A Bit of a Good Surprise

So, yesterday Jess was home from the Club, that's the pm job, and got a taste of what I deal with almost daily with Ria. She was supposed to be cleaning her room. (She totally knows how to do this already and I've even written up a guide for her, which she has successfully used to completely clean her room.) Well, she was in one of her moods and had already spent about an hour moping in her room about how she wasn't going to clean it.

On this scene Jess arrives. At first he just fusses at her and warns her. Then he decides that he's going to be in there with her. Thereafter follows much more fussing and frustration on both sides. Eventually it gets a bit quieter and it's obvious that there is work being done. That's good, right? Except that his presence there completely undermined what I'd told Ria would happen when her Daddy got home. I addressed this issue with him, as well as the fact that he completely did not come to speak to me about it when I called him (I couldn't leave the meal I was preparing). Well, basically right after I shared my frustrations with him about his behavior and treatment of me he had Ria start cleaning up in the livingroom. Then, while she was doing that, HE started sweeping in the dining room. By the time he was done he had swept the dining room and living room!

Ok, so probably there are some of you whose hubbies do this sort of thing regularly. Well, Jess isn't one. He cooks regularly, but he doesn't clean up after or clean anything else very regularly. I can count on one hand (including this event) the number of times he has swept the floor since we've lived here (almost EIGHTEEN MONTHS!!!). So, this was a bit of a surprise, and, for sure, a REALLY good one!!! :)

I'm sure I will post more later. I have one sculpture to show yall, but I haven't got the pictures ready, so it will have to wait.

In Answer to a Question

A friend of mine left a question in my comments area. I was going to just answer her, but then I thought there might be others who wondered the same thing. So, the question was about what I use to make the figures and things I have for sale in my ETSY shop. Although I loved working with dirt-clay when I was in art school, it would be really difficult for me to do that in my current circumstances. I do not have a kiln, nor do I have a dedicated work space to be able to get all silty and dirty. So, I actually use Sculpy Polymer Clay. Polymer clay is wonderful for me (and many other artists who work in their home) because we can bake it in a pretty low oven. Kilns are expensive to own/run and also expensive to use part-time in someone's ceramics shop. I am probably going to switch to another brand of polymer clay after I finish using what I have because I'm learning more about my craft. I'm working to develop my craft and so I'm watching YouTube tutorials as well as reading online information available to people obsessed with polymer clay. One thing I have learned is that pretty much everyone who is in polymer clay heavily prefers one of two other brands. I'm going to try them out and see if I agree.

I hope that answers any question for Feli and anyone else who hadn't as yet asked. THANK YOU for leaving comments. I LOVE THEM!!!! :)

Music Lover

I just had to post this tonight because I'm sure it will be oft repeated tomorrow and since it is the Sabbath I won't be able to tell yall about it until Monday if not tonight!

Ok, so I missed the first session of General Conference (for the non-LDS persons out there, this is a twice yearly event that we LDS folks look forward to because we get to hear from our prophet and church leadership). Anyway, as with most meetings, there is a song at the beginning. Well, Ria and Kat were in the laundry room with me (this is where my office/computer resides ^_^) and when the music started going Kat just started swaying and smiling and got really excited. That's pretty cool and all, but very characteristic of her.

Today I learned in a new way how much my youngest daughter LOVES music! So, Kat and Ria eventually got tired of me shushing them and ignoring them (I totally would NOT be able to do that in the church, SOOOO glad to be able to watch Conference online!!!), so they wandered off into the rest of the house. I did check on them. They were playing nicely once. Another time Kat was staring out the front window... And I could make another whole post about what an outdoors lover she is!!! Anyway, they were safe and happy and I was able to pay attention to the speakers.

Back to the point! The music came on again after Kat had wandered away. I heard the pitter-patter of her little running feet as SOON as the music was playing! She was rushing into the laundry room and over to me to listen AND sing along with the choir!!! ^_^ After the music was over, she wandered away pretty quickly. This repeated EVERY time there was a hymn/song sung!!! Oh, and when she was in here to sing and sway she would smile and cuddle my legs. How SWEET!!!

