Vintage dresser & I'm as dumb as my shoe...

I promised pictures of the dresser i painted & because i am TRYING to stick to what i say for at least 1 day... here they are! I ♥ it! Now you'll notice there are no knobs on the dresser- well the originals (when it was my ex husbands ex wife's childhood dresser... yeah, don't ask! It's called being "awarded all contents of the home"...i digress...) yeah, the originals... they were ugly! So i went to Hobby Lobby yesterday (group sigh...ahhh... HOBBY LOBBY!) and after filling my cart with everything i didn't go in to get i remembered i was there to get the knobs. I went over to that section after wandering the store because they've redone it & now i only know where the bathroom is. On my way to knobs, i hit fabric &, lucky me- trims were on sale... i know i can't sew, but i will.... someday! Right after i become a crime scene clean-up girl (see Sunshine Cleaning) & make faux vintage neon signs (just saw how on "that's clever"). Anywhoooo, trims were on sale & i like to antagonize the "angry fabric cutter lady", seriously chick- you get one life, why would you want THAT look on your face at all times? AND... she THREW my bag of trims at me & then requested i "have a nice day" followed by a "please"... WHATEVER, i think she's the one that needs to have a nice day. i like to hang out in the fabric when she's working so i can get all the dirt on the other employees! She better watch out 'cause i'm taking notes! Ok, knobs... that's what i was talking about, right? i found them & they didn't have what i wanted. so, here it is... The "burnt orange" walls are soon to be painted a pale robin egg blue...
Below is the dresser the mister & i picked up at an antique store here in Grand Rapids. That doll (i know...creepy) was given to my Grandma when she was a little girl & someone thought she was going to die. She did die... but just a couple years ago.

Ok, the shoe story... i went to TJ Maxx (another group sigh... or cheer- you decide) & immediately headed to the shoes 'cause i start all my TJ Maxx shoppin' in the same way. i wear a 5 & it sucks! i swear they're weeding out size 5's so i'm trying to buy as many as i can before they're all gone. sure i'll be all "aren't my saddle shoes cool? & my giant rain boots with little whales on them?" in 10 yrs when everyone has moved on to rocket shoes or whatever is going to be popular in 2019. Anyway (could i use that word more often?) i head to shoes & see this cool pair of bright blue vintage style NIKE's.

Now, you may have noticed the error of my way at this point, but don't ruin it for the slow kids... I buy the shoes for a great value of $14.99 & race home with my size 5 vintage look NIKE's. I wear them, even take them to Hawaii... One Sunday i even take them to Church. As i'm sitting there with my 1 foot up on my other leg i think "gee, NIKE doesn't have an "r" in it... i can feel my face wrinkling up in that "sumpin' ain't right" look. So i start at the beginning... N, nope M, I, YEP, it's I, K, nope T, E, nope R, but then there's the E!! WHY IN THE WORLD DID I READ NIKE??? Mitre??? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? I lean over to the mister & whisper "hey, these aren't NIKE's!"

FYI- new *LOWER prices on my "Cutie Cupcakes* check my etsy store: chinamommy

Happy Tuesday!

~m♥

i know... it's me again!

Yeah, twice in 1 day... That cute little Zoe (look to the left, she's one of the blogs i follow) tagged me. So here are the answer's to the "tag" questions (cause i know you're dying to know more about me...ha!):

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. My daughter going to Med school (yeah, i know she is just finishing kindergarten...)

2. THE BACHELORETTE tonight (perhaps i have mentioned this before?)

3. Getting my kitchen re-modeled (good-bye nasty plum counter tops, hello granite!)

4. finding my true inner artist... has anyone seen her?

5. having a sale in my etsy store

6. waxing my eyebrows tonight (before "The Bachelorette")

7. Kimberly coming home so she can cut my yuck-o hair.

8. My 1st Anniversary with "the mister" in Oct (the 10th for those of you wanting to send gifts!).

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Went to Church

2. Went to i-HOP

3. Went to Marshalls (& found nothing- boo)

4. came home

5. Painted a dresser black (for the TV in our room)

6. Checked out the 5 new baby kittens that were born in the dog house a few days ago.

7. Kissed my husband & daughter

8. Watered my flower garden

8 things I wish I could do:

1. become invisible (just when i choose)

2. have bionic hearing (with volume control)

3. take back January 2000

4. SEW!

5. DRAW!

6. Make myself start running again

7. Adopt another baby girl

8. be the #1 seller on etsy

8 shows I watch:

1. The Bachelor/The Bachelorette (perhaps i've mentioned this before?)

2. Coldcase Files

3. The first 48

4. The Office (i ♥ you Jim!)

4. That's Clever

5. Craftlab

6. CSI

7. 30 Rock

8. Kai Lan

Yikes, what does this say about me? I'm obsessed with crime shows, want to spy on people, am out of shape, and wish i was a well known artist... True enough!

