A Creative Space in the Making ♥

When we finally make our big move in a few short, and packing filled weeks, I am going to get a room that is 100% mine all mine just for the sole purpose of creating pretty little lovelies. And let me tell you, after co-habitating with boys all of my life (I do have three younger brothers) its going to be a grand, and quite girly, affair.

So here is my craft space inspiration, my creative space muses, the images of my studio dreams brought to life!

The stunning studio of Alicia Paulson

The Tiny House where Lori Marie makes all of her Pretty Little Things
The Beautiful creative space of Gypsy Mermaid
The crafty room of allsorts

The whimsical world of Heather Bailey
The pretty nook of Contented Sparrow

THAT Mom

Today I'm going to cheat just a bit and cross post something here that I posted over the weekend at The Mama Dramalogues, which if you haven't checked it out yet and your a mom, go there now! Seriously right now, trust me on this one! And anyways, you can read this post there too so its not like you're missing anything here.

But anyways, I was thinking alot about this since I originally posted this two Sundays ago, so I'm reposting it here because its my blog and I make the rules :)

I have this list of things that circulates through my head full of things that fall into the "What Not to Do" category of motherhood. That's not to say that I'm a bad mom, because I think during my finer moments I could give Super Mom a run for her money, but I sometimes my moments of pure motherly genius fall short and I become that mom. You all know what I'm talking about and I'm sure at times you've been that mom too! Here are my examples:

1. I’m that mom who will let my two year play with things he shouldn't (my cell phone, the clean laundry, chalk in the house, the television remote, car keys) because I’d rather have him be happy and quiet than screaming while I try to assert my authority.

2. I’m that mom who serves Pop Tarts and cereal for breakfast when we’re in a hurry because “it’s just easier that way.”

3. I'm that mom who sometimes only reads every other page of the boys' bedtime story books because I’m tired and hungry for my own dinner which is at that very moment sitting on the kitchen counter getting colder and colder.

4. I’m that mom who may know the children are doing something in the other room that I expressly told them NOT to do, but pretend I don’t see it so I don’t have to deal with it.

5. I’m that mom who will wait until Monday morning to realize that I have no clean school clothes for my son and then madly search through the dirty clothes for something that can pass for clean.

6. I’m that mom who will bring my kids out to run errands before cleaning the magic marker off of their arms and legs.

7. I’m that mom who allows my nudist children run around in underwear all day as long as they stay inside of the house (although I do sometimes have to retrieve them from the front lawn).

8. I’m that mom who will finally break down and offer my children cookies if it will make them submit to my will.

9. I’m that mom who will let her kids believe that we are going to the park or to the toy store, when we are actually going grocery shopping or running other boring errands. I don’t TELL them that we’re going where they thinks we are – I just don’t tell him that we’re NOT. So it’s not a lie as much as an omission. Right?

10. I’m that mom who answers my sons’s thousands of calls for “MOMMY!” with “GAGE!” instead of just saying, “what is it honey?” And then he answers my “GAGE!” with another “MOMMY!” And because I find this incredibly entertaining I just continue the cycle until we end up enacting a personalized game of Marco-Polo. Except we’re not in a pool. And he knows exactly where I am.

11. I’m that mom who believes that ice cream is the solution for everything. For my children – and myself.

12. I’m that mom who says I won’t let my kids taste raw cookie dough because “it’s not good for them” – when what I really mean is that I’m afraid that they’ll find out that it is in fact, much better raw. Then I eat some when they’re not looking.

13. I’m that mom who lets my toddler believe that all natural fruit snacks are “candy” and that they’re a BIG TREAT. He'll find out about Reese Cups soon enough.

14. I'm that mom who threatens my two year old with a nap more often when I'm the one who is actually tired. If he gets to take a nap, then why shouldn't I.

15. I’m that mom that gives my kids a toy off the shelf to play with while we shop and then puts it back, in a different aisle, right before hitting the checkout and leaving.

16. I’m that of mom that will cook a huge nutritious dinner with the intent of having everyone eat it, then cave halfway through the meal realize that I am kidding myself and put some dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets in the oven for the kids to eat.

17. I'm that mom who thinks that watching PBS kids, Playhouse Disney, and Nick Jr for hours in the mornings when her kids gets up at 6am is absolutely fine. It is educational, right?

18. I'm that mom who tells her kids that she has to poop just so that I can get 5 minutes of alone time, even if I am spending it in the bathroom and my kids think I have constant diarrhea.

19. I'm that mom who takes her kids outside to play or to the park who has an ulterior motive. All of that fresh air and running around will hopefully wear them out and make for an early bedtime.

20. I'm that mom who bought her 6 year old a Wii Fit for Christmas when I knew full well that he'd never touch the thing ... but I would!

So who is that mom? We're all that mom at one point or another I think. A regular fun, loving mom searching for a bit of self preservation and sanity. And yes, sometimes I do take the easy way out even though I always said and intended to be this world class mom who does it all ... but then again the road to hell is paved with good intentions, or rather in this case, the road to a nervous breakdown is paved with needy, screaming children.

