After all is IS Friday…but anyway

And since it IS Friday, Mrs. 4444 is once again hosting Friday Fragments to rid you of all that little stuff and clear the way for…..well, probably more stuff to clutter up your mind. But anyway….

• Holy cow, this week came and went without me posting.  Or so I thought.  I had that little thingy at the beginning of the week about the birthday party then I just went AWOL.  One would think I did something constructive.  Nope, not really.  But anyway…
• Oh, yeah, I DID donate blood.  That’s something I’ve never done before.  I did not pass out.  AM was pretty sure I would.  I think she was secretly hoping for something exciting to happen. She did sit with me and watch the whole process, pretty brave for an 8-yr-old.
• I stumbled across a blog by Teresa Strasser (of TLC’s “While You Were Out” among other things).  She’s really funny, bad language and all.
• Both older kids started their softball and T-ball practices this week.  The rest of the team started last week I guess, but my head was in my…well…they made it to practice this week.  But anyway…
• I already SOLD TWO of my neat camera strap covers, so I will be sewing some more this weekend.  You want one, right??  Come on over to my Etsy shop!!
• I zipped up north (yes, I can still go further north from here without quite hitting Canada) to see some relatives.  They were visiting all the way from Wisconsin, so I figured the least I could do was road trip the 2 hours to see them.  We stayed at a hotel with a mini waterpark and once the kids were in bed (poolside room) we sat in the hot tub and had drinks.  Ahhh…… (Hopefully the hotel manager didn’t notice 3 adults and 6 kids pile out of a double occupancy room in the morning. Did I mention I’m also cheap?  It helps when you’re poor…but anyway…)
• Made my hubby a sweet costume for his National Guard’s annual training annual theme party.  They always dress up for the theme, this year’s was your favorite decade.  I saw lots of Facebook shots of hippies and 80’s outfits.  Hubby decided to dress like the 1770’s, complete with powdered wig and knee length pants.  I sewed his vest and pants and made a ruffled collar.  I need pictures and no one seems to have posted any to Facebook yet (my only connection while he’s away apparently!).  Rest assured, as soon as he’s home I’ll post.
• I had the kids wash the van.  Nice job, right?  Then in rained anyway. 

• I cut AM’s hair.  Maybe I should have been cleaning off the counter instead, but anyway…
• I’d better start making it look like I DID do something with myself this week.  Like clean the house, do some laundry, shower…..but anyway…..Have a great weekend!!

Hop on!!!

Journey For Jess

UPDATED: The local newspaper has run an article HERE.

ORIGINAL POST:

In just 3 days a family will be taking an important journey. Two years ago Jason and Amy lost their sweet little 3-year-old girl Jess. She fought against epilepsy for most of her short life. Now, with their older son Noah, they are taking a trip that will use Jason’s talents as a photographer to raise awareness and money for the Epilepsy Foundation and the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance. Starting July 10 they will travel to several National Parks around the western United States and take photos. The photos will then be sold to benefit these two groups. This is an important and healing journey for the family. I urge you to check out Journey For Jess as well as their blog (which will be updated as they travel) to see the story thus far and to keep up on their Journey. Also, I ask for your prayers for their safety and health during the trip!

<a href="http://journeyforjess.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Journey For Jess!" src="http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq208/affectionatelyyoursphoto/JFjessbutton.jpg"/></a>

Trying to do my part, I offer in my Etsy shop a pendant dedicated to Jess, and of which $4 goes to Journey for Jess.

Please, if you feel led to donate, visit Journey for Jess or purchase a pendant!

Friday Fragments – Week One

Gather up all those little thoughts and air them out for all to see read. It’s time for Friday Fragments, my weekly “spring cleaning” of the mind. If only real spring cleaning was so easy! Thanks to Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissing Time, we all get to share in the cleansing!

