A surprise... and then another....

So, I saw Jess walking toward the front door at about 4:30pm today. My heart did some flops. I felt like I was getting a little hot. (OK, so I just re-read what is written previous to this note and it sounds like something other than I meant it to. SORRY about that. Please continue to read and you'll understand where it's going, I think!)

He comes in the door and very coolly and calmly I say, "What are YOU doin' home?!" He explains that tonight is actually his night off. 'Oh,' I think and I'm sure my whole countenance fell because tomorrow is our Ward social and the first one I thought Jess would make it to with us. I'm sure my face fell also because Jess went on to quickly explain that he was origionally scheduled for tonight not tomorrow night off, but when he was talking to Steve, his boss, Steve asked how many nights Jess was on this week. After Jess told him SIX, Steve told him to go ahead and take tomorrow night off as well!! So, we actually have TWO nights in a row with Daddy!

Of course, does that actually mean he's conscious for the whole time? Uh... do you KNOW Jessie???

If you haven't been able to figure out why my heart was flip-floppin and I got all hot feelin' it's because this scene felt like a re-run of experiences we had WAY too many times before we moved here. Jess was let go from, like, 4 jobs within a year up in VA. It was very upsetting. Each time he was home earlier than I expected him. So, I thought (since I'm a worst-case-scenario-ist, according to our councelor) that he'd been fired. Not that I thought he'd done anything wrong, but I was worried that this was sort of pointing out to me that Jess really SHOULD be doing something different, which has been a focal point of many prayers... trying to make sure we're in the right path, ya know?

Back to the story.... Of course, Jess came home and subsequently fell asleep as he was supposedly doing reading class with Ria. *sigh* I wish I could just randomly fall asleep and the girls actually leave me alone - regardless of what I was SUPPOSED to be doing! But, I suppose Mamas are the tortured... I mean 'totally adored'! hahaha ;)

Instead of fussin at Jess to spend time with us, I fussed at him to go lie down in bed so I wouldn't get even more upset to see him sleeping when I thought we would have some family time. He did. And I took the girls out for our hour-long walk. This is the 4th evening this week of this. And let me tell you, it is NOT very much fun for me! I just wish, so often, for time to just be me... I don't get it on the potty, not while I'm sleeping, not while I prepare food, not while I eat, not while I excercise. But... I shouldn't complain, right? I'm a MAMA, afterall.

Obviously I'm feeling a little peeved about the whole ability my husband has of leaving his job. Ok, so maybe that wasn't so very obvious.... Well, that's the root of all the complaining. I would REALLY like to leave my job for a little while. I wish the hotel thing had happened... but then, of course, I would wish for more than that. But seriously, I think after 4+ years of never leaving my job (and over 1 year of that I was also teaching) I should be able to have ONE day off, right?? ahhh... My fickle fickle heart!

Anyway.

Today has been productive and exciting for me in my "studio." (Right! As if! You know, of course "my STUDIO" is actually our dining room table and if you didn't know, you could just scoot yourself on back to a past post and find out - with pictures even! Back in the day when uploading them didn't totally freeze up my computer!) I worked on, primarily, another team challenge piece. This one is for my SHE team. (Schooling at Home Etsians) And I'm a perfect candidate for that team with my smarty daughter who is only 4 and reading at an almost fluent kindergarden level and even higher with less and less fluency! Can you tell I'm just so totally thrilled with her reading progress?? So, this challenge is "Robin's Egg Blue" and that's all the direction we've had.

If you know me, you will easily guess - and correctly - that this has been torture for me. I really had no idea where to go with it. That is, until yesterday on the hour-long walk. I saw this thing hanging from someone's mailbox and thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to make something like that and call it MAIL BOX JEWELRY?" So, I thought and thought, while I walked and walked and came up with the general idea of what I put into clay today! I'm very pleased with it!! It is baked, but unfinished as yet. The challenge isn't due until May 15th, so you'll have to hold tight for photos. I'm having problems with Flickr, so you'll definitely have to make sure to get added to my friends to see 'em in Photobucket. (Mom, you're already allowed to see those pics, under caregi.... You know the rest. You just have to contact me for the password!)

