I can be bought

There is something that's been bugging me for a while now. There is a blogger that I started reading this past year. She is hilarious and a very popular blogger. But here is the problem. When I first started reading her blog she blogged about not being able to be bought. That companies were always approaching her to plug their product on her blog and she said she wouldn't do it because that's not why she blogs and she can't be bought. Well, since then, she has plugged product after product. She will even put that she was PAID to say that good stuff on her blog. As far as I'm concerned, that is being bought. I don't care in the slightest about her being bought. In fact, I want to be bought! I am totally for sale! Please, send me your products and I will totally talk them up on my blog. What bugs me is that she was all high and mighty about never selling out then within a couple months, she was totally doing it!

Here's the deal

I've gotten a lot of questions from friends and family about our move. Here's the situation. We had a LOT of interest in our house. A CRAZY amount of showings. Some people we thought would be really great tenants. Some of them I would NEVER let live in my house. It seemed, though that the people that we really liked, really liked our house, but there was always something wrong with it. It's not our actual house, it's the location of our house. I get that. It's the reason we want to move. It's on a busy street and it has a small yard. And then the people that we weren't so crazy about, wanted to move in right away. We kept at it though and continued showings. Then, I went to Ohio for three weeks. There was no way Eric could handle showings and his full time job. Having as many showings as we had IS a full time job. So, we took the for rent sign out of our yard. We stopped advertising. Being that we own several other rental properties, we understand rental cycles and know that from now until the new year is the worst possible time to try to rent a house. People rarely voluntarily move over the holidays. If they are moving, it's usually because they HAVE to move. (i.e. getting kicked out of another place) And people who HAVE to move aren't really the kind of tenants we are looking for. So, we are putting it on hold. The house that we were planning on moving into is still available, even though I have told him numerous times that he should continue to advertise and not to count on us moving in. (They are wishy washy about renting it out anyway, and are getting some construction done on it now) Maybe, after the new year, if we are still wanting to move, we'll try again. If the house we were planning on moving to is still available, we'll move there. If not, we'll find something else.

I feel like things happen for a reason. I'm not sure what the reason is that's keeping us here, but when and if we are supposed to move, I know it will happen. There are a lot of really great reasons to stay here too. I really love our house from the walls in. And I really love our neighbors. Fortunately, we are in a position where we have the choice to stay or go, which I am really grateful for!

What I learned on my fall vacation:

I've been home from Ohio for about a week and a half now. I went with Jackson for three weeks. We went to Toledo for a few days, down to Columbus, over to Athens, down to Huntington WV-ish, over to Cincinnati, back up to Columbus, and finally up to Canton. I had a wonderful time visiting everyone and showing Jackson the different places his Mommy grew up. I learned a lot about my little guy too.

1) His behavior is much better for other people. He would be just fine, until I walked in the room, and then he would start whining and crying. I know it's because he spends 99% of his life with me, and he is an only child, but it's still frustrating nonetheless.

2) He is a night owl, just like his Mama. He would easily stay up until midnight every night, if I let him. (I often let him on this trip)

3) He will not, will NOT, go to sleep until he is ready. Most nights he sat in his little pack and play for several hours before going to sleep.

4) He likes older women. A few people we visited have older 3-5 year old girls. Older girls love to boss little boys around and he loved to be bossed around. He would just follow them and do whatever they said. I encouraged this, as we all know, the sooner he learns the "just do whatever your girl says" lesson, the better off he will be.

5) He is drawn to male figures. Whenever there was a man around, that's who he wanted to play with. Probably because they throw him in the air better than me (Uncle Ryan) or fly airplanes better than me (Grandpa and Uncle Josh) or shoot hoops better than me (Nate). Interestingly enough, none of them seemed to be around when it was time to change a poopy diaper.....

grocery shopping, celebrity chefs and Zac Brown

Okay...I'm back.
Man, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I was in Ohio for three weeks and then completely immersed in a jewelry and holiday show that I had this past weekend. I'm so over being out of whack that I don't even want to talk about the trip or the show right now. I'll talk about it eventually, when I'm not so tired of talking about it. (I know...ME, tired of talking?!)

