Wednesday, February 29, 2012

What you didn't see...

I am generally known for pulling out the camera and taking random pictures at random intervals.  It seems I tend to capture the random much better than I do the actual events in our life.  Hopefully one day I'll be better about capturing both.  This past week and a half, I've kicked myself several times for not pulling out the camera.

For starters...

It SNOWED last Monday, we FINALLY got SNOW and Ethylwolfe had a 2 hour delay, the kids sloshed around and played in the snow and we drank hot cocoa with way too many marshmallows...did I capture any of that?  The one dusting of white that we've had ALL winter?  Nope.  The camera sat on the table...all day.  I even thought, I should take a picture of this, but did I make it to the table and grab the camera?  Nope.  I must have forgotten before the idea had time to get to the action part of my brain.  I didn't even blog about it.  Weird.  It started snowing at the kids bedtime, so I turned on the bright yard lights and pulled up the blinds and let them lay in bed and watch the giant flakes fall, it was lovely.  And we saw the funniest sight ever...our large dog, perpetually hopping like a rabbit/frog/kangaroo around our yard trying to eat each and every flake that fell.  It was Hi LAR I ous!!!

Second, we spent a little time in one of my favorite towns, on one of my favorite streets, in one of my favorite little eateries, with some of my favorite people last week, and did I capture any of it?  Nope.  And my camera was in.my.purse.

Third, my flowers and I made our first public appearance.  A friend in town who makes one of a kind jewelry and goes by the name of 'Not your family jewels', was hosting her yearly jewelry show for friends and customers and asked me if I would like to come over and set up my flowers too.  How cool is that?  It was so sweet of her to think of me :)  We ended up being in service longer than planned, and running behind So we had to ran over and set them up quickly and then we rushed to a funeral and then rushed back to the show.  She had set everything up for me so nicely while I was away.  Which was a nice surprise.  It was a lot of fun and I actually sold several flowers, headbands, AND got a few custom orders!  Did I capture any of it?  Nope!   It was a lot of fun, and helped me start to get over my awkwardness of sharing my stuff.  I was hoping to get a picture of the boxes, and my flowers, my signs and my new logo that I made, but I didn't capture any of it.  Sunday I took a quick shot of the logo....so here it is, a not so great shot of my new silly little logo.


Fourth, Family came to town {Eitak and Deli} and we enjoyed creme brulee, mmm but there are no pictures to document the time.

Fifth, Tuesday, Nani came and spent the day with KennaKat and myself.  After story time and lunch at Broad Street Cafe {We shared calamari and a White pizza with artichokes and garlic mmm}  We decided to venture downtown and check out several of the new shops that are popping up all over.  Some I have been in before, some I have not.  All over priced but way cool.   I even bought my first handkerchief, I cannot tell you how long I have wanted one.  I also picked up a little vintage mushroom pin for Nani and a small flower pin for myself.  KennaKat got to ride a vintage mechanical horse!  Did I capture any of it?  NOPE!  Well, this time I wasn't to blame {sort of}, KennaKat broke my camera on Sunday. :/  So now I will be without "good" pictures for a while.  I have charged up the hubbies camera {which is great for underwater pics, but I don't love it like my cannon.} but I will at least have something to use.

Sixth, I came home from my chiropractor appointment Tuesday afternoon to find that Ethylwolfe is riding his bike without training wheels and he got it on his FIRST try!!!  How awesome!!  I went to the kidseverywear consignment sale on Monday and bought KennaKat a larger bike.  It came with training wheels but they weren't on, so Hubby decided to let E try her bike out and give no training wheels a go before taking them off of his bike.  So I missed the beginning moments of his learning to ride a bike, but Hubby says he did GREAT!!!  I am so proud!  They were still riding when I got home so I at least got to enjoy his first day of riding.  He is a pro already.  I just can't believe it.  They grow up too quickly.  Did I capture it?  Well, I didn't get the beginning but 30 minutes into it isn't that bad right??  Here they are speeding up and down our little street. {sorry they are blurry, I took them with Hubby's camera :/  I need a new camera!!!}


And lastly, I've been making flowers and not taking pictures.  I haven't been making as many as I would like, the shop is feeling a bit empty right now, I know, I know, that's a good thing that they have sold, but still, it's empty.  Here's one of the latest, unfortunately, due to not having my camera, I can't get a good shot of it.  The colors don't pop like they do in person.  But here it is anyway, Sea Green with an orange clay bead in the center.  4 inches large.