• We went ahead and purchased a family membership to the local pool for the summer. Now I just need to make sure they go at least 25 times to make it worth the cost!!! I am pretty certain that when I was a kid I was there every day they were open so I don’t think 25 days in an entire summer will be difficult.
• Can you believe Michael Jackson is gone?? Seriously? I know he really went downhill this last decade or so, but I mean the King of Pop? Even with all that has transpired, he was an extremely talented musician. I used to have a big time crush on MJ. I still have a whole box of memorabilia my mom brought over to our house when they moved and cleaned out my old room. Hmmm, I guess I may have to visit e-bay this afternoon, I bet the market value has gone up.
• I’ll be listing some new stuff on Etsy this afternoon, I’d love it if you all would drop by. ALSO… the reason I started really listing on Etsy was to HELP COLE. I have listed a Baseball themed Scrabble Tile Pendant that you can personalize. The proceeds go to help sweet little Cole go to a special care school and pay for necessary equipment. Any of you with special needs kids know how expensive things can get, even with good insurance. So, please, take a few minutes to check in on Cole and if you feel led, buy a pendant!! There is also a button on my sidebar that will take you directly to my shop on Etsy (if you REEAALLY want to help, e-mail me, I’ll send you the code for the same button for your blog!!)->->->
• The kids and I have been making little cardboard houses for AM’s miniature cats to live in. I get to show off my prowess with craft paper and a hot glue gun, the kids get “new” toys. Even MD will play with the girls and live in the houses. They were upstairs for almost 2 hours on Tuesday just playing “kitties”. Ahhh, a little quality computer cleaning time!

• PM and MD love to push each other’s buttons. I know this is what it’s like for siblings, but they both seem to be particularly good at it. MD will say or do over and over again the one thing PM reacts to. PM on the other hand, finds that one thing that bugs MD and stores it in that little Rolodex of a brain she has and keeps that nugget for a time when he least expects it. She analyzes the situation, then accesses her file of things-that-bug-MD and pulls out of her arsenal something that will almost frustrate MD to tears.

• We are almost done with Week One of PM’s CIT. Here’s today’s numbers:

