Goals for 2010

My supervisor at work asked this of us not too long ago. What are my goals for 2010?

I'm walking to my car when it hits me. I step into the parking lot and see before me my goal for 2010. Jamie and I have identical cars (well...his is a 2005 and mine is a 2003, details details). However, when you walk into the parking lot and they're parked side by side you can tell which car belongs to Jamie and which car belongs to me fairly quickly. Because of the following reasons:

1) His is clean. I'm pretty sure his car is cleaned every week instead of every 3 months...down to the constant shiny armour alld tires.

2) The headlights
His (look how that car shines)

Mine. Look at how mine doesn't shine and the headlights are fuzzy looking.

Let's look at just how clear his are. I mean..you can see a reflection of the building. C.L.E.A.R.

Mine.. not clear.

3)The interior.

 While I am psycho enough to take pictures of his headlights, I didn't stop there. I wanted you to see how clean the inside is.. (I'm glad none of my coworkers came out and witnessed the crazy of me taking pictures of Jamie's car...) 

(look...I'm even holding a Zoe's cup while taking the picture...how many zoe's cups does one person need?)

Look. how. clean. I mean..I'm pretty sure that you could EAT off that carpet or even lick the console if you wanted to (but I'm not sure why you would want to). Mine on the other hand, I don't recommend you licking anything unless you want a virus.

4) Not ever have I once walked by Jamie's car and saw " Tatum was here" written in the dust on his dash or saw a purple sparkly mirror in the back window. That sat there for weeks (it's still sitting there).
 I've never seen hand prints on the windows in the back or hearts that a little girl we all know & love (anna) likes to draw.

5) He doesn't have a totally classy hole in his back bumper (where his spouse left the luggage rack on the SUV (2 weeks) after a vacation and it couldn't be seen and was backed into. totally not my fault.)

So..there you have it. That is my goal for 2010. To walk out to the parking lot and not know which car to get into because mine is going to be as clean as Jamie's.

PS...Jamie...do you let your kids ride in your car? Just wondering....

Wait...supervisor...you meant goals like deepening customer relationships, bringing in revenue, getting new business didn't you? Back to the drawing board.

PSS why is it today when I'm going to Zoe's to eat I don't the 2 refillable cups that were pictured above? Apparently that is the only thing I have gotten out of the car this week. Not pictured was the lunch box, 2 jackets, the hood to Anna's down jackets, a nintendo DS, and lots of change.

I may look like crap..but my kids look good!

Kelly's Korner is hosting Show Us Your Life and this week is where do you shop. For me (ha!) I love Ann Taylor Loft, Old Navy and American Eagle. Those are usually my staples.

Now..for my kids. That's a different story.

Tatum loves Hollister, American Eagle, Abercrombie.

Anna & Hudson:
..lets see. There's Jack & Jill in Homewood, The Lili Pad in Cahaba Heights, Sew Precious in Patton Creek.

Then there's trunk shows. I'm loving Kelly's Kids summer line the most. There's also Castles & Crowns, Ragsland, and Shrimp & Grits.

Then there are the consignment sales at churches, ebay, consignment and thrift stores (Big Saver, America's Thrift, Bubble Gum & Blue Jeans in Cullman, Goodwill).

For my house I shop everywhere and anywhere. I love the consignment mall in Trussville and the one in Gardendale. The best and my most favorite flea market is the TN State Fair flea market. Because then I have to stop in Franklin, TN and they have the BEST antique shops. I like the flea market in Cullman and there is a good one that my parents call "the chicken coops".

Where do you shop?

(look at that..two posts in one day)

2009...what you didn't see..

I decided to put together some collages of 2009 so I wouldn't bore you with 123834572 images like I usually do to show you the things I never got around to posting mostly because I'm lazy or sewing.

Here they are..the good..the bad...the ugly and the funny.

January

wait..that beach trip was in Feb. gosh i'm such. a. loser. (ps..just ask Billy..and ask him how his knee is)

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

See that bed Hudson is laying in? That was my doll bed when I was a little girl! It's now in the playhouse at my parents house.

September

In Sept..Anna came down with rotovirus. I can't believe I didn't blog these but they needed a collage of their own

See the picture with her watching TV in her gloves? The gloves came in handy when I told her not to be touching Hudson because I didn't want him to catch it...smart girl put on gloves so technically she wasn't touching Hudson..the gloves were!

October

November

December part 1

My sister is going to so kill me for that. I took that picture of her & her family on Christmas Eve. Right as I was about to snap the picture the power went out..hence the crazy look on their faces. I *love* it...and you too sister. muah. Check out Anna hugging the Christmas tree. :)

December part 2

Is anybody else cracked up at the amount of posing Anna does?

If you're wondering why Tatum isn't in a lot of these collages..chances are I've already posted the pictures of her on the blog during that month. I don't get that many pictures of her anymore. Unless they're the scissor mafia pictures. :)

We're still here...