So, what kind of mom are you?

Wordless Wednesday

10 Things

The goal is to list 10 things that you are thankful for. The first 10 things that you can think of at that moment, plucked straight from the top of your head.

1. Family day trips to the zoo
2. Sunshine that follows the rain
3. Excitement pouring out of my little boys faces
4. Good times with great friends
5. A wonderful nights sleep
6. Lounging with a good book
7. Yellow Vitamin Water
8. A freshly mowed lawn
9. Having a Sonic within driving distance
10. Snuggles before bedtime

Working Hard for the Money

I'm off today! I'm off today!
Hooray I'm off today!

So what am I going to do with my totally awesome, super fantastic day off? I'm going to blog about my job! Which is to be followed by some intense cleaning of the house that now looks like was hit by a tornado.

So if you read this blog then you probably know that after lots and lots of years of being a stay at home mommy I've recently went back to work, which was and still is quite the adjustment. Anyways, I work at the American Red Cross where I sit on the phone all day long and schedule people to donate blood. Its an awesome cause and I'm proud to say that I'm saving lives with my job, which is incredably cool!

So here, my bloggy friends, are some blurry cell phone pictures I took before my shift started of my desk and of me with my totally awesome headset on. Enjoy.

Beautiful

Today I'm going to cheat just a bit and cross post something here that I posted over the weekend at The Mama Dramalogues, which if you haven't checked it out yet and your a mom, go there now! Seriously right now, trust me on this one! And anyways, you can read this post there too so its not like you're missing anything here.

But anyways, I was thinking alot about this since I originally posted it on Sunday, so I'm reposting it here because its my blog and I make the rules :)

Its taken me a long time to figure out what feeling beautiful actually meant. There was a time when I was younger, a teenager, that I had an hourglass figure and boyfriends who wanted to be with me, but I was not by any means beautiful. Beautiful, as it has turned out in my life, is not something that can be found in the pages of a magazine or at the counter of an expansive makeup stand.

Today I'm wearing size 16 jeans, with stains all over them, a shirt that at one point in time used to be a dress but fits me like a shirt thanks to the spare tire I carry around my waist. I have on a tatty old bra that I love that somehow makes my breasts, who have dropped about 3 inches thanks to nursing two babies, back where they are supposed to be, or at least close enough. My hair is tied up in a messy knot on the back of my head and my face, in all of its natural glory, is totally bare. And I have never felt more beautiful.

Its an inward type of beauty now though, a beauty that cannot be seen by simply looking into a mirror. Its the beauty that can only be brought out by having a tiny someone in your life that needs you, depends on you, and loves you unconditionally can bring.

I'm a mom. A wonderful beautiful mom.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesdays Unwrapped

It's time for Tuesdays Unwrapped again!

Want to unwrap a Tuesday of your own? Then head over to chatting at the sky to find out how.

The goal of this is to tell a story or post a photo documenting your messy, lovely, unexpected gifts of the small and ordinary nature and to unwrap your daily gift :) Beautiful right?

This past weekend the husband and I got a chance to do something big. Something HUGE. Something we rarely ever get to do. We had a 100% child free day!

I love my boys to pieces, but sometimes I just need a day to recoup and be the person that I was before having children took over every single fiber of my being. So what did you suppose we did while the boys were spending a fun filled day with their Grandma? We went to an amusement park to act like children ourselves!

For the past 6+ years every single time we've gone to an amusement park we have had to spend the entire day in kiddie land or chasing our kids off of the people in the costumes that walk around, or drying eyes full of tears because someone wasn't tall enough to ride something. In short going to an amusement park with the boys, while fun, was a lot like work.

But this time it was an adults only day and we were able to spend the whole day riding rides and frolicking through the park like we were teenagers in love.

10 Things

1. Strolling through the flea market
2. Fresh vegetables from the garden
3. Holding hands with my little guys
4. Picking wildflowers
5. Singing along to a good song in the car
6. Weekends with family and friends
7. Strawberry lemonade
8. Hugs from my boys after a long day at work
9. Cooking dinner in one pot
10. Rainbows on an otherwise ordinary day

Chewbacca

Say hello to the newest member of our family, our super friendly, super fun, super curious albino ferret!

Our kitty, Percy, passed away a few weeks ago (or ran off with the boy cat she had her babies with to get married according to my kids) and the boys have been absolutely heartbroken over not having a pet anymore. When you're small I guess it just gives children a sense of accomplishment to have something smaller than they are that they can help take care of. We had planned to wait until we were all moved and settled in our new house in the fall before we started the new pet hunt for a doggie. But as I should know by now, plans never seem to work out quite as planned in this household.

Mike was browsing the internet the other day and came across this sweet little guy on freecycle who was in need of a good home and some love and attention. And of course my husband being the awesome guy that he is (and who has also always wanted a ferret apparently) replied right away. 24 hours later and we were the proud new owners or a brand new pet.

