HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I better wish it now, since we will probably be asleep before midnight tonite! haha!
We had a full and fast weekend. I can't believe how quickly it flew by! So not fair!

We had company over on saturday and that was fun, the kids got more toys that they don't need! haah and it got my husband and I thinking how there are too many children out there that don't get even one present and our children get all this?! So we cleaned up their rooms and got loads together to donate to the childrens centers in the area (I hate the word orphanage).

My sales picked up today finally :) Yay! I have been trying to catch up from being behind this weekend and I find myself being pulled in loads of directions! I have an hour since my husband is home for lunch and that helps! I have to run to the bank and deposit some checks and then off to the post office to mail out some packages! Full day!!

The Sweet Sounds of...

NAPTIME!!!

Is it bad that I want to put on a ballgown, do up my hair and dance like crazy when naptime rolls around???? The house is silent, when I pick up toys, they stay put away!!! I can hear myself think, and I can sit and work peacefully!!

I love this time, don't get me wrong...Playing memory with 10 cards about 100 times, coloring the same circle 200 times and singing the wheels on the bus is really fun and great, but it's this quiet time that I look most forward to every day.

It's ME time and I love it.
I have been swamped with custom orders this week, it ws a miracle I finally finished! Only to find that my shop has been pretty dead. It's so obvious in my sales when I neglect it. I have to try and be better balanced, but my custom orders are where I really make my money.

The snow is CRAZY here! I can't believe how much it is coming down, and the flakes are so bug and chunky!! It's supposed to keep snowing all weekend! YIKES!

Today is my little guys birthday. Our middle child turns 2 today! He is too cute and his big sister keeps saying it's her birthday :( She has already asked for her presents and insists that she will blow out the candles. We're trying to teach her that it's his day and next week is hers, but she's not interested! The funny thing is that I don't think the birthday boy cares either! :)

Woohooo!

Christmas is over!! It was a crazy and fun Christmas. We saw my parents a bit each day (Christmas Eve and the big day) but Roman was very sick the entire time, looks like a stomach bug got him. He's off to the Dr, tomorrow, to see if he has lost too much weight. This poor guy is just not doing to well.

They got a lot of presents and my middle boy was just not into the whole gift thing at all, he wanted to just run around! hahaha! Our princess opened EVERYONES gift, but once open, could care less about the actual gift! haha! UNTIL she got her big one....Her Fisher Price digi cam! She's still toting it around EVERYWHERE and taking pictures of EVERYTHING! it's soo cute!!

Life has been hectic lately and it seems like our January has fille dup out of nowhere, we have our sons Baptism this month too! It took us a bit to come up with his godparents, but my husband finally suggested my parents and I agreed, so that's pretty cool and totally easy! YAY!

Other than that nothing too exciting has been going on, just trying to organize our year :)

Where has the time gone??

Oh wow! It's Christmas Eve tomorrow!! I can't believe it!! I'm sooo excited!!

Does anyone want some appetizers? If you are int eh Rockford area, let me know! haha I have loads of apps left over. We were expecting company today and they were no shows, so I have lots leftover!! My husband told me not to make anything because he knew they wouldn't end up coming, but I always have to have something out, who wants to go to a house where they don't offer up a snack or you have to ask for something?? argg...oh well, I guess if we don't eat it tomorrow I just have to dump it all.

The kids have been begging to open presents all day today and I so want to just give in! haha! I don't know How we will get through tomorrow still! :)

I'm looking forward to the calm and peaceful evening we will be having!!

My baby is sick again, he hasn't been keepign his food down today so that has me worried, doc said to give it another 24 hours and see how he does from there. I am so glad we are not going anywhere, if he gets more sick who knows what will happen! Poor little guy has been sick more than he's been well so far.

I am happy to say that I am ready to get the Christmas decorations down! All these ornaments are driving me nuts making sure that the kids don't touch them :) Next year I say we decorate the tree in nerf balls!


hasta later!
~michelle!~ <---who is drowning in Appetizers!

Tuesday Is So SLOW

Yay! we have heat again!! Our furnace has been on the fritz the past few days and we finally had the guy come round today and in 10 minutes it was fixed! Now all I do is complain about being hot! hahaha! Oh well it's a great feeling :)

Took out the Turkey today for Christmas Eve dinner, it took us forever to make room in the fridge for it! Had no idea it would take up so much space!

