Just A Pop-In.....

Just a quick pop-in to tell you all something that happened today.



Let us back track to yesterday for a start. Yesterday at work, a co-worker popped her head in my office to tell me I had a call holding for me from *name*. My cell phone had already rang that morning from this same person...BUT....I was in the middle of a cholesterol clinic and was super busy. I gave my co-worker a message to relay and said I will call right back after the clinic was finished. OK, so after the clinic I went out, exhausted, but explained to my co-worker what this person wanted. The person who called is our local breast feeding peer counselor and that she orders mother's rings from me weekly to monthly for all of her mommies who's turn it is to "graduate" from the breast feeding program after a year. My co-worker asked me "what do they look like". So, I proceeded to explain and in the middle she said "you already lost me". Well, I went home at lunch and grabbed the 5 I made for this week as I needed to deliver them after work and brought them in and showed my co-worker. Well, she loved them and ordered 2. I made them last night and brought them in to her today.



Well, I had a local health fair to attend today and returned to work around 1:30 in the afternoon. It seems as my lovely and ever so grateful co-worker went around the ENTIRE pharmacy and flashed her new beauties to EVERYONE!!!!



I now have 16 orders for mothers rings just in time for payday Friday........wow.......it may not seem like a lot to you all, but 16 orders in one day is more than I usually have in 1 month. And that is not all. They all jokingly accused me of holding back on them.....now they want to see the mothers bracelets, the mothers pendants. Basically all of my "family" style jewelry and also anything else that I might have.............



I guess I better get my fanny in gear and get my pictures and listings up on Etsy and just refer them all there......hee hee



Thanks for listening! Sorry no pictures today. I just wanted to pop-in and let you all in on the exciting news. Hey......after I make all of them, I will take some pictures and share them with you then! Ahhhh.....good thinking Leslie. That's what you all are thinking right?



Take care!



Warmly,

Leslie

Sweet Holiday!

Mmmmm.....sweet holiday! Happy Memorial Day to everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the extra day off....if that is the case. It definitely is the case here, and what a great weekend we had! Started off bumpy with me having an ALL DAY sickening migraine Saturday. It left me in the recliner with a heating pad and much too many medications to try and kick it.......to no avail of course! Which left my husband to take care of a 3 year old AND clean the entire house before company........which he did! And wonderfully too! Thank you Tim! The new Superman!

On Sunday my wonderful father and his long-time girlfriend Patty came in from Oklahoma. They came to St. Louis to see some of his brother's. One of his brothers, my favorite uncle (shhhhhh), had multiple strokes just weeks before this last Christmas which put him in a rehab facility in the city for therapy. He is doing well, even with right sided paralysis, and recognized my father and Patty right away when they came to visit! Good news!

I LOVE when my dad visits! He is such a great man. He is, after all, the person who introduced me to jewelry making and design and just crafting in general! Seriously! My dad and Patty can make some awesome stuff! Also, a BIG plus was that Patty knows how to crochet. This is actually something I have been trying to teach myself since last fall. She taught me how to make a Granny Square! Woo Hoo! I am thrilled! Look out for a post of my first attempt soon. Thrilled huh?.........?

Madelyn had such a great time visiting with Papa Mel and Patty. She just loved showing them her big girl room and toys........as if that was all that they had come to see you know. We kept them pretty busy for the day that they were here. Antiquing, house hunting, shopping, driving and just talking, talking, talking. We tried to solve the worlds problems and all that!

We had a delicious family dinner. One of my favorites, as well as Madelyn's. We had BBQ pork steaks, baked potato, corn-on-the-cob, salad, rolls and the above desert! Mmmmmm........Sara Lee pound cake, fresh strawberry topping and Redi-whip........*drool* Great Welcome-In-The-Summer food!

So, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and holiday and everyone is safe and sound. Have a great work week.......*groan*, and I will see you all next weekend! Enjoy!

Warmly,
Leslie

What Are You Loving Today?

