Happiness, Hope, OTT & a Stripper Pole

Its been a wonderful weekend beginning Friday with my near perfect job interview. I have been told I will be presented with a very irresistible job offer in the next few days that I would have to be insane to not accept. Hallelujah! Saturday morn we went to the tax office and filed and found we would be getting a very sizable return without having to itemize. It was a good day with family the rest of the day and today has been restful and a bit productive in the crafting department. As a matter of fact I just brushed the last coat of mod podge over the photos and then they will be ready for their resin coating. Resin takes 24-72 hours to completely cure. I will then attach the pendant bail and make the necklace with sparkly sheer ribbons and silver clasps. They are going to just be so pretty!

And more good news....I have been tagged! Yes me, "Sensual Amber", shown some bloggin love by my friend "Lulu Easy Button". If you would go on ever to her blog you would understand all this and how our stripper names came to be. I'm thinkin OTT would go nicely with a stripper pole.

Cheeseburger Stimulus......

The teenager, who has recently found himself broke after doing his part to stimulate the economy one cheeseburger at a time, decided he would just hang out with the family tonight and suggested we go bowling. So we did. It was the little one's first time bowling and, what a treat, it was cosmic bowling night with glowy black lights and neon and disco balls galore. It has been probably 10 years since I have stepped into a bowling alley so it was a treat for me too. And what a different atmosphere now that there is no smoking. I could actually see more than two feet in front of me clearly without fog! Seems here in the south a great deal of babies are born with cigarette in hand. (And sweet tea in their bottles) So a lot has changed in ten years. Most noticeably, my age. When I got home I went straight to the bathroom to wash my hands of possible cooties that I may have picked up from the public bowling balls. No telling what is in those finger holes! This was never a concern to my younger self. I also feel pain in my hands, back, kneck, shoulder, elbow and knees and I'm scared to know what else will hurt in the morning. I was taking a good look at myself in the mirror wondering where the time has gone and greatly concerned about grey hair waging a rebellion against Ms Clairol. Do you think they were glowing in the black lights? GASP!!! Surely not............................... Right?

From Presidents to Rolly Skates...

This year is turning out to be a year of firsts. Obviously the biggest being our first non-Caucasian President. My first job interview of the year coming up this Friday. My first time attempting custom jewelry in the shop. But I think pictured below is the most comical. My two sons perfectly spaced 12 1/2 years apart. One age 16 and one age 3.....and a half. That half part is important when you are so little you know. But scrolling through my recent photos on my camera I realised I had a back to back pictures of the teenager with his first set of wheels, and also the little one on his first set of wheels. Wont be long till we have the picture of the little one off to kindergarten while his big bruddah is off to college! Anyhoo..We went "rollyskatin" for the first time a few days ago. Oh that was an adventure! He did exceptionally well though practicing first on the carpet and then braving the "ice" as he called it. It did look like ice all blue and lit up. He finally decided he wanted to do it himself so I let him. He would scoot along at about 0.000002 miles per hour and look up and smile the biggest smile and say "wook at how fast I am going Mommy!". Precious. Until we had to go potty. And to my horror the potty floor was concrete. Slick smoooooooth concrete. Ever take a 3 year old to the potty on rolly skates? BOTH of you on rolly skates? If you ever do I highly recommend using the handicap stall because it at least has rails to hold on to. I will leave the unpleasant details to your imagination of a wobbly Mommy on rolly skates trying to guide a wobbly little one on rolly skates rolling around a bathroom stall trying to get britches up and down while hanging on for dear life to the hand rails trying desperately not to fall head first in the potty. Maybe next time I will remove my rollyskates for such an occasion.

Creatin' and Redecoratin'

Come on in and have a look around. You likie? I have wanted to figure out how to make my blog more personal and decorated-like for some time now. Now if anyone else had asked me to fix up their blog I would have had it figured out and done that day. Why is it that I am always on the bottom of my own list?

There has been some creatin' going on at Color Of Dawn Creations. These little wooden pieces have been stained and sealed and are now ready to create custom photo pendants. I hope to have some examples done and uploaded to the shop in the next few days.

Also in the works is a Pet Portrait of little Spot. Isn't he absolutely precious? I'm told that he left this world shortly before Christmas and this is to be a portrait of comfort for his owner, who is also in the portrait. Every time I touch color to paper I think of her and hope that that I can somehow bring her comfort through art. And wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Yes.

The power of prayer............

Words cannot describe how incredibly unhappy I am at "the real job". It is not a profession of choice, it is a profession of necessity to provide for my family. But I have been with this particular company for 14 years now and it is SO time for me to move on. Not to another profession, no this is all I have ever done, but to another company, better surroundings, better benefits, better pay. These last few weeks have really been difficult for me. I cried three times. One time in particular on my way back to work from lunch. I just drove, tears rolling down my face, the thought of going back to work unbearable, so I began my talk with God.
"God, I have been so SO patient, haven't I been patient? And I will continue to be patient for as long as you ask me to be. (Everything in Your time) I know it in my heart and you know what's in my heart so since we both know, do you really need to continue to test me in the patience department? Haven't I passed the test? Please God PLEASE I feel I am going to break. PS I love you"
Friday, I received word that I have an interview for next week with the company I have been trying to get an interview with for 7 months now. THANK YOU GOD!!!
PS. still love you

To all the Mommies

I picked the youngin up after work today and heard those horrible words, "he didn't take his nap today". Instant panic. This normally means I am in for one hell of an emotional ride for the rest of the evening till the little guy's bedtime. On the other hand if I race home, get supper cooked and get him in the tub way early, it means early bedtime which means free time for Mommy. Woohoo yeah! But no, I loafed around, didn't start supper immediately and about 6:15ish when I was half way through cooking I found the little guy out cold on his bed. Instant panic yet again. Do I wake him? He needs to eat supper. If I don't wake him he will be hungry and possibly wake up at 3 in the morning ready to start his day. If I do wake him up he will be SO MAD. If I let him sleep just a bit will he EVER go back to sleep? I tried to wake him. No go. He didn't budge. So he got a bit of a nap in, I fed him some supper and here we are almost 11 and he's laying in there awake. And I KNOW if I go start a crafty project, I'll juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust get into it and hear "Moooommy! I need a dinkawatta" or "Mooooommy covah me up pwease" or "Moooommy I gotta pee potty" (again) Sigh. BUT I knew *I* was in for this when *WE* planned to bring the little guy into this world. I type it that way because the Daddy is in the bed snoring away. Has been for at least an hour or more now. AAaaaaaah but I SO love my little guy with his fuzzy little yeddow curls. Crafting can wait. And the good thing is, while I am waiting for him to go to sleep, I just found this adorable little vintage bubble ring by Momomatic and bought it. I can't wait till it gets here!

Mounted Cow...we didn't eat him

Last Saturday the hubby and I went out on a date with the dinner & movie gift cards we got for Christmas. So here we sit at Long Horn's watching the football game on tv while waiting for our meal. It was taking a particularly long time for our meal to come which resulted in interesting conversation.

Hubby: Why would you mount a cow?

Me: Well this IS Long Horn's so........

Hubby: Yeah I guess........he just has this look on his face like I cannot believe I ended up here.

Me: He does have that look of Damn it to Hell doesn't he?

Hubby: It's so wrong- him up there watching everyone eat steak.

Me: Yeah that shyit ain't right.

By this time our food arrives. So hubby looks up apologetically and says "Man I ordered the Rocky Top Chicken" And I too pay my respects and chime in "I got shrimp!"

PS: After much loafing....er ...resting........my store is back open! Woohoo! Not much in it yet but open nonetheless.