Thursday Top Pick

“Jewelry Works by Kim”, is today's “Thursday Top Pick” .  Her shop boasts some gorgeous items which I hope you will all take a look at.  You can find her shop here………

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6946343

These pictures depict a couple of her favorite items…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest Canopy Earrings

 

                                                                  

Icy Leaves Earrings

 

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO OPEN AN ETSY SHOP?

I have been making jewelry for over 12 years.  I had only sold my pieces at boutiques and craft shows.  I did have my own website up until last year, but getting traffic to it was almost impossible.  Over the past holiday season, I met up with a former boutique owner that used to carry my jewelry.  She and I got to talking about Etsy and how we were both planning to open a shop on Etsy.  So, here I am with my very own shop on Etsy.  I have since closed down my other website.

WHAT KIND OF ITEMS DO YOU SELL IN YOUR ETSY SHOP?

I design and make handcrafted jewelry.  My favorite metal to use is silver.  I like to combine natural stone and glass beads in my pieces.  I would describe my jewelry as “Modern”.

WHAT IS THE NAME AND LINK TO YOUR FAVORITE ETSY SHOP (OTHER THAN YOUR OWN) ?

While hunting for items to put in a treasury I was making (I still have not been able to snag one), I came across this wonderful artist named, Melissa Moss.  She creates awesome paintings, many of which have a leaf or tree theme.  (A girl with the same love of leaves as me).  Check out her beautiful artwork.  One of these days when I am finally able to get a treasury, she will be featured.           

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5039797&ga_search_query=melissamoss&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

A big thank you goes out to Kimberly for being so cooperative in getting this feature up and running.  As usual, any comments you leave are muchly appreciated.  :o)

Two Sales

I was blessed yesterday to have had two sales in my Etsy purse shop.  It always feels good when something sells  because that means that my creations are marketable and being enjoyed by other people.  Naturally, we like the things we make, but it just means a lot when other people like them too.  I started a beach bag yesterday.  The outside is going to be navy and white stripes (wide) and the inside will be navy blue canvas.  I have a cotton web belt that I bought at a second hand shop which is navy and white.  The belt will be the straps.  I wish I had some of the white nautical rope, but I don’t, so the belt will work well.  My idea is to have a solid, navy canvas square on the front of the bag with a white anchor designed in it.  I have the anchor drawn and just need to do the appliqué.   I hope it looks as good finished as it does in my mind.  I decided to relist this bag today as I won’t have the beach bag finished until later today.  I like to list or relist something every morning. 

This is a “Travel Doggie Bag” which is rather like a babies diaper bag.  Everything shown comes with it, and it sure would make traveling with your pooch much easier.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I am wondering what happened to the warm temperatures we had been enjoying.  Brrr, when I got up at 6:15 AM I was quite cold.  It was even warm yesterday morning, but halfway through the day we were busy closing the windows.  I confess to breaking down and turning on the furnace around supper time.  I talked to my brother that lives in south Dakota on Sunday.  He said they had a day last week that the temperatures were in the 90’s last week and then they plummeted and it was in the 40’s there on Sunday.  Crazy weather.

I will be featuring another Etsy shop tomorrow for the “Thursday Top Picks”. I have been enjoying the hunt for shops to feature and have found shops I might never have seen if not for this venture.  I hope my readers are enjoying this new addition to my blog.  Remember, I love to read your comments and ideas.  If anyone would like to recommend a shop or seller please leave their name and their shop link in the comment section of my blog.  :o)

Tuesday Top Pick

As promised, today I am starting a regular feature on my blog which will be known as “Tuesday & Thursday Picks”.  I will feature various Etsy shops and share a little information about each shop owner, as well as posting a couple items from their shop.

The first Etsy shop I will be featuring today is called “Serenity Art “ {Real Fantasy}.  This beautiful shop is owned by Rhiannon Strobel.  She has some amazing artwork and you can check out her shop here:   http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5292039

Here are a couple of her favorite pieces of art.

“Mother Mermaid”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Purple Fae’

 

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO OPEN AN ETSY SHOP?

* My friend was selling soap and body products on Etsy and she was really enjoying herself.  I had my own website for awhile, but got very little traffic.  My friend suggested I try opening a shop on Etsy, which I did and love it.  I have found that an Etsy shop is much easier to maintain than a website.

WHAT KIND OF ITEMS DO YOU SELL IN YOUR SHOP?

**I offer many different types of art, but the three basic types of oil paintings I create would be first of all, “Fantasy Portraits”.  A custom “Fantasy Portrait” allows you to choose which kind of fantasy character you would like to be.  You would also choose the colors as well as anything else you would like included in the painting.  The second type of art I sell is called “Intuitive Art”.  This type of art involves dream symbols and intuitive feelings that I have painted on canvas.  Thirdly, I paint what is known as “Intention Art”, which is like a prayer in oil paint.  I use symbols and images to capture your goals and dreams in paint on canvas.

WHAT IS THE NAME AND LINK TO YOUR FAVORITE ETSY SHOP (OTHER THAN YOUR OWN).  ?

***My favorite Etsy shop is called “Sylvia66”.  Here is the link to her shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5088567&ga_search_query=Silvia66&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

I would like to thank Rhiannon for participating in my new venture.  I hope everyone will be sure and check out her shop.  Please feel free to leave comments about today's post.  :o)

Starting a New Blog Element

I have decide to start something I call, “Tuesday & Thursday Top Picks”.  Every Tues. and Thurs. I will be featuring an Etsy shop which will include a couple of pictures and a little bit about the artist.  If any of my readers would be interested in being featured, please leave a comment and I will contact you for information.  I am excited about this as there are so many wonderful shops offering such a variety of products.

I forgot to mention that  this past Thursday evening at dinner, Nick bit into his sub and started screaming about his front tooth.  At a glance, I could see that it was bleeding a bit, but did not tell him as he totally freaks out if he thinks he is bleeding.  His tooth was so loose that it had to come out or he would continue to be in pain every time he tried to eat.  Now this is the second tooth he has lost and the last one was pulled by the school nurse.  I asked him if I could pull it and he said that only the school nurse could do it.  I told him that mommy is a nurse (which I am) and I could work at school if I wanted to.  He kept screaming and crying and then he says in his really sad voice, “But I LOVE this tooth”.  We had all we could not to laugh which would have made the situation worse.  Finally he decides to trust me to pull it.  I got a hold of it and told him to let me know when he was ready for me to pull.  He nodded and I pulled.  It popped right out and he let out a blood curdling scream and kept proclaiming loudly, “I can’t believe you did that to me”.  After I get him to rinse (the whole time he is crying), I told him to look in the mirror.  Once he saw that gaping hole in his mouth he was perfectly fine.  Here is his now look.  :o)

Sore Muscles

My arm muscles are screaming and rebelling against the yard work I did yesterday.  Despite the pain in my arms due to the raking I did, I am very satisfied with what our family accomplished yesterday.  The kids and I got the winter trash, sticks ect. picked up off the lawn and raked the flower beds.  We got three receptacles full to the top with all the stuff we gathered from the flower beds and the yard.   What a great sense of satisfaction to have that job finished.  Of course we still have to do the yard work at our campsite, but we will wait till the water has been turned back on so we will have bathroom facilities while we are there.  Steve worked on getting the back porch de-winterized.   He has hard plastic panels that he puts up around the back porch every year and then we store much of our porch furniture out there and it doesn’t get snow on it.  He got all of that taken down and the porch washed off as well as some of the furniture washed.  Bradly also helped Steve with this project (Brad is a great helper).  All in all it was a very productive day and we are all feeling quite good about that.

