oooo...my body hurts

Yesterday was yard work day.  We have so so much to do.

Steve took the back yard.  I took the front courtyard. Our actual front yard is a disaster as well but judging by the costs associated with just doing my courtyard...this is going to be a long process.

The good part is that I am in no rush.

My permanent helper. Do you have one of these?  I think it is the second child syndrome.

She likes to help...with everything...and she does not tire of whatever project you are doing.  She is there from beginning to end.  Now my oldest doesn't even almost pretend to want to help.

Nope.  Didn't see her for hours.  

She is very good at keeping herself occupied while a project is underway.

She helped me dig all the holes...in the cement like desert floor.  Then she helped me plant all the plants.  Rake the rocks...water the plants...fill the fountain...and clean up. 

Of course...some of our plants are not real.  But they did need a new coat of paint and guess who helped me repaint them.

So the courtyard is done. I just need a fun table and chair set for out there.

The backyard...oh my.  Lots of work needed there.

My one stipulation was that I needed my "orchard" again.

In our last house we planted some fruit trees. Orange, grapefruit and lemon.

It took 4 years before they started to look good and give us good fruit...but I will wait.

There is nothing more exciting than picking a huge fruit off your own tree.

So we have our orchard again...it looks pathetic right now...but in a year it will look good.

Fuji apples, raspberries, nectarines, red grapes, green grapes and almonds.  FUN!

They all have to be dwarf trees though...hoa doesn't want to see those things popping up over the fence. Apparently an apple tree is unsightly. Lol.  

On a different note.  I have had several people ask me about my photo canvases.

I have purchased all mine online.  But if you do a google search you will see that mostly everyone does them now.  I think even walmart may do them.

My past orders have been through Erin Condren. 

I love hers the best as you can do her fun designs on the sides.

And check her out...I went on her site one day to order more and anything look familiar on there?

I had no idea we were an example.

Funny.  Anyways, I ordered another one from Erin for my mother in law since she loved it so...and I really do think the edge makes it fun.  However, the last two that I ordered for my girls rooms...I went with canvas on demand.

Leslie had told me she has ordered from them and liked the quality...plus they are good at sending out coupons.  I like coupons.  So I ordered the two biggies from them and they were super fast and pleasant to work with.  I am sure professional photographers all have their go to places for canvases...and if you have a good canvas place you use...please put it in the comments.

Ok...off to get lots of work done before we head to the **gasp** pool.

Since ours looks like this at the moment

until we drain it and clean it (which is happening this week) I am not setting foot...or child in it.

My dogs swam yesterday and they show no signs of skin disease yet...it is still touch and go though:)

So I am forced to take my bored children here...

Tough life...I know.  This is our neighborhood pool.  Nice huh.  

All I can say is thank god the girls are old enough to not need me to go in with them and I can just plunk my big outta shape white bootay on the side of the pool while they do all the work.

Happy Sunday to you!

Please vote for a new tee:)

I want to do a couple new tees in the "family" line...but I am stumped.

So please go all the way to the bottom of my blog page and vote on a boy version and a girl version.

If you think you have a better idea...put it in the comments...I am drawing a blank on this one:)

Fun Friday

So I have managed to hang 1/3 of my wall hangings.

Although I have a ton more wall space...my taste seems to have changed in the last 5 years and the rest of my wall junk I think may be heading into the next garage sale.  In fact...I feel the need to purge lots of stuff...so I am going to start a major garage sale corner in my garage and I feel like lots will make it into the pile.

Here are a couple pics from my new house.

I have no idea how you take good house pictures and fit everything in...so...these will in fact give you no idea what my house looks like at all.  Ha. 

Sorry.

Here is where the magic happens...lol...my desk.

See what I mean...you have no clue what it really looks like because I am a sucky photographer.

Whatever.

Here is more of my office.  The wall of inventory.  This fills an entire wall and each basket is FILLED with clothes.

The beauty is that I have a good closet in here as well...so I can hold more inventory now.  Whoo hoo.  Don't have any room for guests...but I have inventory:)

Here is my view from my computer desk.

There is usually a kid hanging off those stairs...in fact, there is one perched there now reading a book.  But without fail...I can usually spot one if not two dogs laying somewhere down this hall.

Those walls should be clean for long huh.

Here is the view from the other angle.

My favorite part, and I am not even kidding, is the lights going up the stairs at night.

I am easily impressed. But I like night time...and I like night lights...so these are right up my alley:)

Look.  Another dog.  

