Freaky Friday Sale at Peekawhoo

Freaky Friday Sale at Peekawhoo!  15% off with coupon code FREAKYFRIDAY all weekend!  And summer items marked down ~ hurry before they're all gone! http://peekawhoo.com/freaky-friday/

 Appliqued Pool Cover Up Reg. $32-38: on sale $20!

Wordless Wednesday...Thursday.

I know.  Its Thursday.  But, these a fun...
And CPA never wants a pic taken.

http://peekawhoo.com/peekawhoo-wordless-wednesday-a-week-in-pictures/

March Madness Peekawhoo Style

March madness Peekawhoo style... See our new 3 Marthas gifts in stock for spring!
http://peekawhoo.com/blog/

In other madness, my very big, little man is turning 7 on Sunday. Sniff, sniff... my baby. So, I decided since his sister had a spend the night party, he could too. Only she had sixteen 9 year-old girls {that I'm still recovering from}, and I told him he could have 3. That is waaaaaaay more manageable. We are taking them to dinner, the hockey game downtown, and of course the evening will commence with an Xbox tournament of some sort before they crash, I'm certain of it. I told him this morning before he went to school that I had an idea for a party favor.

Me: Hey buddy, I have an idea for your party favor.
Him: What?
Me: Pillow cases with your friend's names on them! Maybe a shark or ATV applique! What do you think?
Him: Cool.

Clearly I think it is more fun than the cool, almost 7 year old does. I love this time of year. Having had a winter baby the first go around, Little Man's birth at the beginning of spring and each year after means warm, long sunny days. And I love it. Hope y'all have a great weekend planned. I do!

What I'm doing these days... when I'm not watching Downton Abby.

See what's new at Peekawhoo!

http://peekawhoo.com/what-do-you-do-all-day-anyway/

Be My Valentine

Two posts in one week. I'm on a roll. See what's up at Peekawhoo....

http://peekawhoo.com/be-my-valentine/

Happy New Year!

Wow. Has it really been over a year since I wrote a post. Apparently. But not because I didn't love my blog. Or because I was buried under the laundry - ugh, I always am. I was just creating another something new with another creative mind...

Take a peek at what we're monogramming now.

www.peekawhoo.com

And you can read our blog there too. Kelley writes more often and alot better than I do... did. I'm still working on a piece from Big Girl's 9th birthday slumber party in November. With 16 girls. For real.

Happy Halloween. Happy Thanksgving. Merry Christmas.

Where did September go? Or October for that matter. Now is when I hit the ground running and don't stop until Christmas Eve. I'm tired already.

I do love this time of year. Lots of family birthdays. Trick or treating. Cool weather. The kind that if I still was running, I would totally be running in. Cool, sunny, 70. I digress. Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. Our anniversary. 10 to be exact! Christmas.

And in just a short week's time, Simply Stitched Monograms will be celebrating 5 amazing years! SSM online is almost here. Its alot of work to code all that stuff! Thank goodness I have 2 amazing people making it happen for me. They are awesome, and I can't wait to show you what they've done to put SSM online! It's worth the wait. Pinky swear.

I also have lots of goodies coming my way for Christmas this week. I will post all on my Simply Stitched Blog. So, stay tuned. Think teacher gifts, stocking stuffers, mom and always baby. See you after the UPS Santa arrives this week....

Why my kids should fire me

Busy, busy weekend. CPA and I finally getting some projects done around the house. I {heart} a good project. I am queen of having a list of them to do and never fully getting to any of them. But this weekend we checked off alot.

And to kick off the weekend of projects was a night out courtesy of the Y. I don't know about y'alls YMCA, but ours rocks. Every second Friday of the month they have parents night out. You have to sign up (limited space) and you can drop your kids off at 6pm and pick them up by 10pm. The kids love it. All kinds of activities, games and swimming. Sometimes a movie, I think. Its great not to have to pay a babysitter once in a while.

So, we met some friends downtown for dinner. Got ourselves a drink at the bar, got seated, pouring over the yummy menu and not a kids menu in sight. CPA looks at me and asked, "What did you feed the kids?"