So now it's Wednesday night and I am pretty caught up on the events of our life, even though pictures are scarce..I know, you may actually be stuck with having to read my posts instead of just scrolling through the pics ;)  Can you believe that February is OVER???  I'm still in shock.  This year is already moving too quickly for me.  Please slow down time.  Please.

Well good night everybody!  I'm listening to the sound of the rain and Liking it!!

Monday, February 27, 2012

What we're reading

I haven't done a "what we're reading" post in a long while, so I thought...why not now, when I'm supposed to run out the door in 10 minutes and I'm still in my pj's???  Perfect timing as usual ;)

So my sweet 6 year old boy is reading CHAPTER BOOKS!!  All by himself and I cannot tell you how thrilled he is, or how excited I am for where he is now.  Reading chapter books has been his goal for about 2 years now, and he's really rocking it!  The last year and a half at school, I have been working with him on his reading, and he has just made my heart overflow with pride.  It's amazing to watch your kids leap and grow and progress.  It's amazing how fast they can change.  So back in December when his 3 week break started, we started reading like 2 hours a day {It wasn't a set goal but we just sat and read to each other and hours later we realized what we did, it was awesome.  cuddling, reading, laughing, reading, I LOVE his LOVE for reading!!}, so when he went back to school, his reading level went from a G to who knows what letter awesome.  I can't wait till his teacher conference in 2 weeks so she can tell me the official level.  But he went from reading a page with maybe 2 sentences to chapter books, so that should say something.  When he went back to school in January his teacher said "WOW!  I am shocked and thrilled at how quickly his reading has progressed!"  {She also added that I am super awesome at helping him all the time} Plus we read the Bible all the time, so he can read and understand really large words,  I LOVED that when I was younger.  The meetings and Bible Reading made me excel in reading and spelling.  BooYah!  His other goal is to get on the School and read the Bible.  Awesome :)

Ok, so this isn't quite the long chapter books, but these have been some of his favorites for 6 or so months.  I found a few for sale at the library a few months ago and had to pick them up for E.  Now that he can read them all by himself, he's thrilled.  They are silly and gross and everything a boy loves....

Captain Underpants books!  He's currently reading Captain Underpants and the attack of the talking toilets By Dav Pilkey.  If you have a boy, I'm sure he'll love these.  They have a part chapter book part comic book thing going on.




A few weeks ago, Nani lent me her copy of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and told me I HAD to read it.  So I did, and I LOVED it!  I couldn't put it down.  I can't wait to watch the movieS (yes, there are more than one, SQUEAL, even better, one's by Hitchcock!) and compare and contrast and all that stuff that I love doing! 


So that's what we're reading, definitely check 'em out!
Now I'm late for a very important date!
{Library and Creative Writing in E's class, that's our Mondays} 
Ciao Bella!



Wednesday, February 22, 2012

If you give a KennaKat a purse...

If you give a KennaKat a purse...

She'll ask for hot pink lipgloss to put in it, to call her own.

If you give a KennaKat hot pink lipgloss to call her own...

She'll take your glasses case and put her own sunglasses in it.

If she takes your glasses case and puts her own in it....

She'll  steal your favorite lipgloss to look just like mommy.

If she steals your favorite lipgloss to look just like you, chances are...

She'll steal your favorite lipstick to continue to look just like you.

If she looks like you...

chances are she'll steal your favorite chapstick as well.

If she looks like you and steals your favorite stuff, chances are, she'll begin to think like you and then...

She'll steal your favorite pen to write like you....


Alright, enough of that.