Not much to update or chat about lately...and boring is good. :)

Basketball season is officially over which means cheerleading is over so we have our nights back for a month before softball starts.

I've been sewing like a mad woman and wanted to share a couple of outfits I made. This weekend I made 3 longalls for Hudson (lined..I know..I'm so awesome) and 3 pair of pants for Anna and 5 shirts monogrammed. I'm a crazy sewing woman and let me introduce you to the new love of my life.

image: fiskar

That is...until it nearly sliced my finger off. It did however, cut out the fabric for the 3 longalls (plus lining, so that's 6 different fabrics) at one time. Total life saver. Not a finger saver however. That mug is super sharp so watch out...I just brush it up against my finger and it bled for-ever!

So here are a couple of the outfits I made Sunday.

Anna took that picture of Hudson...see it's so easy, even a 6 yr old can do it. :)

The playroom

Ok, so does it look like I want it or like belongs in a magazine? No.

Are the toys out of the 10 rubbermaid tubs that they've been in since we moved in 2007? YES! NO MORE TUBS! {Said in my best mommie dearest voice}.

Should I have taken a before picture? Yes..but I would've never showed you those pictures. I'd hate to ruin that "Gretchen is perfect and her house is always clean" image you have in your head. (HA! If you could only see the mountain of laundry I'm sitting on while I type this.)

All this started by me waking up and saying "My bedroom is being de"baby"ed TO-DAY". I wanted my room back. Hudson was still sleeping in my room, his changing table was in my bedroom, 1/2 of his clothes were in my room. His stuff had taken over and I wanted my space back. So I got all of his stuff out and it felt good. But I didn't stop there. I wanted the giant TV out of my bedroom as well. The giant TV that we were suppose to put in the mancave..the mancave that was suppose to be finished before the baby (Hudson) was born. So...bye bye TV.

The TV found it's new home in the playroom. As did the Wii. Well, when we had to move crap toys out of the way to make room, we decided the kids needed a place, a organized place, to put their toys. That's when the bookcases were brought into the world by my lovely husband. Yes, I said bookcaseS.

Because I liked this one so much, I begged asked for two more and my wish was granted.

and we even got the kitchen thing hung on the wall. that anna got for Christmas in 2005. nice.

We got the basket thingys at Target on sale. They hold more crap than you think!

and we didn't stop there. I've lusted after this table from Pottery Barn.

But for $949, no thanks. I came across this link to JannyPie and sent Billy to Lowe's. We took forever trying to figure out what I wanted and how he could make it work so this is the final result.

I can use it for a fabric table AND scrapbooking. Yes my friends, I said scrapbooking. I've decided if I don't get back into this year and it's all going. It's all been packed up and I haven't even scrapbooked since Feb 2006. I did start pulling some of it out (see my primas in the cube, do people still use primas?) and started getting the itch to put pictures (um..gotta get those printed first) on some outdated paper! AND I wanted it built this way so two people could scrap on it. Scrapping is always better when you have someone to yap with while you're doing it.

So, this table is made out of two of these Closetmaid 9 cube organizers I bought one green one and painted it in white. Pain in the rear end ya'll, just go ahead and drive to the next town to get the color you want AND use a roller. LISTEN TO ME..USE A ROLLER. I bought a sheet of MDF (heavy as crap!) and cut off one end and used it as the small part of the "desk" part. Billy bought some lumber and braced it.

I like the way Janny's looks better but it wasn't functional with one of the 9 cube things facing the wall so Billy braced that part with lumber and we moved the cube thing to the end of the desk part.

So I may have a t-shirt hoarding problem...

and a ribbon and thread problem

and a fabric problem.
(ps, there is more ribbon in that striped box)
(Pss, my photog backdrops are collecting dust under the table holding the cricut and in the corner as well)

So, I don't feel like I'm done but I do feel more organized. I would love to change the paint color of the room. I gave into pink & purple that the princess requested when we were building the house. But I'm just not loving it anymore, I'm sure Hudson won't either so I need a new paint color. Any ideas?

I would also love a new table & chairs for the kids..I may get that in a few years. :)

Week one of 2010..I need a do over please!

We established the fun that rung in the New Year. Me demonstrating my strong vocals to guitar & band hero while my hot husband is rocking the guitar (those guitar lessons when you were 12 totally paid off baby!) was totally awesome way to start off 2010. Things were all good when I went back to work on Monday. Tuesday, that's when it all went down hill.

It started off good. I made this shirt for Anna (the snowflake is shiny like her pants) the night before so when she woke up and saw it she says "I'm starting the new year off right, shiny and sparkly". She's *my* kind of girl.

(not sure of the significance of the magnifying glass..but ok)

Later on in the day..I get a call from my mom. Letting me know that my in-laws house (next door to my house..where my mother & Hudson are) had just been broken into. Then the line goes dead. She immediately calls me from her cell phone and I call my fil (father-in-law) and his power is out too so I calm down a little knowing that someone hasn't cut power to my house with my mother & son there. Let me just tell you, I handled this crisis with my dignity in tact my blog friends. The water works started and took hours to stop.