OMG! I didn't feed the kids! And if you know my kids, they are always starving and thirsty. Not to mention its Friday and they both eat lunch {aka brunch} at 11. So, yes. They probably are starving. I feel absolutely horrible. It was not as fun ordering off the menu knowing my children are probably starving and thirsty. CPA wasn't concerned, "they're fine" and then the waiter passed by and he ordered another drink...

Crossing my fingers maybe they aren't hungry and telling everyone at the Y their parents didn't feed them dinner. We go in to pick them up, but before we get out the door they are both yelling that we didn't feed them. I slink out as fast as possible. And that's what the McDonald's drive thru is for late night. So, yes. I fed the children happy meals at 10 o'clock at night. Don't judge. They loved it. I may have just redeemed myself. I also may or may not have got myself a chocolate sundae.

Day Four

Well, Little Man made it to day four until getting in trouble. I was really holding out to get at least a week or two under our belt. But no. The kids are fully aware of the behavior system at school. Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Red, & White. Everyone starts the morning on green {good} and can work your way up to blue if you go above and beyond in behavior and/or helping others, etc. Yellow is the beginning of your downfall. Not too bad, but not good. It means you've been warned once and you continued to misbehave. And you can always work your way back to green before the end of the day... and your mom {a.k.a. me} will never know. Now orange and purple will have you missing activities, red is bad and equals a conference and White... well that gets you straight to the principal and possibly suspended.

Little man's teacher happened to be running carpool today and let me know he got in trouble walking to carpool with another boy. Punching each other, and not stopping after being told to stop, lovely. So, he is starting off the day tomorrow on yellow. Ugh. Day Four. He couldn't wait until next week to start this crap? But, you know what. She apologized to me for having to start him on yellow tomorrow... wha??? No apology necessary, that how he needs to learn the rules! Its the "first day" surcee... see, I swear by those ;)

Little Man gets in the car screaming that he got on green today, which in all fairness was true. So, the following is our conversation:

Little Man: I GOT ON GREEN TODAY!

Me: Great sweetie.

Little Man: I know.

Me: How was carpool line?

Little Man: {confused}

Me: Did you do good in carpool.

Little Man: {thinking: Does she know... no way she knows.} Yep.

Me: Really? You going to start on green tomorrow?

Little Man: {she knows} No. Is daddy going to spank me when he gets home?

Me: Tell me what happened...

And he did. With a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. You could count on one hand the time CPA has spanked the kids. Clearly that resonates with him. No spanking today, but yellow again for the same offense? Little man won't be so lucky. Welcome back to school....

Back to School {Survival of the Fittest}

Today was the first day of school! Was I ready? Ab.so.lutely. And I'm never ready, for anything. Kids hopped out of bed like it was Christmas morning. That will wear off by Friday... I'm sure of it. But, none the less, I made pancakes {or as Little Man says "panny cakes"} because I rock like that on the first day. Tomorrow, cold cereal for sure.

{walking them into school}

I also like to send treats with the kids for their teachers on the first day. Because I rock like that too. I've done this since pre-school. My sister-in-law is also a 2nd grade teacher and has always told me that treats/surcees are never forgotten about on days when your child has less than stellar behavior in class ;) Big girl has never been a problem, but Little Man needs all the extra help he can get. And this chick isn't above some bribery via treats and surcees. Monogrammed no less.... and yes, I do get their monograms on "Meet the Teacher" night. Thankyouverymuch.

{First Day Survival Kit}

And just so you know... if it doesn't help {Little Man} that I send treats, that's okay. I think teachers have a tough job. So, if anything, I hope they know how much we appreciate them. So, go on... send your teacher a little surcee. She'll love you for it.

Twas the Night Before School....

The night before school when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, got rid of the mouse. The lunches were made by mother with care, in hopes that morning would soon be there. The children were nestled all snug in there beds, while visions of the school yard danced in their head. CPA was catching up on the days' news and I had just settled down with a hot cup of decaf {and a brownie or two}...

Ahhh.... first day of school for Big Girl {2nd Grade} and Little Man. Who, is not that little. Tomorrow is his first day of kindergarten. Tomorrow is my last, first day as a kindergartner's mom. This makes me full of emotion. Soooo happy for him! He could not be more excited! Sad a little, because I have no more preschoolers in the house. Happy a little, because I have no more preschoolers in the house. You get that, right?