So, instead I'll tell you about my trip to Walmart yesterday. I actually got to go grocery shopping BY MYSELF yesterday. Most people wouldn't actually want to go grocery shopping at all, with or without company, but 99% of my life I have a two year old attached to my leg, crying for attention. So any chance I get to do anything by myself, I happily take it. So, I'm in the deodorant aisle, sniffing different men's deodorant, because Eric told me to get him some deodorant that smells good and is cheap, and I look over and RIGHT next to me is Zac Brown (from Zac Brown Band) crouching down getting a bulk amount of Dial soap. I'm staring at him for an uncomfortable amount of time until he finally notices me staring. He looks at me and smiles awkwardly and then walks away with his soap. So, I do what any rational person does, and I follow him. (He is a really fast walker, BTW) He turns and goes into the grocery department and it's time for me to check out so I get in line. This is the portion of my grocery shopping that I like to call "if some famous celebrity healthy chef came and looked in my grocery cart, would I be totally humiliated with what's in it?" This time around, I'm rather proud of what's in the cart. I'm loading the groceries on the belt and the man in front of me starts to laugh. "OMG, is he actually a famous chef and is laughing at my choices?" Then he finally speaks up and says "you can really tell the difference between a man and a woman by what they are buying". In front of him on the belt is beef jerkey and a pack of gum. I laugh back at him and he says "they didn't have what I was looking for, so I got this instead". What on Earth could he have been looking for that beef jerkey and gum could replace? I'm still totally distracted this whole time though, keeping my eye out for Zac. I check out and as I'm walking to the exit, I see him getting in line. Okay, I need a picture. How can I take a picture without looking like a total dork? I can't. I'll just look like a total dork and it will still be totally worth it. So, I go out to the red box machine and pretend to be looking for a movie, all the while, I have the camera in the ready position on my phone and one eye on Zac. He finally checks out is walking my way. I hold up my phone and snap a quick picture! Got it!
He does catch me taking a picture of him as he gets closer, but he must be used to it by now. He IS totally famous, after all. So, I get home and post the pic to facebook and look online for pictures to prove that I actually saw him. Come to find out, they are playing a show in Kansas City and there is no way that was Zac Brown.

Shit.....

Space bags! Watch out! (to the tune of the Space Balls song)

I like to organize. I like to compartmentalize. Call me what you will. Whatever. It makes me feel calm and comfortable. I'm going on a trip. A three week trip. With my two year old son. Staying at seven different places. SEVEN. This makes me anxious. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to be visiting everyone. I'm choosing to visit everyone. I love everyone I'm visiting. And, in actuality, it really will be nice being in charge of nothing but the clothes in our suitcases and my son. But living out of a suitcase and uprooting Jackson every few days isn't fun. So, I'm doing what I can to make it as organized as possible.
Here is typically what happens when I pack for a trip:

1) About a month out, I'll start thinking about things I might want to take. I'll take extra precaution not to spill spaghetti sauce on those items that I really want to bring.

2) About a week out I'll start organizing the clothes and doing laundry. This week before traveling is typically not my prettiest week, as I am saving all of my "good clothes" for the trip.

3) If Jackson is traveling with me, I'll start to organize his clothes a couple days out, making sure everything is clean and fits. This trip, when organizing his clothes, I realized that he has no pants that fit. (Poor guy is so thin that in order for his pants to fit him in the waist, they are high waters on him......thank God for adjustable waistbands!) It's still warm here, and he has been in shorts up until now, but he will need pants for the trip, so I hit up the clearance section of Babies-R-Us and stocked up on some winter pants.

4) The day before the trip is when my plan starts to crumble. All of the organizing that I have gone through goes out the window when I actually start to pack. Now that all of my laundry is actually clean I find random shirts that I really like and throw them in the suitcase as well. Never mind the fact that it doesn't actually go with anything else I'm bringing. It's my third favorite cardigan, so I'm sure I'll find some use for it....right?

Well, that's not going to happen this time! In comes the closet app on my phone!

Why didn't I think of this? It is an app to organize your clothes. You take pictures, put them in categories, and can even make outfits and assign those outfits to a calendar day! This is extra great for the kind of packer I am. If it's not included in one of my outfits and assigned to a calendar day, it doesn't go in the suitcase. I even did one for Jackson!

I won't assign his little outfits to the calendar. (Probably. Maybe. Well, if I don't get too bored on the plane) But what I have done in the past and am doing this time (and have already done, actually) is take all of his premade outfits and put them each in an individual ziplock baggie, socks included...those are the hardest to track down when you travel. That way, each morning, we just grab a little bag. This is especially helpful when visiting grandmas. "Here Gramma, these are his clothes for the day. I'm gonna go get in the shower" And besides, I'll squeeze the air out of the bags and save room in his suitcase! Now, you'd think that we should be all set, as far as packing goes. And we pretty much are, when it comes to clothes, but I still have to fit Jackson's pillow, his blanket, and his stuffed bear that's bigger than him (all three of those things he can't sleep without.....trust me, we've tried!), my pillow (my only requirement for me while traveling) 30 future funker shirts, a tivo system that I bought for my mom, some Melaleuca products and some Smart Mom jewelry for my mother in law, and a plethora of baby hats I'm returning to a friend. Two words: SPACE BAGS........ Sigh.....

