WAAAAHHH!!!

OMG I'm so nervous - Gracie is at pony camp this week. I know she'll have a blast but I can't help but worry about her. My little baby girl off at pony camp :-(

Maybe I'll get a lot done this week. When I pick her up this afternoon - I gotta run to athens and get her a lunch box! Sooo... if you have a moment, say a prayer that God watches over her and that I can relax and enjoy my week!

Update for today...

So I think we'll be postponing our vacation to Savannah for now. Chris still hasn't heard if he's officially in that class and we just don't have the cash on hand right now since we've given up our credit cards. Right now we're in the Saving stage of the book. We should be out of it hopefully by the middle of August. Then we hope to have all our credit cards and hopefully the durango paid off by the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, we really DO NOT have much CC debt, it's just we were using them for the extras until Chris would get his overtime check and then we'd pay them off. Now we're paying them off so later we can enjoy Chris' overtime checks instead of them already being spent.

I've got a new hat on my website! I love the way it turned out - the perfect halloween kitty cat, although it can be custom made in any color/size. Gracie was thrilled to pieces when she saw it and I told her it was hers to keep. It's rare when I actually have time to make my kids something. That will get better though as I take a much needed break from ebay. Click the pic to view the kitty!

Well, Gracie starts pony camp on Monday. She's going to flip! It's an all day, all week camp put on by teenage homeschoolers. They are going to do a bible study, horse care, horse riding, swimming, and crafts. She is going to love it. It will be good for her. We've got to get her to relax more and stop being so high strung. Gracie has had "tics" since birth and lately they are becoming much more noticable and more frequent. The other day it was almost constant while we were reading our bedtime story. We take her to the doctor in 2 weeks where we should find out more about this. Pray that it's nothing serious - I do not think it's tourettes syndrome becuase hers doesn't get violent and no vocal outbursts. It's mainly when she has to sit still for something (i.e. reading, or dinnertime). But it also occurs if she's nervous, tired, or anxious. Those of you that know Gracie know that she can literally bounce off walls! LOL - she never loses her energy. Of course Chris and I are concerned, as you never want anything to be wrong with your kids.

Stop Keeping Up With The Jones...

Cuz the Jones' are BROKE! Some words of wisdom from my current book. My dear friend Angie told me about this book on finances. It's called The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey. What an AWESOME and ENCOURAGING book. We are planning on following it and hopefully beinng out of debt and having the durango paid off by the end of the year. It's going to be hard, but it will be WELL worth it! Less stress and having MORE money in our pocket after a little sacrifice. So DO NOT tempt me! We are not sure if we are still going on our trip to Savannah - Chris has gotten a raise and we have our garage sale cash so we might still go. Soooo... wish us luck in saving/paying bills :-) Thanks Angie! You are the best!

Hurray!!

Well the playground that we bought ummmm.... about 4 months or so ago is FINALLY PUT UP!!! The kids had a blast on it!

And my little bear turned 9 months today!! Look at this wild guy!

And here is some of Gracie's modeling. Click the pic to view the rest.

Saturday - July 21

Good afternoon all. I'm sitting here avoiding cooking dinner - I have a pound or so of ground beef- tired of meatloaf and the usual ground beef dinners. I'm hoping to come up with some inspiration while I blog.

Well the yardsale yesterday was a HUGE success. We did better than we ever have. Nearly sold everything. Ended up with about $300 between me and my mom of stuff that was just collecting dust. My house is looking GREAT! Slowly but surely things are getting done. Chris is off this weekend so I think FINALLY we'll have the playground done. We bought a kit and Chris wanted to get a larger peice to give more room between the swings so we had to take down and adjust that part.

Well, I've decided to really get a break from ebay - I'll be listing resells and other random stuff on my other ebay id but I'm done with customs for now. I want to make my kids some things (for once! LOL!) and write up a few new patterns.

Oh - and forgot to update on Kaylee- they took her to the doctor and everything seemed normal so they just said to keep an eye on it.

On a sad note, a customer of mine's grandson will most likely be going to the Lord tonight. His name is David and he is 8 days younger than Paul. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

It's TIME!

Sorry haven't blogged lately. It's time for the HUGE YARD SALE! We're having it tomorrow at my mom's house. TONS and I do mean TONS of baby and kids stuff. Pretty much everything not being used is being sold. And what doesn't sell is going to charity. ENOUGH of the clutter. LOL.

So I've been working hard getting things ready for Grace's party. WE're just having it small at Gracie's favorite mexican restaurant. She's invited 2 friends and their 2 siblings. Sooo... there will 4 total girls, 1 boy, and then cousin Bo, and of course Paul. So for goody bags I'm going to make each girl a cupcake purse in their favorite color and then hopefully get a custom bracelet made for each by my sister n law and then perhaps some candy or something. For the boys... I have NO idea.... Daniel is 5 and then Bo is 1 1/2 and Paul will be 9 months.... I'm not really worried about Paul but figured something simple for Bo but what the heck for Daniel? Chris is thinking a spiderman cup with candy in it or something, so we might do that. Luckily we have a fantastic dollar store here that I can go to for goodies for the kiddos.

And I gotta make G's cake- it is going to be GARFIELD! She loves Garfield... do you know how hard it is to find garfield stuff? Everything costs a fortune.... I think I already have a garfield cake pan in my cake pan stash though, so that's settled... But shoot - I paid a fortune to have beads made to look like garfield so I could have a custom necklace/bracelet/hair bling made for Grace. Blah.... the things we do for our kids.

For her birthday, Gracie's getting a big stuffed alligator, garfield jewelry set, she already got her big gift of a Leapster - we got it off craigslist. And 2 garfield beanie babies. If I have time I'm going to make her some garfield decoupaged pants. I wish I could find someonne to applique a garfield on a shirt or something though. Oh well - it's almost too late for that now.