Well, I'm back starting tomorrow. To doing lots of things with my new found 8 hr/5 day/week freedom. Back to blogging. But really, back to work. I've been working on my newest baby.... no not number three. Lawd. My website. It's been a long spring/summer. Full of mayhem. Of course. But she finally should arrive just in time to celebrate Simply Stitched Monograms' 5 year anniversary in the next month or so. I am so excited to share her with you when she arrives. Until then, I'll be getting back to routine, getting our lives {and house} back in order.

Silly Putty, really?

Big Girl and friends are getting hustled at school by a girl with silly putty. Really. I pick Big Girl and the BFF up at school the other day. They get in the car and excitedly show me their silly putty. They each have in their tiny hands what amounts to the size of a nickle. Really.

Me: Where did y'all get the silly putty?
Girls: Grace! Isn't it cool? (In unison).
Me: Sure. Cool.
Big Girl: We traded for it.
Me: Traded what?
BFF: Tic Tacs!
Me: Okay.
Big Girl: A bracelet!
Me: Heart sinking, thinking its the silver charm bracelet given to us from Nana, you know the one filled with memorable charms. WHAT bracelet?!!
Big Girl: The one I made at BFF's house.
Me: (Whew, that one's plastic) Okay. But, girls I don't think you should be trading stuff at school with your friends.
Girls: But, its silly putty!
Me: Yes, yes, I know, but really. Let's not trade our things, k.

Fast forward to the weekend. At the bookstore with Big Girl shopping for a birthday present. She brings her tooth fairy money. She wants to buy a new book for her. Great! We get in the car, Big Girl excited about her new book....

Big Girl: I'm so glad I got this book. I was going to give grace my $10 for silly putty!

Put car back in park. Turn around for a discussion about Grace a.k.a. the Hustler and silly putty.

Me: We are absolutely NOT trading $10 for silly putty. Why would you do that? You seem to be getting a bad deal, if Grace is getting money, bracelets and what not and you're getting a dime size of silly putty.
Big Girl: But everything is worth points and the more you give her, the more putty she'll give you.

REALLY? Am I having this conversation?

Me: What else have you given her?
Big Girl: A watch. My purple purse. Other stuff.

Back up....REALLY? The purple purse she is referring to is the purple HOBO wrislet I bought her last Christmas. Mind you, it came from Gift Market, I did not pay retail, but REALLY! Now I'm going to loose it that some 1st grade chick has my Big Girl's HOBO. That's where I draw the line.
No more trading, I tell her. I continue to explain to her why its not right for friends to ask for your things in return for silly putty. NO TRADING. (Also known as hustling - no, I didn't tell her that about her friend.) I told her to go back to school on Monday and tell Grace she needed her purse back and she would not be trading for silly putty anymore. BFF's mom and I both agreed, and told the girls to not trade with Grace or any other friends. There's strength in numbers, right?

What did Big Girl do this week. Came home Monday with her purple HOBO. She told Grace she wanted her stuff back and she wasn't trading with her anymore. That's my girl. Strong, confident, and unwavering. Really!

Big Girl: Mama, will you get me some silly putty? Please?
Me: Yes, but no trading. K.

Thepast28daysofmylife

Highlights from the past 28 days of our life... When I last left all twelve of my readers I was headed to Disney. The following is in no way exaggerated.

Oct. 1: Packing. No, throwing stuff into the basement and POD before we leave for Disney. The hardwood floors in the whole house are getting sanded and stained while we are gone.

Oct. 2: Morning: Still throwing stuff in the basement. My sweet builder and crew are going to move all furniture in the POD for us, as he can see we are in no way going to be able to leave for our trip if its up to us to get it all out of the house. We love him.

Oct. 2: 4:30p.m.: Little Man falls down the stairs. Backwards, I'm being told by the 6 year old, who swears she had nothing to do with it. My builder was present. Little Man was bleeding, we think he needs stitches. We are leaving in about 3 hours to go out of town. My electrician shows up, while I'm on the phone telling the nurse we need to come in immediately. I'm on hold and ask him to get the chandelier out of my car. I'm calm and able to multi-task.
5:00 p.m. Little Man gets a staple in his head. He proceeds to call its his "stapler". The doctor's office is a whole other post in and of itself.