And but of course every pet needs a name, and so Brayden, the Star Wars obsessed child that he is, dubbed him Chewbacca after a long debate over what we should name him. I gotta admit.... Chewbacca is a pretty awesome name for a ferret.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesdays Unwrapped

It's time for Tuesdays Unwrapped again, something I enjoy doing so much, but haven't had the time to do recently thanks to my new hectic schedule. But today.... today is different!

Want to unwrap a Tuesday of your own? Then head over to chatting at the sky to find out how.

The goal of this is to tell a story or post a photo documenting your messy, lovely, unexpected gifts of the small and ordinary nature and to unwrap your daily gift :) Beautiful right?

In case you were wondering, here is what a family who lives in the country does on a weekend out and about.

We hit the flea market (Lots of awesome antique jewelry to be found here that I can re-make into something pretty and new!) Check out that handsome man pushing the stroller! *wink wink*

We grab lunch at a burger joint. And of course Gage gets chicken tenders.

We visit the tractor show.

We (or rather Brayden) takes a train ride in the makeshift tractor pulling painted barrels ride.

We stop to admire a local restored covered bridge.

Another perfect day in the country
♥

10 Things

The goal is to list 10 things that you are thankful for. The first 10 things that you can think of at that moment, plucked straight from the top of your head.

1. Sunny says spent outside with family and friends
2. Kissing ouchies still makes Gage all better
3. Freezer Pops
4. Cool breezes on warm days
5. Sun kissed freckles on Braydens cheeks
6. Having my very own payday
7. Late nights board games
8. Tired little boys who go to bed early
9. Flip Flops
10. Making daisy chains

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

A friend of mine told me about this story. I don't know if it's true, if the tiger was drugged or someone deserves an award for their photoshoping skills but nevertheless, it's an interesting story and exemplifies the whole point of this post.

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth. The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health,

Although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.

Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs.

The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops?
Amazing how things work out in life sometimes, isn't it?

Closing Sale

I think I've expressed just how overwhelmingly busy I've been lately here on my blog, so there is really no reason to go into details about all of that again, but now we are also planning on moving in the next month or so to a house three times the size the one we are in now (complete with a room just for crafting that's mine all mine!!).

So its with a very heavy heart that I have to close my etsy shop for the time being while I get things in order both physically and mentally. I certainly don't plan to be gone forever, just until the fall maybe. And then I'll be back with fresh new designs and hopefully a new perspective on balancing everything in my life out. (But rest assure, I'll still be hanging around etsy as a buyer!)

So with that said, I'm having a 50% off sale, so come and get your Oh Mandie goodies now, while they are still available, because soon they'll be gone for good.

Please pay as you normally would and I will refund the extra money back via paypal or you may wait for a revised paypal invoice.

Click the picture below to visit Oh Mandie on etsy ♥

10 Things

The goal is to list 10 things that you are thankful for. The first 10 things that you can think of at that moment, plucked straight from the top of your head.

1. Family Weekends

2. Laughter

3. Sunny days

4. Splashing in the water on a hot day with the boys

5. Waking up in the morning next to my husband

6. Skipping rocks

7. Long car rides with good tunes playing

8. Going to bed early

9. The boys' excited little smiles

10. Being perfectly content

Deceptively Delicious

My mind has been in a thousand different places that past few days, the product of being a mom, a wife, and now a working woman. Quite obviously I displaying my disarray in my last blog post where I posted my Wordless Wednesday picture ... on a Tuesday. But despite all of the evidence to the contrary I do feel as if I'm starting to get a hold on having a real schedule now.

I'm even starting to get back into the swing of things at home again. The housework has pretty much been neglected around here as of late simply because I'd rather play with my boys than clean now that my time with them has been severely cut. But I'm lucky that I have a great husband to help pitch in when things need done around here (mostly because he doesn't want to wear stinky clothes if I don't get the laundry done).

Its mostly our meals that have fallen by the wayside. By the time I get home its late evening and I'm tired. Good healthy and nutritious meals have all but ceased to exist around here. In fact I'm pretty sure that I'm starting a pizza box collection. Now that I'm getting more and more used to my work schedule its time to tackle the challenge of eating a good meal in my house.

I went to the bookstore for a new cookbook. I was looking for something with family friendly recipes that don't take a lot of time to prepare, because I simply don't have a lot of time anymore. And wouldn't you know it that a gorgeous bright pink book caught my eye!! Outside of having the cutest cover that a cookbook has ever had, this book was just too awesome not to buy!

This book is jam packed full of scrumptious kid friendly recipes that not only sound delicious but look delicious too, and the best part of all .... they are ALL made with secretly added pureed fruits and vegetables to get extra nutrition into the bodies of your kiddos. And my kids (and husband too!) are none the wiser when mom puts a big scoop of mashed potatoes on their dinner plates that are secretly fortified with cauliflower.

This book has hands down saved dinner in our house! Check it out, and better yet, check out the authors (who just so happens to be Jerry Seinfeld's wife) website by clicking here::: Deceptively Delicious