Has anyone else out there NOT wrapped presents yet? Ours are all sitting under the tree, just not wrapped :) We really need to get on that! I won a gorgeous brooch off EBAY for my husbands grandmother and I fell in love with it when it arrived! I only hope she likes it too! I also found another one at an antique store that he loved for her, so we go that one too! That was fun shopping!

We bought the mother in law a super cute bracelet that I'm sure she will love, but I know I could have made myself! It killed me forking over that kind of money, when I know I could have made it, haha but the pieces would have cost twice as much. Isn't it amazing how that works?

My dad was a fun person to buy for, we got him this awesome keychain that is a digital photo frame, it has 80 pics of the kids on there and it's super cool! I think he's really going to like it!

Got the brother in law some DVD set he's been wanting, it feels so impersonal, but he wanted it :)

My mom got some CDs she's been dying for and a couple of books that I saw come out that I knew she would dig!

I found some great pendants on ETSY for my sis and a cute bag that I am making the bag charm for.

The kids got loads of great stuff, it has taken EVERYTHING I have not to give it to them yet! My husband has been itching too! It's so fun to see their reactions!

Kids and Mail

The mail comes every day and every day I hope for junk mail, just so that there is something to give the kids! These kids LOVE getting mail. No matter if it's the grocery ad or a coupon to Burger King, they are THRILLED!

SO today they get actual Christmas cards in the mail from grandma and it was soo cute cause husband and I are thrilled they have real mail.....well they get them and all toss them aside, all they want is the Mexican grocery store ad!!!! They had REAL mail and wanted to pass! CRAZY KIDS!

We finally open up the cute little cards and they have stickers in them, and well that was cute b/c they played with them for all of 5 seconds before they ended up in the trash! Yup, as soon as my little guy loses interest in something he wants to throw it away! haah, so we always know to keep the garbage cans locked up tight. Oh well at least they liked them for a bit and that's all that matters :)

10 Random Things

About The Weekend

1> Driving in the snow can be really romantic when the kids are asleep
2> My husband is Cute when he plays with the kids and doesn't know he's being watched
3>Looking at Christmas Lights in the neighborhoods is intoxicating! Makes you want to do it bigger and better!
4>Christmas Rush in my store has gone, I only made 1 sale this weekend. Thank goodness for custom orders!
5>We've been talking about making the move to Florida become a reality again.
6>I'm tired of laundry
7> I'm annoyed that Survivor trumped my Sunday night shows
8> MY grandma is in town from Mexico and it's AWESOME!
9>My Green Machine Van needs a new muffler
10>I'm thrilled that Christmas is almost over ;)



We have been debating on what age it would be best to start volunteering on Christmas day, so we don't have to deal with this stress and at the same time help people out who's lives are truly stressful, if you and your family volunteer during the holidays, please drop me a line!

Is Christmas over yet?

Seriously!! please tell me it's January 1st :)

I hate the holidays! When November rolls around, my husband and I just want to hide. Crawl under a tree or even go on vacation. We would be in Disney World this year for the holidays had we not just had a baby.

Christmas and any other holiday is just downright ridiculous in our lives. We have 3 kids and want our children to enjoy their presents at home and we want to enjot that, but NO we have to have family! haha! You know, I have two functions to go to and he has two funtions to go to, so add that up and the total is FOUR in TWO DAYS>?!

So of course there is a lot of:
You only spent 2 hours here, how much are going to spend there?
then there is:
Why are you going there first? were you not there first last year?

and of course:
why on earth do you live so far? all that driving time could have been spent here.

We never see you anymore

I would love to see my grandkids more often

Husband and I have been looking into moving...far away..but the scary thing is, that if we are gone all year round, then we would BE EXPECTED at the holidays...and then it would be even worse....

We only see you this time of year and you have to leave now?!?
OMG are the kids in college now it's been so long!~?

You have got to be kidding me, you are leaving?! you just walked in the door!!

EVERYONE has a freakin score card!

So we thought...problem solved we had a baby and he's a pretty sick little dude, so Doc says to us yesterday we have to keep him away from peeps for a bit in confined spaces like HOUSE PARTIES...we told him we were already staying home, but of course, we had real bonifide proof from the doc that we should stay home..


well NO NO NO NO NO...you would think we had just said...

Umm...We have decided to become cult members and will be living in a bomb shelter for the rest of our lives with our children and we never want you to see them again!