IN ADDITION to that, I also started AND finished another nursing Mama. I'm very pleased with this one as well. Perhaps more? I'm not sure. It's really great, though. Oh, and I'd previously made the angel that is going to shelter this Mama and IT is very cool, too. :) Not finished... You'll just have to wait for pictures. heeheehee

Man, I love Florida! I'm already getting a really great light tan. Just from walking while the sun is setting! Nice, right!?? Ok, so I know that was totally random, but I thought I would just sort of tempt you... perhaps you want to visit more now? Love it if you did! Try NOT to come in October (like at all!!). If you want to come for OUR Thanksgiving or Christmas, make sure you contact me in advance because we make up our own holidays! You know, you sort of have to do it when hubby works in a field like Hospitality. And, since we don't have family here to dictate that we STAY WITH THE DATE, we just DON'T! Such a priviledge, really.

Ok, so I'm TOTALLY overblowing how wonderful making our own holidays is because I've been feeling a bit down about being away from my extended fam for so long (only 10 months, I need to be strong, this hasn't been all that long. I will surely be away MUCH longer than this before I can get back there!). ahwell....

Wanna Vote For Me?

The voting is on, currently, to determine the winner in my Military Brats Challenge. If you would like to see the other entries and then... vote for ME... (heeheehee) you can check it all out at http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5570246 Seriously, though... I don't have any votes yet! :( How sad. But if you feel you must vote for someone else, I won't be upset for too long. ;)

Obviously, you'll have to sign up with ETSY if you want to vote. But, why NOT? It's free! :)

Back to Pictures

Ok, so I've tried to upload pictures to my blog a few more times and it freezes my computer so baddly each time that I have to re-start it before I can use it for anything. I've had the same BAD luck with flickr, too! :( That is NOT good because I'm using flickr primarily for my business. So, I'm a bit perturbed, but not completely put out.

As I mentioned before, you'll have to be a friend to view the photos in my photobucket account. If you are unable to access it (mostly everybody) you'll have to drop me an email or leave your email address in my comments and then wait until I add you. Sorry. I know that's pretty time consuming and all... but, seriously, the pictures of my girls are TOTALLY worth it! heeheehee Of course, any Mother would have to say the same about their children, but it's SO totally true about mine! ;)

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg208/ToriGollihugh/?special_track=nav_tab_album
This is where you can find my smarty-tarty-hot-to-trot-party girls! (as if!)

I'm sure I have something to share, but cannot remember it for the life of me right now. So, it'll have to be another post. ^_^

An Odd Sort of Adoption

Yesterday, Jessie's friend, Jerry, came over to spend some time with Jess. Since Jess only has one night off each week right now, that time meant the family was present as well. Jerry was hanging out while Jessie was getting things prepared for Ria's Surprise Birthday Party. Kathryn actually went right to Jerry and asked, via raised arms and a little whine, for him to hold her! If you don't know, this is TOTALLY UNcharacteristic behavior for Kitty Kat.

A short while later Ria came over to Jess and me and asked really quietly if she could call Jerry "Baba". We both thought it was strange, but told her she needed to ask him. So, after a little shy weirdness, she did. He didn't really know what to say at first. Then he asked if she didn't have a grandfather. I explained that both her Grampas were living, she called one Pop and the other Papa and that we didn't really know where the "Baba" thing was coming from. Then I turned to Ria and asked, "Why do you want to call Mr. Jerry 'Baba'?" She said, "Because I don't have a Baba." There you have it... I don't know what Baba means to her, but I guess it's something special. So, Jerry consented to be called Baba. Ria AND Kat were both very pleased and kept singing, over and over to the point of terrific annoyance, at least to me, "Baba, Baba, Baba..."

After Jerry left Kat sort of fell asleep. She'd been very tired during his visit. When she woke up she asked, "Baba?" We had to remind her that he'd left. She watched him go and was very upset about it because Jessie left the house when he did (and I think Kat thought he was leaving for work). It was a traumatic event, so the fact that she forgot he left was pretty funny, at least to me.

Changing focus to my "obsession" as of late; Ria has some Angels for sale in my Etsy shop. She's so very excited about them. I'm happy to do it because she'll pay tithing with any money earned and then put the rest in her special savings account. That savings account is the one she usually only has to put 10% of all her income/earnings/gift $/etc. This is the account that will remain untouched until she is 18+. So, it's a good thing! If you haven't been there lately, you really should check out her little angels. They are terribly sweet!

The following are some pictures of the Little Boy I mentioned before. I imagine him either as, literally, a little boy presenting flowers to his Mom for Mother's Day. OR... as the metaphoric "Little Boy" in every man when he's done something wrong and needs to appologize; whether to Mom, friend, or lover!

