planning and plotting a road trip 101

Good morning my fellow homemakers! 

Well, I am on the road once again!  My scrap friends and I are heading to PARADISE, CA for a fantastic crop at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique! 

I have been hearing a MAJOR BUZZ about this scrapper haven for quite some time now in my circle o' friends and lemme just say... I SIMPLY CAN NOT WAIT TO GET THERE!  Now that you are totally jealous, check out this web link!
Paradise Scrapbook Boutique

So, now I am on a countdown of 27 hours before blazing off into the mid-day sunshine tomorrow, with our first stop in COLFAX, CALIFORNIA! 

Wait, what?  Yes, in my travels, I take the LONG route.  No, that's not true.  :)  I am actually taking MamaMia along for part of the ride up to "the designated drop spot" of Colfax so that she can be foot-loose-and-fancy-free with her sister up in northern Nevada for over TWO WEEKS!  Look at MamaMia go!

The Hubster and The Girl will be flying solo for the weekend and I bet they are both Praising Jesus that there will be some silence in The Homestead this weekend!  Can I get an "Amen, Sista"?

And then Scrapbook Que Sera Sera, who will be my WingWoman for the weekend, and The Homemaker will head over to Britt's (aka The Niecie) Paisley Lane Design Studio for some pre-scrap PARTYING!  Aw, don't get your knickers in a knot... it's all innocent fun.  The Homemaker has a reputation to protect here!  By the way... The Niecie has her own blog THAT IS ABSOLUTELY AHHH-MAAA-ZINGGGG!

Britt's Blog

In the meantime, I am answering questions like I am in the hot seat at The Inquisition!  MamaMia is on a roll with her list upon list to be organized!  Whew!  She hit me with Question Number 1 whilst I was mid sip of my first Mug O' Life and it wasn't even 7a.m. yet!  But she is excited and really rip roaring ready t' go and I am excited for her excitement!

So, for now... I'm off to get appointments and errands done.  Heavenly Father, I pray that this day brings much excitement and much glory to You.  I pray that this trip breathes new twinkle into the life of my mom.  I pray my daughter has a good day wearing her "out of her box" outfit to school and that my husband is safe at work.  I pray all in Your Glorious Son's Name.
And all God's children said, Amen.

yesterday, in a nutshell...

So, with all the excitement and family appointments and grocery shopping and quality time and homework and phone calls and prepping for today and prayers and finally falling asleep... I NEVER POSTED MY END OF THE DAY POST YESTERDAY!

A scrappers dream was my afternoon yesterday.  I finally completed a layout I had in my brain for several years! 

Eating and scrapping and chatting... not a bad day!  The child came home and sat at the table with us while she worked on her homework.  What a blessing.

And to top all, I was able to finish a trash2treasure project... a bulletin board for our Mom2Mom ministry! 

And it made its debut this morning... and was already receiving posts from the the ladies before we finished our group time today!  That is recycling at it's finest, I think. 

I plan to tackle my girl's Halloween costume all from scratch this year... she will be the Mad Hatter!  If I can get my hands on a webcam, I may even video some of its creative steps!!! 

In the meantime, the world moves ahead at light speed.  I pray that my girl has had a good day at school and greets me with at least a half-smile if not FULL BLOWN ENTHUSIASM.

A Homemaker can dream, you know!

rounding out the morning...

Well, The Homemaker now has a plan for the day!  LOOK. AT. ME. GO!

Scrapping the late morning away, working on projects long left undone.  Today's efforts will be concentrated on a Tinkerbell layout I want to do for our family Disney scrap album!  I've found I am partial to painting my linen albums myself to personalize.  (Yes, that is a service Homemaker's Mercantile offers!)  Here is the one I am adding pages to today.

It is a 12x12 album, so no small Mickey for us!

As for the rest of the day... well, I'll keep you posted.  Get it?  POSTED?  I'll post another blog!  Sorry, lame humor.  ;)

a day in the life...

Let there be light!  Okay, so the little lamp is a little damaged.  But it WORKS!  And now my workspace is LIT UP!  HELLO!

