Is late better than not at all?

Merry Christmas! Yea so I missed posting that here on time! You know how the holidays are - too much to do and never enough time to do it! We had a good Christmas. Kids were all happy AND we didn't go into debt for gifts at all. We had prime rib for dinner - way yummy!

Also on Christmas the session grades were released - I finished with a 95!! My final score was a 92. Maintained my 4.0 and my status on the deans list! Go me! lol Seriously though - it is HARD to keep on this track sometimes while keeping up with the rest of my life too.

I'm currently running a sale on my etsy shop for pieces. Till 2009 get a 3 oz bag of pieces for $3, and I have reduced shipping on this item as well. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17467052.

Also, I set a goal to do 100 faces in 100 days for Mary Kay - December was a tough month to start in, going to work my tail off to make up for it in January. Email me (summermomi78@aol.com) if you want to be a face model!

Plans for NYE? None here so far. What are yours? Any resolutions yet? I'm working on that ...

Done with Laws!

Last night I completed the final exam for my law class. I had a 95 before the final, so hoping to maintain my 4.0 gpa. This class was tougher than I anticipated and covered a LOT of material that was brand new to me. The rest of this month and January are going to be crazy busy I think. That's a good thing for the most part! Tomorrow DH and I are going to a MK Christmas party. Saturday we're hosting our 2nd annual holiday cookie decorating party and going caroling with friends from FamilyPlaytime Moms group. We're also planning a trip to the James Island Park to see the lights and whatnot. Lots of fun on the horizon!

Mary Kay

So I joined Mary Kay 2 weeks ago (www.marykay.com/summermartinez78). My unit it adopting residents of local nursing homes and giving them gift baskets donated by community members. The baskets include 2 or 3 Mary Kay products and are suitable for men or women. The cost to sponsor is $25 - worth every penny to help someone have a Merry Christrmas who might otherwise not receive anything this season. If you would like to participate email me - Summermomi78@aol.com - for details.

So BUSY!

It's been a while since I've posted. I have been CRAZY busy the past few weeks, and it isn't even holiday related. I have been doing mystery shopping for several years now but haven't done any in a few months because of the gas prices. They don't typically pay for the gas and there just aren't many local shops to do. However, I got a call to do 15 for a certain client who pays well and I can't turn that down. Each one takes about 20 minutes, plus the time it takes to upload the pics and enter the data online, total of about 45 minutes per location. They pay out $20 per shop which includes reimbursement for a small purchase that I keep. So for about 2 days work (including driving time etc) I'll make $280.

I also have been watching one of my daycare kids on the weekends so his Mom can pick up a few extra shifts to help with Christmas shopping. Helps with my Christmas shopping too since she pays well for the extra hours.

What else? Oh yea - school!! Man this class is heavy! I said that before right? It eats up a lot of time, probably 20-ish hours a week right now. I even fell down on my sleep vs school log - the past 3 or 4 nights I've only seen the pillow for about 4 hrs a night. I can't wait till Thursday so I can sleep in a bit. Jesse has to work Thanksgiving and black Friday =( Keep repeating to myself that this will all pay off in a few years when I get my degree finally.


ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....................

Wednesday

Cloth diapers, unwashed (by accident) in the dryer for an hour. OMG the stink. There are NO words for that. Apparently yesterday I loaded the washer, added soap, but didn't push start. Not realizing this, I asked Haiden to move them to the dryer. He never said a word about them not being washed/wet whatever, just did as he was asked. So they tumbled around in the dryer for a solid hour, spreading poop to every possible surface in there. ew ew ew! School = 1 hr + 2.5 = 3.5 hrs, anticipated sleep tonight = 7.5 ..... wow!

Tuesday's Time

My boy got his first real haircut ... =*(

school = 5-7pm + 7:30-9p, 9:30 -12:30 = 6.5 hours

sleep = 5 hours

More time

Here are the pics from voting day:
The crazy long line that took 2 hours, even with a line jump at the end due to cranky creaming kids.
And the crew of kids - never would have made it w/o Channy's help!

Study/sleep log for night of 11/10:

school = 3 hrs 45 minutes

sleep = 6 hrs 30 minutes

Logging on my blogging ....

Decided that I am going to track my hours of sleep vs hours of studying for awhile. Week 3 work for my legal enviro class started last night.