I just finished re-listing an item from my Etsy shop that I am going to promote today.  This “Man’s Tattoo Messenger Bag” was my choice for today.

 

 

Tomorrow I am headed back to my studio to work on a new creation (not sure what it is yet), but first I want to make a change on a couple of bags I have already listed.  I love the look of this purse, but now that I have made one for myself, I realize it would be so much better if I added a closure at the top.  It is quite annoying to have stuff spill out of my purse every time it tips over.  Here is a pic of one that I need to add a closure to.

Here is one of these bags that I made a smaller version of and added a velcro closure.

 

 

 

A huge improvement I think.  I would love to know what my readers think about the addition of a closure to these bags.

 

Today we are planning on taking it easy.  I do want to get the rest of the porch furniture wiped down and the cushions added.  We are throwing a few strip steaks on the grill and making a chef salad for dinner as well as the left over Greek salad I made yesterday.  I made the Greek salad with wheat spiral noodles and it was awesome.  Sounds like a yummy but easy dinner…..right up my alley!!  :o)

Free Blog Bling

I found this awesome blog that offers some really great bling to dress up your blog.  She offers buttons and blinkies, blog background and headers.  The most surprising thing about this great find is that it is offered to you free of charge.  Here is an example of what she has to offer, plus if you notice a few additions to my blog, I also got them from this site.   http://www.shabbyblogs.com/button.html

In case you were all wondering, I did leave some fabric at Joann fabrics yesterday.  LOL  It was really difficult to manage some restraint as they were having a fantastic sale.  Much of the fabric choices were on sale for 50% off and many others were 30% off.  When I can get fabric half off, it would be really easy to go crazy.  I have to give my hubby credit because he never asks if i really need it or will I actually make something with it.  Steve is usually the one who encourages me to buy a fabric when I am hemming and hawing about whether to make a purchase.  I bought some cute, Debbie Mumm fabric with monkeys and some more of her fabric with different dogs plus a coordinating fabric for the lining.  I got a couple of solids for only $1.49 per yard  and I used my half off coupon for 4 yards of web as I am going to try making collars for Chloe and Karli, our dogs.  As you can see by the pic, thread was also half off, so I bought 4 spools.  McCalls patterns were .99 cents each, and I couldn’t resist a few of them.  Whew, don’t you think I did great limiting my purchases to these few things?  LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a gorgeous day here and the temperature is supposed to be in the upper 70’s.  I have a plan forming in my brain that if Steve and I and the kids really attack our yard, maybe we can get it looking presentable by the end of the day.  Because of our back problems we will need many breaks, but we really need to get this done.  We also need to do yard work at our camp site, but that will not be done today.  :o)

A Trip to Joann Fabrics

Oh Yeah, I am off on an outing to Joann Fabrics (my home away from home).  LOL  I confess to having a bit of a fabric addiction and whenever I go to the fabric store ,I have to restrain myself to buying just what I know I will use.  In reality, I would love a yard of just about everything they sell.

While we are in by the mall, we are going to  go to “Pet Smart” to get some puppy food and then we are probably going to “Red Robin “ for lunch.  This place has the best swiss, mushroom burgers ever.  They have started offering a wheat roll in place of the white one and you can exchange a chef salad for the fries.  Now, their fries are the best ever and they are great with a side of the homemade ranch dressing they offer, but their salad is so good, I really don’t miss the fries (to much anyway).  It is all about choices and it feels good to make better food choices and be able to eat out occasionally and not totally blow my diet.  Speaking of which, I was down another 2 pounds this morning so I am psyched.  :o)

Skinny Pig

We have had our “Skinny Pig” for one week and during that time I  have discovered that many people have never heard of this awesome pet.  I have decided to give a mini lesson about “Skinny Pigs” and put up a  couple of pictures so you can see how cute they are. Actually, it is their their personality that contributes to their cuteness, because they love to be around people and will often “talk” to you when they are being held or you are near their cage.

A “Skinny Pig”, usually has no hair on its body except for tufts of hair on its face and feet.  They eat 3x as much food as a traditional, hairy guinea pig, because their metabolism is very fast in order to maintain their body heat.  Their dry skin requires moisturizing especially if they have had a bath.  A bath should only be given once every couple of months or so, and you have to be extremely careful not to get any water in their snout. A mild puppy shampoo works well for bathing them. They should be patted dry well, and a moisturizer, such as aloe applied to their skin.

“Skinny Pigs” eat traditional “Guinea Pig“ pellets and because “Skinny "Pigs” can not produce their own vitamin C, they need plenty of fruits and vegetable which are high in vitamin C.  If these pets do not get enough Vitamin C in their diet, they can suffer and die from Scurvy.  Some of the foods that are high in Vitamin C that the “Skinny Pig” enjoys eating are: apple, sweet bell pepper, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery leaf, currants, dandelion leaves, grapefruit, kale, kiwi, raisins, spinach, strawberries, and tomatoes.  “Skinny Pigs” eat many times per day and should have access to hay, dry feed and plenty of clean, fresh drinking water as well as the fresh vegetables.

Our family is thoroughly enjoying “Bugsy”, our “Skinny Pig”.  As cute and enjoyable as they are to have for a pet, you should not consider a “Skinny Pig” for a pet unless you have plenty of time to hold him and have the time to devote to his care.  If you have the time , you will find a “Skinny Pig” to be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Finished

I got the custom listing finished yesterday.  I am very pleased with how it turned out, and I sent some pics to the customer and she thinks it is awesome.

Bradly is having some major issues with lying.  I am ready to pull my hair out (and trust me, I don’t have any to spare) because I am so sick and tired of it.  Last night after he went to bed, he went into the upstairs bathroom and opened a package of unsweetened, red kool-aid.  He added water and made a mess which he cleaned up with tissues and by the way he did a really bad job of cleaning up. Meantime, I start smelling something all the way downstairs and am getting concerned about what it is, but cannot find the source.  When I go up to bed, the smell is stronger upstairs.  My nose led me to the bathroom where the smell was the strongest.  The sink is smeared with a red substance which was not there earlier in the day.  Now, Brad is the only one who has been upstairs since Steve and I came down in the morning, so it is pretty obvious who the culprit is.  I still did not know exactly what it was, so I opened the lid on the waste paper can (just call me Sherlock), and there is a whole wad of red soaked tissues and the empty kool-aid package.  I went into Bradly’s room and asked him where he had gotten the kool-aid and what he was doing with it.  He pastes a dumb founded look on his face and plays innocent.  I had him get up and come in the bathroom to see the evidence, thinking he wouldn’t be able to deny it when it is obvious he is busted.  Well, he dramatically keeps telling me that he doesn’t know anything about it and he wants to go back to bed.  I said he could go back to bed when we get to the bottom of this which means he has to tell the truth.  He proceeds to lie and deny that he knows where it came from or what he was doing with it for over 30 minutes.  He becomes belligerent and disrespectful, raising his voice at me and of course I was the recipient of some very nasty faces (good thing I am not faint of heart..LOL).  Finally he told me that he got the kool-aid from a kid in school (which I rather doubt), and he snuck it upstairs then made himself kool-aid when he was supposed to be in bed.  He wanted to make himself kool-aid that he wouldn’t have to share.  I asked him if it was quite yummy since it was unsweetened.  He admitted it was awful.  Now, of course I am disappointed that he was sneaky, but that is kid fashion sometimes.  It is the lying that disappoints me the most.   What is the point when he knows we know he did it and that the discussion will continue until he tells the truth.  I reminded him that over a year ago he pulled something similar when he got into our daughters nail polish.  The upstairs reeked of it and it was on his pajamas, yet he spent 1 1/2 hours denying he even knew what we were talking about.  When I reminded him of where that got him, he decided to be honest last night.  After Brad’s hospitalization, the lying had improved.  Last night felt just like it used to feel and although I know this situation isn’t hopeless, today that is what it feels like.  It is very hard to live with someone you can’t trust or believe.  I am sorry I sound so negative, but I am sure it will pass…..sharing it helps.  :o)