It's been HELL! moaning...bitchin...complainin....you name it! The best are the guilt trips! MY husband laughed and said oh well maybe they feel better thinking we feel bad about it! but we really don't..you see it's a Christmas that we get to wake up in the morning and open presents at a nice pace and not rush to get everyone showered and out the door otherwise we lose precious hours at one house. It's a Christmas that we get to sit and play with the toys Santa brought. It's a christmas that will be our first as a family of 5 and we get to share it with our Children and we get to go to church together. It's a Christmas where my husband and I won't argue over when we need to leave each location. Don't people get it...It's a Christmas that my husband and I won't be stressed. Our kids get to see us enjoy ourselves for the first time in a long time. Thank you Lord for the blessing of a new baby.

Fantastically Retro

I dream of finding the perfect Vintage Mini dress. You know ala Marica Brady?? I want to pair it with jeans though. I have found so many cute ones in size negative 0, but alas nothing in my size!

I am willing myself to find one SOMEWHERE! I have searched ETSY and Ebay to no avail, but the funny thing is that I do find somethings listed as mini that I know are soo not!

One day I will find it!

Ice Storm

WOW! The streets were like skate parks today! Icy everywhere, at least they were empty except for me! hahaha! I had a custom order and I always feel the need to get them done ASAP! So out we went to the stores to get everything I needed! I didn't have to wait in any lines at all! So that was a bonus and all the workers were nice (maybe b.c they didn't have to deal with a lot of people!). So note to self: If I want empty streets, short lines, friendly people just go shopping when the weather is horrendous!

After that we spent some time getting ice cream at the local ice creamery! It was so nice for all of us to sit together and my husband and I to chat. Sometimes you forget how much you still need to talk when life gets busy.


10 Random Things about my day
=========================

1> My Christmas lights went out in my front window
2> I ran out of baby wipes in the middle of the day
3>Taught my son and daughter how to use scissors today (not fun cleaning up little strips of paper!)
4>I spent 1 full hour churning out new stuff
5>I noticed I need a hair cut
6> I noticed I need a pedicure
7> I thought about what to get my husband for Christmas!
8> I remembered that my Grandma is coming in from MExico this week!!
9> Remembered I have to get my daughters passport this month
10> Called to schedule my sons baptism

My days are so lame!! hahah!!

A great Week

It is my goal to make this a great week. Not talking sales per-se, but just the normal every day things. You know kids, creating, husband, life!

I have heard from friends and I truly believe that life is what we decided to make of it. We get back what we give to the world. So I want to go out there and make today a fantastic monday, not just another start of yet another week. Know what I mean?

I know I must sound all sunday morning preachery, but I am trying to turn the monday blahs in the monday yeehaaas! :)

Not much going on today on the outside world, thank goodness, since I am FREEZING and wouldn't want to make it any worse by going outside!

MY studio is a disaster and one of Decembers goals was to clean up the studio EVERY night! and that soo did not happen! haha! It looks like a lego factory exploded in here. I have got to get this cleaned up this morning before the kid wake up, because those silly kids will actually think the legos are for playing with ;)

Slow Sunday

I sit here typing in my pajamas! MY pajamas that I woke up in! Yes folks it's been a lazy day. I sent my husband to the post office for me, sent him for take out for lunch and am thinking about doing it for dinner too! hahaha! I love days like this!



I have gotten absolutely nothing done at all, not even so much as a pair of earrings. I think I just needed a day away from it all to collect my thoughts. But it has also shown in my sales as I have not sold a thing! YIKES!



MY husband has decided to open up his own ETSY shop too! How cool is that?! We finally get to work together, but not really! haha! He is pretty excited and used all day to create a few pieces!! You should check him out: www.Brickmaster3.Etsy.Com . It's his new hobby and he's thrilled with the VIEWS he gets, he loves to just run and check if someone new has looked! He's like a kid in a candy store and I couldn't be happier! He wanted something for us to do together and he found it! Now after the kids are in bed, we're in teh stsudio working on new pieces :) I make lego jewelry he makes lego desk accessories! hahaa! Fun!!

Down with COMed

ARGGGG....We went out for paper towels this evening! That's it, nothing else. So I had a total of like $5.00 in my pocket. We all went, just to get out of the house. Well, we get back from the store and notice that all the lights in our neighborhood our out, even the stoplights and the streetlights...it's a ghost town!! The town restaurant has it's lights out and everything. So we realize it's a huge power outage.

