Now it really is Monday

Well, for a few more hours. How was your weekend? Mine was even busier than I thought it would be.

First thing, I went around the neighborhood Saturday morning for the yard sales. Found the perfect basket I needed for transporting my party wares for $1. I found three more rolling drawer units, one Large and two smaller ones $3 each. I found two full cases of plastic containers that would be great for holding sets of greeting cards, 170+ of one size and 96 of a larger size, $3 a case. I picked up a couple more things and then headed home to get ready for the baby shower.

The baby shower was at Beef O' Bradys and I was surprised to see the location had a "party room". The gals that gave the shower treated us to Queso, Chips, Salad, Wings, Drinks & our own Nicole made a really cute-DELISH- cake. The mommy to be, Deidre, got lots of stuff for the new BOY on the block.

After the shower I ran some errands and finally returned mom my early evening. TV time then I passed out tired.

Sunday we watched " Sunday Morning" and then I loaded the car and headed to my Southern Living at Home party at my friends house. It was a combo SLaH party & housewarming. I had arranged for people to buy her stuff from the catalog. Between that and the credit she got from peoples purchases she got everything on her list.

New month starts tomorrow. The SLaH Hostess specials are SUPER and the Customer specials are darn great too. I have several things set up already but have a few days left. Check my website for the April specials and email me soon! www.southernlivingathome.com/hinton

Til later...........

Monday already?? NOT really

but this weekend is going to go by so fast that's what it will feel like. Tomorrow is a baby shower and then on Sunday I have a Southern Living at Home party at the home of one of my dearest friends. Both events should be fun but they are both an hour away from my house so it will be an all day affair. OH, and I'm supposed to get SIX boxes of SLaH at my house tomorrow. YIKES! This is only HALF the order. We split the order in half so the hostess didn't have a TON of stuff to deliver. I got an email that both orders should be delivered and we are both getting 6 boxes. Good thing we split them up!!!!!

Tomorrow morning I think I will check out the yard sales in my neighborhood since I really don't have time to set up myself. I saw an ad for someone selling scrapbooking stuff. Goodness knows, I need more!

My sister is leaving on a cruise tomorrow for 5 days. Hope she has fun and the weather is nice.

Work is still a bear so guess I better get some of it done.

Hope you all have a nice weekend. DS is at his dads and is invited to a birthday party on Saturday. His dad has promised to take him. I sure hope so because it is the FIRST invite since he started at this school. Baby steps.

Til later..............

Mid week photos

I hope everyone is having a super week. I've been so busy at work and at home that I can't get a chance to blog. Not to mention a certain Pre-teen (for approximately one more week) that is on my "picture loading computer" ALL afternoon & evening. I know I can tell him to get off so I can use the puter but honestly I have not had the energy. I decided tonight was the night so......

First I tried to scan the picture I am dying to share but my compter has decided it doesn't recognize the scanner. I'll figure it out and in the mean time enjoy some shots from Easter, my new door decorations and a couple cards.

Here are the folks I spent Easter with. It was a quiet day with just the kids, DH & myself. No muss, no fuss...

Here is the card that my MIL should receive tomorrow. I only made Easter Cards for the kids and my DH. This is my Spring card.

I used a spare piece of the DCWV glitter paper, green grossgrain ribbon, my cuttlebug embossing folder for the yellow cardstock. Embelished with flowers and a giant Bazzil brad and stamped the sentiment with my Large "dial" letter stamp (sorry, I'm to tired to remember the actual name & to lazy to go in the other room and check)

This card was for a girl at work that is having breast reduction surgery tomorrow. I'd seen "bra" card patterns on several sites but really wanted to try and come up with my own. I wanted a center opening card which turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. This was the end result. Not quite the picture I had in my mind but it got the point across. Inside the card I wrote, "We'll support you while you are gone". I had her co-workers write a little something inside and she was very touched.

I'm very pleased with my new front door decorations. These are a pair of Southern Living at Home buckets teamed with their "Must have" door hangers. I got the flowers at Michaels, cut them all apart and made the arrangement. I think they look great but my DS said I am making the house look to "girlie". LOL

I don't care what he says, they make me happy everytime I get home.

Anyone watching Idol or Dancing with the Stars? LOVE IDOL and I've got Dancing taped so don't spoil it for me. Very happy to see that the new shows are finally getting ready to start. We've been enjoying several of the "replacement shows" and hope the continue when the regular stuff is back at full run.

