Jewelry "Collector"

Yes, I have a self-admitted LOVE off all things jewelry--earrings, necklaces (the bigger the better), bracelets, watches, rings, pins, etc.  Call it an obsession if you want, I like to think of myself as a collector!  If you've ever read Fancy Nancy to your kids--Collector is fancy for Obsession.  I especially love the hunt--coming up with something that I'd like to have and then looking at every shop in town for said item.  I usually then turn to Etsy or Ebay to find those little treasures I can't find locally.

I come by this honestly--my Mom before me was/is a collector, and my grandmother before her was a HUGE collector.  Grandma had us all beat with an entire 5-6 drawer dresser full of baubbles, beads, and pearls.  What we can't find we also make--and Mom has a whole closet full of "findings"--jewelry making supplies.  It's a female hay day!

Anyway, I digress...so I recently found myself with 2 WHOLE hours to myself!  "What to do?"  I thought--I knew I didn't want to waste the time and had to tackle a project at home that needed no little distractions, so I went on a search around the house.  Keep in mind, there are about 150 projects that need completing, but my jewelry stash was getting to really be a mess, so I decided that's where I'd focus my free time.

I bought several pin/bulletin boards at Hobby Lobby and Kohl's.  Then I bought a package of pearl topped pins in the wedding aisle of Hobby Lobby to use to pin all of the necklaces.  I already had several pin boards of necklaces but they needed some help and I had bought a new fancy one to add...so that took quite a while but now it looks like this--all organized into sections.  I did one board--the fancy one--with all my big statement necklaces.  Texas girls like me LOVE their statement necklaces!  Another board is misc, one more is pearl necklaces (another staple), etc.  You can organize by color, style, length, etc--whatever makes sense to you.

Then, on to earrings.  I have an ornament tree I saw years ago in a catalog and thought it was perfect for hangy earrings--and organized them by color.  Then, I bought an empty frame at Hobby Lobby and cut a piece of styrofoam to fit--it's perfect for all my studs--you just poke them into the foam.  I hung a few of my tiny dainty necklaces from the pearl topped pins at the bottom.  And then I also have a spinny dress form from Michaels that holds some more of the dainty tiny necklaces so they won't get tangled.

I hope I've inpired you to go out and COLLECT some new pieces, and then hopefully put them together on display in your bedroom too!  How do you organize and display your collections??

Summer Camps

There are so many things for kids that I feel are designed for the Stay at Home Moms—play groups, bouncy places with weekday discounts, mom’s day out, PTA activities, Junior League, I could go on—but Summer Camps really burn me.

90%+ of the super cool, awesome, fun, educational Summer Camps that my daughter brings to my attention are half or partial day camps.  That’s great if one of your parents is home for part of the day and can drop them off at 10am and be back to pick them up at 2pm.  But, WE WORK, so I again have to tell her “sorry that won’t work”.  Then I hear for the millionth time “I wish you didn’t have to work”…don’t even get me started on that one.  My reply is usually “I don’t HAVE to, I WANT to work” when I really just want to say “I don’t want to work either, let’s just blow off all the bills so I can drive you back and forth to camps…and by the way, I can’t pay for your college!”

So, we have a few other options—send her to her Elem School all day like Extend-A-Care (how awful) or outdoor camp (in 100+ degrees)—which she doesn’t want to do.

I found a few other camps but the hours are like 9:30-4—now how is a working person supposed to get 8 hours in at work and still drop them off and pick them up on time??  So they have late pick up ($50 extra per week)—late pick up means that she can sit and watch the next group perform—she’s not even supervised, and can’t do anything but sit there—and I have to pay extra for that?! Seriously, I end up spending over $200-300 per week for these camps!  I guess that’s nothing compared to these fancy overnight camps that everyone on Facebook brags about—seriously if I had $3,000 to send my kid to camp, I think I could afford that nice vacation we’ve talked about.  Maybe that’s not bad if they only go for 1-2 weeks, but I have 12 WEEKS to cover!

I called this week’s camp to ask about late pick up since it’s literally out in the country and pick up is at 4:45.  The lady acted like I was crazy.  I asked her “don’t any of the other parents work?  I mean, how can I get from my work downtown to your location 30 miles away by 4:45pm?”  Not to mention that it doesn’t start until 9am each day…again, she acted like no one else had asked for this.  So again, daughter sits there and waits for her late Mom to come get her after everyone else.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only Mom that works full time and has these issues.  Maybe it’s because my husband actually works a full schedule too…well I guess he works more like 80 hours a week, but who’s counting?!  What if I was a single Mom?  Then I guess my kids would have to sit at the Elem school at Extend-A-Care where they already sit for 12 hours a day during the school year?  What a fun Summer!!