Checking my New Skills

I am just testing so I am sure I know how to use this new “Windows Live Writer” that I installed on my computer.  I want to be able to do more customized things with my blog.  I am going to post a picture to see if I can do it, so please bare with me..LOL

I guess I am able to do this.  It is a good thing my daughter helped me or I wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to use it.  :o)

Learning Something New

I asked on the Etsy forums yesterday if someone could tell me how to customize my blog more than I already have. I would like to put pictures in my actual post and between posts. I got several responses, but the one that sounded the easiest was to install "Microsoft Live Writer". I accomplished that but I am still lost, so I will be calling upon my daughter later today to help me out. Hopefully by tomorrow you may see that I have succeeded in this new endeavor.

I started working on the custom order yesterday, plus I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had also sold another bag. I need to get that ready to ship to California today. It took me awhile yesterday to get under motion yesterday and I just didn't feel great. This morning when I took my morning medication I realized I never took my meds yesterday. That explains feeling like I did. Wow, I am only 50, way to young to be losing my memory..LOL

Today was my day to get up with bradly and get him off to school. Those of you who read my blog frequently know that mornings are usually not the highlight of Brad's day or mine either for that matter. Anyway, Brad did a great job this morning. Nick was up a little earlier than usual, but he is all dressed for school and just has to brush his teeth and he is ready to catch the bus. I love it when the day starts out so well. Brad earned all 8 of the possible tickets this morning plus he gets Gameboy and computer time after school. Nick is not wearing his glasses much at all. We don't battle it alot because he gets mad and tries to break them. Since we reallky can't afford another pair, we just try to encourage him by reminding him he can earn a ticket for every 15 minutes he wears them. He says he can't wear them because they are too loose and they fall off. After school today we are taking him to the eye glass place and geting them adjusted yet again.

We are huge fans of "Bones" and have been in hog heaven considering it was on twice last week and then it was on again last night and will be on Thurs. evening as usual too. We record it evey week on our DVR because it realy isn't an 8 pm show in our opinion and not something we want the kids watching, but we sure love it. "Castle" was also on last night and it was great as usual. I would love to know if any of my readers are fans of these shows. :o)

We Made it!!!

Yes!!!! Steve and I survived Easter vacation and we even enjoyed some aspects of it. Our trip to Canada was a very good day (however, my legs are still hurting like toothaches due to all the extra stair climbing LOL), it was great not having to deal with Bradly and his morning issues at 6:15 am, and I really loved not having to enforce homework assignments.

We watched a really a really cute movie on "ABC Family" last night. It was called, "My Fake Fiance'". Joey Lawrence and Melissa Joan Hart starred in it. It was a romantic comedy and refreshingly different from most. If it plays again and you want a nice, funny, lighthearted but romantic movie, then be sure you don't miss this one.

I am looking forward to spending the day in my studio working on the custom order I received last week. Working in my studio is very relaxing and I do a lot of thinking while I am down there too. Essentially, having my Etsy shops has been very therapeutic for me. I would love it if my business built up enough that it would really become a financial support for us. Either way, I love it and that alone makes it worth it. It is very satisfying to look at something you have created with your own hands and imagination. I am sure it like this for anyone who creates.

Steve and I were relieved to speak to Steven yesterday and know that our son was ok and had not had a tornado touch down where he lives in Texas. He is living in Passadena, which is very close to Houston. When we talked to him on Saturday, he was getting very poor phone reception and he said there were so many warnings alerting people to the possibility of a tornado touching down. Today Steven is starting his new job which pays well and starts right out with benefits. He loves his new apartment and we are thrilled that life is really going well for him. He has worked hard to turn his life around and make better choices. It took moving away from all of his so called "friends", but he has done it, and Steve and I are very proud of him. We have truly been blessed with a wonderful family... loving and respectful and always there for each other . None of us are perfect, and we have definately had our share of problems, but we are all trying to be the best we can be. :o)

I Feel Like a New Person

Amazing what some extra sleep can do for your whole outlook on life. LOL Steve got up with Karli at 6:45am. Nick was up by 7:30 am and guess what? I slept until 9 o'clock, and it felt GREAT!!! I thought it was odd that Brad's door was still shut when I went out in the hall, so I checked on him and he was just waking up too. I imagine that knowing he has to get up bright and early tomorrow to return to school was a really good incentive to sleep in. :o)

Our new Wii arrived the other day and I think we are going to set it up today. It should prove to be a lot of fun for the kids and for us to....it will even be good excercise I think. Today the kids can play for free, but after this they will have to buy Wii time with the tickets they are earning for positive behavior. The boys played outside yesterday and rode their scooters until we couldn't stand the bickering any longer. I swear these two kids can't do anything together without arguing. Bradly hasn't even been up for an hour yet, and he just lost 2 hours of t.v. time for lying. That gets really discouraging also. After all that we learned while he was in the Children's Psych. Center, we know that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder plays a huge part with his honesty issues, but it doesn't change the fact that he has to get it under control. The Dr. explained that Brad has to see himself as perfect and have us view him that way..hence the lying. That is one of the major things we all worked on while he was in the hospital, as well as getting his medication reduced, and we saw a huge improvement. His therapist told us he would regress now and then and probably never totally stop the lying, but it is still upsetting when he reverts to lying, especially over such ridiculous things. We came up with the consequence together and agreed that losing 2 hours of t.v. would be his consequence when he lied. He really does want to be an honest person and have the trust that goes with it...just not when he is in the middle of a lie and trying to convince us he is telling the truth..LOL

We watched an old movie from the 1960's yesterday afternoon. It was called "The Ugly Dachshund" with Dean Jones. We thought it would be a fun movie for the kids to see because of Karli being a Dachshund and we were right...they loved it. We saw various traits the puppies on the movie had that Karli shares with them. It was fun to watch this oldie again as we hadn't seen it in years.