Til later.......................

Happy B-lated Easter

I've been a very bad blogger and an even worse friend & daughter/sister/aunt. Time got away from me and I didn't get any Easter cards made except for the ones that got put in the families Easter Baskets. I got a really cute card from my sister yesterday....THANKS MICHELE!!!! DH is feeling better but I decided to have a low key day. We just had DD and her roomate over for lunch. We've been sitting on the porch watching the birds all afternoon.

Hope you all had a nice day. Back to work tomorrow. Boo! I really enjoyed the time off last week and am not looking forward to a full work week. At least we have a baby shower to look forward to and a friends Housewarming/Southern Living at Home party. Combine that with a community yard sale and it's another busy weekend. I really need a vacation.

Til later.............

Good Friday

DH is doing good. I came back to work today cause I knew not many people would be here and it would be an easy day. Why waste a day off when I can "work" and save it for later.

I borrowed the "OBIT" from the blog of an incredible crafter, Gina. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and a wonderful Easter weekend.

Til later.................

Procedure day

My DH is having a little "procedure" today on his knee. I'll be taking a few days off to take care of him. IN the mean time, take a look at these customer specials and let me know if you are interested in any of them. See my last post for more information.

Til later....................

Weekend roundup

How has your weekend been? Busy? Did you get to spend time with your family & friends? It is winding down and that always makes me sad. I still have a ton of stuff to do and not much more weekend to do it in.

I started out Saturday morning heading to a church yard sale. Unfortunately, it was outside and a really junky one. Bummer. I drove around for about 30 minutes and didn't find much to look at. -0- spent. I guess the weather Friday must have scared people away.

I had a southernlivingathome party scheduled for the afternoon so headed home to get ready. It's a good thing I did as my Hostess called and asked me to come early as some people were coming an hour early because they had a wedding to get to. We ended up having about 10 people come and it was a very good party. My hostess is going to enjoy about $250 in free products. We had some people that didn't take advantage of all of the customer specials so If you are interested, I can take your order for them and add them to her party. It will help her out and you will get a really great deal on some super products. I have another friend that is doing a book party and would appreciate some orders to help her reach her goal. Email me for details.

Did some shopping this afternoon. Have you bought your Easter stuff yet? Walmart was a Zoo and already out of some of their candies. Good thing my DD & DS are old enough to be happy with what ever they get. Speaking of Easter, I need to get some cards made and in the mail. The postal service to North Georgia is a crap shoot. Luckily my in laws are not upset if their card arrives "late".

St. Patricks day tomorrow. I didn't get any cards made for that occasion. It is an anniversary of a painful one for me. This year is the 7th anniversary of a night I came close to serious injury or death thanks to a head on collision with some boys in aother car. I broke three ribs and they still bother me since they didn't heal "straight". Thankfully that is all that happened and I'm here to enjoy a life I couldn't have imagined at that time.

Having said that, I think I will go kiss my DH. Hope you all have a great week. I still need to scan and load a picture for you all but it is another thing on my list that will have to wait. I need to go make some cards.

Til later..........

Drama continues & a new baby

I started to write the title to this entry and it sounded familiar. Sorry, we are going to have to go with it or I won't be able to post.

Work is still crazy busy...still on phone duty..still hating it...!!

Got something very special in the mail yesterday. I'll share it with you soon. It involves scanning and stuff I don't have time to do right now.

My beloved niece in Georgia is about to become an AUNT for the second time today. A little boy. Yes, that would mean the mother of the baby is my niece too but that is a LONG story. I do not mean the child ill will and pray that the baby is healthy. We've never been close like I am with my Jenna. Not the girls fault. She can't help who her mother is. Anyway, hope everyone is ok and that this is the LAST of the "Grill offspring".

So by now you are probably saying, still haven't gotten any sleep have you? You sound so grumpy. Actually, I was still sleeping at 6:50 this morning when my DH came into the bedroom and informed me of the time. Hmm. Would you believe I got up, showered (with hair washing), got out, dried my hair (mostly), took my pills, got dressed, out the door & had the DS to the bus stop with 3 minutes to spare at 7:03. Guess those Sleep aids I took last night worked. Still could use about another weeks worth of rest. Yep, that will happen.

