Momma says.....

Gary is FOREVER making fun of me for saying, “Well… momma
said” or starting a sentence with, “Momma says…yada yada and so on.” BUT I can’t
HELP IT, my mom is SMART! (20 years ago I would have called you a DANG LIE if
you had told me I would have ever said that, much less publicly)

This is my mom, she cracks me up. Or WE crack
each other up, as you can see here.
“HI, MOM!!”

Anyway….. my SMART mom taught and continues to teach me so
much. I was thinking about apologizes today and that is where my rant starts…
Mom Wise Rule #26: “I’m sorry” isn’t only a phrase to be spoken BUT
an action to be taken!! You can’t keep repeating the same action and expecting “I’m
sorry” to be accepted over and over again. If you are truly sorry, your ONE apology
will be followed by an action OR a lack of action….. As in; DO NOT REPEAT THE
BEHAVIOR THAT REQUIRED YOU TO HAVE TO APOLOGIZE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Gah, my mom is genius!! And she began schooling us on this one early on and now I have
taught my children the same since they were little bitty. THANK YOU MOM!!!
And while I am on the subject of parenting I’d like to say: I
honestly believe that if you want to be treated with respect by your children, you
must also treat THEM with respect!! You should not cuss, holler, yell, name
call etc and expect your children’s behavior to be any different….. you ARE
leading by example. I hear people talk of, “Oh yeah, I want to put my kids in karate…..
they need to learn some respect.” This is true; martial arts CAN improve upon
that but really IT MUST BEGIN AT HOME. Don’t put the kids in taekwon-do
expecting significant changes in their behavior towards you if your behavior
ALSO needs modifying. If you do all you will notice is your children gaining
more respect for THEIR INSTRUCTOR, teachers and possibly more SELF respect. Kids are some of the most observant creatures in God’s entire world. They will respect those that deserve respect a lot faster than those whose actions are questionable. (I am obviously not of the, “well, I will
beat it into them” mind set, as I doubt most of you are either) BUT HEY!! That’s
just me….. I don’t claim to have it all figured out… FAR FROM IT!! But this,
this just seems like common sense.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

This is NEVER a good sign!!

And on top of that he gets the entire vacuum cleaner in pieces in the floor and then
says, “I am really good at taking things apart. Putting back together… well……. “
GREEAAATTTT……

BUT DO NOT BE ALARMED! SUCCESS!!!!!

He not only got it back together but it is
also working like brand, spanking new!! GO HUBBY, with YO bad self! (that’s my silly man!!)

I am still working on a few Pinterest projects (and what
not) to share…. There is at least one really COOL tutorial in the NEAR future.
I am SO excited to show you what I am up to this week!! So keep checking back!

OH!! And why don’t you let me hear some of your favorite
motherly advice or lessons from your childhood…..

Thank you guys for stopping by!!!

Hanging out with Unsavory Characters

Ok, so the unsavory
characters are my mutts
dogs…..

They are hanging out with me because I can’t
sleep (surprise!!) and the rest of the house slumbers on. Ok, maybe they aren’t soooo unsavory but they do kinda smell bad. Their bather (the husband) is obviously falling down
on his job…. What kind of work ethic is that, I ask you!?!?!?! hahaha Just
joking babe, love you much!! *now go bathe those dogs*

Today I tried out a painting and ended up so pleased with it
I added it to my ETSY shop in TWO different sizes!!

Teacher Fleur De Lis!!!!
I love how well it came out and there are SO many ways you
can customize it to fit each order….. OH THE POSSIBILITIES!!!! I am working on
one more that I’m not sure how I am going to like the finished product yet…..
pictures to come (maybe!!)

*You can see my Etsy listings by clicking on the link at the bottom of this blog! I'm adding things every few days. *

I also made this today:

I LOVE IT!! Reminds me of my younger years and one of the movies
that defined our generation. Come on, you KNOW if you are remotely near my age that you practiced the dive/catch scene when you went swimming and you knew
EVERY LINE but most especially parts like THIS: “SYLVIA…. YES MICKEY…. How do you call your lover boy? Come ‘ere lover boy!!” *you crawled across the floor,
Jennifer Grey style, too didn’t ya? hmmmm……? NOT THAT I DID THAT EVAH!* Ok, I still know the entire movie by heart!