I did get Bradly's hair cut yesterday and also cut Nick's. I have to say they both turned out quite well and the boys are ever so handsome. It is a rewarding feeling to see my handiwork, but it is even better to know that I saved us $20 by doing it myself. :o)

Easter Break is Almost Over

Hard to believe it is already Saturday!! The boys Easter vacation was fair...we surely had some rough patches, but it has been nice to have a break from early bedtimes and homework and of course getting Bradly up at 6:15 am. On the other hand, having some time during the day to work in my studio and enjoy the peace and quiet is good too. :o) Today I want to get back to the "Ticket Game". We kind of petered out over vacation, and I am not really sure why because I am sure it would have been helpful!

At last I have discovered how to get Karli to sleep a bit later in the morning. First of all, her bladder must be getting bigger because she isn't waking up to go to the bathroom until between 6 and 6:30 am now instead of 4 0r 5 am. I have found if after she goes potty, I put her in bed with us and hold her until her excited wiggling and kissing is over, then let her go under the covers, she will go back to sleep. I did that yesterday and she slept until 8 am when Nick came charging into our room. Today she slept till a bit after 7 which is sure better than 6.

I need to cut Brad's hair today. The last "professional" haircut he had was really bad, and I couldn't believe we paid money for it. Thankfully Brad doesn't need haircuts as often as Nick does, and I do know how to cut it so it looks nice, I just hate cutting hair as it gets to my back. I can't see paying money for something I can do better myself and then I don't need to grumble when Steve brings him home from the salon. I can cut Nick's too, but they usually do a good job with his, so I will see how my back feels when I am done with Brad's haircut. Either way, they both need haircuts before they return to school on Monday.

I have a special order to do for a very nice customer. She wants one of my "Pet Travel Bags", but she wants it for a purse. We have finally got her fabric choices ironed out and I told her I would start it on Monday after the boys are back in school. I try not to work alot in my studio when the boys are home, although sometimes they like to come down with me and work on projects of their own. Brad likes to hand sew felt projects and Nick likes to make necklaces. See, I do have nerves of steel..LOL :o)

Sunshine

Wow, what awesome weather we are having. It is sunny and gorgeous here and going up in the upper 60's according to yesterdays forecast. I am thinking it would be a good day to get some more yard work done and maybe go see how our camper fared over the winter and how much yard work we have to do at our campsite. I know the kids would love to go play in the woods and on the playground. We are hoping to get to spend more time camping this summer than we did last summer. For those that don't know, we have our camper parked at the Odosagiah Bible conference campground in Machias.

Our trip to Hamilton, Ont. to visit Megan and Scott was a huge success. We had a safe trip and w a wonderful time was had by all. In the afternoon, while Scott was still at work, we took the kids to "The Royal Botanical Gardens". They were having a big display featuring backyard creatures. There were huge bugs like a spider, bee, caterpillar and beetles, and they were animated, and very realistic, other than they were gigantic. The botanical area was really cool too. They had two cork trees growing which normally grow in the Mediterranean and they actually felt like cork. We learned that cork trees are the only trees that can have the bark stripped off to make cork and the bark is regenerated and the tree survives just fine. They also had a great Koi pond and one of the Koi was huge and kept sticking its head out of the water. I am going to post some of the pics we took on my Facebook page in a little while. We had lunch and dinner at their house and headed home around 7pm. We took Karli and she had a ball with Megan's dogs, especially Jag, her puppy. She rode in her crate and cried alot for about he first 15 minutes after we started on our journey and then she slept. On the way back home she settled right in and slept all the way. On a scale of 1 - 10 I would rate the boys beavior yesterday at an 8 which is really good for them.

We did bring home a new houseguest from Megan's. We are now the owners of a "Skinny Pig". He is basically a hairless guinea pig, and he is adorable. Megan has had him for awhile, but she said that these animals love to be held and talked to and she just doesn't have the time to devote to him that she should. She wanted him where he would get lots of attention. He will definitely get that around our house..LOL After Bradly's hampster died of old age a few years ago, we had said he could get another one eventually, so we now have a gunnea pig instead of a hampster.....they don't run as fast when you set them down, which is really good for Steve and I as we are quite slow these days. LOL

I did want to say that we rented "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler over the weekend and it was really good. Kids and adults enjoyed it...and of course the ending was fantastic. The drive-in in the next town opens this weekend. There are two screens, and the hard part is that I want to see all four movies that are up. Of course the kids can't watch "Seventeen Again" or "I am Just Not That Into You", so that means if we go we would see "Monsters Veres Aliens", and "Hotel For Dogs", which I would like to see too. We shall see what the weather is going to be and how Brad and Nick's behavior is. :o)

Gorgeous Day

What a beautiful day this is looking to be. Lots of sunshine and beautiful blue skies. We are off on our road trip in a couple of hours....off to visit our oldest daughter and her hubby who live in Hamilton, Ont. What an awesome day to be out and about and checking out the scenery. The boys are excited, and they are going to love going over the "Peace Bridge". Hopefully we won't get hung up at the border. We are taking Karli (in her crate of course) and need to remember her paperwork from the vet as well as all of our birth certificates. I have a running list forming on my desk so we don't forget anything. It will take us about 2 1/2 hours to get there, depending on how long it takes to get through customs.

I finished a new bag yesterday. I call it a "Groovy Guitar Hipster bag" and it is made with Michael Millers "Groovy Guitars" fabric. Here is the link if you would like to check it out. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23745206 . I really like this fabric and am so glad I found an Etsy seller who carried it. Actually, this seller has an awesome assortment of fabrics. She has been closed for a few days due to a family medical problem, but here is her link if you are in the market for fabric. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5166892 .

We love watching 'American Idol". The judges finally used their "Save" last night. I think they pretty much had to or they would have been booed out of the place. LOL My favorite top three are Danny, Adam and Alison. I think Adam will probably win, but the other two are awesome. Alsion has an incredible voice, and a tremendous amount of talent, especially for only being 16 years old. I do get a little tired of Paula and Simon fooling around...it is distracting and unfair to the contestants when they are being critiqued and have everyone is distracted by their nonsense. Just my opinion, for what it is worth..LOL :o)

Another Early Morning!!

I don't mean to beat this subject to death, but it is so sad to be up at 6:30 am when your kids are on vacation, just because your puppy will wake up everyone if I don"t get up with her. I have to say though, that I am enjoying the peace and quiet. It could be worse, she had Steve up at 6:15 yesterday morning. LOL

Rachel told us about a new show that is on Tuesday evenings called "Cupid". Since NCIS and Mentalist were reruns last night, we took a chance and watched it. Steve and I both enjoyed it and will definitely start recording it on the DVR to watch at another time when our regular shows are new. If you like humorous romance, this show might be for you.