Here is a view of the landing/loft at the top of the stairs.  

The girls have named this their "girl cave" and up until this morning there were 10 blankets hanging over the edge to create a "mood" up there.  Apparently it is a fun place to lay on a pillow and play game boy.

I don't actually know what to do with that space.  I think it needs an arcade game or something fun.

Then we have a couple girlie rooms.

One is still in disarray as we cannot find the pcs to her other bed.  Great.

So all ya get to see is the giant canvas I made of a picture I took a month ago or so.

The other room is a perfect princess palace.  I could sleep in there.

And that's about all I have for now.  The backyard is a mess.

There is still a dog buried somewhere back there.  I tried to take matters into my own hands last night and started to dig.  We couldn't find it. So.  Yikes. I think it is staying and we will just put something over the ground and well...let sleeping dogs lay?  Blah.

My kitchen is also still a mess because my new fridge has not arrived yet:(  But it will be worth it.  I love new fridges.  I like clean and brand new.  Who doesn't right? 

Same with my washer and dryer.  Sometime next week.  You should see the pile of laundry I have planned for that puppy.  

On a different note.  Today is my niece, Kendall's birthday.

How cute is she!

Happy Birthday Kendall!!

So far so good

I have quickly realized that a two story house is alot noisier than a bungalow.

As I sit here working in my office I hear the constant sounds of giggles and children running,  jumping...leaping and basically sounding as if they are going to come through the ceiling and land on my lap at any second.  Good lord.  Today a 2 hour playdate is now running over into it's 5th hour...and I am done.  Cooked.  Need silence.  My head is pounding with every last thump on the ceiling above me.

They tried to turn it into a sleep over.

Uh ya...that would be a no.

A week ago or so one of my customers shared this darling photo of her girls.

I love it.  The photographer is a majorly talented one from Salt Lake.

Her kids are darling...and she has awesome taste.  The styling alone is amazing.

Go to her blog...you will be amazed...and you will want those Gracielu head pc's that she photographed just as much as I do.  Man...those are awesome.  

Angie...if ya wanna trade...email me;)

Now in the event that you have recently sent me photos of your beauties as well and I have not posted them...please do not hate me...I had a major email misshap and I cannot find them.  Not good. So send them to me again...please.

Ok...off to the medicine cabinet...advil is calling my name.

The money pit

Ok.  So not quite the money pit...yet.  The day has only started though.

Yesterday I had the electrician who was attempting to hang a couple chandeliers.

Good lord.  That took 4 hours and alot of dollars and I still have one more to hang.

Last week when we moved in there was no electricity to one of the rooms...cha ching.

Then the laundry room had electricity issues.

Oh ya...then the garage door, because the previous owner was having issues with the garage door...so he thought the solution was to disconnect the cable.  Uh ya...not the best decision.

So garage door dude fixed it...then an hour later the OTHER garage door refused to go down.

Cha ching.

Hmmm...what else...oh yes...the pool...it needs to be drained, acid washed, regrouted and tile cleaned...

major cha ching.

Wheeeeeee.  Summer time is fun!!!

Whatevs.  Such is life.

Nothing has broken today...yet...

did I mention the dalmation that is buried in the back yard???

Ewwww.

Ok...onto better things.

Like this fabulous photo from Heather.

Heather is just one of those people that you wish you lived by so you could hang out with her.

 

How great are these pictures!  And how beautiful are her girls?

And how genius is her Madison to wear the skirt as a shirt!

I can't believe Ainsley has not figured this one out yet.

Thank you Heather...as usual...I love them so.

Hey look...I found my camera

So without complaining too much...last week sucked eggs...big time.

But it is over with.  School is done.  We are in our new house...I am almost back to normal.

Normal?  Ok...normal for me that is...which is working 24/7.

In the event you were waiting for pictures of my house...uh...you are going to have to wait a little longer because it is still a disaster.  There was a time in my life when I would literally stay up until all boxes were unpacked.  I cannot stand to live around boxes...or wonder where something is.

That time has kinda passed.  Not sure if it is because I have SOOOO much stuff now.  Or I am old and stressed and just plain tired.  Not really sure...but I will say that yesterday I started to literally take boxes and shove them in one of the many closets and cupboards in this house.  I figure that I have enough unpacked already that if I just do one box a day now, it will be done by xmas:)  And you know what...I could give a rats #$% if that is how long it takes me.

Did I mention how tired I am?

This house selling/buying thang has majorly stressed me out. 

