bit will look like until morning when i can take a peek outside.



i put suncreen on my face, but forgot the rest of my body. my arms are sunburned, a 'farmers' tan at that.


i have a weird itchy rash on my belly.


a branch sliced my leg open.


i still have mulch in my eye, and you don't even want to know what is coming out of my nose when i blow it.


oh and you really don't even want to know what cranny i found a dead bug in.

while i am typing this i am also watching the little chocolatiers on tlc and me and my pms really want some chocolate covered strawberries....NOW.  chocolate covered anything at this point would be wonderful.....and i mean  a n y t h i n g !


all in all i have to say i am so very grateful that i was not only able to do yard work, but 9 hours of it.


the half of a xanax i take when the ringing in my ears is roaring at levels beyond belief or my rls (restless leg syndrome) is driving me wonky is not even coming close to knocking me out.


i am thinking it would help to shut down the computer though...


if i can move tomorrow and it is not too rainy maybe i can take a few photos of the yard.


type at you tomorrow, nighty night.

pictures from yesterday

until the new version of blogger allows me to add photos i found a way to sneak them on using the old fashioned back door. 

before bunny

before the ears were nibbled

before we went to the easter day car show

before the ear-ectomy

the hubs....the one bending over

my sweet sweet babies...

i really wanted to ask them to pose, but they are teenagers.......and pretty much this is what was going through their heads at the time i snapped this photo.

in order of appearance:

• sam - just waiting until this thing is over so i can play xbox with my buddies, and oh don't my pecs make this shirt look good!
• max - what is this thing stuck in my hair?  c'mon dad, i love car shows but even i am done.  i want food, drink, and motrin for my aching feet.
• steph - the wind is messing up my hair, i am hot and sweaty.... how gross.  car shows are stupid.....ohhhh i hope i get a tan!

why did i even try to do my hair?  it will take a week to get the knots out........but the breeze feels so good.......... and windy.

loving the newest bracelet i made, i forgot to take a photo of the neklace.   i have near twins coming up for sale soon on etsy.

there were too many cars to decide on a few to post pics of.  i found myself pointing my camera at just about all of them and thinking i want that one.  i found myself loving the 'rat rods' much to the hubby's surprise.

march of the chocolate bunnies

the after bunny

after the ears were nibbled

after the car show

after the ear-ectomy

may your basket have overflowed with blessings today

what a beautiful day it was today.  we headed off to the annual easter car show at forest park.

sunny, hot, windy and wonderful.

i had planned to create several collages of the cars i captured on my camera today while i was making dinner, but this arty girl is tuckered out and ready to crawl in to bed.

so......blogger has a new way of adding photos that was not in place last night.  it does not seem to be working yet.  the few photos i had planned to upload just don't want to budge on to this page.....

i am off to the land of sweet dreams.  i will try again tomorrow. 

hello spring.....

i remember when i was a little girl i felt sad for people who were not lucky enough to have their yards dotted with these little yellow beauties. 

when my kids were little they brought me bouquets of these daily.

who can exterminate these just because someone decided they were a weed.

to this day my sweet kids will bring me one, two, or a few of these and i will bring out my collection of mini vases and display them proudly throught our home.

this week i was awaken by the heavenly fragrance of our flowering purple plum.  i look forward to the few days each year that this tree blooms more so than any holiday.

the birds singing each their unique tune to celebrate the arrival of spring sounded sweeter than any song on my ipod. 

here is hoping that spring has touched you just as gently and sweetly as it has me.