School = 2 hrs 55 minutes

Sleep = 4 hours 25 minutes

I'm dragging ... need to go pop a zipfizz!

The Hunt is Almost Here!

Mark your calendars for November 6th
The South Carolina Etsy Street Team (TeamSC)is having a fabulous holiday game for all etsians.We are calling it our “Holiday Stocking Hunt”Rules will be in the Promotions section ofthe Etsy Forums on November 6th at 5:00 PM EST

The Promotion thread link will be posted on our
TEAM SC BLOG
Everyone who completes the hunt wins a shoppingspree … just in time for the holiday season.
The grand prize winner receives a gorgeous handmade
“Holiday Stocking” stuffed full of items donated by South Carolina Artisans.
Here is the Stocking made by Ashley from Rocknrollmcmama
These are the wonderful items handmade by members of TEAMSC and will be in the stocking given to the winner of our Holiday Stocking Hunt. Images are cropped so the winner will be suprised when the stocking arrives at their home.
The following TEAMSC members have donated a handmade item to the Holiday Stocking.
Ainsley Barrett
All About The Buttons
Banner Celebrations
Bead Dazzled
Beadiful World
Bitty Books
Carolina Kloset
CurlyfrySC
Custom Candy Creations
Iryna
Its All About You
Its All About You Too
Lady Pippie
LullaBuy Bows Boutique
MaryMarsh
Minnie Maes
Nascar Nana
Roagom
RockNRoll McMama
Shasha Jewelry
Strange Little Girl
Sweet Tea Designs
The Sheila Room
These TEAMSC member shops are taking part in the shopping spree for all players who correctly complete the Holiday Stocking Hunt....
Ainsley Barrett (20% off all items)
All About the Buttons (15% off all items)
Beach Cottage Studio (free set of paper butterflies with every order)
Beadiful World (20% off all items)
CurlyfrySC (20% off and free shipping on jewelry ONLY)
Custom Candy Creations (15% off all items)
Dottie Stripe Layne (20% off all items)
Estate Planet (25% off all items)
Everydaysies (20% off all items)
Fiazco (20% off total purchase)
Jack and Jane (Free shipping on all sized domestic international orders)
KWinkelerPhotos (10% off all items)
Lady Pippie (20% off all items)
Lullabuy bows boutique (15% off all items)
Meeting Street Designs (Free shipping)
Morgan Alexa Designs (20% off all CHRISTMAS banners)
Nascarnana (50% off shipping)
Naturally Vintage (20% off and free shipping on any one item)
Pink Ink Creations (20% off all items)
Pretty Purses (15% off all items)
Rasmussen Gems and Jewelry (25% off all items)
Roagom (20% off all items)
Rocknrollmcmama ( 15% off all items)
Simply Charming SC (10% off all items plus free Christmas gift wrapping)
Southern Creations (10% off all items)
Strange Little Girl (25% off total order including shipping)
Sugar Baby Designs ($5.00 off any necklace)
Sweet Tea Designs (25% off all items except CUSTOM items)
Your Name In A Frame ($5.00 off any item and buy 4 get one free)
Yum Yum Creations (15% off all items)

First cold of the season

I've done nothing but sneeze and sniffle for a couple days now. Should've known that as soon as the cooler weather came in I'd get something. We went out to trick or treat with the kids anyway. Left at 6:45 and 2 hours later we came home with enough candy to last 2 or 3 years I'm sure. We're donating some of it to a group who collects candy and sends it to our troops overseas who otherwise don't have access to this sort of thing. Doing a little good =D Will post pics soon.

Handmade Movement!

Have you all heard of this group? It's a bunch of etsy'ians who are promoting the movement towards handmade rather than manufactured. The site is handmademovement.com. Anyway - they do drawings for donated prizes to help gain exposure and I sponsored it this week - so come check it out! Also - click on the Sneak Attack link - wonderful concept! http://www.handmademovement.com/giveaway.html

94.4!!!!!

I am DONE! No more algebra! Wooooo-hoooooooo!!!!!! Only made a 89% on the final, but my overall score is 94.5% so I'm still on the Dean's list! Yea baby! Gonna have me a cocktail tonight!!

Some random pics of the kiddos ....