Today, as I sit here in the Scrapuccino Room I know of several lists throughout the house and garage of things to do.  The one in front of me has 4.5 crossed off, 1 was actually a duplicate and the other two require either a) another persons participation or b) a trip to a store that is not in the neighborhood.  Welp, those 2 things probably aren't getting done again today.  I started another list just before I took the girl to school... that was 49 minutes ago and I've already forgotten what is on it and it is sitting on the kitchen counter.  WAIT!  I need coffee!  I'll go get the coffee AND the list... be right back!

Yum!  Okay, I'm back and I remembered the list.  It's on a Disneyland note pad, in case you were curious.  So this list says: "sand in bucket, wood in shed, 2 bins to sort and 2 little boxes".  Okay, I can't lift the rubbermaid bin that the sand is currently in so I will have to wait to dump it into the enamelware bucket.  I s'pose I could go round up all the stray pieces of wood in the garage that I asked my hubby to gather and put it in it's place for him... Naaah, I'll wait on that.  2 bins to sort... well, that requires Hubby because they are on the top shelf in the garage and are too heavy to lift.  2 little bins!  I could do that, but alas, those are Hubby's bins and he would NOT be happy with me if I sorted and got rid of *his* stuff.  So, that has to wait.

While typing this, I toggled over to an email I just remembered I needed to send.  And I need to be mindful of the time... A shower is in order before my friends come over to scrap today.  That will be fun!  And I can finish that last tiny load of reds that need to be washed.  I had planned to do it last night, but after checking online grades and seeing an F for a quiz from last Friday I basically felt all the energy just leave my body as if Scotty had beamed me up and left all my motivation behind.  And yet, sleep eluded me until after MIDNIGHT.  I actually got up and showered in hopes that it would trigger my body into thinking (wait, what the heck? my font just shrank for no apparent reason while typing this! it feels like an odd computerized scene out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!  bring on the Oompa Loompas!) that it was morning and thus I'd naturally want to crawl back in bed... IT WORKED!  Well, that and turning the a/c down so that an egg, if left out on the counter all night, didn't end up soft boiled in this late summer/early fall TRIPLE DIGIT HEAT WAVE.

And now I just found myself toggling over to post to my friends on FB!  Wow.  Multitasking has taken on a new meaning.  Last night, however, I did manage to set up all of my mom's bills for online banking!  MAJOR THRILL for me!  Nothing chaps my Lubriderm'd hide more than spending money on POSTAGE STAMPS!  Well, that's not true.  Spending on gas instead of using a stamp - yes, I did that just based on principle - yes, that did chap my Lubriderm'd hide more.

So, with all that said, I need to go install a face, download a better attitude and SMILE LIKE I MEAN IT!  God is watching and I will call upon Him to lift my spirits to meet His needs today.  I'll check back in later and let you all know how the plan for the day is shaping up... and figure out why my computer is suffering Oompa Loompa font disease.

For now... CHEERS!

summer party and blog therapy

When I say it's a summer party, I mean it both literally and figuratively! (Keep reading and you'll find my $70 therapy session below.)

We here in The Homemaker's homestead have been on the move the majority of the summer. I was thinking the other day (no comments about this statement, just step away from the obvious door I just opened) and realized that our family has never been OOT (out of town, for you acronym-challenged) so much in a summer/in a year/in our lives... EVER! Honestly, we have had a summer that has been filled with so much that for the first time I can say we all will kick off the new school year with a renewed sense of appreciation for BEING HOME.

With that said, LET'S HAVE A PARTY! Let's everyone host a summer party - near and far - so that we can say we partied together!

Now that the Scrapuccino Room is in order, with a place for everything and everything in its' place, I was able to start creating again. The artist in me really took over - yes, I said it, THE ARTIST - and I created a set of banners that I'm selling over at my facebook store. I'll be taking custom orders, too, for names (yes, they are quality for home decor), "baby", "welcome home", "home", "happy birthday", etc.

