Sofa Pics

I promised previously that i would show you pics of my hodgy podgy (is that even a word?) sofa and all the interesting pillows i have strategically placed in an effort of making the sofa feel more 'homey'.(again is THAT even a word) I warned you that you will have to restrain your impulse to just jump right smack dab into the middle of them all!! But alas, this picture invites no one. seriously this is such a lame depiction, so i took it upon myself to show you some newer improved pictures of said sofa.

Isn't that so much better?? I'm not sure whats going on with the lighting here, but please note the tassel hanging on my lamp that i just 'happen' to catch in this pic!! Do not notice the 1st grade homework papers on the arm of the sofa or the really retro criss-cross applesauce- oh so seventies -railing on the staircase. Ok the Brady's called and they want their staircase back.

as if this wasn't quite enough,......

I really don't know what the heck is going on with the lighting folks...surely it has nothing to do with my $75 camera??!!

anyways, i will share with you my dining room transformation this weekend minus the psychedelic light show. and now i depart with the coolest video i have had the pleasure of enjoying in a while http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpV5InLw52U

Ciao

SALEing Away

so i'm planning on having a HUGE sale in my etsy show starting this weekend. Here is my plan of attack: 1. finish all the fall and halloween tassels i have sitting at home so i can post at least 1 a day for a whole week. 2. figure out how to do the red numbered sale pricing 3. wait up until midnight one day this week and try to get in a do a feature on "not your mother's tassels"4. go around to every blog i can find and leave a funny comment after i figure out how to link my blogs back to my etsy shop.
I can't think of anything else to promote my shop more...if anyone has any suggestions, please please please leave a comment and tell me.
when i get home i plan on uploading a couple of pics that i took of my couch and the wonderful hodge podge of pillows i have loaded it up with. it just makes me want to take a running start and just jump into the middle of them all. if you are ever over at my house and the mood strikes you, by all means feel free to indulge!!

When Conditions Collide

So i have been feeling better the last couple of days, and now i'm starting to wonder if maybe i really did have a flu bug that just aggravated an already existing condition, my gallbladder.
I have taken advantage of this feeling better an went ahead and set up my craftroom. Now i'm ready to go whenever the mood strikes me.
My eldest son called for the first time from Boot Camp today and he immediately started to cry. I miss him too. Turns out he came down with a case of swine flu and it set his graduation day back a week. Now i need to rearrange all my dates, but maybe there was a reason for it all turning out like this. He's been placed with a new group and he is most definitely not thrilled about that. He doesn't know anyone there.
Maybe next weekend I'll work on more tassels......

Gallbladder Gone Bad

I'm not sure if i mentioned it here or not, but that terrible flu i have been struggling with for a week now....turns out it's my gallbladder. THAT would explain the episodes i've had when i'm crying out to God on the floor of my bathroom from pain until i start puking violently. i even remember laying in bed Monday night with a sharp pain that wouldn't go away not matter what i took or how i lay. when i did manage to doze off, i would be awakened by the pain so i didn't get much rest. the next morning i took the pink bismol stuff and the pain subsided enough for me to make it to work. i did actually think to myself,"maybe i should have rob take me to the hospital" but of course i minimized and convinced myself i have a terrible flu bug. how smart am i???....
anyways, this could not have come at a less opportune time since i am trying to accumulate hours for driving down to see Sean, my oldest son, graduate from Air Force boot camp.
my really cool boss is working with me though so i can keep adding hours to take off for surgery and whatnot.
I AM BLESSED

Better Craft Show Pics

ok, here are jennifer's craft show pics, please note that they are not near as dark as mine. could it have something to do with the huge price tag difference in the 2 cameras? if anyone runs into my husband...that is precisely the reason why....otherwise, i never read the little booklet that came with it, so for all i know it could do a gazillion different cool things.

is that just too cool or what?? it's almost like we were in 2 completely different buildings!!

check out all her awesome cards and scrapbook pages, love them....buy them...you need them...

hey...who's that wacky gal jumping into this picture??!! hey..that's your truly!! i want everyone to know that this was no easy feat for me seeing how i had swine flu at the time. ok maybe not 'swine' flu, but i was feeling under the weather. leave it to me to still pull some sort of stunt anyways. be thankful folks that i WAS sick, that way the clothing stayed ON. what an attractive pose THAT would have made.

does it just blow your mind that i have been a bulimic for 25 years and been this big for the last 12? feel free to use this pic to show young girls why binging and purging doesn't last, i just screws you all up for the rest of your life.

ciao for now!!

Craft Show First Timers

last Saturday Jennifer from http://stringsnpaperdreams.etsy.com/ and i worked our very first craft show. We shared a booth and i have to say it was very educational. I am just glad that we talked about the possibility of not selling anything and what we would do. I know for myself, and i found out for Jennifer too, that's not going to stop me. I will still keep on creating because i love it regardless. whether i sell my stuff or not has no bearing. As it turns out, we didn't sell very much. there really wasn't a whole lot of traffic coming through there either. I don't think it was advertised well. not to mention people don't know what to make of my tassels. it is not something you find in Oklahoma at all. as far as i know, jennifer and i are the first. so those people who did ask, some got excited about it and some others didn't. there were only 2 women who even knew what they were without our having to explain or demonstrate.

Here is a very dark picture of part of our homemade booth. we used old wooden fence posts and believe it or not we weren't the only ones using this concept for a craft show. i know...i know...only in oklahoma, the really neat thing was that right across from us was the only other fence post booth in the whole show. their wood was new, though, and ours is ...well....distressed.