Melissa Rycroft

Do you know who that is? If you do... You know what tonight is!!!! If you don't, well you have better taste in TV than i do! Melissa Rycroft is the bachelorette that got the big dump last season (on "The Bachelor") but is getting her revenge on "Dancing with the Stars", although i don't watch that show... Anyway, TONIGHT is the start of the new season of "The Bachelorette"Ok, this is the picture of the new gal- Jillian Harris, but really... this is not a great picture of her( i think she's much prettier than this picture shows), & that dress... really? YUCK! Of course, i was too lazy to search the web to find better pictures of her. I can't help myself, i love this show Bachelor or Bachelorette, it makes me no difference! The mister says "well, there probably won't be as much drama with all guys, right?". Yeah... right! A huge batch of dudes fighting over 1 girl... yeah, no drama there! Ok, i cheated here a bit, i noticed that the #1 search on yahoo was Melissa Rycroft, so i made sure to start my post this way with dreams of thousands streaming to my blog giving me the kind of fame i so desperately seek, come on people, i want to be all crazy like Brittany!

Since i know you've been waiting to hear all about my weekend, let me indulge you:

Friday- the Mister & i were WHIPPED from darling daughter trying to break into our room all week. This is quite a story that i really haven't blogged about, but in a nutshell, this girl does NOT want to sleep in her bed. She has pretty much controlled MY bedtime since i adopted her! Well, after not sleeping well for months we decided to LOCK her out of our room... To make a LONG story short, she pulled a chair over to her bathroom door, climbed onto the arm (our dining room chair), then scaled up THE BACK OF THE CHAIR & grabbed the key off the TOP of the door frame, can you say DETERMINED?! So... when she went to her Grandma's on Friday we were beat. We went to eat then straight to bed...

Saturday- the mister spent the morning working on "the man shed" getting it ready so we can add my kiln & a workspace for ME! Early afternoon we headed to the movies & by movies, i mean we watched 2!

1. Sunshine Cleaning with Amy Adams & Emily Blunt. I liked it!

During the movie (which is about sisters who own a crime scene cleaning company) I leaned over to the mister & said I think i want to do crime scene cleanup! He said "yeah right", i don't think he'll be running out to buy me a van...
2. "I love you man"

i liked this one too. Yeah- it's crude, yeah- it's gross, yeah- there's dog poop, but hey... i grew up with brothers!

Ok, this post is a little "all over the place", i'm having an ADD attack... and speaking of etsy... we were, weren't we? Here is my latest listing:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25204146

Ok, i'm off to Hobby Lobby to get some knobs for the dresser i painted black yesterday... it turned out *smashing* if i do say so! I'll post pictures tomorrow...

Happy Monday :)

i'm full of myself

i had this conversation last night with my middle brother (the artist i'm going to make famous!), and his comment was "boy, you're full of yourself". Really? Did he JUST notice this?

i love this picture, see how cute & funny i am and how he's all weird looking like he just smoked something and has some type of irreversible dumb look?! haha, too bad he is not a regular reader of my blog & he could defend himself! Remember this face (his) 'cause i'm going to come back to him when his house sells and he buys that digital camera & he takes pictures of his awesome paintings...Anyway... i was wondering what to blog about today as i was making my single cup of coffee... the Senseo... i ♥ that machine! Anyway... i was thinking back to this story of the 1st time my family had ever seen a microwave oven (it was when we had a pimped out van, which i will discuss in a moment, an 8 track player with a total of 3 tapes 1 of which was "The Gambler" by Kenny, and earth shoes, oh gosh, remember those- the toe was tiled so you moved with the earth or some other type nonsense?!). Anyway... (seriously, could i find a better lead-in to my story?) my Dad had a convention for his job (which he rarely participated in to save the school system $, whole other story!) out in California (we were in Michigan) and for SOME insane "we're nuts" reason, they decided to take: 3 kids, 2 grandparents, a plastic banjo, and some rockin' 1979 outfits to Cali in a VAN!!!! Fly to Cali? Are you nuts?, planes go DOWN 9 out of 10 times in a fiery ball of passengers & smoke! These people cared about their family, they loaded us into a pimped out 70's van and DROVE TO CALIFORNIA!!! Yeah, i have issues, is it any wonder why?! The entire time out there we ate at Denny's, i was partial to the "chicken leg dinner", it had some "kid friendly" name that sucked me in like "chickie lickey" or "deep fried saturated fat dinner for kids", i forget the exact name. Once day my Grandpa Charley just couldn't take it (Denny's) anymore so we stopped at a place we'd never seen, a new and exciting place, a place full of promise and mystery... 7-11! IF ONLY my parents would have had the forward thinking of some & snapped pictures of this pivotal turning point in my life. I remember us moving like a herd to the back of the store, all bright eyed and bushy tailed under the glare of fluorescent lighting. Work with me people, there are NO pictures- Dad, Mom, me, my brother (shown above) John, my brother Andrew (owner of the plastic banjo), grandpa Charley, grandma Juanita wandering through the paradise that Californians already knew and loved. When we got to the back of the store there was this amazing "box" on a counter & to the right & left coolers full of burritos in brightly colored plastic bags! Had we died and gone to Heaven or WHAT?