Ria was very good for quite a while, coloring in a coloring book that she has used for "work" before. She told me one day while she was coloring that she was working to get pages colored so we could "sell them and make money so Daddy can stay home more". I put quotation marks around the part I keep repeating to her about why I need to do the work I have been doing. I'm glad to know she sort of GETS it. :)

So, although I'm feeling exhausted, emotionally as well as physically, today was a pretty darn good day. I was able to complete the bills while Jess was home this morning (which I've been neglecting for a couple weeks) and then the girls and I went grocery shopping when our Bishop wasn't able to make our meeting tonight. He rescheduled. It'll all work out for the best. ((*_*))

Dandelion Angel

This is the "Dandelion Angel" I'm submitting to the contest for my Military Brats Team! I'm really rather pleased with it, especially considering the story attached to it. Did you miss the story? It's under the title of 'Natural Disaster', right here.

Hearts View the World

This little beauty has taken a long time in coming. I started this piece in the middle of last month. It is called, as you might guess, "Hearts View of the World" (or you could leave OF out). I have it listed in my shop (http://torimade.etsy.com/) if you'd like to see more of it (side, back, closeups). I don't have time to include all that here. Jess is home and letting me work, but I want to have dinner with the family. :) Also, on the page you get when you click on this piece of ToriMade art (!^_^!) you'll have access to a pretty comprehensive explanation of the symbolism I had in mind as I made this lovely group of hearts. Hasn't a thing to do with Valentine's Day, in case you're thinking I'm a couple months late. heehee ;)

I also wanted to note that Jess blew up Ria's birthday pool today. The three of them played in it and had a blast. Kitty Kat loved her swim suit so much she threw a hissy fit when she had to get her street clothes back on afterward. So funny.

Have I mentioned how much of a sort of overacter Kat is becoming?? Oh, MY goodness!!!! Ok, so this is just an example, but it happens pretty frequently about any number of things. So, she scraped up her knee the other day when I let her run with Ria on one of our walks. NO prob! She got up and kept running. She didn't notice it a bit. Well, a few days later, after it was nicely scabby and hard, she started to pick at it (I do NOT know where she gets THAT tendancy!!!). She was successful with a bit and it hurt. She looked up from her work with this FUNNY "OH" coming from her mouth with wide eyes. Her whole face made the "Oh"! It was so funny. Then she decided it hurt enough that she should cry, so she covered her mouth with her hands and bent low over her knee to "boohoo" literally! It was hilarious!!!! She's even gone so far, in one of these 'overacting' moments of drama to cover her mouth with the BACK of her hand! Can you imagine???!! It's probably one of THE funniest things I can remember right now. Kids are BETTER than TV, don't you think? (I definitely do, specially since we don't watch TV, so I don't really know what's on.)

Let's see... what else is new and interesting in the Gollihugh, Jess and Tori, family? Well, I'm coming up on 14 weeks and very hopeful that the constant BLAHs will go away. I've been feeling SLIGHTLY less tired.

OH! Today I went to my first LLL meeting! It was really great. I was able to share some of my "wealth" of knowledge and get to know some other ladies who don't think I'm a bit weird for nursing my 18 month old daughter while pregnant AND having the desire and goal to nurse her until she's 2. I'm so glad!!!!

Kat doesn't nurse all the time, but it is often enough that people have seen it. There have been enough comments like, "You're pregnant, shouldn't you wean her?" Or perhaps more along the lines of, "I can't believe you're still nursing! You should definitely wean her. You're pregnant, afterall." Obviously, if you know anything about nursing or are even have slight lactivist tendancies (mine are WAY more than slight), you'll know that these comments are TOTALLY lame and ignorant. But, you see, I encounter this really uncomfy thing when I'm preggie and in labor... I become uncharacteristically vulnerable and almost unable to stand up for myself! Perhaps more correctly, my vulnerability affects me much more strongly and more often and inhibits my proactive-advocate-for-myself-and-child tendancies (which, believe it or not, even when I'm not preggie it's sometimes difficult for me to be as much of these things as I believe I should or would like to be!). Anyway... now I feel MUCH better about nursing Kat. And I get to see these ladies at least once a month. I have one girl's number and I'm going to call and see if she would like to get together. Who knows. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with at least A picture of the Dandelion Angel. I'm so excited to read what yall think of her!!! I hope MANY people will leave comments for me on the hearts today and angel tomorrow. Also, I LOVE comments on any/all of my work in my shop. I try very hard to incorporate criticisms when offered lovingly. AND I totally love suggestions and creative inspirations. Heidi has offered me quite a few of the latter and I'm still working to get some of the others out of my head!!!!! THANKS GIRL!!!

A Natural Disaster

Today I experienced a double tragedy. It could have been much worse, but I didn't take what DID transpire well. I chalk it up to two highly stressful events: #1 Jessie working 6 out of 7 nights a week for 3 weeks now as well as working 5 mornings out of 7 (but one of his mornings "off" we are at church) AND being pregnant. The latter of the two I would say is excuse enough for my slight over-reaction today.