But the house is now ours and the old one will be a lovely couple from Alaska's house by the end of June.  Wheeeeee.  That is when I think I will officially be a happy gal.

Actually...I turned the corner today and I think I am one step closer to being a happy gal.

I love my house.  It is twice the size of the old one and we needed that space.

I have a nice workroom set up and I am ready to go.

In the mean time, I know have two full time helpers until the beginning of August.

One will be 10 in a month and the other is 7.  Lucky me;)

Actually, I mean that.  I love my chicks so much...they are such good girls and I just like to hang out with them...which reminds me to tell you that July we take off for about 3 weeks.

Too dang hot here...and if I did not take a break, I would very well toss myself all Thelma and Louise style off the Grand Canyon.  So, if you need anything before the end of June...please order now to make sure you get it in time.  The shop is still open while I am gone...and I work the entire time anyways...but I do not ship until I get back.  So basically any orders placed in July will not ship until the first week of August.

Now the fun part.  Paint.  I did not paint a single thing before I moved in and I am not certain that was a bad thing.  

A. I had no time

B. I wasn't feelin' it...so I did not make any harsh decisions

C.  I can always paint one room at a time if the mood moves me

So...here is what I stare at daily in the hopes that something will trigger a feeling.

So far...nothing...just pretty paint colors.

Ya.  I got nothin'...but they sure are pretty to look at.

You know what the worst part of moving was...and I am being completely serious when I say this...it is that all my tivo'ed shows were erased.  Seriously.  I lost the last two episodes of  

Tori and Dean.

I love Tori and Dean...that show is by far my favorite show on tv...actually...it is a tie with

9 by Design. The point is...I lost my episodes!  Grrr.

By the way...is Tori Spelling not the cutest thing?  If I went back in time to the original 90210 show, she would now be my favorite...I feel like I was robbed all those years!  I was a Kelly fan...but no way...Donna Martin rocks man.  If you don't watch Tori and Dean, you need to...it's a great show.  She is naturally funny and their kids are darling.  Love it.

Oh...I also missed the Grey's finale.  So I had to watch it on my computer last night. 

I watched it in the dark...by myself.  I think it would have been alot scarier if I had watched it with the other millions of peeps on Thursday night...it lost a little something on the computer. 

Bailey however...she needs an Emmy for that show.  She was awesome.

So this week I need to figure out our "schedule".  Yes.  I know...it is summer vacation, but in order for me to get my regular work done and not feel like the guilty mom...it takes alot more work obviously.

Older kids work best on schedules just like little ones...at least in my house they do.

Plus...I like to keep their brains moving.

Today...a little trip to Barne's n Noble and we are reading for some work.

I should clarify that I am so not the pushy mean mom. It is not like I make them do homework all day long.  I just like to do a couple pages each day to keep the juices flowing.

Then we need to read.  

Do you remember this one?

I wonder if she will have questions for me afterwards.  Maybe I should reread it myself to remind myself what was in it.  I do recall I learnt alot from this one.

Ok...that's about all for now.  I think.  I will have house photos soon enough.  I hope. Gotta find a hammer to help cover up these walls!

Oh, one more thing...I bought this on etsy.  

I love it.  Not sure where it will go yet but I do love it.

Meet George

This is George our giant Goldendoodle.

He has destroyed our furniture.

But we love him because he is funny.

Did you miss me?

So I just wrote a long post and it was coming off as a little whiny.  I don't like to read whiny...and I am not a whiny person...so I think just typing it all out helped...and then deleting helped even more:)

Truth be told. I have nothing to whine about so just bare with me...I gotta move this week and this is also the last week of school here...so you read between the lines:)

Oh ya...and I gave up carbs 2 weeks ago. Haven't cheated once.

I have lost my taste for sweet (at the moment) but you know what?  

Life on a diet is boooooriiiing.  Like really boring.

I don't drink Starbucks because I am thirsty.  I drink it because it is fun:)

And the petit vanilla scone is like icing on the cake.  

Oh well. 

Instead of me whining...let me just post some fun summer finds.

 Ok first...these Joes Jeans.

I have them...I love them.  I also have some boyfriend jeans from JCREW and as much as I love those ones...I truly look like a homeless person in them.  They need to only be worn around my house.

But THESE jeans...these are super SUPER cute.

I would love these sandals to go with them

 A cute top

And this hoodie for those chilly summer nights.
Ok.  I have to pretend on the chilly nights since our "chill" gets down to a balmy 92 degrees at midnight in the summer.  But how great is this hoodie! 