Haiden was clearly in deep thought here:

One of Chandler's projects over the summer:

Tori at the playground - she's such a ham!

This pic was taken in August, I just love his curls. Adam will be going for his first haircut sometime around his birthday in 2 weeks =*(

Special and Contest!

We put up our decorations Sunday,

got in a spooky mood -

so here's a special deal for you

and a creepy contest too!!



Special deal - an assortment of 10 Halloween shaped lollipops (cats, ghosts, jack o lanterns etc) for $10 ppd! Last day for this is Friday!


Now for the contest - whoever can guess the closest to both questions will get to choose from a surprise in the mail, or a BIG discount on an order from my store.


Please email your answers (Summermomi78@aol.com or Customcandycreations@gmail.com) even if you post an answer to the comments so I don't miss anyone!



#1 - How many bags of Halloween candy did we buy to pass out this year?


#2 - How many pieces of candy from those bags have already been eaten?



Good luck!

Vote for our SPCA!

Algebra 114

This class has been my bane the past almost 7 weeks! As of tonight I have completed all the homework assignments!!! Woo-hoo!! I have the last chapter test to do, then the final and I am DONE with college algebra!! I think this calls for a celebration!!

Bushy Countdown!

Holiday Stocking Hunt!!

Mark your calendars for November 6th….and join in the fun!!!

Our South Carolina Etsy Street Team (TeamSC) is preparing for a fabulous holiday game for all etsians.

Everyone who completes the hunt wins a shopping spree… just in time for the holiday season.

The grand prize winner receives a gorgeous handmade “Holiday Stocking” stuffed full of items donated by South Carolina Artisans. We are calling it our “Holiday Stocking Hunt”.

Information and rules for the hunt are available right now on our blog. http://scstreetteam.blogspot.com

Watch for the official forum thread on etsy under Promotions on Thursday, November 6th at 5:00 pm.

We’ll be looking for you!

We're off!

Tomorrow we leave for 9 days of camping, hoteling, Disneying, fishing, swimming, beaching and all sorts of good times!  First stop - Gainesville FL @ Payne's Prairie Preserve.

Oh my la-la ....

Chandler(12) comes down stairs at 6 this morning, the first day of 7th grade, our conversation:

C: Mom, I got it.

Me: Got what?

C: I got IT!!

Me: It, what?

C: ITTTTT!!!!

Me: Oh!!!  My la-la!!! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, my first born got her very first monthly cycle! She's crampy, but otherwise doing fine so far. She knew what to expect so she wasn't too spazzed out.  But what a crappy day for it to happen on!  I'm going to take her to a nice lunch Saturday and get her a little gift of some sort.  If you have an idea please post it in comments!

School, Burban, Fay

Lots of stuff going on!  I'm coming up on finals for the summer A session in my class with DeVry. This last week is a killer!  We're analyzing the annual report of Whole Foods - 68 pages long!  On top of homework, lecture and discussions!  Going to be a mega busy week!! 

Yesterday the Suburban sprung a leak - transmission fluid in the driveway.  Frustrating because we're getting ready to go on the vacation and a big chunk of $ is tied up on that, so not a lot left for repairs right now. 

We're also keeping an eye on TS/Hurricane Fay.  We have many friends and family down there on the W coast side of FL.

Planning A Trip

During our vacay next month we're staying at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park » Florida State Parks , Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort - Rooms | Walt Disney World Resort, $65 A NIGHT CONDO RENT FLORIDA USA DISNEY ORLANDO - eBay (item 230278337312 en.  We reallllly need to get away for a bit and this is going to be so much fun!

Never thought I'd say ....

This conversation would never have been conceived of.

 

Upon finding salt in Adam's hair:

Me: Tori did you put salt on Adam?

Tori: Yes Mommy

Me: Why did you put salt on your brother?

Tori: I want to eat him!

Need A Name ...

The Suburban is mine!  Drove it home from Ft Myers without incident.  The A/C doesn't work though.  Had it looked over today and they estimated $1600 to replace the parts and what not.  We're going to try and get the parts from a junk yard and get someone else to install.  My idea was Might Putty - you know the stuff Billy Mays is hawking on tv now?  As Seen on TV!  So anyway, I'm kinda bummed that it's so much to fix.

