Whew!

It's been a hectic month in general but this last few days have been the most.

I started working for Chicos recently because Hubb decided he wanted to change jobs so he could get back into school, which I was more than happy to oblige. I mean who wouldn't be ^-^

Then Coldwater Creek recruited me. I love their atmosphere because its so much more comfortable and I love their beginnings. I can remember getting their catalogs (well my mom did) when I was younger. So now I'm working for them! It's exciting to get to start a brand new store in a brand new shopping center.

All good things ^-^

Last week one of my grandparents passed. It was sudden to me because he's an ex-step grandfather and we haven't been in touch for a bit. So I had no idea he'd been sick recently and wasn't expecting it. He was a fun guy.

One of the funniest memories of him ( and one that fairly well sums up who he was) was when he told us all that you couldn't roll the go carts. We'd been out driving them all morning around the yard and having a blast when one of the moms mentioned their worry about rolling. Bill said, Can't do it.

Not long after (most of us had started preparing lunch) he came in his hair all wild and he looked a little crazy to say the least. He'd rolled one. He said he was fine but later we found out that he'd actually hurt his ribs.

I always enjoyed being around him and I'll really miss him. But I'm glad hes not in pain anymore.
Then........

Sunday, Hubb crashed the van. He's ok ^-^ Thank goodness, but the van.....not so much. He said he was coming down a hill and felt like he was going too fast even though the speedometer showed him going normal speed. He could see water on the road ahead and thought he needed to slow down. So he lightly tapped the breaks and immediately knew it wasn't going to be good. He was lucky though and managed to keep a small amount of control over the van. He didn't hit anyone else on the road but he did hit a light pole and took out a phone box. The van looks like someone with their nose broken.


Lots of the engine parts got all shifted around, the on-board computer cracked, and the frames tweaked. See the way the rim on the tires bent in at an angle, the hood mimics that angle so they think that the van was on two wheels at the point it hit the pole.


But in the end all is ok, it's funny, I dislike the van a ton....I never ever ever wanted to drive a van and still don't.....but it worked for us. And it's going to be hard to replace. Mostly because were in the middle of me changing jobs and Hubb going to an interview tomorrow to switch from working overnights to a traveling job.

Hubb wants to replace it with a conversion van. One from the 80s. I kicked him. lol. No offense if you own one, I mean shoot, I loved the one we drove to Florida in when I was a kiddo...but I'm just not in on driving one. He said I wouldn't have to if we got it, I could drive the car and we'd only use the van for trips. Then his idea was that it would be big enough I could use it when I went to art shows........and I reminded him ever so gently that I would have to drive it for that to happen......

It's been a little crazy here lately, but hopefully once things settle down here I can dive back into my supplies.

I'm entering a contest ^-^

So I saw information on a local book being put together by the Dem Gaz and a book company that I thought I'd enter. ^-^ Its going to be a book full of photos from all around the state.

So I entered a few tonight and I may enter a good bit more tomrrow depending on my afternoon, but what this post is really about is a request.

If you wouldn't mind....I'd love it if you clicked that pretty little button over there with some of my photos in it and voted away. Don't feel like you just have to vote for me though! Vote for every photo you like. Believe me it's hard to break away from though. I've been voting for an hour!

Anywho, thanks in advance if you decide to vote for me. ^-^ It would be so cool to be in a book! Oh! And enter yourself if you have any photos you'd like to contribute. (then whisper my direction and I'll pass a vote to you too ^-~ ) As long as the photos from Arkansas they are more than happy to have it!

My little froggy guy got featured ^-^

The very sweet littlewishes contacted me and said, Hey chicka! I put you in a treasury ^-~ Ok perhaps not those words, but you get what I mean.

It was a cute frog treasury!

So cute, I just love them all. I've always had a fondness for frogs.

Anywho, thought I'd share my joy.

Back to work, I'm trying to get lots done this week so that next week while the kiddos are away at VBS and staying with their grandparents, I can do some serious fun stuff. Like painting a room, and actually hanging pictures without worrying about waking the kiddos or a little someone trying to help out. ^-~

Whats going on here.....at my house...with the crazy folks.

Worked on my front porch mostly yesterday, lol you should have seen me out there. We get the most spiders ever I promise! Must be something attracting them to my front door, it's crazy, and boy am I ever scared of them. So there I was whacking my broom around the front porch trying to get rid of them all. I kept thinking there was one on me and jumping. I'm sure all the neighbors were laughing. I'm just glad to have reclaimed my porch again. (I have to do this like once a week or they take over!)

I'm grouchy at my neighbors anyway and so the whacking of cobwebs was good for me. They cut down two trees in the past two days. For no reason. Not encroaching on their houses or bothering power lines, not even sick or anything. I'm not sure if they got a two for one deal or what, but it was nuts. It was two older ladies right next to each other and they chopped down the only tree in each of their front yards. The one had a swing out under her tree and so now I'm not sure if she'll be enjoying the heat or what. Oh well, their choice, I'll just be laughing when their bills go up.

I'm not very nice when it comes down to it am I? lol.

Anywho, that was my day, and I'm off to do some more work today, I really want a clean house and I'm getting tired of stepping on blocks....the boys may not like me later.

Yart Sale!!!!!!!

I've joined the fun of the Yart Sale and marked some of my listings down to 50% off. So if you've had your eye on anything, head on over!

Ok, now I'm done with my silly sales pitch. I always feel like a dork typing those out or saying them. Even when I worked in retail framing and had to write the silly things out for both myself and others to say over the speaker system, I felt silly.

I've always felt similar to a barker at a carnival. But I suppose thats what sales is all about really.

So yeah, if you don't mind, hop on over to my etsy shop (you can just click that cute little box of photos on the side) and see if theres something that strikes your fancy.

Thanks for looking!

**Oh and please ignore how messed up the lettering and sizing is on this post, apparently Blogger hates me today, lol. I'll try to fix it again in a bit. ****

Not so peaceful anymore.

Can I just scream? I really feel like it. Shrieking all over the house would be nice. Or yelling obscenities would work too. Kids are still up though.

Heres why.

My oldest (nearly 4) just opened the door for some guy. I had taken the dogs out back because were still watching Diamond to make sure she doesn't go rolling in yucky stuff. Well apparently Madd thought he'd just open the door for who ever this was that knocked. I had forgotten to lock the chain at the top when I came back in from taking a bag to the trash earlier.

The guy seemed nice enough, just down on his luck and looking to make some cash for rent by doing odd jobs, but jeeze!

So we just had a sit down talk about strangers. We've had them before but apparently not enough that he didn't think twice about opening the front door. I was nearly shaking trying to tell the guy I didn't have anything I could have him do around the house.

The guy backed off quickly when Lilly our newf mix came running toward the door as I did. Sometimes I wish she wasn't so aggressive toward the door, like when our friends come over, but I'm sure glad for her right now.

I promised a more peaceful post

And whats more peaceful than flowers?
I snapped some shots of the flowers outside while our family reunion ebbed. They were doing clean up and I had a cranky kiddo. So outside we went!

There were lots of flowers to photograph but the grouping of red poppy(poppies?) caught my eye first. They've always been one of my favorite flowers. ^-^
There were several metal crosses scattered through the little seating garden and I loved their rusty texture.


And last but not least, I found this little guy snug as a bug (well perhaps waiting for one) in a great big plant. He was too cute to pass by without snapping a few shots.
**Please don't swipe my photos. I've not watermarked the snap out of them because I dislike seeing words in front of an image. So please, please, if you want to use them, contact me and we'll talk. I don't bite! *