Black Friday

So Black Friday was not overly thrilling at our house. We did not get up and going to the stores at 3am, instead we let the kids wake us up around 7am and then slowly got everyone fed and dressed and moving. Little Monkey spent the morning hanging out with Pops and Little Monkette went with GrandMom back to our house with Big Monkey. Mom, Amy and I headed out to hit up a few stores just to see what we would find. We didn’t really think we were after much of anything (Amy was looking for some shirts) but we found out that we really were looking for something!

Our first stop was to Walmart for the shirts that Amy was looking for. Sadly we could not even find ONE of them (and she needed 5). We certainly did not think hitting up Walmart around 9 or 10 would be a problem for $3 tshirts and $3 pjs but it was. Surprisingly they still had some big deals if you wanted them. We did pick up Yes Man on dvd and Two Florida Girls invested in a Cricut Expression machine! Look for fun new items coming to the shop once we get it all figured out! We were surprised to even see that they still had some because it was a great deal so we stood around discussing it…and decided that we would get it. We had enough money in our business paypal account to cover it. We are excited to experiment with it and see what we can do!

After Walmart, we headed over to Bealls to check out what they had. I needed to get some jeans because I have still been wearing maternity clothes and they really are too big but all of my old clothes are still too small. I ended up picking up two pairs of jeans on sale. I also was able to get Big Monkey a pair of jeans on sale. And I picked out one of my Christmas presents from my mom and dad. (New tennis shoes for walking/running and training/running the 5K in March.) Mom found a few things for Little Monkey and Little Monkette too. Oh and for Pops too-he got new shoes.

We then decided to go over to Joanns and check out a few things. Joanns was CRAZY. I think it may have been worse than Walmart even. We started by getting a number for the cutting counter. They were on number 78 (I think) and we were number 12! We went around and found the items we wanted to get and a few numbers before 12 we sent Mom to the checkout line to get in line. This was the best idea because by the time we were done at the cutting counter Mom was only about four people back from the front of the line! And the line moved along very well.

We were all getting hungry at this point so we headed over to Panera for some lunch. We finished up by going to Old Navy and managed to find a couple of things there too. While Mom was in line, Amy and I headed over to Marshalls and DSW but found nothing. Finally we made one stop at the post office to mail some orders from Two Florida Girls. We went home, packed up to head to the beach! We stopped to fill up the tire on the car because it seemed rather low (and was) and come to find out it has a nail in it! One last drive through stop on the way to the beach to get the car cleaned up. I don’t recall the last time that I rode through a drive through car wash. Here is a photo for you to see what it is like…in case you haven’t been in a drive through car wash in a while!

New Products!

Recently Two Florida Girls have added some new products to our shop! We are trying to add products for Little Florida Girls and that is what we have been working on.

We now make hair clips for the little girls in your life. We have simple, cute clips and also more fun artsy clips. Check out the shop for other varieties too!

Cute Clips

Fun Christmas Tree!

We also started making custom bean bags. I made a set for Little Monkey and Little Monkette and then we decided to added them to the shop. You can pick the fabrics and whatever letters or numbers you want on them.

Bean Bags!

Check things out…you might find a great gift for a little person in your life! Don’t forget, Christmas is coming up!! Your little guy would look stylish in a Little Guy Tie!

Little Monkey modeling the Little Guy Tie

Big Buzz

Ever since Little Monkey first watched Toy Story, I think he has been addicted to it. He watched it ALL the time. He got a Buzz from Mimi and also a Woody from one of Mimi’s friends. He plays with them both all the time. One day we went to a friend’s house for a little bit and on the way home he started talking to me about “Big Buzz.” I’m not sure where he got the idea from because they don’t have any Toy Story toys at their house. I thought at first he was talking about a “Big Bus,” which made no sense to me.

We were driving and he said this: “Mommy, we need to go to Target to get a Big Buzz (I was thinking Big Bus) because the one I have at home is too small.” He has a school bus but he hardly plays with it so I didn’t understand why on earth he would need a BIG one. I told him that we were going home but we could look at Target another day. Usually stuff like this is talked about once or twice and then it is over with. He has talked about it EVERY day…multiple times a day since then and we are almost going on two weeks. When I finally figured out that he was talking about Buzz and not a Bus, it made a little more sense. I still haven’t figured out how he decided that the Buzz he had just wasn’t good enough and that he needed a BIG Buzz.