To make a long story short, I gave KennaKat one of my old purses the other week.  Going through my makeup, she picked out a hot pink lipgloss that I never wear and asked to keep it.  SURE I said.  She's four after all, she deserves nice MAC makeup...

So ever since then, things have slowly started coming up missing.
It started with the glasses case. 
I thought that was all, and today at lunch, I had her empty her purse for my own amusement and much to my surprise, all of my missing stuff has wound up in her purse!
The little thief!
So for your amusement, enjoy the contents on KennaKat's purse...

With these contents, KennaKat is ready to hit the town.  She was caught yesterday applying lipgloss to her friends lips at story time!  When I asked her why she took my stuff, she said it was so that she could give me whatever I needed when I needed it!  Well, that's sweet :)

How has your day been?

Ours has been pretty busy today...

We went to school with Ethylwolfe and spent the first hour and a half helping out there.
Then we strolled up the street to Daisy Cakes.
I have been trying to go here ever since they opened up the store, but it seems like I'm always available to go on the day they are CLOSED.  Today was the first day that we didn't try to go on a Monday, so our effort was a success!  I tried to order the soup du jour, but they don't serve lunch food until 11am.  It was 10 when we got there.  

So, KennaKat got a cupcake with sprinkles, we don't even know what kind, it just had colorful sprinkles.  And I got a chai tea...always my drink of choice!







While KennaKat and I sat and enjoyed our morning, we practiced her reading and letter sounds.  Today we worked on AT words.  She did very well thinking of AT words!  Take a look :)

The goal was to hang out until 11 and then order lunch, in fact, it was around 11:30 by the time we left, but we didn't order lunch.  We left.  Then we headed over to the scrap exchange.  We haven't been since they moved to their new location at the Golden Belt.  We spent a nice long time wondering around and picking out goodies to craft with.  Then we headed across the parking lot to another new cafe/Bakery called Blend.
Then we headed home tired, but excited to try out our new goodies called reusable junk!

And to top off this post, enjoy a pic of the kids after lunch yesterday...

G'Day Mates!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Our Week and we have a winner!

Over the past 7 or 8 days....

Blurry Jumpers


 Fancy Tea Party


Play Dough creations
{Have I shared my homemade play dough recipe?  If not, I'll share that soon}





Grrrrrrreat Ebay finds!
{I think I found my favorite dress of hers this year}



Trips around town and then discovering I left my wallet/license at home...TWICE



New Favorite Hairstyle
{french braid pigtails}

Dramatic Oven Fires
{resulting in dinner out and cute drawings from the kids}



A day out with friends






And the winner is.....

Not that you can read it, but it says...JASMINE!
You are our winner, so cooome ooon dooown!
{Send me your address and flower of choice from the shop and it will be on its way!}

Have a great weekend guys!

Monday, February 13, 2012

200th Post and a GIVEAWAY!

It's true, I have reached post numer-o 200!  

Can you believe it?!?

I've seen this post sneaking up on me for a while now.  I wanted to do something special like a sale in the shop, but I didn't plan on having my "on a whim" sale coincide so closely.  SOoooo who's up for a giveaway?!  
Free > sale,  Right?

To enter:
Become a follower of the blog-a-roony {If you are not already} and leave a comment on this post saying what color flower you would choose from the shop, and the winner will win a flower of their choosing.  
Easy peasy right?

You have until Friday at noon to enter, and the winner will be chosen at random by my lovely assistant, KennaKat!

Guys, feel free to get in on the giveaway action, there are plenty of Ladies in your life: moms, wives, special gals, post lady, etc that are willing candidates to be the recipient of this freebie.

I've been busy these past few days making new flowers to go in the shop, so check-em out :)



Now that I've got my "L" issue taken care of for the label, they are ready to go :)
What do you think of the gift boxes?

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Better yet?

As soon as I start to think that this family is finally getting over this stupid cold... I get a phone call from E's school and he has a fever of 102!  The poor guy can't catch a break.  He has been dealing with this for over 2 weeks.  I thought that the fevers were completely gone by now, but I guess I was wrong.