I should not that "Little Boy" was unbaked at the time of the pictures, thus also unglossed. I had to hold my hand oddly for the perspective picture because the flowers are very delicate and I didn't want to smoosh them. :)

http://torimade.etsy.com/ The Little Boy is not listed yet, but will be before too much longer. I specifically included the link, though, in case you haven't seen Ria's Angels!!

My First Sale and Other Thoughts

Can you imagine my surprise and pleasure when, as I was going through my items to record the number of views, I found an item missing!?? "Oh, no," you might say, "something way missing?" And I would respond, "It was SOLD!!!" I was (ok, I still am!!) really excited and immediate got to work. So far I've made the inner packaging box, painted it, but still need to complete the paint work. Then I'll have to package it for the mail... a bit larger box and protective stuffing. I'm sooo happy! If you have offered prayers in my behalf for my shop, I thank you. I'm so grateful and very very hopeful! Now, you may wonder what it was that someone bought. Well, I'm happy to show you!

Today I've posted a new item in my shop. I'm very pleased with it for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that I just felt SO good when I was making it! I was thiking about my Mom and her dreams for a rose garden and rose bathroom... and how much she enjoys gardening and how that has influenced me. So, I was pretty happy with it after it was baked and in process of completion. But then Jessie saw it out and he asked if that's what I had made that day. I told him I'd actually made it the day before, that it had taken ALL day, and then asked what he thought. He picked it up, looked at it more carefully, and then told me that he was really impressed with it and that he thought it looked really pretty. (I'm so glad I have a hubbie who is comfortable saying things that are meant to be pretty ARE pretty!) Then, today I asked for his opinion on pricing it. He told me, "At least $20. It took you so long!" And I knew the other unsaid compliment was that it was so good... you see, he'd already told me that part, so he didn't feel it needed re-iteration (though I would have loved to hear it anyway!). :) Next are a few pictures of that piece. I'm calling it Garden Angel.

I couldn't manage to get the smile in the marbeling to show up when I wasn't using the flash on our camera. So, that's why the last picture is so bright and shiny. I love shiny, though! :)




I've learned about three other girls that I knew in my youth, who are ETSIANS. It's been really neat to realize the little world of ETSY is pretty well-known. :) I'm so excited to have found it and started my own little place in this big business world. Keep wishin me some luck!!! And the prayers are even more awesome! Maybe we can replace one of Jessie's jobs with me work!!! Oh, to have my husband home....

I have a crush! I already told Jessie and he's ok with it. See, I found this amazing artist on ETSY and I want this person to be my friend! But how do you ask someone with whom you are potentially a competitor to be friends? I had it all worked out. I was going to write to the artist and say, "I LOVE your work!! Would you be my friend? Oh, and by the way, are you a boy or girl?" That last bit is only important because I TOTALLY have a crush and would feel way more comfy if the crush is on a FEmale artist than a MALE one. Ya know? Are you curious? Well, I'm not sure I should actually share the info... since this person really IS my competition... especially because I was planning to make cake toppers and such... but I REALLY admire their work, so I'm going to share the link anyway! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7403869 This should bring you right there. BUT if it doesn't, http://boogiebabys.etsy.com/ really should!

So, I did mention that I had some other thoughts (not ETSY related). I'm just so enamored!

Ria is all about working now! It was so funny. Yesterday, she kept asking to make something with clay. I did explain to her that we weren't going to do any play or anything with clay or the computer since that's what we did for work, even though we love doing it, because it was the Sabbath. Well, she didn't like that at all. Then, she asked if she could play with playdough. I had to then explain that even though it's a different medium, it's too similar to what we use for our work. I'm happy and excited that she loves to create! It IS a joy!!!

Kitty Kat also enjoys working with the clay. She will actually sit for up to 45 minutes, in her little desk/chair, and work with sculpy! Now, if you know Ria you may not think this much of an accomplishment. So I feel it important to explain that Kat does NOT sit still. She is a much more active child than Ria. Her attention span is shorter and pickier! She's just a different girl, as she should be. So, the fact that she's sit there and work on anything for longer than 20 minutes it SERIOUSLY amazing! Oh... and usually Kitty will stand up like she's finished, but then see how intently Ria and I are still working, and then sit back down and work some more! Her work habits are also unusual in that she doesn't try to get my attention every 2 minutes to show me what she's made. She will work the ball of clay I give her until she has her desk area covered with smaller odd shaped pieces, then get my attention to show me one particular item and after I comment on it she will look down at her other work and then up at me and wait for my comments! Isn't that hilarious!??? I LOVE IT!!!!

