Today I Mingled and Became a Distributor

Tonight was the city wide mix and mingle. A place for all the work-at-home moms to get together and exchange business cards and hand out samples, raffle off items and drink at the cash-bar!  I did not get myself organized enough in time with the move to be an official 'vendor' for this event but I did bring along a few hat samples and met up with some other amazing women running their own businesses.

I've been sucked in folks..    to dōTERRA Essential Oils!   Website and official order forms to come for all my friends and family (you'll know I'll be on you to order through me).  I am so excited about this.  While I did sample and think 'wow, what a great idea!' a couple of times in the night, I did spend the majority of the time talking to the lady that sells dōTERRA and finding out all the amazing things I can do for my family using these all natural products!    More information and self-trials to come.

I did manage to sell 2 crochet hats at the mingle even though I wasn't an official vendor, so I call it a win (made $40 bucks, spent about $200...) The best part was that I got to curl my hair, put on a little makeup and leave my kids with their kind and generous Aunt while I had a couple hours to myself.  Yay! I may or may not have come home with a hot pink hair extension as well (for charity, I had to!),  and I maybe might have done a self-portrait in the mirror to show off the new addition.  Does anyone else feel weird when they do that?

On another note, I am completely obsessed with Pandora.  I love the music and I'm always so impressed they know what I like by simply putting in one favorite song.  But today it took me someplace I wasn't sure I wanted to go and it was a strange feeling.  Hello high school memories, damn you Pandora!  Music is so powerful, today it turned an *almost 30* mom of two into a heartbroken teenager all over again! It's dance party music all day tomorrow for sure.

I repainted the kitchen walls from the awful grey to a tan.  I like it much better but it's still not perfect.  No idea what I'm going to do with this space!!!  I may just have to bite the bullet and do the tiling that I wanted in the first place.  At least the paint I used today was free, it was leftover from the bedroom makeover the last owners did.  Maybe my Hubby will have another idea, he always claims to have the brains in the family.

Today I Cleaned the Playground and Painted Some More

Today was a busy day, and it felt like it.  I always tend to have those after nights the baby doesn't sleep.  Exhaustion must make me feel like moving.

Today I finished painting the walls of the playroom, a nice tan color called Camel.  It goes extremely well with the green for the chalkboard wall and the fabric I bought for curtains (oh yes I finished those today too) but I'm not really feeling the room yet.  I keep going back and forth over whether to paint the trim white, leave it the oak color it is now, or try to stain in darker.  I'm so torn over all the wood in this house and it's so frustrating!  I love wood but I don't particularly love the color of our wood, it doesn't go with our furniture, and they have SO MUCH of it. I'm sure one day it will all become clear in my head and I can be satisfied.  Maybe I'm just second guessing myself after the grey kitchen blunder.

I also spent our normal sunset play time out with the kids pushing them on the swings and finally picking up the garbage that the last family left in the sand part.  It looks like it was a lot of leftover scrap material from a shredded trampoline so that was easy to pick up, just had to do it.  I also raked the whole sandy part on the house side of the acre and moved the larger rocks, weeds as I came to them, and dead leaves, sticks, etc off to the side so I can take a shovel out there tomorrow and load them into a trash bin.  It looks a MILLION percent better.

The baby ducks are getting more comfortable in the yard and follow us around like baby ducks do. They are so cute.  I am less worried about Oakley (dog) and Jason Aldean (older duck) than I was before so I can relax my guard on the tiny babies and play with the kids more.  Yay for less stress!

I'm sad I'm missing a girls night tonight, Hubby took off last night for his elk hunt and I don't have a reliable babysitter that can come watch my kids late at my house so I'm stuck here.  That's usually the case and I really need to work on some solutions so I can get out and enjoy the time with my friends.  Tonight they were doing a closet exchange and a 31 bags party, both of which I was interested in but oh well, I am also looking forward to watching some online episodes of Criminal Minds and then going to bed early. Hope Hayden sleeps tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Sarah

Today I Painted a Magnetic Wall

Another shout out to Pinterest!

I loved the idea of putting up a magnetic chalkboard wall for the kid's playroom.  I had all these visions of magnetic sight words and rotating art as well as a place where they can just scribble on the walls without getting in trouble.  Queue Rustoleum's Magnetic Primer found on Pinterest.  

Okay, this product does not work well enough for the size of wall I was trying to do, some magnets stick but none of my sight word magnets hold at all (yes I did order them, I like to fulfill my visions prematurely).  Hopefully I can get another can and at least do half the wall strong enough magnetic to actually serve a purpose. I have high hopes for this wall! 