I finished up my new bag yesterday. I love the fabric, it has cute girly skulls wearing pink polka dotted hairbows. I got it listed last night in my Etsy shop. I ordered some fabric from another Etsy seller and it arrived Saturday. I needed more of the Alexander Henry "Inked" fabric and her price was good. That is probably my most popular fabric. I had been looking for a Micheal Miller print with guitars on it. She also carried that. I bought a yard and have a bag started with it that I hope to finish today. I got a request yesterday from a women who would like me to make her one of my "Doggie Travel Bags" in a different fabric and use it for a large purse. She will have room for her cameral and lenses when she wants to take them. We are still figuring out what fabric I will use. She picked the green polka dot with orange dots I used in another bag. Of course, I have three dressers full of fabric and that one I don't have any of...figures!! I told her I would go to the fabric store and see if they still carried it. I bought it a year ago, so I don't know if they will still have it. Of course it will just break my heart to have to make a trip to JoAnn Fabrics. :o)

Tuesday

Steve and I really enjoyed the hours that the boys were gone to their roller skating party. I actually got a new bag 3/4 finished. Unfortunately, when they got home we heard from the Skill Builder that Bradly had not behaved well for part of the time. She stressed to him that if they knew he could be trusted to tell the truth it would have been easier for them to take his word for things. He was also a smart alec when questioned about an incident. He got to sit out for the rest of skating time which was about 15 minutes. So, as soon as the worker leaves, Nick starts to tell me the things Bradly did while at the rink. Bradly proceeds to deny everything and claimed that Nick told all these lies about him and it was all Nick's fault he had to sit out. They were not home 10 minutes before Steve and I both had pounding headaches. I told them both that I wasn't there and I trust the workers to be fair and that they handled things so we did not need to hear any more. I also reminded Bradly that I was hardput to believe him too, because he had lied to me 2x before he even went skating. Both boys love to tattle and get the other one in trouble. Nick and I talked about the fact that some of the things he tattled on had nothing to do with him and all he was trying to do was get Bradly in trouble. This of course does not excuse Brad's behavior. Bradly has problems accepting responsibility for his actions. It is always someone elses fault and people are always lying about him.......amazing isn't it???

Easter day our gas hot water tank quit working. Steve couldn't get it lit for a couple of hours, and then it lit. As soon as the tank was hot, it quit working again. Thankfully we also have an electric hot water tank that is hooked up to 2 of our 3 bathrooms, so we were still able to shower. The plumber was here on Monday and tore it apart several times and it would not stay lit for him either. We bought this tank new from this man about a year ago, but he thinks it needs a part that he couldn't get until today. He will be back this afternoon and hopefully get it fixed. I am dreading to find out how much the cost will be for his services. We are hoping since we bought it from him in the first place that it won't be too bad.

I am starting to have doubts that Karli is ever going to be housebroke. All I can say it is a good thing she is so cute and adorable..LOL :o)

The Morning After

We had a very nice Easter Day. Everyone commented on how strange it was not to have my parents here. It was nice that they got to spend time with my step-sister and her boyfriend, plus they came early enough to attend church service with Mom and Dad. Naturally we had a few "moments" with the boys, but we weathered the rough spots and we all had a nice time. Megan and Scott left around 5 pm because they weren't sure how long of a wait they were going to have at the border. They texted about 7:15 pm that they were home safe and sound, so they made really good time. Ernie (my brother-in-law) left shortly after Megan and Scott did and Rachel is heading back to college this morning. Brad and Nick got bubble swords and sidewalk chalk, plus Nick got a plastic golf set for Easter (Brad got Pokemon cards for his collection and was thrilled about that). Rachel and I took the boys out to play with their new Easter things thinking it would be fairly warm as the sun was shining and after all, it is April, right? Well, it was so cold and breezy out, that we were freezing. Rachel played some gold with Nick, and then she headed in. Of course the boys were not cold at all and wanted to stay out longer. When we finally came in, someone mentioned that it wasn't even 40 degrees out!! No wonder I froze out there. LOL

The boys "Skill Builders" are taking them on a roller skating outing to the Pike Roller Rink this afternoon. Steve and I are really looking forward to the repreive, and the kids are excited about the skate party. If the weather if nice on Thurs. we are going to Canada to visit Megan and Scott. Megan was saying there is this big kids exhibit about bugs going on in Hamilton that she thought the boys would enjoy. There is all kinds of activities for them to do plus it is educational. I think she said it is at the museum near their house. They live within walking distance to the water, so we may take the kids and the dogs for walk to that park while we are there. I hope it works out so we can go. Megan has Thurs. off from work, so it would be great for all of us.

It will feel good to get back to eating healthy today as we did overeat on that luscious ham dinner yesterday. The good thing about the dinner was that although we ate more than we should have, most everything we had was "South Beach" friendly. Our menu included: baked ham, baked sweet and white potatoes, brussel sprouts, corn, sf applesauce, a pickle tray with sf pickles and also black and green olives and wheat dinner rolls. I made a salad with ff cottage cheese, sugar free orange jello, mandarine oranges and light coolwhip that was very yummy. Steve made a crustless. sf baked cheesecake for dessert which we served with a spoonful of sf cherry pie filling. It was all quite delicious.!! Now, being the dedicated dieters that we are, I would like to say we left the Easter candy alone, but I must confess to eating some chocolate and some jelly beans. Today we are right back at it again, so one day isn't going to hurt....it might even give our metabolism a kick start! Just in case though, I am not going near my scales today. :o)

Happy Easter

What a gorgeous Easter morning. The day we celebrate our Lord and Savior raising from the dead!! Today is the day that symbolizes the basis of our faith. When Nick woke me up all excited about getting up and having Easter, we laid in bed and I reminded him that yes, we are going to have fun celebrating Easter but that we all need to keep in mind why we are celebrating.

Megan and Scott arrived early yesterday afternoon. Rachel got here after she worked last night. They all helped hide Easter eggs for our annual Easter egg hunt. Megan was able to get me signed up for "Adsense" and fix my goofs from the day before. She then taught me how to adjust the HTML. I also got a new animated ad made for "project Wonderful" since one of the bags I had advertised had sold. I had the same graphic designer I found last time on Etsy redo this ad. If you ever need any graphic designing work done, please contact Lilybeandesigns.etsy.com. She is very easy to work with and she does great work and she does it quickly!!

I am looking forward to a great timne with my family today and I hope each of my readers have the same!! :o)

5 A.M.

Anyone who has been following my blog can probably figure out why I titled this post 5 a.m. Of course, as you already know, today was my day to get up with the kids and the puppy. I was dreading the fact that Karli would probably be up at 6:30 or so, so I devised a plan that I thought would buy me a little extra snooze time. The plan was, that whatever time Karli got up to go to the bathroom, instead of putting her back in her crate where she would start whining and crying around 6 a..m., I would put her in bed with us. This plan might have worked except for the fact that Nick has been sleeping with us ever since he had a really bad dream awhile ago. So this is what happened. Karli was up at 5 a.m. I took her to the bathroom which instead of the usual 5 minutes it usually takes her to do her duty, it took her between 10 and 15 minutes for her to do what I knew she did early every morning, and that was, to put it bluntly, poop. I knew if I didn't wait it out with her that I would be back up again with her within 15 minutes. So, finally she does her thing and back to bed we go. I decide to hold her in bed so she wouldn't wake anyone else up. She was so wiggly that I finally gave up that cause and let go thinking she would lay down and go to sleep. Oh no, this was a huge adventure. We have a kingsize bed, so there would be plenty of room for all of us...right? Karli gets so excited when she knows Nick is in bed so she starts jumping on him and licking him all up. He wakes up giggling but I know that because it is early, he will go back to sleep once she settles down. Well, finally I gave that up because she was not settling down. I put her on the floor, knowing the bed was too high for her to jump and get back in. Well, first she uncovered a piece of pink plastic and was gnawing that, so I had to get up and turn the light on to see what she had. I nicely got settled back in and Nick was dozing back off when Karli manged to jump high enough to get back on the bed. She started licking Nick again and the whole cycle started over again. Every time I put her on the floor, she would get back up. I still believed in my hopeful heart, that she was going to settle down and go back to sleep. That was a pipe dream. A little before 6 am I gave up and put her back in her crate. I was just nicely settling back down where I thought I would go back to sleep, only to have Nick start asking me if we could get up. I told him "no" it was still night time and we needed to go back to sleep. He kept pestering me, and by now the puppy was sleeping, so I told Nick he had to go to sleep and quiet down or he would wake up the puppy. Finally, I thought Nick went to sleep but he didn't, and I was snuggled down ever so nicely in my warm bed, when all of a sudden, the puppy is awke and whining to get up. Nick starts asking to get up again, so I finally cashed it in and got up at 6:45 am. By this time it was actually a relief to put the night behind me. So, instead of my great plan gaining me an hour of sleep, I actually lost at least that much and have now been awake since 5 am. I made some nice strong coffee as I knew I would be needing that caffeine jolt if I was to make it through the day..LOL