Homemaker's Mercantile facebook store

I have turned and turned and turned around to try to find my voice here at my blog. It's funny - I feed off of the reactions of my friends and without them in front of me, I sturggle - oops, struggle. Well, no, sturggle really is a good word! Word. I am so random that I see myself run out of stuff to say without conversation going on with me, around me. And then God helps me out with some distraction... The phone just rang. As I walked back to the computer with my warmed coffee cup in hand I passed by the front window (oh so sorry to the neighbors for the "vision of loveliness") and see my beautiful fountain that brings us such calm. When I redecorated the house a couple months back I went with a denim blue and sandy tan color scheme with distressed white and chocolate brown accents and paired down the decades and generations of nic-nacs to foster a sense of beach cottage calm, with an emphasis of CALM. As I hit the Scrapuccino Room doorway, the voice of my girl saying "our house is so boring now, so sterile" rings through my head and my heart hurts.

I've struggled with family hoarding issues my entire life. Just within the last year I overheard my mom say to her sister that I am not sentimental because I don't save mementos. Dude, I'm a scrapbooker for Jiminy Cricket's sake! NOT SENTIMENTAL? I think she could have taken a dull, rusty wood lathe and ran it across my bare elbow and it would have been less painful. (is that a visual or what?) I think my soul actually shrank a smidge after hearing her say those words. When we lived in New York we had a full, partially-finished basement. It was about 600 square feet. It had a maze, like a Habitrail (hamster home), through the entire space of Rubbermaid bins stacked 5-6 bins high all through the area. I am not exaggerating when I say that every single wall in the entire home was COVERED in pictures, collectibles, antiques, plaques, tractor seats, step ladders, BB guns, straw hats... you are seeing this in your mind's eye now, aren't you? Then when we moved back to CA the collections FOLLOWED US and thus, every wall in the house began, right outta the gates, COVERED - including my mom's collection of 9 (paired down from 11 by attrition) indoor cats. We bought a 4 bedroom home so the cats would have their own. The cats are truly another blog by themselves. I'll just get back to the "collectibles" and my lack of sentiment. We had 30-40 bins of JUST CHRISTMAS decorations and several for each other holiday in the year. Organized? YES. We were labeled and listed, like-items gathered... and yet I was taught to continue to buy. The last 3 years have found me searching and sifting and stressing over all the STUFF we had (very important word, had) that was going to hay in a handbasket, wrapped neatly in recycled tissue paper from every gift bag we'd ever received, in bin after bin after bin. It was ludicrous. So I started sorting. Which led to mutiny in my home. But little by little, piece by piece, I have photographed and scanned item by item that truly was memorable. Each memory flooding my heart but knowing that someone will appreciate this treasure and give it life again outside of the Rubbermaid existence it had been living.

Slowly I have found that I have been teaching my girl the same thing I had been taught - treasure things. I want to teach my girl to treasure moments. We have so few.

Yes, there are 2,366,820,000 seconds in a 75 year old life.

How many of them are MOMENTS?

I don't want my girl's view of life's MOMENTS impeded by life's THINGS. I suppose I'm just trying to rationalize that the "sterile" home now will mean a future of LIVING LIFE MOMENTS in her future.

That's what I hope, no, that's what I'm praying for from now on.  And all God's children - and a Homemaker, too - said Amen.

Extreme Scrap Makeover!

INDEPENDENCE DAY INDEED!

Over the three day weekend, my friend who tucks her wings under her apron and hides her halo in her beautiful locks and I, along with the UNENDING, PATIENT, KIND AND LOVING assistance of my hubby, OVERHAULED, HAULED OUT, ORGANIZED, LABELED, TIDIED and REDECORATED our butts off! I am posting a couple pics of The Homemaker's Homestead, too. Just in case you're interested. :)











For those of you that had the unfortunate experience of seeing the Scrapuccino Room pre-ESM, you know what we were up against! Piles of stuff, things that needed mending or repaired, items that had lost their way, memorabilia that wasn't all that memorable... you know, the stuff your family doesn't know what to do with! It all landed in here. WELL NOT ANY MORE! This place is a SANCTUARY! (you know you totally hear The Hunchback in your head now - and you're welcome!)

So, you ask, why haven't I posted these glorious pictures before NOW? Yeah, um, that's because The Fam and I had hit the road for some seriously awesome time with friends and family! THAT'S WHAT SUMMER IS ALL ABOUT. Dishes, laundry and dust be darned! There is fun up in them thar hills!

And The Homemaker is on the roll again, I can't wait to get on the roll again... (Yes, you can thank me later for the Willy Nelson croonage in your cranium later.)