He talked about Big Buzz some more and I told him that maybe he could ask for Big Buzz for Christmas. He had to tell Big Monkey about it, who also agreed, maybe for Christmas. Mimi came over one day and Little Monkey told her about Big Buzz too. She suggested that he ask Grammy and Pops for him for Christmas. So he called up Pops, while he was at work, and told him about Big Buzz and asked for him. Pops said that they would have to see about it. We saw Big Buzz at Target and he was so excited. Before going to look at Big Buzz, I told him that we would look but that we wouldn’t be able to take him home. He was okay with that and he was fine when we left Buzz on the shelf. I still think I have heard about Big Buzz everyday. We even saw a Bigger Buzz at Walmart. It was really cool; it came with a remote and you could program him. Of course on clearance he was still $75! Little Monkey let me know that he was not interested in Bigger Buzz, just Big Buzz. (Thank goodness!) Little Monkey told Grammy about Big Buzz and she let him know that maybe he could get one for Christmas. And from the sounds of it, Big Buzz is already waiting at Grammy and Pops’ house to meet Little Monkey at Christmas.

The other night I had to run up to CVS to get some medicine for Little Monkette because we didn’t have any. I took Little Monkey along for the ride. When we got out of the car, he says, “Look Mom, it’s Christmas time!” I assured him that it was almost Christmas time and that the store just already had its lights and decorations up. He said, “Yes, it’s almost Christmas time and then I will get Big Buzz!” I told him that maybe he would get Big Buzz. I asked him what would happen if he didn’t get Big Buzz for Christmas. He didn’t have an answer.

It’s Been Almost A Week

So, I noticed today that I haven’t written in almost a week! (Not even a lame post letting you know about free rentals-speaking of which, I will have another one of those coming!)

I was thinking today that I often feel like I don’t accomplish much during the since I am a stay at home mom with two little kids. So I decided that today I would make a list of the things I did do today. They might not all seem like much, but it shows me that I did more than just survive the day.

Played outside with Roland and Little Monkey
Ordered and picked up pictures from Walgreens
Paid and dropped off the water bill at City Hall
Ran and emptied the dishwasher
Talked to Holly on the phone (quite a bit…that’s what happens when things are going on….)
Printed my BSF lesson and coupons for Open House
Cut the coupons for Open House
Helped Little Monkey work on cutting paper with scissors
Took the trash out, brought the trashcan back
Got the mail and read the paper
Played Candyland with Little Monkey
Fed Little Monkette…many times
Sent many emails with my sister about things regarding Open House
Sewed the buttons on the coffee cozies for Open House
Attempted to make a firecracker hair tie-it did not turn out how I planned
Actually cooked dinner for myself (granted it was a freezer meal that you just put in a pan for like 10 minutes, but still)
Fixed the font on our Christmas card that was partly cut off during printing
Read a lot of blogs

I’m sure I’m missing something…..but hey at least it appears a little productive. And the night is still young. Who knows what else might get done….or not get done.

Alright—I had to update because there was more productivity.

Spent 31 minutes working out on WiiFit
Played some games on WiiSports with Little Monkey
Wrote a couple blogs
Cleaned up dinner

Facebook As A Blessing

Many times you hear news stories about social networking sites that are negative but there can be some positive experiences with these sites too.

Here is a news story that is a positive experience…well eventually. The gentleman was charged with robbery but was able to prove where he was because of posting a new status update on Facebook. How crazy is that!

My story regarding Facebook is not as crazy as that guy’s story but it still is a good story. (At least I think so.) The other day we had been working on some things in our garage. I came in the house for a few minutes and checked my phone. I have Facebook set up to send status updates to my phone for my family members and a couple of friends. There was a status update from a friend saying how excited she was that she had found her son a fire truck bed on Craigslist for $35. Now, this is a pretty good deal, but we had Little Monkey’s old fire truck bed in our attic, collecting dust. (It had been purchased for us by friends at a yard sale and we were holding onto it for them to use for their kids. Of course their first child is a little girl and they don’t plan to use it for her, just like we do not plan to use it for Little Monkette. They okayed us giving it away to our friends. These friends happen to live about 6 houses away from each other too! Oh and there is only about $3 invested in the bed. They got it at a yard sale for $18.xx with a crib mattress. We sold the crib mattress on Craigslist for $15.) We called up our friend and told her not to buy the bed. We explained it all to her and she called the guy back and told him that she was not going to buy it. Big Monkey got the fire truck bed out of the attic and loaded into the truck. Little Monkey and I headed over to their house to deliver and set up the bed.