Project 365

Here we go again! I came across an idea tonight. "Project 365". This is where you take a picture a day, for a year. I thought this was a great idea! I have an excellent camera that takes excellent pictures and I'm only a mediocre photographer. I would love to be a great photographer, and the best way to do this is to practice. So, for the next year, I'm going to do my best to take a picture a day. It might be of something I'm doing, someone I'm with, or just represent my mood or thoughts.

I'll post them to my flicker account here.

She's Crafty

I like to create. Some might call it crafting. I feel a little young to call myself a "crafter" but I guess, in reality, that's what I am. I knit. I sew. I screen print. I paint. And now I can add "Silver Smith" to my arsenal of crafts. People always tell me that I'm creative. I guess they are right. I can be creative, but usually it's just that I'm really good at seeing other people's ideas and running with it, adding my own personal touches. The other day, I stumbled on a jewelry website. I saw some pieces of silver jewelry that really caught my eye. They had a very rugged and organic look to them, (and a very high price tag) and they were personalized, which is something I always like to include in my crafts. I thought "I wonder if I could do that". So, I asked Google how to make silver jewelry. I found out that there this new stuff out there called silver clay. You mold it, like clay, let it dry, then fire it in a kiln. Sounds easy enough. I mean, I've never ever used clay before, unless you count Play Dough, and I don't actually have a kiln, but how hard could it be? I'm crafty, right? So I did a ton of research and found out exactly what I do and don't need to make my own silver jewelry, and I placed my order. I found out that you don't need very many tools. Mostly just your hands and a few household items will do. The kiln was a little trickier. I found an even newer kind of clay that can be fired at very low heat (relatively speaking) and can be done in a mini kiln, of sorts. It's mostly just a fancy ceramic pot that you put ethanol in the bottom and your jewelry on the top and let the sucker burn. I placed my order and impatiently waited 5-7 days for it to come in the mail. In the mean time, I did a ton of research.

When I came back from running errands on Friday, my package was waiting for me! The first chance I got, which was Saturday night, I got started. I knew that the clay would dry extremely fast and I would need to work quickly, so I set up my silver command center at the kitchen table and got to work. I was feeling pretty good and hopeful, until I opened up the container of clay and found an amount of clay about the size of a quarter in there. Hmmmmmm......I know silver is expensive, but jeesh! Disappointing, yes, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my new craft experience. So, I got the clay out and started working with it. Perhaps I should have practiced on some ceramic clay first? This was not as easy as I had hoped, but I did, finally, get something similar to what I was hoping for. I let the piece dry, with the help of my hair dryer and then got out my sand paper to do some last minute adjustments to the piece before firing it. Once the sand paper came out, it really started looking good! By now, it's late and Eric is already in bed. I asked him to stay awake while I fired the silver, because, according to the directions, I should have a responsible adult do it. But the responsible adult in our house was upstairs snoring away, so I was on my own. I fired up the mini kiln and patiently waited. It took about 15 minutes for all of the ethanol to burn off. By now, my house smelled like a keg party, because of all of the ethanol. Once the silver cooled enough to touch it, I took it out and started buffing it clean. (One of the more gratifying steps of the process, I must say) After making it perfectly shiny and clean, I noticed that the letters I had stamped in the pendant weren't really standing out. They were the same silvery color as the rest of the piece. I found the others online that I liked and realized that their letters were tarnished on the inside, while the outside of the piece was shiny. SO, I went back to google and ask it how to tarnish silver. I did all of the work, just to drop it in a cup of bleach and watch it turn black!! Really really black. And my little silver polishing cloth wasn't getting the tarnish off at all. So, I went back to google again and asked it how to polish silver with household items, since I don't have any silver polish. (Google knows everything) Lots of buffing and baking soda later, plus making some charms with beads, I had a piece that looked really close to the original one I found on the internet a couple weeks back!



I made another piece last night with the leftover clay from the first pendant. It turns out that you really don't need that much silver clay per project.


Oh, by the way, I'm selling these on my etsy site, if you want me to make you one too!

www.mibestboutique.etsy.com