Well, the 7 of us eagerly grabbed burritos and ran to this magic box that could heat food in a matter of SECONDS! It was amazing & beyond our simple Midwest thinking! So there we are heating & eating & so excited, (perhaps Andrew was blingin' out a tune on the plastic banjo?)... After the 7 of us have heated up our burritos and are standing at the back counter attacking them like a pack of hungry wolves, i suddenly notice the faces of the other customers... The ones trying to heat THEIR food! My dad is being all polite and trying to herd everyone out of the way and saying "excuse us, oh sorry..." as he spits tiny bits of re fried beans from his overly stuffed mouth. We've basically taken over the counter like we've moved in for the winter. Once everyone gets their fill, my mom & i head to the front to pay for our bounty. This is almost too much to bring up in my mind, the embarrassment makes me want to hide under my bed even now. Deep breath... proceed: my mom & i stand before the pimply faced 7-11 cashier, my mom looks at him, he looks at her and she says "i'd like to pay for our lunch". He looks around for something to ring up and says "well, ok, where's the food?". At this point something starts to stir in my 11 year old head, something isn't right! Apparently my mom also realizes our lack of class & "big city finesse" as she weakly mumbles "well, we ate it all in the back of the store"...

As if this isn't embarrassing enough, i must describe to you the van we were cool enough to own at this time. Now whenever i mock my parents for owning this beast my mother ALWAYS points out "well, you kids thought it was cool", like that somehow justifies this freak show! As i write this i'm having a flashback to a photograph someone was smart enough to snap as we started this whole journey... i'm going to call my mom & have her send me a copy!!! be right back...

crap, got her voicemail, don't worry, i left an URGENT message- i like to get her heart pumpin' (because Eminem wrote this line for MY mother: "my only reaction is Overreaction").

Ok, this FULL sized van was painted white with 3 different colored blue stripes down the side- well, ok you say, that doesn't sound bad, but wait, the best is yet to come... On the big sliding door are the words:

"BLUE JEANS"

Blue jeans? why? i have no idea, why not "corduroy pants" or "plaid work shirt" or "velour sweat suit". My mom tells me blue jeans were very popular... aren't they still & how many vehicles are driving around proclaiming their love of denim? The interior of the van was also lovely with blue shag carpet, velvet seats, a couch that made into a bed, wood grain walls... the coolness just won't quit! By the way, the morning we went to Disney i was SO excited that i threw up my McDonald's orange juice onto the blue shag carpet & we all know what yellow & blue make=

GREEN!!

well, my friends that's about all i can take on memory lane, so i'm going to head down and working on darling daughters scrapbooks, gosh i hope i can traumatize her like my parents did us!

It's all about the Mother... am i right?

I'm a few days late, but wanted to share a bit of my Mother's Day weekend! It started on Thursday with the "Mother's Tea" at school. You just don't realize how much this means until you are a mother yourself! I never realized how much you can love someone until this little darling came into my life almost 5 years ago... The "tea" was so cute: a song, a poem, cards, gifts, and snacks! Before the tea started we surprised the teacher with a BABY SHOWER because she is waiting for the birth of her 1st baby... a GIRL! It was mommy/baby love all around! On Saturday, darling daughter begged to go to the "carnibal", so off we went... Poor Daddy, he had to brave the rides because this mom said "NO WAY!" You can see the mister clutching his chest, if the ride wouldn't have stopped when it did, i'm quite sure he'd have lost his lunch! It took him till Monday to feel better!
I ♥ this picture... she is SO serious about flying this plane! That's my girl, so focused, so serious, so.... type A!

and then here is my darling with me ON Mother's Day- see how we're dressed alike? She thinks that is cool, so i'm going with it before it's gone... This is what she got me for MD- a little bicycle that holds planters! It matches the bird cage i got a few months ago and is going to look great once i get my entry way painted butter yellow!

and because i LOVES ME SOME PINK, here is some pickalicious eye candy! enjoy!!