Oct. 3: We successfully leave from the farm with Aunt, Uncle, cousin, friend and our children in their mini van. CPA and I drive ourselves to Disney in peace and quiet. We arrive at the Disney resort. The kids think, and I quote, "this is the best vacation EVER!". We haven't even been to the park yet. They are going to have a heart attack.

Oct.4: Disney Day 1: It's hot as hell in Orlando. Like record breaking hot. We start in Animal Kingdom. The kids think this place is awesome. It is. Its Disney. The kids rode all the roller coasters. Like twice. I rode Mt. Everest once and threw up 3 times after. I had to go back to the hotel. Motion sickness.

Oct. 5-8: Remained hot at Disney. Kids did great! They asked for snacks and juice between all the rides and drove me crazy doing so. Although Disney could be the happiest place on earth. It doesn't make whining for juice and snack less annoying than when at home. Btw Disney, your Nescafe coffee sucks. You know about Starbucks, right?

Oct. 9: We headed back to the farm for the weekend because we knew the floors needed extra drying time. That is until my builder called and said it rained all week in Greenville. Which set back the drying time on my new dark floors. Which set back the day they put the first of three coats of poly on the floors... which was today. We can't stay at home until at least Thursday. Frick. Frick. Frick.

Oct. 11: We check into another hotel in Greenville. They call it a two bedroom with kitchenette. I called it "gross". This was not the Ritz. And I am pretty much over sleeping in confined spaces with my kids.

Oct. 12-14: I'm working from the new basement studio, trying not get high off the coats of poly. This totally sucks.

Oct. 15: Kids have no school today or tomorrow, so are off to the farm again, so CPA and I can get us moved back in.

Oct. 16: My AWE.SOME builder and crew move us back in from the POD. We spend the weekend trying to reassemble our lives.

Oct.17: My birthday is Tuesday, so today is Saturday and CPA says we'll go out for a nice dinner since the kids are away. We end up spending the day in Charlotte at IKEA getting more furniture for my new studio... we are there until about 7. We ate dinner at IKEA. We were those people. And I was okay with that. We were alone ;) And just to be clear, this was not CPA's original plan for my birthday dinner. He's not that frugal.

Oct. 19: One of my sweet friends took me on an early bday lunch. She is super cool and a load of laughs to hang out with ;)

Oct. 20: I'm 36 today. I was okay with my age up to 35. Suddenly my ob-gyn is telling me I need a mammogram and I'm that much closer to 40. The carpet came for the rec room. Finally! CPA tells me that my birthday present. Funny. I don't recall my birthday present being in the itemized budget from my builder. grrrr.

Oct. 24 & Fun Facts: Today is my niece's bday! She is exactly 4 weeks older than Big Girl. On a side note, my nephew (her brother) is 4 weeks older than Little Man. My sister (their mom) is 4 years younger than me and we got married the same year, just 4 months apart. Crazy, right?! CPA took me and the kids out for a late birthday dinner. I do like to celebrate my birthday for at least a week... He also got me the Keurig coffee maker I've been dying to have. This thing makes a cup of great coffee in less than a minute. Its AWE.SOME.

Oct. 26: Today. I'm starting to breath a little. Get caught up a little. Enjoying the space ALOT. It was worth the wait. Thanks CPA ;)

Sunday, Nov. 1: My littlest sister is getting married. My sister and I will be standing beside her. Big Girl, Little Man and cousins will be her flower girls and "ring buriers" (as Little Man keeps calling it).

Sick & Tired

Evidently you can't stay up until 2 in the morning (monogramming, cleaning up, doing laundry, just catching up) and get up with the kids at 6:45 everyday for school for a month and stay well.... I am sick, run down, just bleh! Not flu sick, just cold, snuffy, cough, sore throat sick. Oh, and we're leaving for Disney World (our first trip) on Saturday....


Not to worry. I'm totally resting. While I cram in last minute monogramming, do laundry, pack for trip, and move my house into the POD sitting in our driveway. Moving everything out because the hardwood floors are getting done while we're gone. And yes, its quite like moving. I have to pack EVERY.THING.


I did have one of my sweet friends take little man to the park with her boys the other day to help me out while not in school. And I'm on the ball and have another play date lined up for him tomorrow. I'm just taking one day at a time and trying not to drown before we leave.