I'm just a blurb, yes I'm only a blurb...

Just a quick little praise tonight...

I have 4 teenage girls in the house... my hubby and I are outnumbered! ;) But it's a good thing.

I was sitting here just thanking God above for my girl, my beautiful daughter. She is a challenge, a blessing, an angel, a butt munch, a funny, quirky, talented, smart, amazing gift from God. Without her, Homemaker's Mercantile wouldn't be in existence. She inspires me to always look to God when I'm lost - because I fail and I stumble and I forget my Heavenly Father is there... until I remember that she looks to me... which means when I don't have the answers (and oh my gorgonzola cheese do I not have the answers so freakishly often) I am reminded to tell her to look to God... which reminds ME to look to God. She teaches me daily. I hope I teach her something helpful, something valuable, something meaningful on a daily basis, too.

So, for now, I'm just a blurb, yes I'm only a blurb... That's for all you Schoolhouse Rocker's out there! Because that's how this Homemaker Schoolhouse Rocker rolls.

See the hill, take the hill shopper...

For years now I've been mostly (okay, there are some occasions that I dawdle, but really, not so much anymore) the type of woman that goes into a store on a mission. I pretty much either have eyeballed the item I'm looking for in the weekly ad or I have already seen the item and bee-line for it. RARELY do I say anything other than "No, thank you, I'm just browsing." That's even if I'm on a mission. To be honest, I think if I actually started on one of my explanations that takes you on a "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" look into my life, the clerk would probably glaze over, pass out and I'd end up calling 911 (yes, I'd even do CPR).

Honestly, how much time do we have these days, anyway? I mean, if you are like me, all the people, getting in and out of the car (add heat for appropriate areas of the country) and search only to find NOTHING? Really? It's just not worth it.

Have I mentioned I started my own little piece of heaven? Yep, a 6x9ish space of all the fun little things I create and find and refurbish and grant a second chance. I've decided to start listing some of the stuff before I take it down to the shop. If anyone out there in my circle of friends (you know who you are, all 7 of you - and bless you for being my circle!) is interested in any of the items - PLEASE TELL ME! It would be one less thing I need to schlep down to my own little piece of heaven.

Why, you ask, did you title this posting "See the hill, take the hill shopper"? Because by posting my wares here, I am enabling you to TAKE NO PRISONERS! Go ahead! Shop in your jammies! Have bedhead and coffee breath? NO WORRIES! Your feet hurt and they've calloused in the back from wearing flip-flops too much, you are just too stinkin' tired to take the pumice stone to them along with pushing all the eyeliner that schmeered down to the bottom eyelid all the way back up to the right place and the thought of getting dressed just to go shop to be possibly disappointed is just too much to bear? Well, I have created a WARRIOR SHOPPER'S PARADISE! See the hill, take the hill, soldier! SHOP ON!

And that's... Whooops... Umpta! Ughhhhh! Ouch! Ooooph... just how I roll... down the hill. Didn't see that hill. :/

Candy Safe (Hersheys/Carmello) $10
Antique Window $14.95
Handmade afghan $27.00
Boyds Bear tapestry $16.95
Bowl & Pitcher set $16.95
Life is fragile... tapestry $9.95
Pansy "stained glass" $6.95
Sunflower throw $7.95
Butterfly & Dragonfly $ 2.50 each
Tall apothecary $12.95
Blue Bowl set of 4 $3.50
Lamp $6.50
Vase/Votive/Frame gift set in basket $8.50
Sunflower small apothecary $3.95
Cinderella's Carriage $6.95

Definitely ahhhhhhh-drift...

Has it already been a week since I chatted up the Candy Safes??? WOW. Time flies when The Homemaker rolls!

So today I am finishing the "Really." signs and thought I'd upload the pics from LAST WEEK'S teaser, too. And these are up for grabs, too...