I don't like to refer to the new thing as The Suburban - too many syllables.  It's not a car or van - as in "Hey kids - go get in the _____!".  I don't want to refer to it as a truck, cause DH has an actual pick-up truck and that would be confusing. So .... my solution is - the Suburban needs a name.  I figure sooner or later something will come up that fits.  It won't be Bessie, George, John, Donna or Greg. If you have an idea throw it out there - I'd love to hear your ideas!

 

Wheels!?

I found a Suburban on eBay that seems to meet our needs, but it's in Ft Myers FL.  Trying to do this all long distance is VERY challenging!  My Mom is heading down that way tomorrow morning so I can ride down with her and drive it back.  I'm just waiting to hear from a friend who lives down there to give me a personal opinion before we go for it.  Decent miles, good price, seems like a reputable dealership.  Here's hoping!

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Obama Supporter?

Get a free button!

https://political.moveon.org/obamabuttons/?id=-9635594-RcFhFyx
 

Woo-hoo!!

I'm in the paper!!!

http://www.journalscene.com/culture/0723FEetsy 

More PayPal crap

I made a purchase with my PayPal debit card locally on Monday.  They somehow managed to overchage me by $72.  They noticed the oops before I did and did a refund immediately.  It still isn't back in my account.  Called PayPal and they said it could take 7-10 business days for the refund to be processed and they curently have no record of it.  I'm temporarily out over $70 and they're 'sorry'.  Oy .....

Jasper & Marshmallow

Jasper

With Chandler ...

And marshmallow ...

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Eye Candy

Last night I went to the Y, spent 25 minutes on a treadmill then switched to anothr machine that was by th fan cause it was HOT and I was sweating to death.  I had planned on just finishing my remaining 15 minutes (I aim for 40 minutes total cardio).  Then - in walks Mr McHottie!  Tall, dark hair, muscle-y ... was enough to keep me on the treadmill for 25 more minutes ... that was when he left lol  Made my night! 

SPCA

Today I took Chandler, her friend Candace and Haiden to the local SPCA to do some volunteer work.  We walked the dogs and spent some time in the cat room.  Some of the dogs don't get walked unless vounteers come to help out.  We made sure that every dog got out of his or her cage today.  My favorite dog is a black lab they call Jasper, about 6mo to 1 yr old.  He was a stray they picked up in May. My favorite cat is a tiny waif of a critter, white with carmel spots - I called her toasted marshmallow. She enjoys climbing on peoples heads and biting ears.

Hi, my name is Dork

Forgot to take out something for dinner so we decided to pick up pizza on the way back from Tori and Hai's Dr appointment.  Dominoes hooked us up and as we were walking out the door I thought the box looked more like a medium than a large.  Once in the truck I started scouring the box for some sign of what size they were, reading the small print on the label, guessing at what the numbers mean.  After a while Chandler asks what I am looking for.  I told her and she says "Moooom .... read the lid of the box."  In big letters under the logo it says "Large Box".  My duh lol

The Weiner Mobile!

The other day Chandler and I were driving home from the Y and saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile on the side of the road. Pretty cool we thought at the time.  Come to find out later they were going to be at Walmart Sunday afternoon.  Course we forgot about it, but ended up leaving Walmart just as they were setting up.  The kids had this picture taken - Adam wasn't tall enough.

 

Aren't they just the cutest weiners?! lol

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Business

So today I got an email from a writer of the local paper who wants to do an article about local people who sell on etsy.  Very cool!!  I recently joined TeamSc on etsy - it's a group of artisians who work with all different mediums who work together to support and encourage each other,  increase our exposure, and in turn, sales!  I've been busier than I anticipated over the summer since I can't ship anything chocolate right now.  It has fallen off some, but I've been doing some eBaying to make up for it.  And of course I'm FULL with extra kids too since school is out.  Exciting things going on!

                                                       

 

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Things my kids have said ....

Tori, 3 - was asking for her cuppie (sipy cup) but not using good manners so I said "I don't hear any magic words!".  So they she fussed a bit and finally hollered out "Abracadabra I want my cuppie!!"

Haiden - after listening to a HUGE screaming/yelling/door slamming arguement between DH and I, comes up to me and whispers "Mommy - that was SO cool!!" 

Tags: funny kids,

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