Today We Got New Babies

New babies... ducks that is!

We took a visit to our favorite local feed store today so my cowboy son could feed the steers and lambs and they had brought in new ducklings from the hatchery!  I have been looking for baby ducks for a while so that Jason Aldean wouldn't feel so alone (just catching up... yes Jason Aldean is my son's duck).  Not that I think he knows he's a duck since Chuck Norris disappeared (our other duck, we let our son name his own ducks).  Oakley and Jason are in for a change, poor Oakley already thinks he's a duck.

Welcome Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, and Ducky.  Sometimes I don't know if my paint fumes get to my kid, haha!

Today I Counted My Blessings

Does it get better than this?  Peeking out from my comfy patio furniture at my two babies and my two 'other' babies and seeing everyone playing so peacefully in our new home.  Trees to climb, grass to lay in, dogs and ducks to pet and play with.  Life is good.

Today We Got to Spend More Time Outside

To say we are enjoying our new backyard is an understatement....

In other house news, I painted our kitchen pop outs today (island and pantry).  It was the same nice, deep, shade of brown that I used for the mural in Landon's room.  It turned out grey in the kitchen.... FAIL. I can't stand it but now I'm second guessing myself as to what will look good in that space. So I'm sitting on that project and browsing through Pinterest until I know what I want to do.  Actually, I WANT to put in faux stone, but pricing that our puts both those small spaces at over 200 bucks to tile, so I'm waiting and browsing until I can find what I want to do that I can afford.  

Let's go eat dirt!

Today We Did It (Dora Anyone?)

My Facebook status says it all:

Today... I survived. Don't know how we did it, but we did it. Thank you SO VERY MUCH to my wonderful family that helped pull it all together. Mom K, Dad K, Jenna, Christina, Jonathan and Ryhan, we love you guys so much!! We officially have an empty, clean, and trash free house we can hand keys off for tomorrow and let that stress officially leave my life. New house is set up great, just the garage to wade through but it will come with time.

We packed, we moved, we cleaned and loaded. We unpacked and cleaned on the other side. I could not thank everyone enough times for all the work they did today for our move while Casey was away guiding. I don't think I would have made it without all of them.  I am very proud of the state of the rental we are leaving and hope the Realtor and new renters agree. Goodbye awesome orchard house.

*Update:  Everyone is thrilled.  We get our full deposit back and the Realtor commented they had never seen that place so clean. 

Today She's Extra Cute

Thank you so much again to the Nana, and my beautiful Sis-in-Law Jenna for all their help moving.  Got the last of the 'furniture' that the boys couldn't get last night and all the random things from the house.  Just the garage (eek) and yard to do with the family on Saturday.

We also snapped this super cute pic of Haydie-bug rocking Jenna's 'look'.

Today We Made the Move

It's official!  We're sleeping in the new house tonight.

Poor Hubby and my sweet brother-in-laws are just finishing up a final load and probably won't be done until around 1am.  That's what happens though when they hunt all weekend instead of move!  At least we're in the final countdown of having to worry about two different houses and going back and forth. This place already feels like 'home', can't wait until we really make it our own!

Today We Got Some Excellent Pictures

I totally stole this idea from my friend, and even used the same location (her house) to create these wonderful pictures for our new living room.  These photos were taken at sunset and simply 'boosted' to get the contrast casting a silhouette only.  Some of my new favorites!

We were over at my friend Amy's house to celebrate her daughters (and my future daughter-in-laws, just ask the kids) 3rd birthday!  I just love these friends so much, I would NOT be disappointed if my son was smart enough to marry Emma for real.  

Happy Birthday Fairy Princess!  

 

Today I Did A Mural

Today was a day of packing, moving and more painting.

I got to borrow Nana's art projector and finish up the cabin mural for Landon's room.  I love it!

Today We Bought A House and I Started Painting

We didn't really buy a house today I guess, since it's an incredibly lengthy process, but if one day is THE day it's closing.  Hubby and I signed about a million sheets of paper and got the keys to our beautiful home we've been stressing over and making arrangements for since August.

I.AM.THRILLED  (but also nervous, apprehensive, a little regretful "what did we do!?", anxious to get decorating, excited to be grownups, so ready to be DONE with the move)

First thing I did today, painted Landon's room.  Some people have asked me why I didn't go with a cowboy or rodeo theme but really, enough of his day is about being a cowboy. I wanted a nice place for him to relax and sleep, and feel familiar and comfortable at the same time.  I painted his room the same wonderful color of blue we had at the orchard house.  Except I used better paint.  It was worth every penny of the extra $6 it cost, one coat baby!