Check 'em out at the facebook store link! :)

Why is it that when you start on a project, you *think* it will just be easy peasy, pumpkin cheesy (er, uh, what ever)... when in reality it ends up to be "Two weeks!" {that's a movie reference... have you watched the oldie but goodie "Money Pit" with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long? it's a must-see, trust me} I honestly always feel like I can truly just BUST OUT a couple of projects in NO TIME AT ALL. Meanwhile, back at the farm, IT IS HITTING THE FAN and all my crafty creativity gets elevator music while on hold. Ugh! I'M AN ARTIST! Yep, I do *want* to shout that... but life beats me to it and instead shouts "YOU'RE AN ADULT FIRST, WITH ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES AND STUFF..." Okay, so life doesn't ACTUALLY use the term "AND STUFF..." but you get my drift. Or am I adrift? Ah. Drift. Ah-ha! Drift. ah-drift. Wait, I know... ahhhhhhh-drift. That long-winded sound you make when you realize all the plans you had for the day just went out the window with the drift.

So next time you plan a project, just remember, "Two weeks!" It works for my hubby... because that's just how The Homemaker's hubby rolls. ;)

REALLY?

It is one of my favorite words. Really. It is. It can mean so much. Sort of like "Dude", but in a girl kind of way.

"Really?", as in an honest question.
"Really.", as in an honest answer.
"Reaaaally?", as in, "Dude, no way, you have got to be kidding?"
And then there is the MacDaddy of them all...
"REALLY?", as in "You will seriously lose an appendage or suffer a severe poke in the eyeball or be grounded for life (just depends on your audience) if you push me much further." Further? Farther? Eh, that's another blog.

But honestly, can't you just see it? On a sign, I mean. And picture, if you will, just being able to point your finger at the wall next time someone pushes you to the brink of sanity... No longer will you need to take a deep breath and use all the will-power in your being to not holler like a sleep-deprived, motherhood-induced ADD patient, Prozac-underdosed, "no means no" repeating Screaming Mimi... you can just simply... Point.

Well, you won't have to imagine much longer! Your sign of all signs, answer to your prayers, sanity salvation will be available down at The Merc this Friday! Yes, I will post pics before Friday. :)

OH! Which reminds me... The Homemaker will be down at The Merc this Friday from noon to 2p. Come on down and chat awhile!

Why do I need a sign? Because that's just how The Homemaker rolls. Really.

The dawn of new technology...

Today is a day of new technology, recipes and artistic endeavors! All thanks to my very own Lieutenant Dan! He is taking the child to the movies while I work out my artistic kinks! (In the best Forrest Gump voice I can manage) "Leewtenent Daaa-an!"

You may (or may not) find posts from the road here at the Homemaker's Mercantile... I have attempted to set up this new, fancy-dancy, she-she-la-la phone my hubby bought for me yesterday. Yes, after the weekend trip to the in-laws where I chose to jump in the pool with all my clothes on rather than have my bro-in-law throw me in! I was the belle of the ball... until a) I realized my cell was still in my pocket and b) I had plugged my nose, but forgotten I had my nose stud in and bloodied my own nose! After the bleeding stopped... I garnered many "that was awesome!" comments. :) Nothing like livening up the in-laws party (not that they need any help - they throw kickin' family shindigs)! Next time, with she-she-la-la phone safely away from the water, I may be able to post about the scrapping, pool diving, road tripping world I call my life... IN REAL TIME!

For now, for today, I will be making a kitchen treat for my scrapping ladies and, obviously, SCRAPPING! Let's see what all this technology does for my creative juices. Let's also hope that I don't somehow become addicted to all-access internet from this new she-she-la-la phone!

She-she-la-la, you ask? Yep, that's just how the Homemaker rolls.

Burning the midnight baby oil...

Welp, here I am at 1123p working with epoxy, various plates, saucers, shot glasses, cordials and yep, you guessed it... baby oil.

LABELS! The bane of all humanity! The axis of evil! Murder on the thumbnails (not sure that one will ever grow back straight)! Ugh. All the effort that is wasted by every person that has ever bought something in their lifetime... over a stupid little label! So, now, from the Scrapuccino Room all the way to the kitchen and back again you will most likely find a little trail of errant baby oil dribbles. That stuff, if left long enough, could probably coax the stuck of all stuck lids, pipes, wheels and labels! But OH THE AGONY of waiting!!!