What do you think of the new logo for the shop?  I carved the cat stamp this weekend.  I think I like it. It was a spin-off from a suggestion the hubby gave a while ago for my business card design.  I want something to represent the shop, my branding for when I sell more than just flowers.



Our week is shaping up to be pretty eventful and it's only Tuesday.  Here's what we've been up to thus far:

A flower for a friend, hopefully she likes pink!

I found more of these colorful tiny tins so the magnet dolls had to be made again!
{One day they may just pop up in the Ole Shoparoonie!}

This time I miniaturized the whole family to under 4 inches to fit in these tiny tins


Pajama tea parties with real tea, cream, and sugar, yumm
{messy, but fun!}

To hold a proper tea party, one must speak with a high pitched english accent and hold ones pinky out.


Our first experience at the Chicken and Waffle place downtown, yummm



Our minimized library group has become more adventurous and we are checking out all kinds of neat lunch places :) 


And surprise surprise, Sonic has made more than one appearance!

Sonic and Mario



<--2 custom orders-->


So who knows what the rest of the week will bring, but with E home from school for at least tomorrow, it will not be boring to say the least.

Oh and don't forget, you've got until noon on Wednesday to get 20% off everything in the shop!!

Ciao Bella!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Finding Treasures

Well, I was still sick, but even when you're sick, you still have things that you have to do, like return overdue books to the library since you didn't make it on your usual day or the week before thanks to sickness.
So yesterday, I went to the library and returned overdue books.  I also had some on hold that I had to pick up before they reshelved them.  Next to the checkout desk are carts of books for sale.  Books that were donated, and books that the library is getting rid of.  I can never resist the urge to browse what's there.  This time I found a keeper...


I've never read the book before, but I've always wanted to.  In fact, I almost bought this book several times this year.  It is in such great shape, I don't think anyone has ever read it.  Priced at $2.50 what a score!  The kids and I will be reading this next.

I thought about keeping this for myself, but I've decided to give it to KennaKat for her own collection.  Ethylwolfe gets the bulk of the books because he's the oldest, which means his Library is much larger than hers.  He has the entire Shel Silverstein collection and Roald Dahl and much much more.  But KennaKat has things like Black Beauty, some of Noel Streatfeild's books, and things of that sort.  Of course we read all of them together and sharing is encouraged, but when they grow up and move out, I want them to already have a nice collection of books.  Books I want to add to her list will be Little Women, and the works of Jane Austen and Laura Ingalls Wilder {Ours are on Loan from Nani}.

Any other classics that you would suggest?

Today I'm feeling much better, aside from the occasional hacking cough, I think I'm in the clear.  Normal life here I come!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

6 flowers, soaking up the sun, breathing the fresh air

With a little help from this beautiful sunny day and my adorable flower model, I've posted the latest 6 flowers in the shop.  Check 'em out!  

And don't forget, for 1 week only, I'm doing a 20% off sale in the shop so enter code FEB20 at check out.  Offer ends noon on Wednesday the 8th.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92054932/orange-dahlia-flower-100-wool-felt-hand


http://www.etsy.com/listing/92054739/goldenrod-yellow-dahlia-flower-brooch


http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053337/raspberry-dahlia-flower-100-wool-felt
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053771/blush-pink-100-wool-3-12-inch-dahlia


http://www.etsy.com/listing/92052805/rose-pink-4-inch-dahlia-flower-brooch



http://www.etsy.com/listing/92051396/lilac-purple-3-inch-dahlia-flower-brooch



For those wondering what the unzoomed view looks like...  I get to look at this adorable face for every photo shoot :) 






We've been hanging out in the yard and picking flowers this beautiful sunny day.
I'm still sick, a major boo, but I'm hoping this fresh dose of sunshine will help cure what ails me.







And I will leave you with this...the first signs of Spring in our neck of the woods!
For the last week, these blue and purple pretties have been popping up everywhere!



We are off to make Quesadillas and have a picnic in the garden.
Ta ta For now!