Margaritas + Feeling Like A Failure Mom(+ A Give-Away)

This week is crazy, crazy.
And not the good kind of crazy... know what I mean?

Maybe two weeks before Christmas, with so much other stuff going on, is not the ideal time to start having big evening events for my new job.
But I have two this week, last night and tonight and I have literally been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
I can't wait until tonight is over.

The other day Charlotte started drawing a book of "Mommy's Favorite Things" and page 1 was a margarita.
She wanted to take the book to school to show her teacher and right now as I am typing this I just remembered that I never checked
her backpack to make sure she didn't.
Ooops.
That margarita is going to be sounding pretty good about 8:00 tonight though....

This morning I am feeling bad about snapping at Charlotte for losing one of her new gloves already, right before she left for school.
And yesterday she wanted me to walk with her class to a play at the University and I couldn't go because I had to work.
I hate saying I can't go.
And I think one day last week was her snack day and I just remembered. Yep.
Got it all together over here, don't I?
Also, my girl has to get a tooth pulled next week and there's more guilt.... my kids have inherited my terrible teeth.
It's so easy to let all of these things overwhelm you, make you feel guilty and less than.


BUT,  I have not failed completely with our Elf this week... it's the little things, folks, and I'm hanging on tight to the little things
I haven't screwed up.
In the midst of the busy craziness our little Elf is something to look forward to every morning.
Even if I forgot last night and Eric hung him off the back door know to make it look as if he was trying to get out of the house(Booooorrrrriing).

One morning we woke up to papers scattered all over the dining room floor.

It looks as though he was trying to draw the perfect self-portrait.

Another morning he got into the basket of CLEAN laundry and scattered socks 

and underwear all over the Christmas tree.

 I can't forget tonight though,  I need a good idea...

and I need to do it before I crawl into bed exhausted tonight...

no more of this hanging off the door handle business.

:::::::::::::::

Look at this post about my little GIVE-AWAY that ends tomorrow.

Leave a comment on this post or any post this week.

A swell little bundle of vintage goodness + one pretty sweet little coffee mug.

50% off everything in My Shop through tomorrow, 12/13/13.

Happy Thursday, y'all.

Happy Monday + A Winner

Hey there.
It's Monday and the last day of Christmas vacation for us... back to school tomorrow.
How am I going to get up tomorrow morning?
Seriously. I think the kids will do fine but I am more worried about myself,  I have gotten so lazy over break.
It's a little ridiculous, uhhhh.... like- think high school + college days of sleeping in. Ooops.

Anyway--
Since it's Monday, my three nieces will be here today and the kids are super excited.
They are looking forward to movies, brownies, hide-and-go-seek  + lots of playing with their
American Girl dolls.
I have to say, we have had a really nice break but I am ready to get back to a normal routine.
I kinda need it, like a lot.

>>>>>>>>>>

OH!!
Charlotte picked the winner of the adorable fox mug from last week's give-away...
That's Heather from We Are The Holden's. Yay!
Look for an email from me today, Heather, and I will be sending a package your way this week!

Make sure you join me here for  Virtual Coffee tomorrow morning.
Have a great day and a happy Monday!

{Love Your Soul}

I think it's a good morning when this is your message from the Universe. Even if your message from the Universe comes in the form of a little tag on your Yogi Himalayan Apple Spice tea. I'll take it. And no, it's not the first time I have gotten this exact message... but again, I'll take it. 

And I am starting to love a hot cup of tea a little more and more, too. 

Welcome to your random Friday post.

Yesterday I sat and made about ten pairs of these little earrings and could not stop myself. I made yellow, white and blue little roses and burnt my finger several times on the glue gun but it didn't even phase me. Seriously, making earrings and drinking hot tea and listening to 70's Folk on Pandora. A great afternoon. 

We did the preschool registration thing this week and all went well. I talked with Charlotte ahead of time about acting like a big girl and refraining from barking/panting like a dog when people spoke to her at school. Luckily, she did not. Sometimes when people ask her a question or she is embarrassed/shy she will answer with a "bark, bark". And I don't mean that she actually barks but she says "bark, bark". And check out that outfit she picked out for her big day. She was so proud of herself for matching those shoes with her shirt. Yes, sometimes the outfits are a little much with the stripes, polka dots and crazy tights

 but I love style. Well, usually anyway.

So back to the earrings. I know these are nothing new, these are everywhere and mine are nothing special at all. They are also not professional looking--as in they are not worthy of being sold or anything-but they are worthy of a give-away I think. So, I think I will give away five pairs next week. You don't have to do anything silly or jump through any hoops, just leave me a comment and tell me which color you would like: blue, yellow or white. I don't care if you are a lurker, regular commenter or visiting for the first time, I'm just going to randomly pick five names on Monday.

This was yesterday. She did not want him to go to school. But she did want to go to Joann Fabrics 

after we dropped him off at school, so she got over it quickly. She really does miss him when he is at school most days though. She also likes having her own time at home though too.

*****

I have now moved onto 80's love ballads on Pandora and now think I have the motivation to 

get up, get this house picked up, laundry put away and beds made. Tonight is Family Game Night at school so the Bramer family will be in attendance and you know Mrs. Bramer got roped into volunteering...oh well, that's okay, I am meeting the girls afterwards so it's all good.

Happy Friday!!! 

And here's a little inspiration for you. 1988-style, baby. Muwahahahaha. 

I hope it's stuck in your head all day.You can thank me later.

To My Readers!

 I wanted to quickly tell you all about this really cool project, A Moment In Time, taking place this Sunday, May 2 that I just learned of today. The husband forwarded me a link to the New York Times blog post explaining it all, here is a little piece from the article;
Attention: everyone with a camera, amateur or pro. Please join us on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 (U.T.C./G.M.T.), as thousands of photographers simultaneously record “A Moment in Time.” The idea is to create an international mosaic, an astonishingly varied gallery of images that are cemented together by the common element of time.

How cool is that? All the photographs are then going to be available to view online on their website, you can click where you are on a map of the world  and see your picture along with what I'm sure will be a million other people's pictures. After I read the article I gasped when I saw that  this Sunday, in just two days, was May 2. I told Eric I had to hurry up and get the word out.

He said; "To who?"
And I replied; "To my readers!" Because I have always wanted to say that. Ha ha ha!

 If you do end up participating I think it would be really cool if you post your photograph on your blog and then leave me a comment letting me know you did because I want to check them all out. And even if you don't post it, or you don't even have a blog (but why wouldn't you?) how neat is it to know that you are taking a picture at the exact moment that so many other people are all around the world!?! I love stuff like that. It makes the world seem so much smaller, and us all a little more connected to each other. Or maybe I am just a dork, a picture-taking dork.
 My moment in time is Sunday at 10:00 a.m.(Central Daylight Time) but depending on your time zone, yours will be different. It explains it all in the article-times, how/where to post the picture, etc. Go read it here and then spread the word! Come back Sunday to see my moment.

 Oh and speaking of My Readers? I said that when I hit 20 Followers I was going to do a give-away and  now I see I am at 31 (which is awesome because it seemed like forever that it stayed at just a sad, little 6!) so I am going to have my very first GIVE-AWAY next week! So all you lurkers that don't comment, you know who you are,  you're gonna have to crawl on out of the woodwork next week so you can enter.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!