This is the question asked at the end of Soulemama's blog today. Funny, I had been thinking of doing a blog on some of my favorite things. Mostly things I love that are found around my home. Amanda chose 10.......I do not think I have that many, but I will do my best!

Some things that I am loving right now:

1. My little one making a "Caterpillar" on the kitchen floor with her left over birthday plates. Don't you wish you had that playful imagination? I mean really!

2. Are you ready for this? My mom's $10 find at an estate sale in St. Louis. A little Old English scratch remover and some extra handles and knobs from the kitchen cabinets and I AM IN LOVE! This was a buffet piece that someone only purchased the top of, and left this........my mom called me and described it to me and you know, for $10, if I had hated it, I was only out ten bucks! Obviously, we love it. It makes a great entertainment center, and it matches the wood floor perfectly. I have no idea what design it is or where it was made, but I still sit and goon over it while playing on the floor with Girlfriend.


3. Here is a two-in-one. A fantastic vintage Pyrex find and the most delicious organic dried fruit and vegetables from our local health food store here in Farmington. The Pyrex is not quite what you would expect in our new more "modern" designed home, and not quite the color scheme that has also become our new home, but I had to have it. Something called to me about it.....I just love it and I do not know why! I do, however, know why I LOVE the dried fruit and veggies (strawberry, peaches, cranberries, blueberries, apricots, pears, pineapples, bananas, etc...)! Oh my, YUM! Like candy! As a matter of fact that is what Maddy calls them...."Tandee". The only "Candy" I can say she has ever had. Fine with me. Makes your mouth water huh? Mmmmmm.......

4. Madelyn eating! May not mean much to you all, but it means the WORLD to her daddy and I. It is not something she does a whole lot of with her extensive food allergies and the picky age in which she is at. Those combined have put her in the category of "failure to thrive" and have also made her immune system NON-EXISTENT! So, her finding something new for her to like and actually sit down and devour is REALLY something I am loving today! By the way she is eating Tofutti Guacamole with plain chips to dip in. I have to agree with her...it is really good!

5. These earrings from Etsy seller LSJewelry's shop. I purchased the red gingham and wear them everyday to work. I get more compliments from my patients on this pair than any others that I own. They are like wearable art. I love them!

OK, so only five today. I know that I have more, but I do not have pictures or links to most of what is in my head. That, and I would be linking just about every Etsy seller out there, as I find inspiration and love in all of them!

I also have a new bead and jewelry design running around in my head and I am waiting for a new tool to come in the mail that will help me achieve this new design. I absolutely can not wait to attempt what is up there running around in my mind........I truly hope that I will not be disappointed. So, keep an eye out for it as I will need LOTS of opinions!

You all take care. Enjoy the day! Let me know what you are loving today. Go forth and create! Much blessings!

Warmly,

Leslie

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.........the next day!

Hello! Happy Mother's Day to all of you great mother's out there! A day late even. I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing and simply indulgent Sunday! I got breakfast in bed....coffee, 2 donuts, card and the most beautiful handmade vase with a marigold in it.....all on a tray brought to me by my exceptional husband. I was still snugly under the covers with my baby girl by my side, who was watching Sesame Street. I heard her say, very exclamatory by the way, "Happee Mofer's Dayee Mama!!!!!!", as my husband came in the room carrying the tray. How sweet! I mean really! I KNOW! She also sang to me all day and on the phone to her Nana and Auntie "Happy Mother's Day To You" to the tune of Happy Birthday. WoW!

Well, it IS only my third Mother's Day......AND it is my first in our new home....what a great day! OH! Most important, Girlfriend got to put a sticker on the calendar for sleeping ALL NIGHT in her big-girl-bed. Whoo Hooo! 1 night down and only a million more to get through. We are doing the stickers on the calendar thing.....you know, 4 in a row and we go shopping. Then back to square one......another 4 in a row and we go shopping again. She needs clothes and shoes and she is ALL into shoes and dresses right now, so we get to fill the closet AND we get her OUT OF OUR BED! Pray that it goes as well as it has been!