Well, yesterday I signed up for "Adsense" which is a service offered by google which allows you to sell ad space on your blog. I was moving right along in this process until I had to cut and paste the code into the body of the HTML. I spent about an hour and a half before supper working on it and another hour or so after supper until I was ready to pull my hair out. I have no clue if I suceeded or how badly I may have messed up the computer, but I finally quit and figured maybe my sweet Megan would straighten it all out after she arrives today (good thing she is wiz on the computer). I was so disappointed in myself because I have come so far in figuring out how to do things on the computer. Having my business on line has forced me to learn alot, but I have taken on even more and been so pleased that I could figure things out all by myself. Well, I know when to surrender and call in the reinforcements. :o)

Wait...Don't Leave!!!

Stop, don't leave!! You are at the right blog, I just did some cosmetic changes..LOL Let me know if you like the changes. I still surprise myself when I come here, but I like the changes and I hope everyone else does to.

Easter vacation is officially underway. Nick had a huge meltdown yesterday afternoon and we were hoping it wasn't a sign of what was to come. So far, today, he has done well. Bradly on the other hand has not. The puppy was raring to go at 6:30 am and was sure we all knew it. I was so glad it was my hubbys day to get up with the kids and the puppy. It is depressing to have to get up that early when there is no school. Naturally she woke Nick up so he has been up that long too. Wouldn't it be nice if she slept until 8 am tomorrow since it will be my day to get up?? Well, a girl can hope. LOL

I wonder if anyone else watched the preview of "South Land" last night on NBC?? We started watching and within 10 minutes we had changed the channel. It was dark and dreary....I mean I love shows like "NCIS", "Bones","The Mentalist", "Numbers", "CSI Miami" and "Castle", which all have a murder mystery involved, but those shows do not leave you feeling like "South Land". It was written by the same folks that wrote E.R. but I can guarantee this new show won't have a long runing like E.R. Of course we watched "Bones" last night and it was great as usual. Anyone else have an opinion, I would love to hear it.

The "Ticket Game" we are playing with the boys is going pretty well. They have both earned quite a few tickets and cashed some in. Bradly had to pay us 13 of his today...all for not resonding when spoken to the first time. Yes, I am sure you get the picture that he needs a lot of work in this area. The boys both enjoyed their "Theraputic Horseback Riding Class" on Wednesday. They have 5 more classes. Next week they will be assigned which horse they will be using. Nick had "Davey" last year and is hoping to get to ride him again because they are buddies. :o)

Lets Try that Again

Oops...what was I thinking? I got the title of my post down and then submitted it..LOL Must be the stress of the Easter vacation that begins tomorrow. Maybe the fact that it is starting on "Good Friday" will mean it will be a good one..LOL When Nick went to the Dr. on Tues. he increased his Klondine so that he is having a dose between 11 am and noon. The hope is that he will be a bit more mellow and have a better afternoon at school. I am really glad to have him have time to get used to the extra does over vacation as it does make him sleepy. Klonodine is actually a blood pressure medication for those who don't already know that. It is much less harmful that some of the other meds that we have tried. I wish he didn't need the medication, but the fact is that without it, he is so agitated and aggressive that he wouldn't make it socially at all. Our goal is to help him to keep his temper under control and have a wonderful life. He is only 7 years old, so the good news is that we got him help early (we started seeking help for him at age three). A bit of Nick's history is that we got him in foster care at age 9 months. We adopted Nick and his brother Brad almost 3 years ago. Nick was failure to thrive as he was so neglected. Sadly, we have learned that no matter how much love he recieves, we can never give him what he should have had when he was a baby..like being held and nurtured. This was crucial to the development of his brain. Now our best hope is to help him know how to find ways to work with his problems and to have a successful life despite the problems. I try not to think about what his little life must have been like that first 9 months and Bradly used to give us glimses of the terrible life they led. It breaks my heart and unfortuately I know there are so many other children out there suffering the same fate as Brad and Nick.

On a happier note, I finally completed the "Doggie Travel Bag" I have designed and been working on. Here is the listing so you can see how it turned out. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23430347 My hubby just took our other dog, Chloe, to the dog groomer for her monthly bath. The dog groomer, Mindy, thinks these bags would sell in her shop and would like some of my business cards to put out and a pic to display until I can get some bags done to take up to her. I need to get busy on a few more so she can have a couple displayed in her shop. The things is, people can special order and have whatever fabric print they would like. I was thinking these bags would make a great gift to someone who has a new dog. I would love some feedback on this new bag...any ideas for anything else it needs. I love comments so feel free. :o)

Easter Vacation is Upon Us!!

My Brother Turned 50 Today

I have been so busy today that I haven't gotten to post until now. I want to wish my brother Joe a very happy 50th birthday. I know he looks older than me, but he is actually 10 1/2 months younger..LOL I am very happy to have him join me being 50. I never called him and now it is almost 11 pm here so I am assuming it is too late to call as he lives in South Dakota. Darn, I did have the best intentions. :o(

We took the boys to counseling today and then because they were so well behaved, we took them to lunch at the Chinese Buffet which they love. We had not been there in a very long time. Steve and I both did quite well sticking to our diet. I ate a little white rice, but lots of green beans and chicken. We both felt quite good about exercising some self control..LOL We ran into Polly Shade and got to meet her hubby for the first time. He seemed very nice. We kept two of their foster children for a couple of nights this last December.

Megan and Scott are arriving on Saturday and will be here for Easter. Rachel will be home Sat. night. Reid has to work and Steve lives too far away. Steve's brother Ernie will be here for dinner. My parents are having my step sister and her boyfriend at their house for Easter dinner. We always have ham, but no mashed potatoes and gravy this year. We are baking white and sweet potatoes. Rachel will hopefully make her awesome cheesecake made with Splenda. :o)

Gonna Be a Busy Day

We have to go to a CSE meeting at school for Bradly today. He will also be attending the meeting which is at 1:45pm at the middle school he attends. He will ride home with us, and then we have to pick Nick up early from his school and head to Springville as Nick has a Dr. appointment. We are hoping to see if the Dr. has some ideas on how to improve Nick's behaviors. Tomorrow both boys are starting their "Theraputic Horseback Riding" class. They are both looking forward to going and we are hoping it will help them learn to get along better.