So, let's see. I took the girls to story-time this morning and then to the post office to mail the Sheltering Angel (check out my sold area to see what I'm talking about at http://torimade.etsy.com/ ) to the lucky recipient. ;) Then, as a special treat, I put on the movie that Kitty Kat picked out at the library (Wiggles anyone?). Well, needless to say, Ria was enthralled, she didn't have to do reading class to watch THIS movie, afterall! and Kat was entertained for a bit and then not. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the NOT part.

You see, she didn't come and get me, as I was working at the computer. She stealithily moved the ONLY chair that was standing on all 4 legs into position...



and ATTACKED my beautiful dandelion angel!!!!! :( Oh... and what's worse? She hacked at it, LITERALLY, with a knife I'd thought totally out of her reach on the table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, this is how I find my baby: Sitting every so diligently digging into my crushed angel with a knife! I was shocked, scared (about the knife), upset, and just totally overwrought by that bit of "straw" and yelled for her to go to her room as I started crying. As she understood what I was saying, she did it and started crying almost as hysterically as me. Oh, my GOODNESS. I cried for at least 1/2 an hour! I was so upset I also called Jessie home from work because I didn't trust myself to deal with Kat alone after what had happened. I was so happy that I hadn't called him home in so long. But it always happens like this. When he works these rediculous hours I start to crack. And since I don't have any non-child outlets to speak of (other than my art and clay work, which is only non-child inasmuch as I can tune them out AND they choose to leave me alone). *sigh* So, he's going to ask for a 5 night work week at the Club next week.

Did I mention I was going to spend the night in a hotel on Friday (tomorrow)? I'm not now. We just cannot afford it, which I knew, but was determined to do it anyway. But I'm not. I'm ok with it because I'm not going to be responsible during that same time frame. I'm going to be present, but not. A bit of compromise. ahwell... I'm going to save up my $10 every two weeks until I have about 1/2 of what I need for the place I want to stay and put a little aside from the regular income. I should NOT feel guilty about this after Jessie came to Florida for a week (to job hunt) AND got to spend a 12 hour day at the Races. I'm not going to feel guilty. I deserve a break, too. Right?

So, I'm okay with the whole mutilated angel now. I was able to recover it and it's almost as wonderful as it was the first time. I still have a few pieces to finish for the whole scene. Oh, this whole Dandelion Angel thing is for a contest! :) I'm entering the contest for the Military Brats Street Team of Etsy. I'm excited about it because I am, of course, a Military (NAVY) Brat. This group of gals is really wonderful. I'm super glad to have found them as well as the other Teams I'm a part of. I don't feel so alone in this business I'm working on as a result of them!!

I'm almost completely finished with the Reading Man. I'm going to place him in my library here in Flagler Beach. My amazing and wonderful librarian, Ruth, offered her library as a place to put my pieces for sale! She was amazing and wonderful before this, but MAN, what a deal, huh!!?? Closer to Christmas I'm also going to put angels and other Christmas ornaments in a beach shop here on 6th street. :) My visiting teaching companion and one of my best friend's, Jena's, Mom owns the shop. Her Mom said she would sell them and not collect anything. I don't think that's quite right, but WHAT A DEAL, right? :) Also, my midwife has offered me a nice sized space to show my work and sell it. So, now I just have to spend less time promoting on the computer and MORE time WORKING in my "studio". ^_^ So, I'm going to end this post and go ahead back to work.

Oh, and THANK YOU to those who have been leaving me some comments. I LOVE COMMENTS in my blog!!!

The Surprise? And Some Other Pictures

Is she surprised? Your guess is probably better than mine!

She's holding onto Daddy; bein' SHY. She's NOT shy! Silly girl.

The party girls.

Lola, Ria, Lily, and Victoria. Aren't they dolls!?

If it wasn't for Carrie I wouldn' thave these pictures or the next ones.

Carrie was a REAL helper for this first time birthday-party-mama!!

The Gollihugh Family

Ria's Surprise Birthday THE Tea Party

These are the three pictures from the tea party part of the party. Ria is in one of the HIGH chairs because she is princess of the party, even though she wouldn't wear her birthday crown. The other girls are Kathryn (of course), Lola, Lily, and Victoria.

The Moms are Suzie and Carrie.