 

Stock Photo

Luckily her son loved the bed and even did great in it the first night. Thanks to Facebook, we saved our friend $35, got extra space in our garage and she gave us a baby monitor in exchange for the bed. (We were needing one for Little Monkette and didn’t really want to spend the money since we figured someone had to have one around that they weren’t using. I had posted on Freecycle but did not get any responses. Apparently I should have posted on Facebook because our friend had 3 and was very willing to give us one.) Even better, the system has two receivers and can operate on batteries if we need it to. This way we can have one plugged in by my bed and we can use the other if we go play in the backyard or out front while Little Monkette is napping.

 

I am happy that we were able to help out a friend and in return they also were able to help us out. If you ever are in need of something, I would suggest posting on your Facebook status and seeing if any of your friends might have what you need. You’ll never know if you don’t ask. I didn’t even know that my friend was looking for a fire truck or car bed, just as she didn’t know we needed a baby monitor. It worked out for everyone!

Baby Shower Gift

As you have probably seen before in my blog, I have been making Tag blankets as gifts for friends. We do not sell these in our shop at this time but I have made them at the request of people or as gifts. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, keep reading or you can check out these: Kieren and Makenna’s, Makiah’s and Kylie’s

Another friend of ours from church is getting ready to have her first boy (She already has two girls.) and I am not able to make it to her shower. I was planning to make her a tag blanket, so I got it done this week so that I could deliver it before her shower.

 

Tag Blanket

I also decided to try and put her son’s initials on a washcloth and his name on the matching towel. It was something I had in the closet and never gave as a gift. Sadly the machine messed up on his name on the towel and it didn’t turn out right. The washcloth turned out okay, but I didn’t give it to her because I thought it would be silly to just give her the washcloth.

 

 

Washcloth

 

As I was wrapping up the tag blanket, I realized that I didn’t have a card to go with the gift. Seeing that it was after 9pm and Little Monkey was in bed and Little Monkette was hanging out with me, there was no running to the store to get a card. I checked my stash and noticed that I didn’t have anything that would really work for a baby shower either. So I decided to take some card stock and make a card. I had never tried to do what I was thinking in my head so it was kind of a trial run. Thankfully it turned out okay!

 

Card

I just the letters from some leftover fabric scraps we had and used a glue stick to get them in place. Then I did a zigzag stitch around the letters to help keep them on the card and make it look fun. I took a piece of construction paper and cut it to fit on the inside of the card to cover up the thread and holes from sewing. Then I wrote a message inside. Simple but quite cute if I do say so myself!

 

A Camping Weekend

This past weekend, Big Monkey, Little Monkey, GrandMom and I went camping. We went to a park that is about 30 minutes from our house. Once again, not a big trip but good to get away and get our feet wet with the use of the camper some more. We headed out around lunchtime on Friday and got set up for the weekend. Little Monkey and GrandMom went “fishing” while Big Monkey and I hung out around the campfire. It started to rain and I was tired anyhow, so I went for a nap. Once I woke up I learned that Big Monkey and GrandMom had been discussing moving the location of the camper and they were considering doing it with me inside! Thankfully they didn’t but once I was up, they did move it (without breaking everything down). I would not recommend this method even though it did work.

Little Monkey enjoying an Oreo in his camping chair.

We knew another group was also camping there the same weekend, although they were all in tents! We hung out with them some and played volleyball and hung out around the campfire making smores and talking. Little Monkey had a great time with one of the kids that was there with them too. Big Monkey and I played Scrabble Express each night (and I won every time!). We also played Battleship one day by the fire. I was sure he would win but we both won one game each.

Bacon cooking for breakfast! Yum!

Overall it was a good weekend and mostly relaxing. While we were out camping, Roland was staying with some family members and Little Monkette was with her Grammie, Pops and Mimi at the beach. Currently our next camping trip is scheduled for April and EVERYONE will be going for the first time (Me, Big Monkey, Little Monkey, Little Monkette and Roland!). It should be interesting. Big Monkey would love to take another trip before that one if we can and we are looking at February for a possible trip with Big Monkey’s family. Of course they will have to sleep in tents!

Little Monkette sporting her Halloween outfit at the beach house.

Going Camping-

Today we are packing up the camper and heading out for the weekend. Originally it was going to be just Big Monkey, Little Monkey and GrandMom, but now I am going too. I didn’t really want to go, (I was going to stay home with Roland and Little Monkette) but I do see the value in going. It will give Little Monkey some much needed time with just us (no Roland and no Little Monkette to distract us). He has been bounced around a bit since Little Monkette’s arrival and could use the individual attention. Little Monkette will go with Amy to the beach house for the weekend. The weekend should also give me some time to kind of clear my head again and just relax. No computer to use, just hanging out with family and friends in the great outdoors. I will have my phone, which means limited access to Facebook and some texting or phone calls, but for the most part, we will try and remain rather technology free.

