Art With Heart

I'm stopping in for a little friendly spam! My daughter's Etsy site, Cowboy Ballerina, has a new mission - "Art With Heart". All of the proceeds from her shop go directly to help offset the medical bills and ongoing therapy costs for her little brother, Owen.

Lainey is a wonderful painter, even at 3 years old, and with all the rain we've gotten lately she has had plenty of time to perfect her skill indoors with an old brush and a rainbow of different colors. Please take a look at her site, and pass it along to anyone else who might enjoy the musings of an imaginative little toddler. Thank you very much!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cowboyballerina

Here is Monet and Picasso as they might have looked in their younger years:

Steak For a Buck

If you ever have a few minutes of free time and you live near a dollar store, I highly recommend you take a moment to stop in. There are some fan-freakin'-tastic deals to be found between the walls of one of these fine establishments. Take, for instance...


That's right, STEAK. FOR $1. Folks, grab 'em while you can. They are in the back of the store, past the BPA cups and the styrofoam kitchen knives. I hope they are in the cooler next to the taquitos, but for $1 I cannot make any promises regarding their refrigeration status.

And once you've got your plastic knives and $1 steaks, head on over to the toy area and pick up something for the kids. My suggestion is to find something educational, perhaps something that would stem a conversation with Little Jimmy about where dinosaurs came from...


Maybe, just maybe, you could do a whole dinosaur science project with Little Jimmy. You're in luck! The dollar store has a fine craft section as well. You can pick up the pencils, paper, and even....


...the GULE.

Run, don't walk. These deals are too amazing to pass up.

There Goes My Award...

My blog has been neglected for a while, due to a triple threat of prior pending obligations, creativity block, and pure laziness. And I'm saddened to inform you, my loyal readers, that in addition to missing out on the "Most Exciting Blog Content" award, I have also been taken out of the running for the "Mother of the Year" award. You see somehow, during my absence, my precious, beautiful, sweet angel daughter has turned into a....into....a three year old. Sure, she's technically been three years old since February. But she hasn't really BEEN a three year old until recently. Let me give you some examples.

Example #1: One day, not too long ago, we were enjoying a nice morning at the park. Lainey had found a little girl willing to indulge in her "I'm a monster I'mmmonnagetyou!" routine and they began to chase each other up and down the equipment. The other little girl was slightly older, and was there with an woman - I believe her grandmother - who looked to be a combination of bored and suicidal, only looking up for moments at a time to utter an "uh huh" when the child yelled something her direction. The girls were having a ball, giggling and running and sliding and jumping. Suddenly, my little angel stops from on top of the slide when she realized that the other girl hadn't followed her up the stairs. She pivots around and in a very serious tone she shouts "Come on, loser!" Ironically, the grandmother found this humorous.

Example #2: Last week, as I stood in the checkout line at Walmart (which, by the way, is a rock-solid guarantee you will be left behind in the event of a rapture - I'm really upset that I missed out on a great opportunity to poke fun at THAT "event") my same innocent little girl looks up at the cashier and says with a mischievous grin - "Get lost, FREAK!"

Example #3: My children were playing with some blocks on the living room floor. Owen decided it would be infinitely funny to play Godzilla on all the towers we had built, including Lainey's. My sweet daughter swooped up a wooden block and tossed it square at Owen's head. I sternly said "LAINEY!" to catch her attention but before I could scold her she grabbed up another block, handed it to me and said "I'm sorry, mama, here - you can hit him too."

This is the same girl who instructed me "Stop speaking, I'm trying to be mad at you." The same girl who told her brother "I'm tired of you Owen, it's time for your nap." The same girl who has said "Grandma, you frustrate me."

But luckily, it's also the same girl who runs up to me randomly, arms wide open for a hug, and proclaims "I love you soooo much!". Therefore all is forgiven.