The menu for the tea party was: cheese quiche, cucumber and dill cream cheese finger sandwiches (THANK YOU CARRIE for helping me by putting them together!), the little sweet biscuits that are traditional with an English Tea (canNOT remember what they're called), lemon curd squares, and mini chocolate covered eclairs.

Jess spent the majority of his only night off that week preparing the goodies for Ria's party. It was so very wonderful because of the love he puts into everything he makes!!

Presents at Ria's Surprise Birthday Party

Ria's first gift from Lily: a pair of Cinderella dress-up shoes!!!

Next: a crown for the birthday princess.

Also from Lily and her Mom Carrie: Ria received a bunch of hair ornaments.

Perfect for dressup! And now a PHONE!!! She'll love pretending with this!

A My Little Pony that Sage picked out because it has a hat on (part of the invitation asked that the attendees wear hats and dresses to the party). The polly pockets doll is from Lola! :)

Ria opened a frisbee, which Victoria picked out and a BIG pool from Sage and Victoria.



Kitty Kat Snuck onto the patio after everyone left. She was nibbling on left-overs left out on the table. She'd already been cleaned up once and got her face all chocolately (though not as much so as the first time!).

Ria's Surprise Birthday Tea Party!

I'll just say now (and edit later) that pictures must wait till another day for uploading. It's almost 11pm Saturday, right now, and I have to get to bed earlier than my norm tonight. I had a horrible case of weirdness last Sunday (shakes, hot/cold, WEAKness in my arms, headache... it was very upsetting; I left church during Sacrament meeting!!!) and I know part of the reason for it was that I was overtired. The other part was rushing hormones, which I know FOR SURE now, via the barfing later in the week!!! I will be better tomorrow regardless because I only worked for two hours rather than the ALL day that has been my regular every non-Sunday since March 13. I've re-discovered a bit of a workaholic in me as I try to develop my business. I think I'm pushing so hard because I really want Jess home more...even if it's just time that enables me to work undisturbed, he would be spending time with OUR girls. *ahhhh* You can totally help by passing the word along about my shop!!! The link is in every other post, probably, so I won't be annoying and include it again. ;)

I must say that the party went off well. Jess worked really hard Wednesday night (in addition to the Easter egg hunt we finally had, which pictures, alas, will also have to wait). He made the traditional biscuit sweet things, whose name I canNOT remember! He also made lemon curd squares, quiche, and eclairs! Today I made a cake and Carrie Murphy put together the cucumber sandwiches! What an ANGEL (which is why I LOVE to make angels... they appear EVERYWHERE when you open your eyes to them!!!). :)

I will return, probably Monday, to update/edit properly with pictures. Also, I will be predating some things (like EASTER egg hunt), so check previous posts for titles you don't recognize. Obviously I said Monday... that's for a good reason... you see, I won't do this, or most any computer work, on Sunday because it is sooo integrally connected to my work and it does feel like work (though I TRULY enjoy that, most of the time, except for the girls getting frustrated with me). Some people would dicker this point with me, but it's about MY feeling, so I won't be posting tomorrow, Sunday. See ya Monday.

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!!

Are You Kidding Me?

Ok, so this week I will move into week TWELVE of my pregnancy. I use all caps for the number because, for the first time during this pregnancy AND since the ONLY time it happened ONCE waaAAAyyy back when I was preggie with Ria, I BARFED!!!! It wasn't a simple little upchuck. I totally lost my breakfast! I've been all weak and tired since. WOAH is me! Actually, just joking about that last part. I actually don't feel THAT bad about it. I'm just sorta scared that this will become a regular sort of thing. How strange, though, huh???

So, last night, after hours of loving labor, I delivered a beautiful Angel Shelting Nursing Mother And Child! Oh, man am I happy with this piece!!!!! I'm going to include an annoying number of pictures because I'm just so very tickled with it. This particular item is actually going for a trade with another ETSIAN. She's at http://savonara.etsy.com/ I'm really excited about her products, especially because it seems that Kitty is coming down with eczema! :( She's pretty unhappily itchy!

So, in the face of the Angel, do you see the heart(s)?? In the face of the Mother (middle) I see a profile of a smiling woman!!! And, in the baby, do you see the profile of a pudgy baby forehead and cheek? I DO!!! The neatest... darndest part is that these were all "accidents" of marbling.

Just some "viewage" of the piece in process.

The three together. What do you think??

I also finished a little boy who is holding flowers behind his back. I'm thinking this will be a great Mother's Day gift for some LUCKY Mama! Actually, when I was making the little boy, I kept thinking of my nephew, JJ! :) Let's see what my Mom has to say about that when the pictures become available.