Betsy Johnson & her Perfect Pink Apt!!

Shoes from zappo's

a cupcake from zalita

Pink Blythe!!

D&B in pink patent leather- i know i personally love a bag as big as my head!!

by ladycupcake80

even though i don't really like to cook, it's gotta be better with a pink mixer... or not, it's still cute!

i can't help myself with this last one... i refuse to give up my love for her... Hello Kitty! Gotta love Kimora Lee Simmons for making high end Hello Kitty jewels! Well, ok, we don't have to love Kimora or her "Fabulous Life", but the jewelry... i want it all!

Have a great day, hope you enjoyed! I'll be back with the trials & tribulations of taking 5.3 million pictures of your only child. My brother is quite sure i will turn her into some type of sociopath with an unhealthy love of self...

sad...

I've started to type and download pictures for over an hour, but i just don't feel right about it today. My friend lost her 37 year old husband on the 5th. His funeral was this past Saturday. My heart hurts so bad for her and their 2 year old son. I guess you really take stock in what is important and i don't know that i feel right about posting a bunch of cutey stuff right now. This just makes you think about what you believe, what happens to you the moment your heart stops beating & how you treat those around you. I, personally, choose to believe in the promise of everlasting life through Jesus. Regardless of what you believe, I think it is so important to live with kindness. Take today to say "you're sorry", "I love you", or "i forgive you".

I'll be back tomorrow with my regular blog posts...

GoldiLocks and the hairclips!

Oh wait till you see what i found on etsy!! All of you with little girls in your lives... get on over to goldilocksbarrettes on etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5248256

These are the CUTEST clips i've ever seen.... i like to just type in random words in the search and see what pops up. I typed in "sushi" and here's what i found! Of course after i saw this i had to check out every single thing in Shannon's store!! Enjoy♥

Ice cream!! Isn't her little girl a doll??

Go-fly-a-Kite...

Popsicles... seriously, are these cute or what??

the PERFECT summer clip!
this just *might* be my fave... oh, i don't know if i could just pick one?!

You know i ♥LOVE♥ cupcakes..

Truffles!!

Am i too old to wear this?...

Pink & Orange cotton candy ☺

Hummingbird nests with tiny eggs

& a birdie clip too...

Purple pansy's perfect for Spring!

I hope you enjoyed this eye candy! If you shop at Shannon's make sure you tell her "chinamommy" sent you!

Pigs, toenails, and Bar-B-Q

My computer is BACK! Thanks to my friends darling boyfriend/super-hero! Gotta love an I/T guy in the group!! Of course while the computer was down i spent my time hyperventilating about the pig flu (doesn't pig flu sound so much cuter than swine flu? i hate that word for some reason!). I washed down my entire house with bleach, if the pig flu doesn't get us, the bleach fumes will!). When the mister got home he said "man, it smells clean in here" & i was like "that's right & don't you dare touch a thing!". i must say i'm more than a bit irritated with the *$&%$ media... they are now telling me i don't need to worry & i can get out of the fetal position!! What is up with these weirdo-sicko's? 1st they urge me to dig a bomb shelter, stock it with everything left over from my "survive a terrorist attack kit", and wash my hands till they bleed... NOW, i don't have to worry??

The poor pigs are getting a bad rap, so here are some cuties from etsy (each store name is below each piece)

rosieok

amberalexander

leatherprince

Ok, here are some more bits & pieces from my cruise. Our 1st stop was Key West... why, oh why, do i live in Michigan???? The water really is that aqua color... BEAUTIFUL!
Our activity was suppose to be "The Pub Crawl", i say "suppose to be" because it didn't start till after lunch. We walked around Key West, took the trolley and then decided just to go back to the boat to grab lunch instead of going on a pub tour on an empty stomach... never a good idea. Why we thought we could get to the boat, get in line, get stir fry, and get to the activity in 1/2 hour, i'll never know... we didn't! We missed the tour totally, but... we DID get our picture taken at Hog's Breath Saloon! Ha, that's the mister with the giant set of boobs!!