Let me share some photos with you all of my Mother's Day cards and BEAUTIFUL vase and flower that my baby girl made me at preschool. Her caregivers said that when it was time for her to go outside for recess, she stayed in and worked VERY hard on making the vase perfect. What a love-bug! Sorry for the flash in one picture, I could not get a good picture of the vase otherwise!




And, of course let us not forget Little Mama, who is so patiently sitting on her eggs out in her nest. In the picture the sky is a beautiful blue, but yesterday, it was cold, SUPER windy and rainy. So, hats of to her, as she sat through the whole miserable day on her nest, almost getting blown out with her back to the rain.......what an excellent mommy she will be!

Oh, and one more picture. Madelyn discovered something new to her little 3 year old world yesterday. Rainbows on the wall from the glass in the front door. She sat there screaming for us to come see. She was so in awe that she sat in the entry way and stared at the wall for a long time. Then was very disappointed after lunch when she went back and it was no longer there. She exclaimed, matter of factly, that "Aawwww, the sun go down". And promptly walked away.


Well, I sincerely hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend. Ours was wonderful. Thanks for stopping in! Have a great week.....go forth and create. Get those tired winter brains out of storage and get to work on something brand new......the world has begun it's spring.......new and fresh things are happening.......go join in! Take care!

Warmly,
Leslie

It's Hard To Be Witty When You're Sad

I would like to introduce you all to Tasha.

Tasha is our Nanny, Caregiver, Friend and Saviour. Tasha has been with us for a little over a year. Some days it feels like we have known her forever and then yet I can not believe that she has been with us a year. Up until a year ago, Tasha worked at the daycare/preschool which our daughter attends. She left to finish up the last of her schooling and to do her student teaching for her bachelors. She will graduate in one week. And then she is moving.........4 hours away. What can you say when you are losing one of the most important people in yours and your child's life?

When Tasha worked as a caregiver at the daycare she was not allowed to privately babysit or be a nanny to any of the children who were enrolled there. Girlfriend has been attending the school since she was 16 months old, and she is now 3. When Tasha left the school, she gave my husband her number in hopes that we would call her to babysit sometime. To make a long story short, we had NEVER used a babysitter before and truthfully had not even thought about using one then, so I stowed away the phone number not really thinking I would ever use it. Anywhere we went, our daughter went. Yes, we are neurotic and overprotective that way.............still. We were also at the time actively looking for a new home in Farmington. At one new housing development they had an open house so we went in. Inside was Tasha, "house sitting" so to speak. She was making some extra money for an Alaskan cruise coming up, plus she could study while waiting for house shoppers to come in and look around. Imagine Girlfriends happiness to see one of her favorite caregivers from school.

Tasha has been with us ever since! She picks up Girlfriend at least once a week, she has taken care of her when she's been sick, she has called us and told us that we were going out to dinner alone and she was coming over to get the baby, not giving us a choice, and she has been there when emergencies arise and stepped in to help. Her parents LOVE our daughter and have become surrogate grandparents to her. I left out one important thing......Tasha just tuned 20 last April, right before Girlfriend turned 3. If anyone would have told my husband and I that we would feel completely comfortable letting a 19 year old take complete care of our most precious item in the world, we would have laughed in their face.

I can not say enough about how much Tasha loves our daughter and how much she loves Tasha in return. We are DEEPLY saddened to be losing her. Not only to lose someone you trust COMPLETELY with your child, but just to lose Tasha in general, she is just an outstanding person.....smart, beautiful, nice, sweet, compassionate, FUNNY, trustworthy, and just plain special. Thank you Tasha.....we love you, we will miss you, we are SUPER proud of you. We are heartbroken to see you go, but also excited for you to begin a new and independent life for yourself.


So you see, it is hard to be funny, lighthearted, crafty and witty when you are sad.