A Speacial Day; TEMPLE Day!

So, almost two weeks ago (at the VERY beginning of March) on a Saturday, Ria told me, "It's been a while since we've been to the temple. We should be going to the Temple today! Saturdays are Temple Days." I was very happy to hear such a thing, but had to respond, "Well, today isn't a Temple Day because you have a birthday to go to and we're going to spend the day together as a family after that (Jess was scheduled to have the whole day off, but actually ended up going to work in the evening).

So, when I told Ria that we would be going to the temple this Saturday, earlier this week, I was expecting some joy about the subject. I was not disappointed. She was very happy to have that as our plan for Saturday. :) Then, this morning, at about 6:30am she was in the van ready to go, we were waiting for Daddy to come out from locking up and she said, "It's been a very long time since we've been to the Temple. I'm so glad to go to the Temple today!" I, of course, agreed with her. Then, she suggested, "Would you sing I Love to See the Temple with me while we drive to the Temple? As you would probably imagine, I happily agreed. And we started our trip with that song.

The whole morning was really nice. Jess slept on the way, as he usually does. Kat was up a lot longer than normal, but did eventually konk out. Ria was up the whole time. I actually listened to the radio on the way because I was very tired, needed the help to stay awake, and didn't have any tapes with us. It's really funny about that... ALL of the songs I heard held a really specific message, even spiritual message, for me! For instance, one song told me about the uselessness of thinking about "what ifs". This is a biggie for me lately because I had this dream about a guy I haven't thought of in ages and I've been wondering about him a lot this week. So, that song really spoke to that issue! Then, there was a song about a guy going to ask his girl's Dad for her hand in marriage. And basically this guy realized that he was stealing Cinderella from her Daddy... and that's totally how Jessie feels about his girls dating. He totally doesn't want to think about it or anything. Not to mention marriage! Yikes!!! Another song, one of my favorites, reminded me that I need to prepare a letter to future boys in my girls' lives. It's a song about the main thing the singer remembers from his high school years being the talk a Dad had with him about his daughter, the girl this singer was going to take on a date. The Dad had a shotgun he was cleaning and was talking about how wonderful his daughter was. One of my favorite line is, "She deserves respect, that's what she'll get, now aint it son? Go on and have some fun. I'll be here when you get home, CLEANIN THIS GUN!" heeheehee Well, I love this because I can totally see Jessie doing this. And, quite frankly, I hope he does! I know my family knew I was strong and stuff... but I always wished a little that my Dad and brothers were more protective of me! *sigh* Back to that other song, right!??? :) Anyway, that last one gave me this really overprotective wonderful idea for a letter that I will prsent to the boys that want to date our daughters. Now, mind you, I'm going to be totally cool to them and receptive and welcoming. The letter is going to give them clues on how to be considered respectable by us or NOT. And, based on their behavior, we will know what kind of guy they want us to think they are. Anyway, it's a lot more in depth than that, but that's the gist of it! I know, most of yall think "WOAH, Tori, that's a bit overprotective, don't you think?" And I'll say, "Yes. But I don't think there's a bit wrong with sheltering one's children. There is enough in life to teach them the bad stuff. I don't need to shove them in to it!!!"

My own Temple experience was really wonderful today. I'd actually wondered last night if we should NOT go today and wait for another day next week. I just kept having this icky feeling about going today. I really had a VERY difficult time discerning whether the icky feeling was because of my overwhelming apathy as of late, or because we really should NOT go! I did pray about it a lot and finally got the strong feeling that we SHOULD go. So, we did. And I totally felt, while I was there working, that there were a few reasons I needed to be there. Two reasons were two ladies I had interactions with. One was just so full of sweet, joyful, peaceful LIGHT and the other had the smallest hint of an Australian/New Zealand accent. I asked her about it and she did actually grow up in New Zealand. They were both really strong women, but the lady from New Zealand was a VERY strong spirit. I felt comforted and joyful and so very very grateful to have been in their presence. And, of course, my testimony of Temple work and my faith in my own spirituality was fortified! What a wonderful day!

So, I've been working on some more pieces inspired by Heidi! One she suggested directly, the other is a sort of off-shoot. I'm only going to attach one picture. If you want to see more, you'll have to look at http://torimade.etsy.com/ I'm honestly too tired to sit here much longer. Sorry.