Here is Jennifer hard at work tying 'Raffia' on our handy dandy gift bags. I kept singing in my opera voice..."rrrrrrrraaaaafiaaaaaa" while we worked on the bags. i just crack myself up!! jennifer was kind enough to smile at me every now and again....who's missing their kids now???

and here is jennifer expressing her real sentiments on the whole darn experience. the name of our coop you ask??? the Gifting tree...too cool huh? next time we're going to have an actual tree in our booth so as not to confuse the locals. thank God no one asked where our tree was!! they were too busy trying to figure out what to do with the tassels.!!

all in all it was a great experience for our first time .

A Case

last night i stayed up watching a show called A Case For Faith, but Lee Strobel. I was so thought provoking, i could't fall asleep for 2 hours. it was really good, i highly recommend everyone see it.

I also thought about this blog and my family of origin. My sister got remarried this past weekend so i got to see my family. think 'my big fat greek wedding' on steroids. we are loud, obnoxious, passionate and need i go on?? my family is from Cuba,& i am a first generation Cuban-American. my understanding is, as far as hispanic groups go, we are one of the loudest and most expressive. oh...and did i mention we are ALWAYS right and the rules do NOT apply to us? also, no matter what circumstance you may find yourself in, there is sure to be a Cuban 'dicho' (saying) for just such an occasion.

So i am born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, & with my light brown hair, blue eyes, and hours of speech therapy to rid me of any accent in grade school, you would think me a native to the area. Once you met my family though, you would know that such assumptions couldn't be farther from the truth. I think that alone would also qualify me to be labeled a hodge- podge.

My father was a wonderful artist, and in fact, he had the only stained glass studio in northeastern Oklahoma for many years. Here is a window he made that is displayed at the conference center in Woolaroc Museum:

I only pray that i will leave behind a legacy of art as well.

Hopeful Day

Today i scheduled a spot in a showcase for my etsy shop . I'm anxious to see what happens today. I will be busy getting ready for the upcoming craft show next weekend so i will only be checking periodically.
I am more than halfway done with Mansfield Park and i cannot help but reflect on the interesting difference of Fanny's resolution and stayed mind as opposed to my flighty one. I am ashamed to admit that i would probably be believing Mr. Crawford's change of heart despite the way he has always behaved previously. As i read this book I am so wanting of someone to explain Mr. Crawford's behaviour to Fanny's uncle Thomas so he can understand why Fanny feels as she does towards him, and maybe even commend her for her depth of wisdom in being so reserved. Of course, having to relate personal experience to all i encounter, i have to admit that i admire and wish i had the clarity of mind Miss Price possesses. i am tooflighty myself to not buy into the most obvious of bs.
Just as an alcholic can delude himself into believing he is the acception to the rule. That he can, in fact, flirt with booze and still be in complete control of the situation even as he spirals out of control. I have believed myself to be the one who can find the diamond in the rough and help the diamond to not only discover it's own beauty, but to tranform into said diamond and shine ever so brightly, under my wonderful and self sacrificing love, of course. I would have undoubtedly been one of Miss Price's dimwitted cousins and would have fallen helplessly in love with Mr. Crawford and believed i was indeed the exception to the rule.
Flyleaf's song "i'm so sick" is playing somewhere in the background i believe.
Oh well, onward and hopeful i will be.

Celebrating Recovery

I am grateful for this blog as a tool in my recovery, i am grateful for friends, i am grateful for finding hobbies that fulfill a part in me i didn't know was left empty, i am grateful for a God who is with me even when i am not always with Him, i am grateful for the healthy children in my life and a husband who is still in love with me, i am thankful for so very much.

what are you thankful for today?

I Love a Great Buy

Ok, my friend and i went the the Habibtat for Humanity re-store yesterday looking for extra drawer knobs for our craft booth and lo and behold what do i see?? I light fixture that is perfect for my dining room. i l.o.v.e. it and so jen and i carry it up front and instead of asking how much for it i offered the lady at the register $10 for it. She asked what was it marked for and we told her it wasn't so she non-chalantly said how about $15? I said yes!!! when we left i told jennifer i seriously felt like some kind of bandit and we probably should've peeled out of the parking lot to make it more official and all. did i mention she also threw in the drawer knobs at $1 a bag... ??the very same little zip-lock bags that i was making jennifer fill up because it was just easier to carry that way?the same bags that had a MILLION knobs?? is that crazy or what!!

check out my really cool serger i got from HSN on easy pay...easy pay..if you don't know what that is, don't ever find out. if you happen to have visited HSN and purchased ANYTHING on easy pay, you understand why i may need to take a blue chip for this in the near future. if i am ever asked, " so what turns you on" i will so answer with, i only have 1 payment left on easy pay so i can start shopping around for anymore 'stuff' i may need!! easy pay is truly a Godsend for those of us who do not believe in credit cards and try to live as debt free as possible, and yet cannot afford to fork out $700 at once for a sewing machine and are to impatient to save up for it.it's like a happy medium.

Wow, sorry for that little trip we just took. no more about easy pay.

so, what say you about my light fixture?? did i get a good deal or not? does it look like it belongs above a billiard table or what?

What say You???

Thrilling

i am thrilled for everything happening right now. my best friend and i are preparing for a craft show a week from this saturday, i reserved a showcase THIS saturday on etsy, and i had a sweet woman offer to trade ad space on her blog for one of my super unique tassels!! she's even going to show me how to create a button for my blog that'll link people to my shop. i am very excited with all these new prospects.
i am so very thankful for having taken that turn in the road that has led me to here. truth is even if i never sell another piece i still wouldn't stop. i have found an outlet that i L-O-V-E.
on a different note, my church is starting up Celebrate Recovery and they've asked me to basically lead the way and show them how. what an honor. maybe one day down the road we will have creative workshops to help others in their recovery as well.