The next day was spent at sea which means laying in the sun trying the drink of the day! The guy behind me is some Bar-B-Q champion, i didn't know there was such a thing, but, he's on the cir cut! He shared his BBQ rub, but wouldn't tell us anything about his TOP SECRET sauce except that it had a (and i quote) "shitload of honey" in it... how much exactly is IN a shitload? i'm not sure, i'll just stick to my "Sweet Baby Ray's".

Next stop: Grand Cayman (I'm sporting my WASSAP B? t-shirt from David and Goliath, i LOVE their T's... SO my humor!). Our ship is behind me and see the nice guy taking our picture in the bottom left of the picture?! haha!

We went to Sting Ray City, here is the mister getting a back rub from a sting ray!

and here i am HOLDING one, they feel like a rubber mat. I didn't mind holding it, but when they just darted between our legs... EWWWW, i didn't like that at all! i was also in hopes the water would be a wee bit warmer since i am someone that really doesn't like getting in unless it's like bathwater temp!

The next day we landed in Jamaica. Now, let me say... i would never, ever, ever go back here. I don't know... maybe it's that everyone is trying to sell me Bob Marley's face carved out of wood, or weed! Or, maybe it's just that it is so desperately poor and when people are desperate i do NOT feel safe!

We climbed Dunns River Falls, but after the activity they lead you down a path through a den of vipers... actually it was an area full of little shops selling who-knows-what, but to say they were aggressive is more than an understatement!!! I flew through there so fast back to the bus, i didn't even see the mister, but i thought "hey, he's a big guy, he's on his own!".

Now i have mulled this over in my mind several times because i wasn't sure i wanted to give up my SECRET, but doesn't the story win out every time? Here we are below near the bottom of this climb. Let me tell you what you do: You form a chain by holding hands with about 20 people and climb UP this waterfall/rock formation. When you start this thing it looks totally impossible, but it turned out to be pretty fun! The guy behind me totally wasn't pulling his weight though, i felt like i pulled HIM up the entire climb- i guess he didn't notice that i am the size of a 4th grader and he IS a full grown man- my huge muscle arms tricked him i guess?!! Ok, now my secret story: i decided i'd wear fake TOENAILS on the Cruise! Yes, i said TOE nails! I hate my toes (thanks mom!), i just think my toenails are ugly, even darling daughter said to me "ewww, mommy your baby toe is really ugly", thanks! So anyway, i grabbed a box of these before i left and then glued them on the night before we were to leave when i was suppose to be packing (according to the mister, he's so organized like that... whatever! i had till 4 am to be ready to go!). I'll say they look very real and come in plain and french manicure. The minute we stepped into this water, i KNEW i was in trouble- bad toenail trouble! That water was flying down the hill 100 MPH and that's when i knew, i wasn't going to make it out with out 10 toenails... It only took seconds before i felt the first PING and there she went, toe #1! Well by the time we got to the top i was missing 1 off my left foot and 3 off my right with no super glue in sight! I SO want to be super glamorous, but... it's just not in the cards for me!Honestly, i'm sick of writing about this cruise and you're probably sick of reading about it, so here are just a few more pictures.

Here we are at our 1st formal night on the cruise. Am i all JLo-licious or WHAT??!! i totally had to use double stick tape! Wait, our heads are missing? Really? haha, the guy taking the picture thought he had snapped the pic but it's one of those that double snaps to reduce red eye- hey, it worked- NO RED EYE!The next picture is of the PERFECT summer pants from Old Navy, i LOVE them! If you see me this summer I'll be sporting them with my 6 fake toenails and my WASSA B? shirt!and then this... "Hygienic Liner for Fitting Purposes- Remove for General Use after Purchase" i don't know, but that totally cracked me up! What is General Use? and do you leave it in if you aren't going to be using it for "general" use? and what is NON-general use? Ok, i'm off to meet my sinister-fake-twin-sister, my partner in crime!

Have a great day!!

~m♥

oh crap...

My computer took a big crap! Thankfully my dear friend is dating an i/t dude and since my friend is hot, she batted her eyelashes and he's going to fix it for me!! Yippee for hot chicks and computer nerds!
I'm typing from my blackberry and even though I am the size of a 4th grader this tiny keyboard is not real great for an entire blog update! I will be back as soon as my tower is fixed! You should see how freaking clean my house is!! Its amazing what you can get done without the distraction of a computer... Yikes! Don't worry, I'm all about being unproductive... See you soon! M