Anyone else stunned by last nights AI results? I really thought they would finally get rid of "Country girl"..but no. Didn't get involved in the drama about what David H did or didn't do for a living but he is a better singer than Becky/Sue/Katy/Austin...what ever her name is. I was glad that David A. got a second chance. I bet he never forgets another word to another Beatles song, ever again! Speaking of Beatles songs...how funny that the week that drove the kids crazy will be repeated again next week. Wonder what songs they will choose this time?

I know my sister tagged me but I'm not gonna do it. At least not yet. I'll save it for another day when I'm to lazy to come up with a post. Speaking of posts...the next week will be hectic and crazy so forgive me if I'm not on track each day. Lots of stuff going on at home and at work and it's really cramping my "sharing".

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm so behind on my blog reading that I hope I haven't missed anything important. Please email me directly if there is anything pressing I should know about.

CRAP....Speaking of stuff, I just remembered, today is my BIL's birthday.
HI DAVID!!!!!! I hope you are having a grand day in the great white North.

Til later.............................


'

Why am I awake at this hour?

Last night I attended a meeting with fellow Southern Living at Home consultants and apparently it got my mind to spinning so much I couldn't sleep. I was awake off and on most of the night and finally got out of bed at 5AM. ARG! It is now almost time for the alarm to go off so I guess there is nothing left to do but officially start my day.

What had my head spinning? So glad you asked. We were discussing Convention (NASHVILLE here I come!) and ways to share FREE product with our friends. I will be offering 12 lucky people a great way to earn free SL@H items, without leaving your home, in a couple days. Stay tuned. Speaking of free stuff, I am also excited to tell you that if you order $125 in personal sales (you actually can combine your order with other people to reach the $125) you can earn the $50 in FREE product we are giving our qualified Hostesses this month! WOW. Email me for details but hurry...time is running out.

Now for some catch up...

Our Anniversary was nice but unfortunately my DH was sick most of the weekend and on Monday. He was running a fever & had a touch of a tummy thing. Poor baby tried so hard to put up a happy front but when you are sweating from a fever it is hard to hide it. He did feel good enough to go to dinner on Monday but by 10pm his fever was back in full force. We did manage to sit by the fireplace at the resturant (long-Cheryl at a resturant story) and got a free slab of Chocolate cake so it was a nice time.

Work has been a nightmare the last week. Good grief! On top of all the Drama, our receptionist has been sick so I've had phone duty for 5 days. Anyone that knows me well KNOWS how I feel about phone duty. It's been especially bad considering my "team" has been EXTRA CRAZY BUSY since Friday.

TV....we haven't discussed TV lately. We are HATING the two new shows, Eli Stone & New Amsterdam. They are awful and should be taken off the air straight away! (seriously...that is what we say so the the powers to be will not take off another show we enjoy. Apparently, us liking a show is the kiss of death. YES, we are that powerful) So if you want to watch them, we can't stop you but you have been warned.

AI is down to the Top 12. My heart broke last night for our little favorite guy, David A. My DH said at least now people know he is human and not a perfect singing machine. We are still liking Tattoo chick and Rocker -Cook dude and Michael from Australia. Elimination tonight.

I am so behind on all my blog reading. Anything I need to know? What is happening in your world?

Oh, we did set our alarm to watch the shuttle go up. Unfortunately it was so cloudly that we couldn't even see a glow. Apparently it was so cloudy at the Cape that they had the same problem, loosing site of the shuttle almost as soon as it lifted off. We ended up watching the replay on TV and then trying to go back to sleep. DARN! Night launches are so cool, sorry we missed it.

I hear my DH stirring so the alarm must have gone off. Guess I'll get my act in gear and get ready for another day at work. Hope everyone has a great day. Don't forget to email me if you are interested in FREE stuff. BTW, I'll leave you with a picture of our bedroom wall...these items could be yours.

Til later..................

Baby Shower card

Here is a quick post to show you the baby shower card I made for this past weekend. I got the pattern off SCS by a talented gal named Lauren. You can see her work here. I've used other Onesie patterns before but this is the easiest as I used a premade card base and just cut and glued pieces on to it. Added the prong brads for the snaps and it was done.

We just got back from our anniversary dinner. Plan to watch a little TV, hit the hay and get up to watch the shuttle launch.

That is our plan. Check back tomorrow.

Til later...................

Wonderful Day and a Shower

We had a wonderful day yesterday and will share later. Right now I need to get moving as I've got a Baby Shower to go to. Need to wrap her gift and write a message in ther card I made. I'm going to take a picture and post it soon.

Pictures, I promise.