If you missed "Castle" last night, it was a good one. Rachel thinks we should try watching a new show, "Cupid". She watched the first episode and thought it was quite good. Sunday we watched the Country Music Awards of course. We thought it was very good and agreed with the choices made for the top honors. The only thing that bugged me was the singer, Jamey Johnson. I think his singing is awesome, but his beard is just not a good look as far as I am concerned. He is probably a nice looking guy under that nasty beard. Some beards are fine, but not this one. UGH. I guess I am opinionated on that subject..LOL

Steven called last night (our 25 year old son who lives in Texas), and he has a new job. The last ones have been through an employment agency, so not really reliable. This one is in Galveston at a nice restraunt and he will be doing something he loves to do...cooking!! He found an apartment near the job as it would be quite a drive from where he is living now. The apartment is near the beach which means lots of fishing so he is quite happy about it. If he decides to take the apartment, it wouldn't be for a few weeks. He is trying so hard to make this move and lifestyle change work for him and he keeps running into problems. We are hoping this job will be a great one for him. :o)

Another Pound

Oh Yeah....I have lost another pound and it feels good!! It may be a slow process, but the important thing is that my weight is moving steadily downward. I am at the 30 pound loss mark, give or take a pound. I feel so much better physically which is a huge bonus of course. Once again I had no bread yesterday. I try to have a couple of days a week and not have any bread in my diet. For breakfast yesterday I had this great hot ricotta cheese dish that Megan found the recipe for the last time we were on South Beach. For dinner we had a big spinach salad with chicken breast, walnuts, cheddar cheese, grape tomato, cucumber and onion. We topped this wonderful salad with the hot Chinese dressing recipe I posted a couple of months ago. For supper, I had scrambled eggs with onion and a piece of piece of crumbled bacon. I don't think I have ever mentioned the snack we often have in the evening. The original recipe actually started from South Beach, which is 1 sugar free fudge cycle, placed in a bowl and zapped in the microwave just long enough to melt it off the stick. To this, you add a small spoon of peanut butter and some light cool whip. Mix it well and it is really great. We have started simplifying this process and lessening the calories. We discovered one day when we didn't have any sugar free fudge cycles, that we could make this with the same scoop of peanut butter and light coolwhip and using a squirt of sugar free chocoalate syrup instead of the fudge cycle. It is just as good and much easier. You do need to be careful not to go overboard with the syrup as too much sugar free syrup does not taste very good. This little snack takes the place of the very fattening ice cream we used to eat many nights while watching t.v.

Today I am hoping to finish my "Doggie Travel Bag" I started making on Friday. I am looking forward to getting it finished and seeing the finished product. I am making sure to write down all my dimensions in case I these bags are a hit and I need to make more. I am just being optomistic. LOL

The kids are going to be off for 10 days beginning this Friday. Steve and I are not looking forward to those 10 days. Saturday went fairly well this past weekend, but Sunday was a nightmare. Both boys were not behaving well at all. There were moments we weren't sure we would make it to their bedtime and maintain our sanity. LOL I will say that they did both earn some tickets yesterday. Nick wore his glasses more than usual due to being rewarded with a ticket for each 15 minutes he wore the glasses. I sent an envelope and tickets to school so his aide can reward him for wearing the glasses. He also gets a ticket for each 1/2 hour he remains safe (no hitting ect.). Bradly finally got some tickets after he figured out he had to answer immediately when we spoke to him in order to earn the tickets. He didn't earn any in the morning as he kept ignoring us. When he saw Nick getting tickets and we kept reminding him of what he needed to do, he started earning some to. Steve said Bradley's behavior was aweful this morning which means no Game Boy or computer after school today. I guess I should try and be more optomistic about the vacation coming up. We were worried about Christmas vacation too, but it went wonderfully. Hopefully this vacation will be just as good. :o)

Addition to Sundays post

I didn't realize until I posted todays blog update, that I didn't have the addy for that great Ersy shop typed so you could click and go. I shall try it again..LOL
http//:www.dpholkdesigns.etsy.com

I Found an Awesome Shop on Etsy

This morning while I was browsing around in the Etsy forums, I made a discovery. Go to www.dpholkdesigns.etsy.com and check out her shop. She has these beautiful, 3" fused glass stars that would be fantastic as suncatchers or hanging from your Christmas tree. Upcycling is so good for our environment and this artist is doing her part. She takes wine bottles and cleans them well, then she fires them in her kiln until they flatten. The end result is some amazing cheese trays which come with a cheese knife. This shop would be a great place to buy a gift for someone who likes one of a kind things. I would love to hear your comments once you have taken a look.

I got to sleep in until 9 am today. It seemed so great to let Steve deal with the boys and the puppy this morning. We actually started the "Ticket Game" with the boys this morning. We talked about it alot yesterday and Brad and Nick decorated their containers for holding their tickets. Nick has earned 7 tickets already today for wearing his glasses. he gets 1 ticket for each 15 minutes he wears them. He has them off now, but has done very well this morning. Brad has only 1 ticket as he gets a ticket each time he responds the first time when spoken to. He has a bad habit of ignoring us until we speak 2, 3 or 4 times. This is why we chose this target skill for him. I think within a few days we will see a huge improvement in this area.

So I wonder if any of my readers have been watching the "Nora Roberts" movie series that has been on the Lifetime channel the past 3 Saturday evenings. Rachel and I are huge "Nora Roberts" fans, so I have been watching each of them. "Northern Lights" was my favorite. This was on the first week, and sad to say I can't even remember what played the second week. I guess that says a lot about that one..LOL Last night, "High Noon" was playing and it was also very good. My hubby even enjoys these movies. I guess I like her books because many of them have a mystery to solve, but they always have some great romance. If you have missed the first three but would like to watch the last one, tune into the "Lifetime" channel Saturday night at 9 pm. :o)

Please Remind Me

This morning I really need to reminded of why we wanted to get a puppy...LOL Karli had me up at 2 am, I took her to the bathroom and then put her back in her crate. She had me up again at 5 am and she just wanted to play, but finally went to the bathroom. I put her back in her crate and she proceeded to whine and yip until 7:15am. By this time, she had woken up Nick who was teasing to get up because Karli was annoying him. Thus started my Saturday morning. Now that she is up she is full of energy and looking completely darling.

Out meeting at school went well yesterday. They all liked the idea of the "Ticket Game" which we are starting today. Nick's teacher was very willing to reward tickets to him during school hours. He will recieve 1 ticket for ever 15 minutes he wears his glasses without removing them. He will also receive 1 ticket for every 1/2 hour he is safe..no hitting, throwing stuff ect. We are hoping when he really gets that these tickets are like money and he can buy great things, that we will really see a change in his behavior. I have to keep being optomistic!! I think Bradly will do well with the game. Brad had a great day at school yesterday. His class went on a field trip to HSBC Arena and had a tour, and of course got lots of Sabers Hockey info especially since there was a game last night. They got to ride the Zambini while it was smoothing the ice. He had a wonderful time and both teachers wrote notes in his agenda that he behaved very well. He appologises to his teacher for the whole fake sleeping thing too.

It seems so strange seeing Megan with short hair. She got it cut on Thursday and it really looks cute on her, but it will take a while to get used to her not having all of that long, thick blonde hair. She got some dark purple in it in the front, which actually looks good. I never would have thought of doing that, but I think it was a good touch.