So, even if the work I'm trying to do now does not blast off, the experiences I am gaining of and with my daughters are treasures!!!

hmmmm.....

I will have to do some work on pictures so that I can share some more of the girls. We have some great bubble pictures that we took yesterday with and of Daddy. It was his special time with the girls before he went to work. I have not yet uploaded those pictures to my computer.

So, Heidi, my best friend since I was 12!!! Checked out my shop and gave me some more ideas of things to make. So, today I went shopping and now have some shadow boxes. She suggested I made some shell scenes, like my 2 Beach Angels and the Snow Angel and put them in shadow boxes. The reason for the suggestion is really smart, so I'm going to fly with it. That particular item will not appear in my shop for a while, though, because those shell scene are very time consuming and I need to be able to put my thoughts together for a larger scene than 3" diameter! But I'm excited about that. I'm also going to make free standing angels, rather than just ornaments. (Also a suggestion by Heidi!) She thought that some people might like the angels because they collect Angels, but prefer something that is not an ornament. So... Do YOU have any suggestions or ideas for me?? If you let me know what they are and give me a reason or a couple for the idea and why it could be good, you may see your name in my Blog!! hahaha, not that I get terribly much traffic... but still! You can email me at secretsshallebb@hotmail.com

Ria Is 4!

Can you believe I have a four year old? It's hard for me to believe it's been so long, yet not. She had a really wonderful birthday, thanks to lots of calls from family and many Happy Birthday wishes. She even heard a few folks sing the birthday song just for her! It was really sweet and she has A BIG smile on her face as she listened.

We are carrying over a tradition my Mom started with her own children. She gave us our choice of dinners for our birthday. Ria chose enchiladas. Now, these are not Mexican-style, they are cajun... and my own personal favorite, by the way. :) She has very good taste, my daughter. They entree takes quite a while to prepare and Jess had to purchase a few of the ingredients FOR the dinner AND cake/icing, plus he still had to work that evening, so yesterday morning was a bit busy to say the least. I was only able to prep a few things, so once he and Ria got home from grocery shopping (their special "date") we were very busy for a few hours. But we were able to enjoy a family lunch for Ria's birthday and it was really lovely! She was so very pleased with everything for her and still smiles SO big when Daddy comments on her new age. She is so very pleased to be 4!

I'm ever so slowly getting things rolling for my newest venture into online selling on ETSY. I'm very excited about it and very hopeful, still. Since being back online, I've been able to reconnect with a friend from Australia and found out that she is a seller on ETSY! What a small world, eh? So funny... and exciting! My seller name is going to be Torimade and I've actually joined under that, so it sort of exits, but I haven't posted anything for sale. Like I said, I'm going very slowly. Ria got me back into working on angels and my other clay creations because she really wanted to make an angel for her birthday. So, we did that for family home evening last night and talked while we worked. Then she wanted to get right back into it this morning first thing. So, as a result, I've got 3 angels made and a baby picture frame almost finished. The picture frame is pretty new for me. The first one I made I gave as a wedding gift to Evelyn Pieper just this last summer. I was pretty please with it, but I don't know if it's a kind of thing others will buy. We shall see, right?

Now, I don't know if I would like to live in a small town that was isolated from others by time and space, but I do have to say that I have learned some nice perks of living in a small town. For instance, our librarian knows us by name and knows our routine for visiting our little library in town. Last week was THE worst for our icky stuff illness and we totally missed both of out library trips (skipped the crochet teaching night and story time). Friday, the day after story time, Ruth called to check on us! Can you believe it? I was so touched. I finally called back today (library is closed Sunday and Monday) and thanked her for the call and let her know we HAD been sick and appologized for having items out late. She told me not to worry about it at all and let me know she had renewed everything because she'd figured something had come up to keep me away. Isn't that the coolest? Well, I thought it was pretty awesome, myself.

We are still fighting the lingering effects of the CRUD we've had. Our sleep schedule is totally out of whack, to boot! UGH. We girls ended up taking a THREE hour nap this afternoon, which is totally unusual under normal circumstances. As a result we woke up right before SEVEN PM! BLAH! *sigh* But, we are slowly improving. The snotties are slowly clearing and maybe diminishing. The girls still wake in the night coughing a bit, but I think it's less often now (maybe... hopefully!).