Pure Madness

I have been:
1. Dying for my builder (whom I adore) to finish up the house, like yesterday. Not until the end of September I'm being told.
2. Cleaning up a vicious cycle of sheet rock dust, saw dust, sanding dust, tile man dust, and the regular dust. All over the house! I told my builder if he witnessed me losing "it" sometime soon, not to be alarmed.
3. Moving into the one space I asked nicely (read: told immediately) to finish, which was my new studio, so I could move in. It would make life a little nicer upstairs on the main floor. He did. And I'm 75 % moved in. 90% of new items from IKEA are bought for organization of the new studio. Zero are put together yet.
4. Learning 1st grade homework sucks for me and Big Girl. She spent 30 minutes (I'm not kidding) redrawing a star (which was part of a math pattern) that was not perfect enough (for her) to turn in. Many tears were shed. I kept trying to tell her its the concept that's important, not how the star is drawn. She got the concept, it was the star she was not accepting. Can we say OCD?
5. Cleaning out the basement for a last minute yard sale this past weekend. Because I don't have enough to do.
6. Trying to entertainment Little Man (and keep out of trouble) until he goes back to school. Next Week.
7. Working on getting CPA's birthday present framed in time. Birthday is Tuesday. Picked up framed picture Friday. Check.
8. Asked to get TV hung back up before Thursday.... Stupid ESPN thursday night games. It's his birthday week. And because of that, I will beg my sweet electrician to squeeze finishing that before Thursday.
9. Trying to remember how fabulously calm my life will be, when this house returns to normal.

Back to School

I love the first week of school. Everyone loves going to bed early to get up early for school. Big Girl is thrilled one of her best friends (my friend's daughter) is in her class this year. However, all the sunshine and rainbows stop during week two, when the novelty of the new monogrammed backpack and lunch box has worn off already. Little Man's 4K doesn't start until AFTER labor day. I do love the time alone with him. He is just too sweet, I could eat him up. Although, I did catch him wandering around the house with the work crew today... looking for trouble to get into.

My new studio digs are almost done. The house is almost done really. The painter just got here this week, so we asked him to finish up my studio first before anything else. I've GOT to get my stuff out of my current office, the dining room and what is creeping into the living room. The work crew was literally hanging crown molding around me and one of my customers in the dining room this morning....

The kids are headed to the farm this weekend with the in-laws. CPA and I are doing some painting. The painter is painting all the trim, moldings, ceiling, doors inside and out. We opted to save a little bit by painting the walls. We are down to nickles and dimes here people, and if painting the walls means I get to spend that money getting the whole house sanded and stained espresso the way I want... this chick is painting. I'm also tackling the kitchen cabinets. I consider myself a jack of all trades.... so I'm pretty excited to take this on. I'll be sure to take before and after shots. By the way, did I mention CPA and I do AND do not work well together on team projects. This should be a ball....

Let the mayhem begin...

My Big (Little) Girl

School starts Wednesday for Big Girl. First Grade. Sniff. Sniff. She's getting older, which means I'm getting older. She started Kindergarten last year at a wonderful public, neighborhood elementary school.




I was a little nervous, only because we've spent the last 5 years at our private, church preschool. Very sheltered, and very much a controlled environment. Controlled, meaning, I got to handpick her teacher and pair her with her playmates. I knew the director well, all the teachers, all the parents, am friends with most of them from town. All that halted when we entered the elementary school with 800+ students. So, did any sense of cute (age appropriate) attire.

After the first day of public kindergarten, gone were the days of wearing anything smocked to school. No Ragsland. No Kelly's Kids. Not because she couldn't wear them, Big Girl wasn't having any of it when her new friends were wearing jeans. Every.Day. AND anything that sparkled. Bleh. I wasn't giving into that much crap. I settled for two pairs of jeans with cute tops. She also agreed to wear the Ragsland embroidered pants. Shoes were a whole other issue. Nike running shoes, bleh. Every. Day. Nike's just don't go with skirts or a-line dresses. More Bleh.


So, this year.... I almost cried with delight when we went to Stride Right and Big Girl bypassed all the crap running shoes for these....

