hard times....

I did not write this...i saw this in newsletter that i get and thought i'd share....a little food for thought


-These Hard Economic Times
I keep asking myself, "Has the world gone crazy?" What are people talking about when they say "these hard economic times?" I am so confused because I hear so many people say these are such hard economic times but, at the same time, what I see happening with my own eyes and hearing with my ears is a totally different story.

Let me give you some examples what I mean. Are these examples of hard economic times?

Last year we spent more at Christmas and all year shopping than the year before.
Americans spend 500 million dollars a year to have their teeth whitened -- not cleaned, just whitened to look nice.
A single mom on welfare spends $350 on a cell phone-- not on the calls, just the cell phone.

On a home shopping show they were selling American Girl dolls for $135. The woman selling it said "Kit is our most popular doll."The other woman said "That is probably because Kit represents the Depression Era and girls nowadays relate so well to that because they have to sacrifice and give up so many things in these hard economic times." They sold out of the doll. This meant several thousand of these poor little girls who have had to give up so much received a $135 doll for Christmas. What was it they had to sacrifice? Maybe it was the $25 outfits that went with the doll. (I have never paid $25 for an outfit for myself let alone for a doll!!)

A woman just lost one of her part time jobs. She was sobbing and crying because her family was going to have to sell their house, which they could no longer afford. For the past several years they have been making very good money but they have been spending it on everything including $150,000 for decorating their home, several trips a year for the whole family to travel across the country and to Canada for sports events their sons wanted to play in, buying a couple of new cars every year, eating out frequently and the so on.Even after she lost her job they still took another cross country trip to go to a game. After coming totally unglued about the thought of having to sell the house she was asked if they might be able to save the house if they would cut back on their spending a little. Her reply was, "No way. I hate to scrimp and save and do without. I won't live like that." As my son in law loves to say "Allllrighty then..."

My brother just met a man who restores hot rods for a living. When asked if things are getting harder for him the man laughed and said "No, I'm doing better than I ever have and I need to hire someone to help me." My brother is now working for that man. He is getting paid to sand people's car engines so they will look pretty and smooth. People have so much money they can pay bunches to have their engines sanded? Go figure. For those of you who restore cars, don't yell at me! My dad has restored Model A and Model T cars for years, so I know all about car restoring.

Here's my favorite: A sales person selling a $1500 piece of jewelry said, "We know things are so rough in these hard economic times so we have put this on 5 easy payments for you." They sold out of it. Do you know how contradictory that is? If things are so hard, what in the world are people doing buying $1500 pieces of jewelry, even on 5 easy payments?!?!

I don't have anything against people buying jewelry, dolls, cell phones or restoring hot rods. What I do have a problem with is people moaning and groaning about how hard these times are and then taking off to go shopping or play a game of golf.

DIY

.......or as my hubby called me, Handy Mommy. So I have this furniture in Ty's room which I've had for quite a few years now. My mom got it from a friend of the family that was their childhood furniture. It is faded yellow and white, kinda girly, but hey, it's good furniture and it works great. I looked into having it refinished to match Ty's crib/bed, but never had it done. And with looking at these crafty and DIY and refurbishing blogs, I decided to tackle it myself!! I started with the chair, here's a before (note the lovely artwork on the wall, designed by Ty)

CHEEEEEZE MOMMY!
I took the seat off the chair and used the original fabric as a pattern.

i pieced together some fabric (shoulda took a before pic)
got a chair pad, some batting...
lined it all back up with the original wood piece and stapled it all up
Ta-da!
I spray painted the chair 'celery' and tried not to send us all to the hospital for inhilation...

i did end up re-stapling it after some suggestion from my mom, but here is the finished product!

I am pretty proud of myself for my first little project. Of course there are some things i would change, but i still think it's pretty good...

Ready for kindergarten?

Tylen is really smart. And I am not just saying that because i'm his mommy (well maybe a little). Before he turned two, he knew pretty much all of his letters and not just singing ABC s, he can tell you what letters are what. When we took his two year old pics, instead of just saying cheese, he was tryin to read the letters on blocks they had as props. The girl who took his pics, teaches during the day said "he is going to be bored in kindergarten" lol.



I can't take total credit for his genius though...he learned some from tv, blues clues, sesame street and now Word World, and all his learning toys he got from the fam christmas before last, but we do encourage it though!


So, we started giving him small words to spell-cat, dog, mom, dad...we would write it on the paper and he would spell it and say the word. Then couple of weeks ago, i heard him spelling words on his own.

Sometimes, i feel like i'm bragging, but then again on the flip side, Ty only eats pbnj, chicken, french fries, chips and noodles for the most part. He still wont stay sleep in his own bed the whole night and doesnt go to bed before 2am. So, I guess it's a give and take.


here is a video of him in action.....it is a little long, he spells, counts to 100 and counts to 10 in spanish...

and yes he is in a diaper, i dont know when that boy is gonna potty trained!

Here we GO!

Ok, let's try this again...I started this blog back in august but never posted anything! So, here is my revamped effort to keep you all posted on what going on in our lives!
It will be a little about sewing and crafty things, a little about my wanna-be foody-ness, but mostly about the adventures of being a mommy and everything that goes with it!