Really smart people we are, we pull into our driveway and click the garage door opener...
ummm..it's not working??? WELL DUH! NO POWER!! We didn't have an keys on us! So we were locked out of our house with 3 kids who were ready to eat dinner (I had tamales waiting for us inside) and NO MONEY!! We call ComEd and find out the power is expected to be restored in a few hours!! AUGHHH!!! So we catch my bank open thank goodness, and I had to do a signature withdrawl, since I didn't have my ID with me!!! It was the day from heck! hahaa! We started to plan in case the power stayed out for the whole night. Husband wanted to go over to my parents house, so we had to buy clothes, and all the little stuff. Thank goodness I always have a change of clothes for the kids in the car and my breast pump! We took the kids to TARGET and hung out there with juice and popcorn, the place was loaded with people from teh meighborhood!! Everyone wanting to go somewhere warm! Moments like this made us realize we need a fireplace in the new house! hahaha!!

After that we hit up the big antique barn that is one of my faves! I got lots of neat-o goodies, that I will have to photograph later and show you all! I love antique stores :) It's a passion!

Since the kids had filled up a bit on popcorn and juice and milk and then gotten tired walking the antique store, we decided to try the house again and if no lights yet, then we would head out to dinner somewhere out of the neighborhood! When we got close we saw everything was back on though, so YAAYY!! We quickly put a spare set of keys in the van and got dinner on the table!!

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to be married to someone that actually DOES something around the house :) and with the kids!! It's AWESOME! We have church tomorrow and then we're just going to Veg out!!

I will post pics of my awesome finds later!! Husband adn I are going to put the kids to bed and then it's monopoly night!

WOW! The WEEK IS OVER?

This week has seriously flown by!!!

Yesterday was a busy day for us! We ran around a lot! WE finished up the kids christmas shopping and then headed off for Dinner at PAnera! It was delicious!! I love their Chicken Noodle Soup!! YUM!

After that a trip to TARGET to get some not so fun stuff like diapers and wipes! haha. How is it that stuff that barely lasts an hour has to cost so much?? And if you buy generic, it like falls apart?? grrr...Potty training these 2 has NOT been a success at all! Let's just say I do ALOT of laundry!!

And our final trip was to Michaels where I finally dove in and decided to try my hand at resin pendant making. I bought the supplies and almost keeled over at the price. For me, I budget how much I can spend on supplies a month and this was a big hit for a hobby that I may not even like. Let me tell you, it's a hobby i'm not very good at! haha! I took my hand at it last night and I have a lot of bubbles in my first pendant!! YIKES! If you have any tips for me I would love that! I figured they would make great gifts for my cousins for Christmas! So pray for me that it works out! hahah! I hate how long it takes to harden and see if you did it right! I'm an instant gratification kind of gal!

This weekend holds an estate sale, one auction and a brand new antique mall find that i'm dying to try out! YAY!

BRING BACK THE 80s!

Sick people in my house have us watching movies a lot yesterday and today will the same! hahah! I MISS THE 80s!

Breakfast Club

16 Candles

Dirt Dancing...

ahhh the clothes, the hair....I'm a child of the 80s and PROUD OF IT!

House of Sickness!

BLAHH!!! My little princess woke up sick today! Which is NOT NOT NOT good for my baby who was in the hospital with RSV, he's still getting over it and now this! grr.. I've tried my best to keep the apart, but I am still their main connection. I just hope upon hope that my little guy does not get this.

Is it Friday yet?

Seriously....Is it? ? ?

I feel like I have been on the longest ever ride of my life! haha it's been a full day from the beginning!

Husband woke up late for work and that should NEVER EVER EVER happen because he works ACROSS THE STREET! so they expect him to ALWAYs be on time! grr.. I hate the invention of SNOOZE BUTTONS! He should have gotten up right away!

Second, i've been going insane with thought because i've been asked to sell some items at wholesale to a boutique in Arizona!!!! Can you believe it?? My stuff in a store! how cool! But the business aspect of it has my brain reeling!

Thirdly My baby woke up covered in an explosive poop. I know I know TMI, but it really killed my senses! I have not been able to eat all day! It was everywhere and anywhere! He had to go straight into the tub, which was an adventure because my other 2 wanted to dive right in with him! They love the water!!!

THEN as if that wasn't enough, my thermostat bit the dust, I've beent rying to fix it on my own, but that is not working! haha! So I had to override it and now it's like 100 degrees in here on minute and then below zero the next!

So, in conclusion...is it friday yet?

Todays Etsy Brag

Today shop I am bragging about is another Quilter! I got this fabulous quilt as another baby shower gift! What fabulous people I tell you!!!! ohh no!! my picture is awful!!!! grrr.. I wonder why it's not working....grrr.. I will tinker around with it! BUT YOU HAVE to check out her store

Seaside Quilts:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=45330

She does AMAZING work and uses bright happy prints! PERFECT for tummy time blankets for babies!!! :) It's awesome!!