Again, thanks to the Nana for being there to watch my kids while I get crafty. We could not survive without you.

Today We Picked Some Apples

I never thought that walking into a mosquito infested apple orchard to wrestle rotten apples out of my daughters hands while ducking the swings of the metal claw used to pick good apples by my son would be so much fun.  It was.  All kidding aside about the 'bad' parts of our apple picking adventure, we really enjoyed the chance to get out there and work, or in Hayden's case, sample the dirt.  This little orchard is literally only an apples throw (haha) away from our house and since today is the last full day of life being NOT CRAZY we thought it would be a good idea to check it out.   I'm also going to love all the magical things that will arrive in canning jars that the Nana is going to make out of the 20lbs of apples we picked!  Apple pie in a jar for Thanksgiving!!

This little guy loves a 'job'

Today everything was "Bir".  I'm hoping she meant bird and not bear!

Today I Took My Cowboy To The Rodeo

Today was a very special day for Landon. 

Anyone that knows my son, knows that he lives, breaths, eats, sleeps RODEO.  This kid knows all the rodeo events and has his own versions of each of them.  He has three separate ride-able horses here at the house and they each get a turn or twelve daily.  Jeans are "cowboy cut jeans" and everything cool must be something that "Jason Aldean" would do.   Funny stuff I tell you. 

Anyway we took Landon to the fair today along with our cousins Lizzie and Austin and their mom.  We had a great time looking at animals, watching the lumberjack show, and eating bbq brisket (yum!)  After the cousins and aunt left we headed over to the rodeo where my boy won the hearts of all the dedicated cowboys just with his excitement an ongoing commentary. It was precious and I wish I had my videocamera for it.  Not so much for the epic meltdown on the way to the car when it was over. Oh well, cherish the good moments right?

Today I Choked All Day

A constant feeling of choking is just not a good day. Last night I took my two pills I take every night, without any issue and instantly choked.  I got some water and felt a little better.  I woke up 4 hours later feeling like I couldn't breathe or clear my throat.  Drank some more water and went back to bed. Woke up this morning and it hadn't gone away, 20 hours later, it still hasn't gone away. Ugh.

Never taking a pill without applesauce or a gallon of water again!! What a terrible week to have a bruised esophagus.

Today I Have a Walker!

Hayden is on the move!

Today we had a wonderful playdate with a new organized city-wide group of moms. I'm very excited about this group, we have so much potential to help one another out and this is a great way to communicate with lots of new moms!  I had donated one of my hats to the raffle and it was nice to see how many people were loving it and putting in tickets. The group has a mix-and-mingle coming up full of stay-at-home mom businesses so I'll try to get ready for that. Maybe one day crochet will be all I do for 'work'.  

Today I flew home…

Today was an early start to a long day.  I don’t know what it is about being alone and bored, but it makes me sleepy!  After a pretty good rest last night I attended day two of my state-wide training conference, stopping for lunch and a couple little breaks and then sitting in an airport for hours before the long travel home. 

Super exciting day, I should have brought some yarn.

Today I Was Lazy With My Best Friend

I have a convert!  I introduced my best girl Abby to the wonderful show in “Once Upon A Time” and now she can’t get enough.  A late night marathon led to her waiting for my breaks and lunch snuggled up in bed watching as many as she could fit in.  It was so nice to have her here still for lunch. I only wish she could have stayed the entire session!  Abby did drive home this afternoon but it was hopefully a great getaway for her too, us wild things watching Netflix on our weekend away in downtown Austin. Training was long but informative.  I really enjoy the people I will be hopefully working with this year.  Seems like our program will transfer into Texas with not a lot of adjustment, a lot of the practices in place here are what our standard is.  Now just to get the parents of Texas understanding that!   

Today I Went On My First Business Trip

Today I flew away from my husband and children for the first time in order to attend a two day training for my new career as Texas State Director for my tutoring company.  I felt confident that I would fit in, thanks to my friend Jodi and her sudden desire to replace everything in her closet!  I managed to shop a little for some business type outfits that were still young and fun so I knew I’d at least look the part.  The best part of my day easily though was that I had convinced my best friend, Abby, to join me on my trip!  I had arranged to have a stopover in her area at least to have a visit, but as God had made sure things were to be special this weekend, the airlines ended up giving me a voucher for $150 dollars on my next flight while allowing me to drive the last leg of my flight with Abby even though they had quoted me a $400 change fee less than 30 minutes before!  Silly airlines.  We enjoyed the good long talk on the drive and then got to explore downtown Austin for several hours (Longhorn Stadium and the Capitol) before ordering a big meal and some fruity cocktails.  Both of us didn't know what to do without our kids hanging on us and couldn't quite bring ourselves to go ‘wild’.  It was nice to visit though, and eat hot food with cold drinks, a rare treat.