I’m sure it will be a good weekend and it will be nice that we won’t have to worry about dealing with trick-or-treaters all night long on Saturday!

Thought It Was Better

After having a really good day this week, I thought things were looking up. Maybe there really is a light at the end of the tunnel (I know there is…I just can’t always see it.).

Friday Big Monkey had to work and so my sister came over to hang out with us for the day and night to help out with the kids. We had a couple of special orders for our shop and we decided that we would work on those during the day. We started by finding all the fabric we would need and got everything done in steps. Before too long, the special orders were all done, as well as Little Monkette’s “House Divided” Football onesie. (Football shaped applique, half Florida State and half Florida Gators.) Amy had also cut out the fabric for Little Monkette’s name bean bags and got the letters ironed on. Amy’s college roommate was in town with her little girl at her parents’ house, so we decided to go for a visit. We packed up Little Monkey and Little Monkette and headed out. It was good to get out of the house and Little Monkey had someone else to play with. After visiting with her friends, we made a stop at Sally Beauty Supply to see if we could exchange some hair clips that Amy bought since they were not the kind we really like. Thankfully they had the ones we wanted and did an exchange. Now we can really get into our hair clip making craze since we have 200 hair clips! Check out these cute pumpkin clips Amy made the other day.

Pumpkin Hair Clips!

Saturday started out as a very different day. I suddenly was feeling very anxious and unsure about the day. Amy was leaving for the day but my mother-in-law was already here before she left. I tried to relax and calm down but it wasn’t really working. I was still really anxious. I took a shower and then some of the new medicine that my doctor gave me this week. I was still feeling a bit iffy about the whole day but the medicine did its job and I was feeling better. It is nice to have the medicine if I need it and the day was a bit better after that.

It was very hard that Saturday started out so rough since Friday was so good. I was thinking that things were getting better (which they are) but it seems that this will still be a bit of a process and I certainly will not be better overnight. I understand that it is a process, but I was definitely hopeful after having a good day. I know there will be more days like Friday and probably still more days like Saturday, but hopefully the “Fridays” will start to out number the “Saturdays.”

It’s Over

The wedding festivities are finally over and we are back home. We had something everyday starting on Thursday. Everything went well and the ceremony and reception were very nice. I think it all turned out rather well. I did what I could and tried not to push myself too far.

Sunday morning we got up and Big Monkey took me to the house where all the girls were getting ready for the wedding. They were already in the process of hair and makeup and had some breakfast. When it was my turn for my hair, they asked me what I wanted done. I had planned on a half up/half down hairdo. Everyone else was planning to have their hair all up. The hair stylist had an idea and ran it past Aunt K, who approved it and we got started. The matron of honor helped make some hair accessories for everyone. My hair was pulled back some and straightened. I really liked how my hair turned out. We put a headband type ribbon in my hair and added a fun flower pin. Sadly, I don’t appear to have a picture of it. After my hair was done, I got my make up done. I had never had airbrushed make up, so it was interesting. It was cool though and it looked great after it was done. Once we were all just about ready, we packed up our stuff and headed over to the events center to get dressed and have pictures done.

The Beautiful Bride!

Since we had a lot going on, it was easy to keep my mind focused on the wedding and getting everything ready to go. Amy and Little Monkey were at the events center when we arrived and we got dressed. Little Monkey was a stud in his tux. We were able to take some of the pictures before the wedding. Then the wedding started. Little Monkey did a great job walking down the aisle. The ceremony went well, no one passed out or tripped over themselves. After the ceremony, we went outside and took more pictures with both the bride and groom. I can’t wait to see some of the photos. Once they were done with Little Monkey’s portion of the photos, Amy and my parents took him and snapped some cute pictures of him. While we were taking pictures, the guests were eating and mingling around the building. It was a great location for the wedding. We took Little Monkette around to meet some people, she slept the whole time!

Our Little Stud

After the reception started inside, Little Monkey and Little Monkette headed home with my Mom, Dad, and Amy. We of course stayed for the reception, danced a little bit, toasted the bride and groom and had cake. We also blew bubbles to see off the bride and groom and then got to work on changing clothes and helping to clean up. Once everything was done, we headed back to the hotel so that Big Monkey could change clothes and then we headed out to dinner with the family at Dexter’s. Eventually we ended up back at our hotel, watched the football game and then went to bed. (Well Big Monkey fell asleep during the football game and slept a good portion of the night on the couch because I couldn’t get him awake or moved!)

The Family