The Eyes Of the Public...

HAHAHAH! I forgot to mention how my mom made me laugh the other day, she was talking about my blog and was asking me if Iknew other people could read it other than herself! She's too cute when it comes to this internet stuff! She's such a smart woman and works with computers daily, but I think blogging is new to her :) I thought that was funny. Yes, I know everyone can read this and I think that's my purpose for it! I love getting my feelings down on paper, especially the ones that I know I can't tell people to their faces! haha Maybe they will read about here! Like people in the grocery store that should mind their own business about how many kids we have ;) My blog is a medly of my life, my business and my downward spiral into insanity! Sometimes I just want to vent about stuff that drives me nuts about my husband and what better place to do that then here! Then he can log on in the morning at work and see just what I am mad about (Hi honey! Read the post below it's a good one about you!). Today while out at the store, we had a lady stop us and tell us how happy our children looked and it made me feel fabulous! I know my children are happy, but when other people notice it, it becomes an amazing thing that just makes you feel all tingly inside!

Lucky in Love

Have I told you how much I love my husband!?!? Honestly, he's great! We went antiquing this evening and just watching him browse and tell stories about stuff that he found made me smile and remember just how lucky I am to have found someone like him. I love that I can introduce him to new things and he never hesitates to try and then end up liking most of them! Him and my dad were just recently talking about our upcoming trip to the mouse house! It was his idea again to bring my dad! How cool is that!?? HE loves hanging out with him and that makes me loads of happy because my dad is my total BFF after my husband! So about my open house the other day, like I said it went totally well, but I have to come up with some new winter inventory for my shop now, since everything I was going to put up sold! YIKES! My grandma is coming in from Mexico in a couple weeks and she's interested in getting some goodies too, so I told her I may set up a little shop front and let her browse, I know I don't have to get all my funky stuff out since she's not into that! hahaha!! I've been thinking recently with my husband about possibly hosting our own craft fair and opening it up to ETSY sellers only. It would be a great way to branch my business out in a craft market NOT overrun by the old church ladies that don't go near my stuff with a 10ft pole! I need the funky minded ;) BUT my problem is that my husband wants me to contact the Wicked Witch of the West (insert the DUN DUN DUNNNNN music here) hahaha! He knows someone that is in the hotel business and can get me a decent sized banquet room for cheap, but well we both can't stand her and he doesn't want to call and I certainly don't...and this person is sooo not reliable! Believe you me, I worked with her before. Soo it's on hold right now!!

Forgive me I'm a loser!

SO my mommy brain had me forgetting I actually had to post the MYSPACE link! hahaa!!


http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=144737422

That should take you to my page :)

MySpace insanity!

So i've started on this MYSPACE thing and let me tell you I am totally clueless! Thank goodness for my cousins helping me out b/c otherwise I would just be out of it completely! hahaha! I just barely got a backround up there! If you need an extra myspace friend check me out:


It's still really cold out here, so I have on slippers! haha I am a HUGE barefoot person, so that's how I know it's too freakin' cold! haha!!

Todays random thoughts are:

1> I need to make a dentist appt, but i'm scared! I know this time I have 2 cavities because I can feel them! I'm such a baby when it comes to the dentist!!

2>I really need to stop biting my nails, I saw my 2 year old starting! YIKES! How can I stop this nasty habit i've had since I was 8???

and finally

3> We're having meat loaf for dinner! YUM!!

Shop til you drop Sunday!

Todays open house was not bad :) I had my share of the rude people that didn't call one way or another and then the people that couldn't come due to the weather and the people that came I was happy with! Yay! I would share more, but i'm seriously about to drop!

3 random things about the show

1>I sold lots of snowman stuff
2>I only sold 1 of my signature button bracelets
3> I should have charged for the wine! hahahah!!

SNOW SNOW SNOW

Oh boy! The Rockford news actually got something right today! It did snow!!!! It's soo pretty, but too cold and too many people that don't know how to drive in it are on the roads, so i'm pretty bummed about that! My jewelry show is supposed to be today, but I know the weather is an excuse many people will use! Oh well, at least my mom will show :) You know how moms are always there to support you and then buy something whether they need it or not! haha!!

The plow is doing our street right now and it's soo annoying, just as bad as the wind whipping the snow all against our window! I like my early morning peaceful, I feel like I get more work done that way. Now I just want to sit here on the computer and do nothing!