# times asked for “pink off”: 1

# times MD got clobbered with cast: 0 (woohoo!)

# kitchen gloves mom bought for swimming: 2

# hours PM was in the wading pool: 2.5

# ounces of water in said kitchen glove and dripping out of cast later: maybe 1

# times mom kicked herself for taking PM to the pool: most of the evening!

Blogoversary Giveaway!

~~~ CONTEST CLOSED - WINNER ANNOUNCED 5/4/09! ~~~

Here it is, the week of my "Blogoversary"! You can read my very first post HERE. I started this blog to journal about my kids & family. It's been a great way to meet new people, some who are going through similar experiences, some who already have, and some who soon will. I've cried and laughed reading stories from around the world, and close to home. My heart is full. Being a mostly-SAHM this year has really not seemed too secluded when I get to know all of you.

I was moved to help out one new friend in particular. I found a way to do something special...
I made a special pendant just for Cole, a beautiful little boy who has cerebral palsy. You can go to Cole's blog and read all about him HERE. I've gotten to know his mom and we admittedly chat more often lately than I've been able to with my own husband (who is on duty with the national guard). She has really helped me keep my sanity!! When you purchase COLE's pendant from my shop, $4 goes to his Special Care School fund! He & his family need our help to keep him there where SO much good is being done! Any family with a disabled child knows that it can be difficult sometimes to finance all the special care and equiment they need. This is a way we can all help AND get a totally cute pendant too! As a bonus, if you ask me I will, at no extra charge, personalize the pendant with YOUR CHILD's name!

<img border="0" alt="Cole‘s Pendants" src="http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq208/affectionatelyyoursphoto/coletiles160.jpg" />

I also offer a Ducky pendant in honor of sweet angel CAROLINE. $4 for each of her pendants goes to Make-A-Wish!

To really express my thanks to all of you out there, I am offering a giveaway that I think you'll really like. AND, it's just in time for Mother's day! I've started an Etsy shop and my specialty is personalized photo pendants. Here's an example...

I will be offering this pendant TO YOU with YOUR choice of photo AND A CHAIN! The contest ends 11:59 PM CDT on May 1, 2009.

Rules:

Leave each entry in it's own comment to be counted accurately!
First, please visit my ETSY SHOP HERE (http://affectionatelyyours.etsy.com/) and tell me one OTHER pendant you really like. :) This must be your first entry.

Extra Entries:

Follow me on my blog and leave a comment letting me know you have. If you already follow me, leave a comment saying so!

Follow me on Twitter AND Tweet this giveaway. Make sure you do both, then leave a comment with the link to the tweet.You may tweet once a day during the giveaway for one exra entry. Don't forget to comment!

Grab my button and display it on your site! Leave a comment to let me know where to find it!

For TWO extra entries, add the Cole's Pendants button to your sidebar and leave a comment x2 telling me where to find it.

For THREE extra entries, link this giveaway in a post on YOUR blog! Leave a comment x3 with a link to the post you've created.

For THREE extra entries, purchase something from my shop, leave me a comment x3 (this is for your entire purchase, not each item purchased!!).

For FIVE extra entries purchase a COLE or CAROLINE tile from my shop, leave a comment x5 (this is for your entire purchase, not each item purchased!!).

Good luck and thanks for playing!!

Totally Talented - Etsy is here!

Totally Talented Tuesday is hosted by Dee at Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House. See what undiscovered talents lie HERE!!

FINALLY I've set up shop at Etsy and put a few items in. I have more to list and if you want something specific, please feel free to contact me! SO I feel I'm entitled to this week's Totally Talented Tuesday nomination!!

Chef Hats and Apron sets!

Also Cole's and Caroline's fundraiser pendants are available!! I don't have my chains for the pendants available yet (they're on their way!) but soon! Come check it out! Click the header below...

Friday Fragments

It's time once again to clear the week of all those little bits of info you really wanted to share, but just couldn't fit them in somewhere else! See other's Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissin Time!

• My husband has been gone for a week now with the National Guard in Fargo doing the flood fight. I think I've spoken with him 3 times. He says he may be able to come home as early as Sunday...let's hope! By the time he gets home: the 2-year-old will be potty trained, the baby will have sprouted his first 2 teeth!


• JC's bottom teeth are threatening to break through any day. In the mean time he chomps furiously on anything he can get near his mouth!


• I plan on travelling to a funeral tomorrow for a good friend tomorrow. Keep us in your thoughts as I'm not sure all the roads are very clear. I heard one area I need to use was upgraded from closed to single lane open (with water on each side!)
  
• Although the circumstances are not ideal, I am looking forward to spending time with my BFF as we travel to the funeral. I miss her!
  
• Please continue to pray for Stellan and his family!!

• I REEEAALLLY like cottage-style bacon, our neighbor dropped off a big package of it for us!! Guess what we had for dinner last night....

• Sewing like crazy - Etsy is almost ready. I made some super cute children's apron/chef hat sets! I just want to have something ready to go!! The Scrabble Tile Pendants are SO cute, I can't wait for everyone to see them!!! Ok, here's a peek..

^ One of my fave's! But they aren't all for me...

^ This one will be sold to benefit our friend Cole's Special Care School fund.

^ This one will be sold in honor of Caroline Vetter and procedes will go to Make-A-Wish, a foundation that was so good to her family!

Friday Fragments - Snow Day Aftermath

Because I couldn't say it better myself, Mrs. 4444 says:
"Friday Fragments; those bits and pieces of your week that are too small to stand alone, but too good to let go. It's the next best thing to closure. " Visit her and other's Fragments at Half Past Kissin Time!

• We spent most of the week indoors as a big fat blizzard rolled through. My husband left earlier than usual for work (overnight, in a town 1 hour away) and couldn't make it back until Thursday morning! They closed the interstates border to border while drifts as high as our van settled it.


• I really wanted to send the kids outside as they were driving me crazy being cooped up in the house. Problem: -40 degree windchill.
  
• I shoveled out my own van and left hubby's side of the driveway for him. It took me over an hour and I'm still sore today. THEN our nice neighbor came by and used a large front-end loader to push all his snow!! *sigh*



• A.M.'s Destination Imagination group is still practicing. We've even scheduled an extra practice next week. If you're not familiar with it, it's an extra-curricular school group that encourages kids to use their problem-solving skills and creativity to do on-the-spot challenges and our kids will perform a play they've made up involving problem solving. They go to a meet and the older kids can win competitions to move on to state and national competitions!!! This is my first year helping out. Fortunately our kids are 1-2 graders, so this meet is the only one. It's really fun, but I'll be glad when we're done!
  
• I started sewing stuff for the Etsy shop I've already signed up for!!! I have lots of baby items as well as Scrabble Tile pendants I'll be making. More about that soon...AND a giveaway!!!



• Um, I also had to much wine last night. Maybe I should save that for "Not ME Monday"

And I forgot to mention I've been scouting out cloth diapers. I'm actually hoping to win a few before I invest. Here's one such giveaway:

Win a free Bumgenius 3.0 Diaper! This is a valuable All-In-One cloth diaper that you can use for yourself or give as a gift to someone expecting a baby! Go check out Hot Belly Mama's Blog for details on how to win this wonderful All In One Cloth Diaper. Hot Belly Mama will announce the winner on March 30th, after her 30th birthday! Here is the direct link to her blog:
http://hotbellymama.blogspot.com/
Good luck!