I'm afraid Jess might be catching the funky junk we've had. He was up coughing a lot last night. If you would, send a prayer that he stays strong and healthy. It's a hard thing being an hourly worker and the sole breadwinner!

We are not happy about a change approaching for Jessie's morning job (The Almond Blossom Cafe). The owner is planning to join her establishment to a gym in The European Village. There are MANY reasons we are unhappy about this change. For one, the new location is quite a distance from us. If Jess were to continue working there, he would have to drive an additional 24 miles each day, plus pay a toll every day to get to his night job, AND not be able to come home between jobs for lunch. Now those are our personal problems with it. There are many other reasons this move is, as we see it, a detriment to the business in general, which Jess cares about because he has a lot of time and effort invested into this thing. The move would mean fewer seats for potential diners and also, because of the venue, the likelihood of selling full-on meals would decrease, so too would revenue. The boss is saying that she's unhappy with the current state of things because she's only breaking even. SHE's ONLY BEEN OPEN EIGHT MONTHS!!!! Most retaurants LOSE money for the first YEAR (if they are lucky they'll break even during year two and then possibly make money year three). And she's unhappy. Ignorant, is really the truth of it. She's never known what to REALLY expect from this industry, which is one thing she said she wanted Jessie for - to inform her about the food industry. But he tries and she totally ignores him! Very annoying!!!! So, those are just a few of the issues. I could continue to rant, but I think I'll leave it alone for now.

An Additional Adventure

So, I've been considering trying to sell some of the things I make. Honestly, I was heavily pressured by Jessie's sister and her fam and after the other people who had commented that I should really sell the Christmas ornaments I make, I've decided to try and do it. I'm actually pretty excited now!

Basically, I'm going to try to place some items in a few stores locally, but initially I'm going to try ETSY. I guess I'm a big ol' chicken. My ego is very fragile, contrary to what some would believe and I want to see if there's any interest via the web before I go to an actual living person to see if they will put my items on consignment in their stores. We'll see what happens. I hope you will wish me very well because any income from this venture will help pay some debt and/or (depending upon how much it is) enable us to do some things that we'd like to do, but just cannot afford at all. For instance, I really want to go to Disney this year. Mostly because it's Ria's 4th birthday year and she just loves the princesses SO much. So, I want to try to get her to see then when it might be a wonderful first memory, or something like that. Of course, Kitty will get a kick out of it too, probably, but she's lots less likely to remember it.

Anyway... I'm really quite excited and very hopeful. ETSY is really classy and very affordable. I'll have my own shop and be able to list as much or as little as I want because it only costs $0.20 per listing and then a 3.5%fee AFTER the item sells. If the item does not sell, I'm only out twenty cents for it. Oh, and the item remains listed for FOUR months. Great, huh? Of course, if you just let it sit there it's less likely to appear in the early part of the time machine II, which I gather is a popular way for buyers to search through the products for something they are interested in.

As far as my Christmas ornaments go, I haven't seen anything else like them on ETSY. Of course, that could because we're quite a while before Christmas... but I'm still hopeful! Also, I'm going to make ornaments similar to the ones I made for Evelyn's and another wedding gift AND try a few styles of Baby's First Christmas and such as potential Baby Shower listings.

Crocheted items are much more plentiful on ETSY, but even so there aren't as many baby items as I might have expected. There are some really AWESOME hats for little ones and probably more items than I've run across thus far. As a bit of an aside, this site is just generally FABULOUS for gifts!!! I found a necklace I totally want to buy for my sis... alas the money lacking.... I haven't seen any of the stuffed animals I make. Amiguri (or something like that) is the most popular look for crochet stuffed things and some people might not prefer that. So, I could well have a market! Again, I hope you'll send me some high fivin vibes and well wishes so that this might take off. A great dream I have is that this could bring in enough moola so that Jess wouldn't have to work TWO jobs even if he doesn't make more at The Club! A good dream, right!

I've started working on a little newborn baby jacket for my sister Eves. It's going to be very sweet with little pockets and fun trim, a matching hat, and booties! Oh, I hope she and her hubbie like it. They are very gracious, so even if they didn't like it, they wouldn't let on, but I want them to REALLY like it. Ya know?