All the more reason I had to have this “definition”
framed in my living room! It makes me smile.

First I typed it out in fonts Broadway and Andalus in Microsoft Word.

(font choice is totally up to you) I then printed it on regular white printer paper….. card stock is an option. TO GRUNGE: I heated a tea bag in hot water, squeezed some of the excess
water out and then gently sponged the teabag onto the paper.

TIP!! DO NOT RUB.
Gently pressing works great, making sure that it saturates all the way through the paper. (you may want to layer a few paper towels underneath to avoid a
mess) Next I put the paper in the oven, directly on the rack, with temp set at
200* or warm. It doesn’t take long at all to dry a

and leaving the paper stained and making it look “vintage” or old.

TAH-DAH, GRUNGY!!

I never could get it to look like that!!! Then again, I can't remember who was catching hoisting me but I'm sure it wasn't Patrick either.....

My oldest child has taken to announcing, “ARE YOU GOING TO BLOG ABOUT IT???” with MUCHO excitement every time they make me laugh…. Which makes me laugh all the more!! It is becoming a contest in our house to see who can guess what will next make the blog. And this story, in itself, was one of their guess…. So GOOD JOB my kiddos!! TWO POINTS!!



Oh and Rest in Peace, Patrick Swayze. I was SO going to marry
you! (when I was 12 anyway)

And now I will have "Love is Strange" stuck in my head for the
next UMPTEEN days. YAY!!

Angry Cats, New Pretties, and other Amy's Antics for the day

So... my day started off with a LARGE to-do list. I am a list maker, from a long and proud line of list makers. As a matter of fact, my
list obsession mandates that I must have a special book just for our daily list. The
book is also known, in our family, as “The Brain” because it takes over “remembering”
all the things that I would forget OR mix up times on etc. On any given day the list may include; my household task, kid’s schedules, grocery list, things to remember to do before
tkd school opens, errands to run and so on and so on…..

I even tuck schedules and upcoming appointment cards, and
to-be-signed and returned things inside) The Brain even has a “roll over" feature.
Meaning... if I don’t get it done today, I “roll it over” and write it down at the
top of the next days list… lol

And today on the list, in BIG, BOLD letters, circled THREE
times, it stated, “DON’T FORGET TO TAKE MOM HER CATS!!!” Mom, needing to take both her cats to the vet today during her lunch hour, had asked if I would please bring them to her so
she wouldn’t lose any time in getting them there. This meant that from the time the kids went to school until time to fetch the cats I didn’t accomplish A THING because I was so worried about
forgetting to go get them… I checked the clock every 15 minutes it seemed, afraid to get involved in any project too
deeply because that never fails to suck me in and make me abandon all schedules.
Did I mention these are outside cats? I was afraid I would get there and would
not be able to find Mr. Bill, the gigolo the wanderer
(and after this trip to the vet, that shall not be a problem any longer!) Anyway, so I left early in case I had any trouble finding the felines but there they were, waiting right on the patio for
me, like good kitty babies!

This is Bill. Normally the Lover of the duo, (also the reason he is going to the vet) he YELLED at me all the way to town, which made for an interesting ride.

*I think maybe this blog should be sponsored by an animal welfare group, I am like the Bob Barker of blogging, I think!!*

My sweet Mommy DID gift me with these when I dropped off her cats…

Isn’t she a doll??

And another random thought I had today and snapped a pic of (well… not of the actual THOUGHT but of what inspi…. ya know what?? You get it don’t you?)