I have been buying these Keds for her since she was 18 months old!!!! I love them! They are sweet, white shoes that go with everything! And she WANTED them! Let's just pray that some little girl in her class with pink, sparkly Sketchers doesn't tell her that her shoes are ugly....

Old or New? Old or New?

Let's not beat around the bush.

OLD.

Bleh. I don't even know where to begin telling you the things I know are wrong with this picture. (disclaimer: The back of the house in no way represents how cute the front of the house is.)Lets start with the actual atrocities on the outside of the home.

One. The oil tank located under the stairs. We have lived on oil for six years now. No gas. Yes, we have to fill it up (250 gallons x the price of oil) about 4 1/2 times a winter. Yes, we've run out on accident. It was the first thing to go!

Two. That white, glassed in porch thing... that was my laundry "room". Not heated or cooled. So, I froze in the winter loading laundry and sweated my arse off June-September. That's my new front loading washer/dryer that I stacked just to get a few more inches of room out there. No, it didn't make doing laundry any more fun.

Three. From the left side of the house, top floor... the 2nd window over. That atrocious glass cubed "window"... That was in my shower. The one shower in the house. It could be worse. The previous owner actually replaced the old wood sill window that was there.

Four. That huge window in the middle. About the biggest thing in the house. I just don't like it. It was drafty and just ugly. It's gone.

Five. The garage door. Yes, you are correct. There is no driveway leading to the garage door. It's just the basement. It's gone now too. Behind that old door, in the old basement is my new laundry room! 15x15 sq. ft. of laundry room and I love it ;)

And now... the New....

More new...

The top on the main floor of the house is our new master bedroom. The door and window you see are part of the bedroom. The other side of the bedroom has two windows symmetric to those. The corner of the house, where you see no windows is the closet. The double arched window is over the garden tub. The shower has no window ;) Around the corner is another arched window where the vanities are.


The new basement you see bricked is the kids new playroom, guest room & full bath. They just started on the deck and we are very excited about that.

A closer look at the new doors. The set of three doors walk into the den & kitchen We knocked out all the walls and expanded it. I can't tell you how many times I've drooled over homes in Traditional Home, Southern Accents, etc. that showcased a room with 3 sets of doors. Had.To.Have.Them. The one on the far left walks into our master bedroom. My new studio will be in the old basement. Here's my new door for customers into all the monogram madness....

That concludes the tour for today. Better, right?!!!

The Money Pit

I realize since I started blogging back in January, I have not written a word about the renovation. I promised lots of stories of what I thought would be a nightmare. It's been somewhat of a painless process. Other than the fact that CPA has asked me no less than 57,000 times "is it in the budget?" whenever I show him something. I guess I have felt guilty to complain on a bad construction day about adding onto my house, when so many people are losing theirs and their jobs right now. I will say, I could have picked red polka doted tiles and orange carpet and CPA would not have cared as long as it's in the budget....

I'm headed back to Greenville from Atlanta tomorrow sans the kids. I've been in Atlanta helping my sister with her two kids, while she does some teacher training. I'm meeting my fabulous SIL on my way back to Greenville, where she will be taking my two until Sunday!

CPA is at home and informs me tonight that the kitchen is officially torn up (the floor that is) and the one wall that was separating the old house from the new addition is down and we are officially connected. Which means the crew is in my house starting at 7am from now until its done. Monday-Thursdays. For 3 more months.

I have also not wanted to post pictures of the atrocity that was the back of our house, until I at least had some pretty to show you of the new back of the house. I'll show you old vs. new when I return. And trust me, it was that bad.

XOXOX

Dollar Signs

Little Man is really into practicing writing his name and letters these days. Which is good. Because at the end of the school year, he either wasn't grasping how to spell his name or didn't care. Now he knows how to spell his name, my name - mommy, Daddy and Big Girl's name without help. Yeah!

So, tonight I go to tuck him in, kiss good night. He's sitting there all cute, working on his name and such...

Little Man: Look mommy.

Me: Awww! Good job man, you wrote all our names!

Little Man: (Starts writing...) Look mommy! It's a dollar sign!

Sure enough, its an S with a line through it. Dollar sign. A month ago, we couldn't write out our name clearly. Today we know all about dollars and cents. Just what I need. Another CPA in the house. Great.