I did start my "Doggie Travel Bag" yesterday. I can't wait to work on it some more. I think it is going to be really nice. I looked on Etsy and only found one other seller that carries a travel bag for dogs. Her bag is totally different than mine and cost $60. I am planning that miine will actually come with certain items also, which hers does not. We will see. Either way, it is so much fun creating something brand new. :o)

School Meeting

We have been requested to come into school this morning for an informal, brainstorming meeting concerning Nicholas. We plan on sharing "The Ticket Game" that we are starting tomorrow at home. We are asking them to give Nick tickets at school for wearing his glasses and for being safe (no hitting, throwing, pounding, or overturning furniture ect). I am pretty sure his teacher will be more than willing to comply. Our Waiver worker, Charity will be going with us, which we appreciate. Next Tues. we go back to the psychiatrist and discuss how Nick's doing and see if he has any ideas. He is the best child psychiatrist we have ever seen. Dr. McPhearson interacts with the kids and actually does the weight check, B/P and pulse himself. Somtimes he even makes paper airplanes with the kids. He also really listens to what Steve and I say about how things are going or if we have any imput about his treatment. Charity (our Waiver worker) thinks we should ask the Dr. about Nick perhaps having a mood disorder. The behavioral specialist at school said they have been graphing Nick's behavior and they can see a definate cyclying. I am hoping to take a copy of that with us to the Dr.

Bradly pulled a new one yesterday at school. I got a call from the nurse that Bradly was falling asleep in class and the teacher had to wake him up three times. He told the nurse that we never gave him his medicine in the morning, which was totally untrue. I told her that no way he was really falling asleep because he never falls asleep during the day, and that we did give him his medicine. She put him on the phone where he proceeded to use his half dead voice and continue the act with me. After he got home from school we confronted the issue. It took at least 15 minutes before he quit lying and admitted that he was taking a test that he didn't want to take, so he faked sleeping until the teacher sent him to the nurse. He admitted lying about the medication ect. He may drive me crazy, but at least I can honestly say he is pretty original in his exploits. Oh, and when he found out he lost t.v. yesterday and had to go to bed early (so he would be well rested :o) for school) he was very unhappy. He then tried to tell me that he did behave in school except for that, so he shouldn't lose t.v. LOL In his dreams!!!

I do have a confession to make. I have started drinking coffee once in a while again. On these mornings when I am so tired due to lack of sleep, I really need the caffeine boost. Oh, and more good news on the dieting front...I was down another pound yesterday. :o)

Sunshine and Warm Weather

What a gorgeous day complete with sunshine and temperatures in the 60 degree range. I know now that Spring really is here. I can see I will have to venture outside today !! Actually we need to go to Walmart after the kids get home from school today. Nick needs a new pair of sneakers and we need to buy a roll of tickets. We have most of the details ironed out so we can start playing "The Ticket Game" with the kids this weekend. I have such high hopes that this game, geared to modify behavioral issues with the kids, will work as well for us as it has for other families. We have chosen three target behaviors for each of the boys, that we will be using the tickets for. Each boy will have a contract to sign which lists what they need to do, We have come up with a list of 10 fun things the kids can spend their tickets on. The prizes range from "buying" extra computer or Gameboy time or an extra 15 minutes to stay up after bedtime to a trip to the dollar store to make 1 purchase. The kids can spend their tickets on a trip to Blockbuster to chose a movie, or pick a game that mom and or dad plays with them. The "cost" will be determined by the value of the prize. I need to get poster board so we can post the number of tickets that will be earned for each behavior and then one with the things that can be purchased with the tickets and how much each will cost. Of course, if for instance Nick earns 5 tickets on Monday for wearing his glasses in school, but then on Tues he refuses to wear them, he will owe us 5 tickets. They will each have a container to keep their tickets in and they can save them for a bigger prize or spend them each day. I will update my blog frequently for those of you interested in our progress.

I have been drawing a design for a new bag I am hoping to start working on today. As an owner of two dogs, I know that when we go somewhere and take one of them with us, there are certain things you need to take along, especially if we are going to be gone any length of time. How convenient it would be to have a doggie travel bag which would have room for all the items we would need to have with us for a day trip with our pooch. My thoughts are that there will be pouch big enough for a bottle of water as well as a pocket for the doggie "poop" bags, one for a toy as well as one for their brush. I plan to make the bag deep enough to accomodate two plastic bowls and ziplock bag of food. Hopefully I can get the idea that is in my head and I have drawn on paper, to turn out as I have envisioned. When I get it done, I will be sure to post a pic so you can all see the finished product. :o)

Puppy Antics

Our darling puppy, Karli, has now figured out how to jump up into a dining room chair and then jump onto the table. We didn't know she had acquired this talent until yesterday while we were eating lunch. Monday night after dinner she kept running through the house with unused napkins, so I knew they were not from dinner. When I went into the dining room, the napkin holder and the salt and pepper shakers were tipped over. I assumed for some reason that our cat had knocked them over and some of the napkins had gone on the floor. I guess we know now what really happened.

Bradly was more annoying than usual this morning. He was purposfully doing anything he could to yank my chain. Needless to say I could not wait for his bus to get here. I kept telling myself to just ignore him, as my blood pressure steadily climbed. I wish I could understand why he is willing to lose some of his favorite afternoon activities, just to annoy me. Now when he comes home he will be all remorseful and tell me he felt bad all day because of how he acted in the morning. He will feel bad that he hasn't earning Game Boy or computer time, and I will ask him why he didn't care about those things in the morning when he was being so obnoxious. He never knows the answer. Well, I am going to have a good day despite how it started. Honestly, the reason I dread my morning of geting up early to get him off to school isn't so much the getting up early, but rather putting up with his behavior. :o(

Ok, putting how I am feeling on my blog is good therapy and I feel a bit better after sharing. On another note, I got a phone call from Steven last night. He moved into a new apartment yesterday. The place where he was living was getting a bit annoying. The landlords not only went in to check his apartment, but went through his personal items and moved them around. The husband gets drunk and tends to mistreat the wife and Steve was feeling like he was the middleman and just wanted out. He was so blessed when he mentioned this to a guy he works with, because the man and his wife and son had just moved back to Texas because his mom had had a stroke. They were living with her, and she has an apartment with a 1 bay garage that goes with it for rent. The guy told Steve he could rent it. The apartment is in Pasadina, which is a much better area than he was living in. The rent is the same as the other place, but the utilities are included with this one and there is cable and internet connection also. He hasn't had cable in months and was so thrilled to get this place. It is all furnished and is very nice. It will only take him a few extra minutes to get to work int he morning. He knew the electric bill at the other place would start to get higher due to running the airconditioner more with the hot weather starting. We are so happy for him.

My kids and my neices have been so faithful about handing out my business cards and spreading the word of my business. Both of my daughters friends have bought purses from me. Yesterday, a friend of my neice, Elizabeth, contacted me about ordering a purse with a matching wallet and change purse. She had seen the purse I had given Liz and wondered where she got it. My neices out in South Dakota have been wonderful about handing out my business cards too and even Steven in Texas has asked for some cards and has handed them out. I hope my family all know how much I appreciate their promotion of my shop. :o)