i won! i won!

yay me!

i just received the most delightful package from

AUSTRALIA!!!

a while back, i entered a giveaway at

talk to the wind and sun.

the most delightful handmade stamps were the object of my affection, 
riyo was just GIVING them away!
(hence the meaning of a giveaway.)

i just had to have them!

and wouldn't you know it?

I WON!
isn't this the sweetest packaging?

very nice...
and i am completely in love with her handiwork!

you should travel over land and sea and pay her a visit...
here.
or here. 
and even here.
she loves visitors.
tell her i said bon jour!  and wave...

inspiring treasures, part duex....

here

here

here

here

a moment of serious...

a few weeks back, i was mentioning to the lusty woodsman that it was rather unsettling how our news media here in the bible belt was still covering disasters of one nameless country and yet, there was no mention of the disaster in another.

i found no article in the sunday bundle,

saw no coverage on the local telly,

nothing.

not that i remembered...there may have been one story the first day it occurred.

i can't recall.

because it wasn't given the coverage it deserved.

 Erik Vekland

i have bloggy friends in Australia.

wonderful women, creative women.

my heart was heavy looking at pictures of the devasting rains and flooding.

 Vekland 

 so many of my friends were affected, so many of their friends and family members lost everything.

 photo

after reading one of my favorite blogs this morning, i thought to myself:

self, this number could have been so much more.

but the fact remains...it was BIG.

the monies raised by the creative people around the world,

by the women (and two men, according to toni and carli) all over the world who opened their hearts (and their pocket books!),it was phenomenal!

i was stunned.

 photo

 photo

this little world of bloggyville is rather amazing.

a link here, a link there, and soon....

incredible things happen.

this internet community has become family to most.

lots of families.

photo

it has connected people from oceans apart.

the fundraiser that make it perfect held renews my hope in humanity.

we're imperfect....but when our friends are in need, 

we come out the door running, with cyber shovels, cyber buckets,

 photo

with our hearts open.

i wish i had unlimited funds...i have none to give.

but i do have my words and my heart.

i don't know where this post was supposed to go, i just had to say SOMETHING!

maybe a little thank you to the women and two men out there who were able to give more than love this time.

the numbers could have been higher...but they were jaw dropping nonetheless.

my thoughts are with my Australian friends.

speedy recovery.

whew...

it's been a long weekend with the trolls,

(lots of math to catch up on)

a long weekend with the horse,

(ran out of food and needed those pesky vaccinations)

and a very long weekend with this crick in me wee little neck...

but, all in all, it was a success.

little man put those fractions in their place, 

little lady and sweetie pie had their room spotless by sunday night,

the moose will live to see another day,

and i have new toys...

 

 

i refuse to put these in any of the cupboards here in this nasty little kitchen, so my lusty woodsman is crafting me a temporary board to hang them on.

yes, it will look odd...

yes, it will turn heads...

yes, it will most likely make this kitchen look that much more hideous...

but, hey, my toys are too nice to not look at.

kitchen remodel in T-minus 20 (or so...)days.

hangover...

and here it is...friday.

it's the last day of emily's party,

we've danced,

 we've sang,

buried our heads in the sand because of our dirty little party secrets,

our heels broke,

the lipstick wore off,

and it's time to go home.

sniff.

i had such FUN!

as much as i wish i could stay, 

i just can't bring myself to sit around in my messy house.

it must be cleaned.

(i started cleaning wednesday, i'm sorry, but all the physical photos of my house being in such disarray really kinda sorta made me blush!)

i shall start with myself.

feeling a bit funky after partying all week long.

but not until i share with you what's left of my wee little "double wide"..

here are the last couple peeks at my stellar mess:

(had to sneak in little man's room whilst he ate his honey nut o's...

hee hee)

Nerf mod-ing is his thing.  

i know i already showed my little storage facility room, but i was inspired to clean it wednesday.

seems pushing the big girl bed from one side of the room to the opposite had very little effect.

it still looks like a storage facility. 

::facepalm::

 

sigh.

thank you, my dear emily, thank you for making me feel better about my home.  by inviting all these fabulous people with all of their creative and amazing talents to show the world that they,too, are completely human, it just makes me breathe a sigh of relief.  why, there is hope for me yet!

cheers!

happy thursday...

just thought i would share a little happy with everyone.

the acronym for today is:

S.H.I.T.

(so happy it's thursday)

so here it it, my little happy that i found on OhDeeDoh this morning...