Til later...............

Not how I feel but funny

I'm being lazy and borrowing a post from an email I just got. Since my first Anniversary is tomorrow, I do NOT feel like this but thought some of you OLD married people would get a chuckle.

Have a great weekend.

The Shoe Box

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything.
They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, " my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving.

He almost burst withhappiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?"

"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."

A Prayer.......

Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man;
Love to forgive him;
And Patience for his moods;
Because Lord, if I pray for Strength,I'll beat him to death, because I don't know how to crochet.


Til later................

Time to get LOST

Super busy at work the last few days doing reports so I'm happy to be finished. Anything exciting in your lives?

AI has been a buzz this week. No need for me to speculate on the goings on OFF screen. Still loving David A. Like Tattoo girl and a few others. Guess we'll see who makes the TOP 12 tonight.

Anyone catch New Amsterdam this week? Another episode tonight after AI. We are giving it a chance. Not alot else on so our DVR has plenty of room.

$50 give away still going on. Dates still available. How easy would it be to do a Book party & earn $50 PLUS............??

BIG day on Saturday!!!! Since my DH doesn't read my blog I can share that he is getting the 'GUY toy" he wants. That sounds dirty but its not. I'll wait to share until next week so that no one can spill the beans.

BIG BIG day for my MIL in Georgia on Saturday. Birthday girl!!!! Wish we could be together to celebrate.

Gonna go check on the other blogs I've neglected the last couple days. Hate when I have to actually work! LOL. Oh, I almost forgot.......LOST TONIGHT!!!

Til later..................

The Next Survivor Series

I just got this as an email and decided to share it. I have another post below that I feel is important and exciting but if you aren't interested in FREE MONEY or know someone that is...you can skip it and wait until tomorrow.

The Next Survivor Series

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean,correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails manicured and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name.Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

To true! Til later..............

How can you pass up FREE MONEY?

I know you are probably tired of hearing about this but I can't stand to have anyone miss out on this great deal. It's like flushing money. It's such a great deal I'll work with my out of state (USA only sorry) readers so they can take advantage . We can do everything over the internet & all the orders will be shipped direct to the "Hostess". Here is an example of what you could earn:

The company just announced today that March hostesses will receive an extra $50 in free products.

The $50 free INCLUDES our minimum party, which is $125 in sales (you do still need to reach $250 in sales to qualify for the hostess specials). Here’s an example of what you can get with a $250 party (you can choose anything out of the catalog to spend your $50 on):
on average – 5 orders

Entertaining Bucket/Stand: $49.95 (March Hostess special)

Gail Pittman Hand-Painted Serving Set: $39.95 (March Hostess special)

Gallery Collection Upside-Down Cake Stand: $27.48 (50% off item)

Estate Caddy: FREE (using your Hostess dollars)

Ruffled Bowl: FREE (using your hostess dollars)

Shipping: FREE
Sales tax at 7%: $13.32

Your total cost for all of the above as a March Hostess: $130.70

Your total cost if you purchased the above at retail: $404.87

Total savings: $274.17!!!


So, in a nutshell:

You book your “party” (personal order of $125+, catalog party, online party or home party);

With $125 in sales, you get:
$50 free; and
Your choice of any item in the catalog at 50% off.

With $250 in sales (5 average orders), you get:
$75 free;
Your choice of any item in the catalog at 50% off;
Your choice of two of the three March Hostess specials; and
Free shipping on your hostess items.

With $400 in sales (8 average orders), you get:
$110 free;
Your choice of any TWO items in the catalog at 50% off;
Your choice of two of the three March Hostess specials; and
Free shipping on your hostess items.

With $1,000 in sales (20 average orders), you get:
$250 free;
Your choice of any THREE items in the catalog at 50% off;
Your choice of two of the three March Hostess specials; and
Free shipping on your hostess items.

Our entire catalog is online (www.southernlivingathome.com/hinton), so doing a catalog or online party is very simple! Get your orders in by Friday, March 14 and you should receive everything by Easter!

We also have direct shipping available for your out-of-town friends for only an additional $10 shipping!

Let me know if you have any questions! BTW, if you aren't interested but know someone that is..I'll have referral prizes so pass it on. Thanks!

I promise to have some pictures and other things to talk about soon.

Til later...............

I can't wait to share this news!