Sometime, I guess you just can’t win for losing!

Boys vs Girls

I have 2 daughters and a son, and they are glaringly different so far (he's only 3).  My son has a much sweeter and calmer temperament.  He gets his feelings hurt quicker but also loves to be rough and throw things across the living room.  My girls are both high drama and they are growing up so fast that they just don't need me as much.  My son is not dumb, he's just so much more simple--he throws fits but not over his outfits or his hair.  He is remaining a baby WAY longer than my girls.  They are 9 and 5 but act 16 with attitude and eye rolling.  He is just sweeter and somehow more kind.

A few months back, I was going through my morning routine--which includes frantically trying to make myself presentable for a sales job where I have to be presentable EVERY DAY (ugh!).  He kept coming in and saying "Mommy, Mommy"--I was kind of ignoring him as I do most mornings, until he finally stomped and yelled "MOMMY!"  I replied (more than a little annoyed) also in a loud voice, "WHAT?!"  He then said really quietly "you look pretty today."  Tears started to fill my eyes and all I could do was grab him in a hug and say thank you.  I commented on Facebook that day "I saw God today" (as the song goes).

It's the little things like that where he sets himself apart.  Part of it's his age but I love that he still wants to cuddle and still carries his blankie around (calls it his "deetee" after our friends' 3 yr old told him that is what he called his blanket) and misses his "sissies" when they are gone.

This picture is special not because it's a great shot (it's not), but because he has adopted a routine at Preschool drop off every morning.  I was highly annoyed by it at first but have grown to not only tolerate it but to LOVE it.  He wants about 5-10 hugs and kisses before I can walk away and he most of the time still throws a fit when I leave.  I should be rushing to work as the traffic is horrendous and I hate to be late, but for 2-3 minutes each day, I give in to his needs and we hug and kiss and hug and kiss.  He says "one more huggie, one more kissie" and I indulge him.  You see, I'm still a hero to him and he loves me so much that my heart just bursts when I pick him up and he screams "Mommy" and runs to hug me and we are reunited.  

I linger there too long because I love it and I know that one day he won't want those huggies and kissies and he will all but run from me at drop off.  I stay because I want to hold on to the brief moment of him as a toddler and take a mental snapshot of how perfect he is.  I thank God for giving me a son (finally) because he's teaching me so many things my daughters can't.

New Blog "I Don't Know How You Do It"

I got the idea to start a blog because I often feel like someone is watching me and throwing things at me like in Truman Show--my life could be a Sit Com!  I thought about calling it Varsity Mom but I'm by no means any better at this scary parenting thing than anyone else, I just have 3 kids to give me more experience.

We are a family of 5 living in Austin, Texas.  I'm a working Mom of 3 wonderful yet challenging children--2 girls and a boy ages 9, 5 & 3.  My husband works 4--yes 4! jobs and our life is hectic and crazy and beautiful all at the same time!

I hear "I Don't Know How You Do It" from friends and family all the time, which cracks me up since I feel like most of the time I'm failing at this whole Mom thing.  

I'm starting this blog for several reasons:  to help me vent my crazy feelings, to make someone laugh (at me), and to let others that may feel the same way know that we I can commiserate with them!

Please leave me comments or funny stories.

Let Us Know If There's Anything We Can Do

So my brother in law passed away recently, it was sudden and very sad.  But, in the coming weeks, my husband and I found humor in the variety of reactions from our friends.  

From Facebook to texts, all we heard all day was "Let Us Know If There's Anything We Can Do".  I've said this (even yesterday) and I completely understand the feeling of wanting to help.

BUT, what does that really mean anyway??  If I really want to help, I will offer dinner or to watch their kids or I send a card or a donation or something.  But the blanket statement "Let Us Know If There's Anything We Can Do" is really funny to us now after hearing it soooooooo many times.

By the way, noone did bring dinner or offer to watch the kids...so, we started coming up with responses like "Dinner would be nice" or "Yeah, how about $20" because we felt like people really weren't offering help--they were just feeling bad and wanted to throw out an offer.  Of course we didn't send any responses besides "Pray for us" or "Thanks!" but I really wonder what people would have said if I had said "Hey, what's for dinner" or "Watch the kids for me"...LOL!

Just food for thought:  the next time you really want to help, just DO SOMETHING--drop off cookies or send a card--let's vow not to say "Let Us Know If There's Anything We Can Do" unless we are willing to actually do something!