Handmade Felt Trees by Intres

these are so amazing...and sweet.

i must have one...i shall start looking around this tiny little "double-wide" and find a spot to put it that the moose can't reach.

::blink::

::blink::

on second thought...maybe i'll just pine over it for a little longer.

there really isn't anywhere that the beast CAN'T reach.

sheesh!

come back tomorrow for my final installment of dirty little party secrets!

i have a couple more rooms to share.

(i've been waiting all week, but something got into little man and he's cleaning!!!  what???!!!  

i know, right?)

i don't have any heels to speak of, but i did find my lipstick!

come join me at emily's party! 

parties and previews...

good morning, mon amis!

and what a morning it has already been.

not bad, just a morning.

ever have one of those dinners that fill your home with wonderful foodie aromas, mouthwatering tempting smells that make you drool at the thought of dinner?

especially if it's a bacon-y goodness, dripping with butters and garlics and onions and...(i'm hungry, damn)

 photo courtesy of epicurious

now, imagine that smell at 6:30am the next day.

sigh.

ew.

just as bad as when i was preggers with all my trolls and had to smell the lusty woodsman's coffee brewing at 5am.

ew.

it's a wonder i only hurled twice with all three.

so, that's my morning.

on top of that, there was only 1/2 cup of java for me this morning.

i despise brewing coffee.

i'd rather someone else just make me some 

(hence the single cup of elixir of the gods for me, made with love and haste by the lusty woodsman **posing as iron man most mornings**)

so here i sit,

at my messy desk,

smelling last night's dinner,

out of java,

staring at the kitchen from hell.

which brings me to my point that i neglected to tell you...

kitchen remodel in T-minus 29 days.

so, in conjunction with our little party with emily,

here is the before:

yes, i'll admit it...i took AAAAALLLLL of the cabinet doors off my cupboards...the lighting in here is so awful that i couldn't see ANYTHING, so i burned them out back with delight.

dishes, awful tile backsplash with grout dried onto the trim and counters, the garbage can where the dishwasher once stood, and yes, the moose's water dish IS inside the vittle vault...just no vittles in it, only a 5lb bag of baking soda 

(i love costco).

 the wallpaper, the shoe basket, the towel...yes, we keep a towel at the back door...have you seen the size paw that the moose doth has?  the mud from that creature alone, along with three trolls and the lusty woodsman **posing as iron man with concrete all over his boots** 

is enough to warrant a wash station, but a towel will have to suffice.

 and here we have my FAVORITE side of the kitchen...i really don't have to say anything about it...a picture is worth A THOUSAND words....

this is my tuesday mess.

this is my every freakin' day of the week mess....

take it all in, my friends,

study it hard...for it will all be gutted...

iron man said i could use his crowbar!  yay!

until next time...keep it real.

visit emily's place and grab your heels, it's the greatest party of the year!

 

party on!

it's monday, mon amis!

and you know what that means...

PARTY TIME!!

(where's my lipstick?  i promised to wear lipstick and now i can't find it.)

seems mondays are always full of fun chaos here in Utopia.

let's just start our little photo shoot, shall we?

my desk

(this is actually neater than usual, the trolls haven't gotten on the computer yet, therefore, the desk is lacking homework)

girlie trolls' room

(i swear, little lady and sweetie pie generate an entire load EVERY FLIPPIN' DAY!)

my room

(or shall we say, the storage facility...sigh, i do so want a big girl's room.  and a different place to store the nerf guns when little man gets a grounding.)

later this week, i'll share some more, but for now, i think i need to go hide in shame.  this house is a wreck!

::headdesk:: 
want to party hearty?  head over to emily's place and be sure to link up!  and don't forget your lipstick.

a new toy!

santa had NO IDEA that this is what i wanted for holiday

(and quite frankly, neither did i until House of Smiths waved it in front of me like a big piece of dark chocolate)

did you know it can make pretty things to put on JARS????

SQUEEEE!

pics courtesy of google images

i'm trying to win one for myself, and here's an opportunity for you to do so, too.  just hop on over to House of Smiths and follow her orders precisely...

good luck!

(i think i'll do a little rain dance or something of that sort)

like a kid in a candy store...

who knew that a hardware store could make little ol' me giddy?

we went to our local (but MILES away from our house because, apparently, this one was the best one around) Ace Hardware to get the lusty woodsman more pieces parts for his metal lathe.

you see, my main squeeze is one of those types who can do just about EVERYTHING.

he's an iron worker by day, 

a lusty woodsman on occasion, 

a carpenter always, 

he knits (you're jealous, i know), 

he crochets, 

he can even turn this:

into this:

where was i going with this?  

oh, yes, 

so now my renaissance man is making his very own metal lathe 

(casting all the parts himself...and there's just something about a man who works with fire and metal...)

and needed some pieces parts from the hardware.

he came out with bolts and bronze things, 

i came out with....

wait for it....

wait for it....