Today I Prepared For A Trip, and Endured Chaos

Poor Momma’s... sometimes those days are just those days.  Mine, surprisingly enough, was okay but I got to witness and be around both my sister-in-law’s rough one as well as a friends. First of all my poor sister-in-law taking advantage of a toddler free shopping trip had lost her IPhone in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby that turned into a two hour escapade of me driving across town to meet the girl who found it (and who had called the last number dialed, me, to return it) and then back again to my very stressed sister who didn't know why on earth anyone might have stolen her phone and what she would have to do to ensure her personal and kids information was kept safe.  She was more than relieved to find me in her driveway with the phone (there was no way to let her know I was on my way to get it or return) and then she joined along to eat dinner with some other friends.

My friend on the other hand was having a normal day with a toddler and a baby, the kind consistent of puke, accidents, and the interesting adventures of missing dogs but we all got it sorted out in the end. Super women are we.  The men of course, stumbled in 10 minutes after the chaos subsided, the conquering bird hunters, stress free.  Punks.

For dinner we had fried some of the Axis deer from the August hunt and it was amazing as usual.  If only my munchkins would have been there to play with their cousins and friends but alas they were already with their other Aunt because tomorrow I fly to Austin for my first business trip! 

Today I Went Back to Blonde

I did it again.  I put my life and my *hair* on the line at the beauty school to get an updated look with a side of risk at the hands of a fairly new student.  And again, it turned out okay. I know I can tell the difference between a ‘professional’ and these practice jobs but really, I just can’t bring myself to spend $150 on a color and cut (or not even a cut in some cases!)  No matter how much money we bring in I don’t know if I’ll ever be there. I just need one of my girls to go to beauty school themselves and arrange a co-op of services. I love those kind of deals, everybody wins.

Anyway, I guess I'm blonde again. I think it’s pretty extreme but the husband commented on it the moment he saw it and said he liked it so I guess he’s the one that counts.   Four hours in the chair is making me reconsider my thriftiness though, a mom of two just doesn't have that kind of time.  Bless our Nana for her willingness to babysit.

Other things I did today… deposit checks in the bank, drop off a donated crochet hat for an upcoming local fundraiser, the post office to mail away three new orders, and a visit with my friend to ‘shop’ through her closet. Pretty full day. 

Today I Launched An Etsy Shop

I bit the bullet, decided to throw caution to the wind, and signed up for the wonderful world of Etsy selling.  Not that I’m in the middle of buying two new properties, not that I’m starting a new nearly full-time job that requires travel, not that I have two kids under three and a perpetually untidy house that need attention.  Not that we’re moving in just THREE WEEKS. Oh well, sleep is overrated.

I’m so excited!  Go check out CrossWesternCrochet   Get some orders in, just in time for Christmas! 

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom! 

Today I Needed This

http://rachelmariemartin.blogspot.com/2012/08/dear-sweet-mom-who-feels-like-she-is.html

Introduction

I had this idea...

One day I was reading an email about a man that asks his wife exactly what she did all day.  The rest of the story goes on to explain how he came home the next day to an absolute chaos and when he went to see if his wife was alright she explained "You know how you ask me what I do all day?  Well today I didn't do it!"

I love this story, and although my lovely husband is smart enough to never utter those words to me, I do feel like a lot of what us stay-at-home mom's go through is ignored.  I also try to realize that we are blessed because yes, some days we do stay in our pajamas all day long, take the easy way out on dinner, and get down on ourselves because certainly Ms.Thing down the street would never do that!  (not the case).  There are also days where we feel like we can do ANYTHING, and can feel wonderful that we managed to keep the children fed, clean, and learning, the house spotless and even a DIY project or two completed. I love those days. Let's keep it real here visitors, there are some days I'm Supermom, others, I don't even get a shower.

I created this blog as a place to motivate myself to keep up with the activities I plan and do for my family, the crafting projects that turn out (or don't) and the wonderful ways I experiment with Pinterest.

Hope you enjoy your visit!
Sarah