So, here I sit. Designing business cards, taking pics in my oh-so-glam "storage area" (aka the garage on top of the freezer), chatting with you all (all 5 of you - and by the way, you ROCK - you know who you are), burning the midnight baby oil while I don't wait for paint to dry, but instead wait for that baby oil to work its magic.

By the by - if anyone has a lead on a basic open shelf rack I can drag into the Scrapuccino Room so I can let my hubby have his side of the oh-so-glam garage, he'd be most appreciative.

And that's just how The Homemaker rolls. Night all.

FRIDAY! My favorite day!

Sick kid. That can totally throw a wrench in the works of any FRIDAY! But IT IS FRIDAY NONETHELESS and I'm gonna stare down the devil that might try to ruin it for me! Grrr! :)

It is an inventory day at my place. I'm working on several projects... A candy book safe (more on this later today), a vintage-vibe "Eat~Pray~Love" sign, cake plates, cards and scrapbook pages are on the agenda (to be taken to a craft sale tomorrow and to stock the shelves at Homemaker's Mercantile). Let's just see what actually GETS DONE. Wish me luck! Better yet, say a prayer for me!

I know people who start a project and finish it. Then there are people like me who start a project with the best of intentions... then hear the ring of the incoming email, check it, wander over to facebook to see what's up and think "just ONE game of Bejeweled Blitz", then the phone rings and while you have left the computer you are now in the kitchen, on the phone with your friend and you simply are missing the natural extension of your spare hand - your coffee... but where did you put it? So off to wander the house in search of the coffee cup, but on the way to your bathroom where you were trying to get dressed in a rush ("shoot, I think I missed a hook on my bra strap"), you trip over the dog. OH! The dogs need to be fed and your girlfriend on the phone this entire time says she has to go now, which is a good thing because the cordless phone gets static-y in the garage and you have now fed the dogs! What? What is that noise? The washing machine is off balance, so you move all the soppy wet sudsy clothes around in the tub, close the lid, look up and find the furniture polish... you haven't polished the kitchen table in forever! Back into the kitchen you go, only to find the kitchen table is covered in piles of papers, bills, school books, coffee cups... "my coffee cup!" It goes into the mircrowave and you go back to the table to take a stack of bills into the craft room/office and TA-DA! You remember you are in the middle of a project! DING! The microwave just reminded you of your coffee in the kitchen so you run to get it and along the way, you find...

Yep. That's just how The Homemaker rolls.

p.s. the child was well enough to make it to school... :)

Today is the day...

Today is the day...

...it is one of my favorite songs and now it is the beginning of Homemaker's Mercantile's very own BLOG! Wow. I never thought I'd find this place, this spot, this little slice o' heaven where I can be the artist I always knew was in me but I was just too afraid to be. I've always said it... not only does God have a plan, He has a wicked sense of humor! I mean, really? I find my voice on the internet?!?! HA! That is just so totally cool!!!

So, I'll digress right outta the gates... Yesterday I delivered one of my latest creations... a polka dot covered duffel bag for my teacher friend that is leaving for 6th grade camp. I had sent her a text yesterday morning saying I'd have the bag to her today. She called and said, "Um, yeah, about that - I'm LEAVING FOR CAMP IN THE MORNING." Oh! Well, good that I actually got all the painting done already. Then the questions start in my head of why I thought she didn't need it until next week... Eh, whatever. It's done and that's cool.

She shows up and TA-DA! Here it is! All done! I explain how I stuck my finger in the wet paint of the one polka dot I had neglected to outline... hahahaha. Then I ask, "I thought you guys were going to camp in May...?" Um, right. Yep, the words had barely left my mouth when it dawns on me that yes, indeed, it is currently very much MAY...

And then - BAM! Another blistering thought... OH MY GORGONZOLA CHEESE! I forgot to spray the dots with sealant and it is RAINING OUTSIDE! I grab the bag and race for the garage... and hit the door jam square on with the bag lengthwise in front of me! I just about lost all air. I recover, fluff my spikey hair, try to make it look like all is well and continue racing out the door! I sprayed each spot and left it just at the open garage door. I walked back into the house, all calm and cool, and announced that the bag is waiting outside.

Yes, the family was witnessing all this coolness unfolding right before their very pained eyes.

Yep, never a dull moment. What will today hold?
~The Homemaker