Well, the baby boy just woke.... more later!

Prayers for Gracie's friend....

We spend today at the park with one of Gracie's friends, Kaylee. Kaylee really wasn't acting right most of the day and didn't want to play. After the park, we went back to their house - she still wasn't acting right. On a whim, Kaylee's mom decided to check her blood sugar (Kaylee's dad is a diabetic). It was 402!! Extremely EXTREMELY high for a 5 year old. So she's going to the doctor ASAP - Kaylee's dad was diagnosed at 6 years old with diabetes. I just pray that everything will be okay and they will be able to keep it under control so Kaylee will be back to herself.

On another note, we had a great time visiting with them - it's been a while since we've gotten together. I've missed hanging out with them!

PICS PICS PICS!

Okay.. time for sharing some pics....
Look what I found in my sink the other day! AHHHH!!

Here's my latest creation - I think I might change it up a bit before selling but who knows... Gracie's going to wear it to the zoo on Monday.

And here's the handsome little man yesterday when I was practicing some photography.

Better Watch Out!

If it's not tied down or currently being used, to goodwill or ebay it goes! I am on a house cleaning rampage! Took a whole truck load of stuff to goodwill yesterday. I've got one last cupcake purse to get out and then a hat pattern to test and the I'm pretty much caught up for the moment! Woo hoo! Although I have a skirt set order from ebay, I haven't recieved any sizing info... that drives me nuts.

Chris actually had 2 days off in a row the past 2 days, so I was spending a lot of time with him.

Off to finish de-cluttering...... it's actually been kinda fun - I'm in the mood for it for once!

Wow.... I felt like CRAP the past few days. I must have come down with whatever Grace had. Chris even had to come home early yesterday because I couldn't even sit up. It felt like the flu without the vomiting. I had about a 102 fever WITH tylenol!

Anways I'm doing a little better now. Now i'm seriously behind on orders - this might be a long night!

Off to lay down...

Sooo.... how did you spend today?
Mine was interesting. Gracie spent last night with my mom and was supposed to spend tonight as well. I got a call that Gracie was running a fever and not acting right.
So off to Gwinnett to pick Grace up. I get there - she's really pale with bright red cheeks and definately NOT herself. I take her temp.... 102.4. So off we go to get home. We get a little further down the road, she's getting sicker. I decide to take her to the ER. She's really looking bad. We get there - over 104! Sooo... we check in around 6. After 9 we finally get to see a doctor. Keep in mind I've got 2 irritated kids that are hungry, one really sick, and both tired. Soooo... we get to see the doctor. Apparently, shes just got a virus. Nothing to do about it. But boy did she look rough. The last time she looked so sick, she ended up having RSV, 2 double ear infections, and bronchitis. Glad to know that it's just a virus. Doctor says to just rotate tylenol and motrin. Soooo.... there went grocery money for the next 2 weeks into the hospital's pocket! Oh well- at least Gracie is going to be okay. So no spending for me and hopefully I'll be earning some extra money this week. I'm not really in a crochet mood, so I gotta change that!
Have a great weekend and stay healthy!

Blah Blah Blah!

Nothing too exciting to say today! Ran a bunch of errands. Tomorrow we're taking Gracie to spend the weekend at Grandma's. Mom's been asking to keep her. Maybe I'll get some things caught up. I really want to do a thorough house cleaning. I need to trash stuff that I don't need! One day my house will be all nice and organized..... NOT.... lol.

Well I won't bore you anymore...

Happy 4th!

Hope you all are having a fabulous fourth! We went to our town's parade this morning- had lots of fun! We were stylin' in our NikkiKnits Patriotic bling tees! Chris and Paul were hotties in their Gymboree patriotic hawaiian shirts. And Gracie and I were stylin our new Pink Alligator Patriotic Flops! I'll have to take a pic of those! I love the way they turned out! Hopefully I'll post pics of us later :-) As far as tonight, I think we're just staying home - Chris is working.

Have yall seen the new ALLIGATOR ROBEEZ???? I soooo want some for Paul! I'm putting it on my list of needs.....errrr..wants. LOL.

Speaking of Paul..... HE TALKS now! He says Hi, Hey, and Buh-Bye! It's sooo cute. Forget mama or dada. His first word was buh-bye. Whenever Chris leaves for work, we all walk him to the door give him hugs and kisses and I'll tell paul to "say bye=bye daddy". Well wouldn't you know the stinker DID a couple days ago. He goes "Buh...Buh...Buh Bye". He was sooo proud of himself and of course daddy ended up being late for work since he was thrilled at paul talking! Since then he's also started saying Hey and Hi. When I get him out of bed he'll say HI! In a high-pitched voice - too cute! Now... when is he going to say mama???

Have a great 4th! Enjoy the day! I have ummm.... 5 cupcake purse orders and a couple random things so guess what I'll be doing!

La De Da.. Dum de Dum...

Soooo I stepped down from my design group. I knew I was going to eventually, but I went ahead and did it. I absolutely love all the girls in my group so much but I just feel like it wasn't for me anymore. I am now going solo and I think I will enjoy being on my own and not having the pressure of trying to get things listed.

Tonight is going to be a long night - working on some 4th flops for me and Grace.

Tomorrow morning we're going to a parade! Can't wait!

This is Chris' last week on nights and then he gets a month of days. We've been discussing and now he's decided that he's going to put in for a transfer to the police department. So wish him luck! The pay will be the same but there will not be mandatory overtime. Plus there is a good chance he'd be put on days. And it's 8 hours compared to 12 hour days.