Every busy mom
needs one of these! A reusable to-go cup! As I spend lots of time running the
roads, I was Queen of, “I have to stop and get something to drink.” Well! Not
anymore! I am also a Crushed Ice Junkie,
regardless of what I am drinking crushed ice just makes it better and for those
of you who don’t know *drum roll please* YOU CAN BUY BAGS OF SONIC ICE
FROM SONIC!!!! (at most locations) How awesome is that?? LOVE! I will
literally save almost $10 a week because of this cup!! Ok, so obviously I am
impressed by the most simple of things…. AnyWho… moving on……

Having finally made the feline delivery I did eventually get
a few things done. For instance, I made THIS:

This cute guy has been hanging around my shop for over a year just waiting for me to figure out how I wanted to put him to use.... Now he is the lucky rider of this cute motorcycle diaper cake which I listed on Etsy today!
*WOOT!! My first pretty link!! I taught myself that!! GO AMY!! It's your birt..... oh sorry.... moving along....*

And for my Pinterest project of the day I made a few of
these treats for teachers…

Love how these turned out and will be sharing them with teacher's at school tomorrow!

Totally NOT of my own design! Follow this Pinterest link to a complete how-to tutorial by domesticatedlady AND the free printable labels!! Just add water bottles and tea mix!! So cute and SO SIMPLE!!

Guys… it’s been in the 70’s here in Louisiana!! Some of us
have seriously resorted to using our AC once or twice… IN JANUARY!! Generally, February is our coldest winter month; if there is going to be snow or ice it will be in February, so we will
see. But in the mean time I got tired of looking at the glass canister full of
fake snow in the center of my dining room table (looks
idiotic considering you are wearing flip
flops and a T) Sooo…… I changed it!

THERE!! That is better! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mardi Gras season!!

Ok my friends…. Have you made anything recently?? Do you
also have to keep list to make it day to day?
Let me hear from you!!

OH! And this is Amy B. reminding YOU to help control the animal population, spay or neuter your pet! (HA! Eat your heart out BOB!!!)

How exactly does one go about blogging??

As I am not sure where to start and an introduction seems so boring formal.... I am thinking we will start with something completely random, as RANDOMNESS is my basic way of communicating. I am talking RAN to the DOM, as in, midsentence...change the subject on ya, kind of random.... you'll see as you get to know me, I apologize in advance.

How about rather than a blah, blah, yada, yada introduction, we do a PICTORIAL introduction?? Let's see.... we will start with:

This is ME. I do NOT like snakes and in the summer I am sure there will be a blog or two on said subject. Oh the things we do for our kids..

This is my husband, let's call him Johnny Cage or JC (as he IS a martial artist and as a friend often points out DOES resemble Johnny Cage from Mortal Combat.)

I believe in this picture he is looking his MOST fierce, for sure!

And these are the children entertainers, never a dull moment. This picture pretty much sums it up; two are absolute goofs and the other is a goof but doesn't want you to know! I seriously considered calling them Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 for the purpose of this blog but I feel pretty sure they would protest, LOUDLY, so I will let them help me decide and we will get back to you on that. K?? Thanks!

Together we make up one wonderful, talented, creative, dysFUNctional family.

(you can trust me on that, I would never lead you astray ;)

What else should you know to start with?? I make things (I mean, besides children) and have decided this is the year to get serious with it! This blog, along with a Pinterest and Etsy account, ARE PART OF MY EVIL PLAN TO RULE THE WORLD!! bahahahaha*wheez*hahahaha

are the first steps I am taking to accomplish this goal! I am sure to be covering humors happenings around the house, animal antics (as we have some crazy pets), recipes for busy moms (as my facebook friends know I sing the praises of my crockpot every other day!) I will also share some how-to-tutorials, things I am working on, items for sale and such things as that. I am nervous but so excited to interact with old and new friends and just see where this leads. FEEDBACK is SO important to me, so please let me hear from you!

Thanks for stopping in ~Amy~

ps. Fact: I mix up your and you're a lot. Fact: It drives my english teacher mother NUTS.

I apologize in advance and will try and catch it as much as possible.... It happens when my fingers type faster than my brain can think! Really FAST typing or really SLOW thinking? I will let you decide....