In tribute to "my Tasha", as Maddy would say, here are just a few pictures of our girl and Tasha together and then just some funny pictures of Tasha by herself.

Nice People and A New Neighbor

The craft and art world has so many nice people in it. I have just been assisted with my two "blogging" questions by one of the nicest artist I have met yet! Wendy over at Punky n Munky obviously answered my problems from my previous post! As you can see! She not only was very thorough in her instructions so that I could absolutely understand what I was doing, BUT I have also purchased her ribbon sculpture hair bow clips from her Etsy shop and my daughter LOVES them! Her work is beautiful, professional and creative! My daughter not only loves to wear her hair clips, but she also uses them as little dolls to act out little stories! Double the fun and entertainment! I can not say enough about her! Thank you, thank you, thank you Wendy!

I am so excited! We have a new neighbor! I took these 2 pictures of our new neighbor, the first one yesterday and the second one this morning. Isn't she beautiful! You know, we lived out in the country for the last seven years on 14 acres of my husbands families land and not once did we ever see this! We had to move in town, in the city limits, to have a neighbor like this. I was worried yesterday as I never saw the "Little Mama", nor were there any eggs in the nest. But this morning, as Girlfriend was eating breakfast at the table, she shouted for me to come look. And there she was, getting comfy in her nest. The second picture was taken from our dining room table, out the front window. I hope we are not too close as to disturb her. I do not want her to leave. What a great experience for Girlfriend to see Little Mama and HOPEFULLY some babies! You might think I am going a little overboard over a bird, but before I went to nursing school I was a biology major, specifically, I wanted to be an ornithologist. I was 15 credit hours away from my bachelor's degree when I decided to switch careers. I still have a love for biology, especially the birdies!


These 2 WONDERFUL pictures were taken by Girlfriend this morning with her little pink Fisher-Price camera she got for Christmas from Papa Mel. All I did was hold her up to the window and she did the rest. Little Mama had flown away by then, but having a picture of her nest taken by Girlfriend was too sweet! I love her camera almost as much as she does. I believe I might have a future artist on my hands! I personally think she did a great job, and took excellent pictures seeing as she just turned 3 a few weeks ago, but then again I am her mommy, so maybe my opinion is biased. As the morning has changed to early afternoon, Little Mama has been working very hard at her nest. It is growing as the hours go by. She comes in with a big mouthful of stuff, puts it where she wants it, hops in and wiggles her little birdy tushy around.

I took this picture of Girlfriend yesterday evening as she was "working her angle" with her camera.

This was the view from her camera at the same time. Yes, I am a little embarrassed to be in my PJ's.

Hope you all had a great weekend! I know we did. I am hoping Girlfriend will take her nap soon so that I can get to work on some shop items and listings! Blessings! Go forth and create!

Warmly,

Leslie

2 Things I'd Like To Learn

I fiddle and I play and I erase and I play again....and again. But I can NOT get it! The 2 things that I have not figured out, on my own, about this blog are how to post more than one picture in my blog and NOT have them ALL up at the top. AND how do people post links in their blogging by not typing the actual link itself in the blog.....like some will say "I saw the neatest thing on this persons website or blog HERE"..And the word HERE would be underlined and a different color AND you can click on it and it will take you to that persons website. I feel like a complete DUMMY! I am not computer illiterate. But to NOT be able to figure out how to post pictures throughout my blog and NOT have them all at the top is aggravating.........but to have to post an actual link to a site is just plain annoying. Not only for me but for you also! AHHHHHH! Someone nice out there in blog land........PLEASE HELP!

If I could figure these things out, I could have more time for posting my goodies in my ETSY shop. Now wouldn't that be nice?! Just an incentive for all of you nice blog readers out there to help me....huh?

Have a great weekend......hope your weather is and will be better than ours here in the Midwest and lastly GO FORTH AND CREATE! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Friday!

Warmly,
Leslie