THESE!!! 

SQUEEEEE!

i love jars.

but you already knew that.

it's party time!

i've decided to join my first blog party....

i figured this is one party i could really excel at.

if you read this post, you'd know that i more than qualify to join. 

Emily over at Decor Chick had an epiphany in the shower.

i can totally relate to that as most of my brilliant thoughts emerge from the shower.

she wanted all of us in bloggerville to know that she most certainly does NOT have a home straight out of a pottery barn catalog, that her home looks more like mine...

like every book, article of clothing, shoe and kitchen dish just suddenly up and grew legs and partied too much and threw up all over the floor (with nothing to hold their hair back).

it's true.

have you seen this house?

at the last stroke of midnight?

or, is it when the trolls rise from the bowels of their bedrooms riding the beast into the kitchen?

so, grab this fun button (a simple jpeg image) and put on your lipstick....

come join me on monday, and i promise, i won't lift A FINGER until then.

(that actually won't be too hard to accomplish, as my home will forever look the way it does so long as the residents of this happy abode still reside here!)

 cheers.

for rules and party attire, please visit emily's blog.

and as always, thank you.

are we done yet?

i just saw my sister's newest profile picture this morning, and it reminded me of why i moved south:

 two little sand castles on a beach with a beautiful blue sky in the background.

sigh.

we moved south for logical reasons.

aside from the fact that the northerners were broke and couldn't pay for that lovely new deck that my lusty woodsman built, aside from the fact that we, in turn, were going broke,

and aside from the fact that we just didn't want to spend the rest of our days broke

according to betty joy, broke is the new rich, what were we thinking?

no, we moved south for the warmth!

we moved to this "utopia" because it was warm enough for the lusty woodsman to work year round,

we moved here to avoid scraping off our windshields in the morning,

to spare us from shoveling at 10am on a Thanksgiving morning, only to return at 4pm and start all over again,

we moved here because of the warmth.

NOW WHERE IS IT????

i am now convinced that a new ice age has begun.  i have come to grips with the fact that i will have to buy a winter coat,

that boots can be stylish,

not that i'm a fashion diva by any means, my idea of fashion is a pair of fuchsia jammy pants and whatever t-shirt i fell asleep wearing...until i shower around 2pm.

fashion diva?  i think not.  however, honeysuckle IS the color of the year...

and that white stuff that falls from the sky can be pretty.

now that i have befriended the idea of winter, i think i'll move.

and so begins the kitchen renovation.

once this bad boy is gutted and made new,

(we bought it this way...wall paper up the ceiling and all...i have since taken all the upper cabinet doors off because i can't SEE the insides of the cupboards...who designed this kitchen? functional?  absolutely NOT!  notice the photo dates...alot has changed in this house since then.)

our little "utopia" will be listed, sold, and we shall wave goodbye as we head west...

into the sunset....

waving....

ciao!

focus!

i should put up a coffee can at the mailbox...a fund of sorts for a shiny new

one of these

i get a bit jealous when i look out over bloggerville and see all the pretty 

pictures, the crystal clear images,

the zoomin' in and getting the perfect shot.

sigh.

for now, i guess we'll have to work with my little power shot.

it needs to feel loved, or it may stop focusing altogether.

that wouldn't do.

any suggestions for the right camera?

inspiring treasures...

most mornings are spent in front of this computer, sippin' java, reading email, checkin'

my people on facebook, and

drinking more java.

but my most favorite morning activity is perusing the "aisles" of 

bloggerville.

so many talented writers, photographer, crafters...

it's overwhelming!

the whole world

right there, in front of you, and you didn't even have to buy a bus ticket to visit!

how awesome is that?

here are a few of my favorite finds today:

 

everything about this site is incredible

 

 

i'm not a big heels wearing diva, but these are totally my style!

i found the photo on this site...

this makes me want to make one, even if little lady and sweetie pie are "too old"

for pretend (which i highly doubt, as they crawl around the house as warrior cats and make little "dens" out in the back 40) 

and one final lovely...

 go here to see the rest of the little house...now, why can't i make one?  just for me.

hey, i can!!!

but it will have to wait until my big girl kitchen is done.

do you have any favorites you would like to share?

leave a link with your comment, i LOVE traveling!