Oh I can dream I guess.  Our temps should hit 100 this week and well who am I kidding.  The only thing you feel like wearing in 100 degrees is a swimsuit.  So if you are looking for a cute one. I got that covered as well.


We got the one piece

 
The Tankini (yes...this is a tankini)

And for those of you that apparently can wear anything you would like (grrr) we have the
itsy bitsy teeny weeny...blah blah blah

Ok...back to shipping and packing:)

Taking a break

So I still have a good grip on what I am doing.

So far.  Reality has not hit me yet that we are in fact closing on our new house monday...and that 98% of my current house does not appear to be packed up yet.  Hmmm.  Wonder when that will happen.

I am not certain as to what I am waiting for except the fact that I literally have 8 free minutes a day to pack.  No joke.  I also figure that since our new house is only a couple blocks away and that some days I feel like I live in my car,  maybe if I just take a car load of junk over with every trip...something will get accomplished?  Slowly.  

I will say that reality smacked me upside the head last night when I finally purchased a new fridge, washer and dryer and then got 3 emails telling me that all three of my items were on backorder.  Huh?

What does that mean?  That I will have a fridge mid July???

Not sure.  And kinda don't care.

Eventually it will get here...and eventually we can drink fresh milk again.

Currently I am taking a 5 minute break from pouring sweat over my heat press. 

I just pressed 83 items.  And I could quite possibly pass out from both the heat...and the constant turning, flipping, standing up...sitting down process that is involved.  Trust me...it is both carefully choreographed and totally out of control.  Usually there is a kid standing in my way asking for a snack:)

So I don't have anything new to show you today...and I have an eye doctor appointment in 30 minutes...so all I thought I would share one of my favorite blogs to read.

I don't have nearly enough time to read fun blogs on the net these days.

Like I am down to 1 and every once in awhile I will flip over to another favorite to catch up. So I thought I would share with you some fun ones that I like to read.  Some for good decorating ideas...some for inspiration and some just to make me laugh...because sometimes you just need a laugh.

So today...I think you should cruise over to The Meanest Mom and laugh along with me.

Ok...gotta head over to "shipping" and get some goods to peeps.

Call yo' mama

Happy Mommy's day ladies!

How am I spending mine?  Well, after being pampered by the girls, ala leg, foot, arm, back massage...I then had my nails filed and painted,

(what is the minimum length of time you have to keep goopy kid polished nails???)  

Seriously...it is effecting my day...I cannot even type as fast.  They are being weighed down.

And now...I am back at work.

Why? Well because I have 4 million things to make/ship/make/ship AND...

I had a couple new things for you.

First...how about an obnoxiously bright new version of the Preschool rocks tee

(I am single handedly bringing the 80's back...one color at a time)

And of course...a new Kindergarten rocks tee

If this doesn't make your kid stand out...

I finally did the mom tanks

And last but not least...2 versions of the Giggles Glitter tees:)

Actually...neither are a tee at all in fact.

I did a tank...they go up to size 12

And a tank dress...which goes up to size 8

I promise to do tees and thermals in the fall ok...so don't yell at me;)

I think that is all I have for right now.

Oh...wait...I do also have gymnastics rocks...and homeschool rocks:)

Don't have pictures of them yet. I will.

So enough with business...lets see what other pretty pictures I have.

Oh...the lulu dress 

I love the lulu dress.  I was just telling my friend Robin how I loved the retro fabric. 

I love anything that reminds me of my childhood...and for some reason...the green fabric on this dress just takes me right back to being 6.  Not sure why...but it does...and I am happy there:)

Also...Denise...if you are reading...I need you to make matching maxi dresses for mom/little chicks

in some retro jersey for spring 2011.  Ok.  Thanks.  Just add that to your pile of work;)

Speaking of Robin...check out her Parker in the Call My Agent tank

How great is the pink glitter cast....now THAT is an accessory:)

You know...I think the cast is the exact same color as the pink

"girls" in the glitter glam girls tee lol.

So since I gave up my beloved carbs last monday...today is not going to be an exciting eating day for me...so whomever had a starbucks today...I hope it was really really goooood.  Mmmm.

And if someone got some sort of homemade waffles in bed...sigh...lucky you

Why do I do this to myself?  Not sure.  But I think it has to do with the fact that it will be a steady 100 degrees + here soon and well...I need to break out the shorts...and the...gasp...swimsuit soon.