Here's what happened. My husband's uncle..we'll call him "M" is leaving his house when he looks up and sees a car in my il's driveway. A guy knocking on the door and the girl in the driver's seat of the car. He whips out cell phone and lets fil know that someone is at his house knocking on the door. He goes across to the barn & back and car is gone.

FIL comes home a little while later and the house had been ransacked. We've pieced together what we think happened. When "M" went across the street to the barn the guy ran around to the back and busted the glass in the french door and walked through it. Opened the door to the garage and opened the garage door. Girl pulls car into the garage. They then ransack the house. Loaded up the car in the garage.When you walk through a door of broken glass...you become like Hansel & Gretel and leave a trail of everywhere you walked except your trail is glass. They went to the master br first (that's where the most of the glass is). Pull out and dump out all drawers. Flip the mattress. Pull everything out of the closet. Deanna's old br was next, same thing. Billy's bedroom was last. This is where they extremely pissed me off. I mean..don't get me wrong. I'm *pissed* that you took Billy's grandfather's & dad's guns. I'm *pissed* that you took Billy's mother's wedding ring, his grandmother's jewelry. REALLY pissed that you took the pearl earrings that Deanna got married in and she let me wear them when Billy & I got married...I wanted Anna to wear those when she got married (you bas34qrds you). I'm angry that you invaded my mother's & father's-in-law privacy, you touched their things, you killed our safe place. They've lived there since 1973 and you've invaded their home for the first time.

But this...WHY THIS?

See the black bag at the foot of the bed on the floor? That's the bag that the funeral home gave Billy's parents when his grandmother died containing the book that people sign, the notes off of flowers, etc. Robbers, your mother must be so proud that *this* is what it's come to for you. Dumping out someone's funeral home bag in hope of finding something that you can pawn or sell. Dumping out someone's pictures (pictures that ahem SOMEONE went through a couple of years ago, separated Billy's & Deanna's out and put in chronological order. bast97853ds) and memories like they're nothing. Dumping out a BABY BOOK. Dumping out my kid's toys.

Robbers, I'm really angry at you. I'm angry that you didn't take the tv's that we're waiting on to die before we'll buy a new HD one. I'm angry that you took the printer that was brand new but you left the slow a$$ computer. I'm angry that you had the balls to go ahead and pull on into the garage and do this AFTER someone saw you. AND after you knocked on our neighbor's door down the street and fortunately he was home. I am still scratching my head over you taking the camcorder that is circa 1985 and is the size of a Fox 6 camera. I would really *love* to know how much you got for *that*.

I'm thankful. I'm thankful that you didn't go to the next driveway to my house. Because let me just tell you, you would be sadly disappointed if you came to my house. Unless you're looking for fabric, monogram machine, smocked clothes, a cricut, some outdated scrapbooking stuff (I'm trying to get back into it..) and nice old furniture. Because jewelry isn't my thing. Our tv and computer are older than my in-laws. I'm pretty sure if you tried to pull my overstuffed drawers out to dump them out you'd be amazed that the clothes I can cram in a drawer..and that's all that crammed in there. I am, however, thankful you didn't knock on my door because I'm pretty sure my mother wouldn't have come to the door either. I can't imagine what would've happened had you busted through my back door and scared my mother & son to death and I can only make myself think that would be the worst that would happen to them. Scare them.

So, needless to say, Tuesday wasn't the best of days.

Wednesday..started off...well...with no water. Pipes froze.

Miss Priss started her day looking all cute in another snow shirt since the "Blizzard of 2010" was about to take place in the south (could someone please turn the global warming back on please? Maybe everybody should get their clunkers back and start driving them again) and the BIG GAME was slated for Thursday night so her snowman had a houndstooth hat!

When I get home, there is water coming up from the ground where my meter is...lovely. After speaking to a not so nice employee of Birmingham Water Works, I turned the water off. Then I realized that she said if the leak is on the property of BWWB then I wouldn't be responsible for paying for the water thats flowing I told Billy to cut it back on. And it ran. all. night. long. What happens to water when the temp reaches around 20 degrees? Excellent.

And just when you're thinking that it can't get any worse. About 2:00 Thursday morning, I wake up to hear running through my house. Then buwah all over the floor. Anna tossed her cookies. She ran past a bathroom to puke in the floor. Billy called her our little puke sprinkler when there was puke from one end to the other. so. freaking. gross.

I will say it all turned around though.

image: rolltide.com

image: rolltide.com

That's right baby. National Champions. ROLL TIDE ROLL.

So at least the week ended well. I'm *so* happy that Alabama won. YAY.

Last week when we were off, we made over the playroom. I'm going to finish up the last piece of the puzzle tomorrow and will post pictures. We all love it and spend a lot more time there.