As many of you know I am a consultant for Southern Living at Home. I was already excited about the Hostess and Customer specials for March. A few minutes ago I got word that Southern Living at Home is offering a $50 booking coupon to all of it's March Hostesses. That is in place of the $15 we usually offer. WOW!! Qualifying parties are only $125 or more. That means you could earn the $50 with even a book party or a small home party but I know you will want to sell $250 so you can get the fabulous Hostess gifts!

I will have more details later today but wanted to let everyone know as soon as I heard.

If you have any interest in booking a MARCH party, now is the time. Dates are filling up fast and once this news gets out.....watch out! Don't forget, this should be IN ADDITION to the Hostess dollars you will earn for your sales.

Check out my website for the March Specials and then email me to book your party!

www.southernlivingathome.com/hinton

Til later..............

Sales, Shopping & Jules

I spent half of Saturday with the fabulous JULES. More about that later.

Friday I submitted my SLAH order. Thanks to my sponsor, I met my goal. I ended up $45 short and she stepped in and ordered a couple things. YEAH! I was able to get a TON of great stuff for US and then I ordered business supplies and some stuff to give away as prizes at my parties. You'll have to book &/or come to a party to find out what they are but I think they are great.

Saturday, bright and early, I headed to Whimsodoodle to set up for their Scrapbooking Yard sale. It was a much smaller sale than last year, or maybe it seemed that way because they had vendors set up inside this time. Anyway, I shared space with my buddy Denise (HI GIRL!!!) and we were next to the sweet Laurel (HI TOO!!!!!). Caroline dropped by but sold her stuff in 5 minutes and then got to go off and spend her bootie. Mama Nicole snuck by for a few minutes before work. Really looking forward to her baby shower this weekend. ( NOTE TO SELF..go shopping!) We got rid of some stuff and since we stayed until the bitter end..got the last minute sales the others missed cause they left early. Ended up with about the same as the SIP sale so over all was happy. Would have been happier if I'd sold as much as JULES but happy still.

I promised Jules that I would post how "ANGRY" I was at her for selling so much stuff so here goes.....Man, what a lucky chick! Seriously, she finds out about the sale the DAY BEFORE, pops a couple boxes into her car, gets to the sale to set up and within minutes has 20 ladies around her table throwing money at her and it doesn't stop until she has a few sheets of paper left on her table. She barely broke a sweat. LOL. If she wasn't such a sweetheart I'd have really been jealous. How can you be mad at a lady that shares her CHIPS with you?

Speaking of the sale, I also got to see and hug the super fabulous KIP. She came to shop and I got a quick hug. Her hair looks so cute and LOVE the color. HI KIP!!!!!!

After the sale Denise and I went for lunch and discovered that Subway workers are way under paid. We stopped at one near the Trop and the AC was not working. It was at least 10000 degrees in that place. The poor worker was sitting outside when we got there, trying to cool off. Luckily for us there were tables near the bathroom where the air was a little cooler.

After lunch I headed off to thrift shop my way across Pinellas and Pasco US 19. I didn't really find to much and was disappointed to find that they have built "frontage roads" all along 19 and I missed many of my old shops because by the time I saw them it was to late to get onto the frontage road and I didn't want to go down and turn around. I ended up stopping at the JoAnns near RR and spent an hour there. Unfortunately that made me get to my FAVORITE thrift store 5 minutes after they closed!!! DARN IT!!! Oh well. I did get some fabric storage "buckets" at JoAnns that I put under our bed. They were on clearance so that almost made up for missing the store.

Sunday was a nice day. Watched Sunday Morning with my DH then went to the grocery store for the first time in forever. Thanks to BOGO's and coupons I saved $106. Thankfully I had emptied out the back seat of my car cause the bags filled it from door to door. Guess I should shop more often. LOL.

The rest of the day I made Birthday cards and puttered. I tried to catch up on emails but the puter was running slow again and I had about 50 to read. I didn't even get to the blogs, except for PW and the PROPOSAL and to check on Trish. I'll try to check the rest soon so if I missed something important, email me directly.

Now it's Monday and I have phone duty. Yeah. I also have a lot to do that I have been avoiding so guess I can't avoid it anymore. There are only two of us here today so if I don't keep busy I'll fall asleep.

Hope you all had a great weekend. BTW, we are accepting Anniversary gifts if you are so inclined. LOL. I still don't know what I want. What kind of woman am I?? LOL. Daylight Savings this weekend. Arg. I hate loosing that hours sleep.

Take care.

Til later....................