What a great potential Mother's Day gift, huh? Just in case you won't check it out, I have to share that this particular piece was inspired by Heidi, my Mom, and Evelyn! :) Heidi actually told me to make one of these. My Mom... because she's my MOM! duh! Also, because she always seemed to love the flowers we brought her even though she would tell us she liked them in the ground so much better (I actually do this, too, without even thinking about it!!!). And Evelyn because I know she used to be sort of gahgah over sunflowers. Don't know what her favorite flower is anymore, but I was thinking about her anyway! :)

Story Time and Work Today

We actually made it back to Story Time at our Beach Library today. It's been 3 weeks since we went last. It took me that long to feel energetic enough to walk there. Last week I could have gone, had I been willing to drive there. But I really wasn't willing to drive TWO blocks! UGH. The only time I drive there is when/if we have an errand before or after.

Ria was totally engrossed in the stories today. That was really nice to see because sometimes she's much more interested in the other children. After the story we made little square Easter Baskets. It was nice and the girls had fun. We didn't get to go to the playground afterward because Kat had a stinky butt and I didn't have diapers or wipes in the trailer (stroller). ahwell

The rest of the day, thus far, has been work on items to sell. I did, of course, have to make lunch and then we did eat it when Jess came home, but that was about an hour worth of the day.

Ria has made 2 really wonderful Angels to sell. She's so excited and wants to work with me most of the time I'm working on creating the pieces. She has actually even said she wants to do the listing. She may sit with me when we list her pieces, but I'll have to do the majority of the inputting and such, as you might imagine.

Anyway, today I finished my first personalized "doll". I tried out the whole face thing and just didn't like where it was going. So, I'm sticking with only impressions of a face. I'm adding hair and clothes and if there's a really significant feauture or attitude I can imitate, I will. My first one turned out quite well. It's a gift, but I think I'm going to try post it with the picture I used as a model. I will photoshop the picture first to take out the face of the little girl for whose Mom I made it. Hopefully I'll have that up in my shop (http://torimade.etsy.com/) tonight sometime.

I'm taking a break right now from making a little girl giving flowers. This is an idea Heidi suggested/inspired and I hope she will be pleased with the outcome. :) Of course, I have been thinking about Heidi as I've made it because I don't think I would have had the idea on my own, but I've also thought about my girls and Evelyn! Evelyn is actually why it will be holding the particular flowers it will hold. I don't even know if these flowers are a favorite of hers anymore, but I remember them being particularly interesting to her a while back. You should check it out!

I'm very excited after the visit with my midwife, Karen, yesterday AND the library visit today. As I was going back to the exam room in my midwife's office she mentioned that the area to the left, a display case, was specifically for her mothers to display items to promote their stay-at-home business. Immediately I mentioned that I'd just started up a business of my own and gave her a card. She told me I should definitely set up a display! So, I'm definitely going to do that! I'm so excited!!! Then, this morning, I shared my card with my librarian, Ruth, and she told me that I should put business cards on the "take it" table. And then she went on to suggest that I could bring in any extra pieces to display (with price tags) and she would be happy to put them up on some of her shelves. She displays paintings and such that are for sale, so she considered it sort of the same thing. So, I'm so excited!!!! I have two physical places to sort of advertise/sell and perhaps they will also increase interest in my shop!!!! :) Oh, I'm so hopeful!!!

Some Funny, Some Sweet Pictures and Commentary

The are the most regulary attending of our JOY SCHOOL children.

Sage's two girls and mine. Both of our eldest daughters are VICTORIA!!!

How cool is that, right?

Our girls on the steps of a new playground.
Do you see the greenish colored van in the background? THAT, my dear friends, is one of the many amazing and wonderful gifts from Earth Angels that our family experienced last year. Tori's Uncle Mark Storms gave it to us. BUT, not only that, he drove it to us from LA, gave us money to get it registered, AND paid his own place ticket home! What a blessing!! And this whole thing was set in motion within the same weak that I gave up a fear I'd had about transportation for our family, were it to increase. I gave the fear up for trust in Heavenly Father! We received the van in November 2007 and we became pregnant with number 3 in January. So, Heavenly Father was preparing the way for transportation for our growing family! God IS good!!!!

Kitty Kat finds an egg. She had a lot of fun looking for the eggs, but probably would have enjoyed it as much if she had just watched Ria or tagged along behind her big sis.

Ria eating some candy BEFORE lunch! What a treat.

Here's Kat trying to find me so that I will help her get her shirt off.

She got it this far and just looked too funny to miss capturing!

She's actually chasing me to get the shirt off, but I laughed a lot while taking these pictures.