No time....quick post

I am so swamped and behind on my work but I just wanted to add some pics from the last few days. We busted David out of rehab two weeks early. (joking, they just thought he would be better off in an 'outpatient' facility so he is here with us for a few weeks) Nichole came in town and we ran the race for the cure. Well, walked really. Well, the first half we sort of strolled because we got behind some VERY slow walkers. They were wearing jeans and carrying shopping bags so we should have known that they weren't there to win. That pink thing on her stroller is what everyone else wears on their backs. It reads "in memory of" or "in celebration of" and then you write in whatever you want. Lily's said "in memory of my Grandma" and because it was gameday, she wore here cheerleading uniform.

anyway, Lily has been trying on shoes for awhile but when she put on Nichole's she actually went for a walk in them! and we've discovered that she LOVES the sprinkler.

Funny Faces

"Hey look Mommy....I'm soaked!"


I remember doing this at FSU...too bad I never had a cheerleading uniform!





This picture doesn't really show how bad this shiner really is, but you know how Ross hates to have his picture taken. It is way more purple than you see in this picture. and, no, I didn't do this to him, it happened at Rugby. They won so I guess it was worth it.

picture comparison

I have this picture on my dresser so when I saw this one of Lily I thought it was so funny. I took mine out of the frame and my mom had written my age on the back. 14 months! Lily is 14 months (well, only days away from 15, but still!) Funny how much she looks like me huh?

Pictures & David

We went to get our pictures made and Lily was so good. She was laughing and squealing and loving the attention of the photographer. I wanted to buy them but, as I've talked about before...we are BROKE!
Luckily I can look at them online and order more down the road if we win the lottery or something.

I also learned a lesson. Wear sleeves to photoshoots!

I haven't written about it here yet because I wasn't sure if I should or not, but I've decided to anyway because I feel that if people know that they will be more likely to understand what is going on.
I had no idea, not even a hint, until I got a call a couple of weeks ago from my brother's girlfriend. David is an alcoholic. He is now in rehab here in Florida and is working toward recovery. I felt helpless because I didn't know, I didn't see the signs and I am so far away all the time. Sherah and his high school friend Andy helped get him organized and ready to get help. I am so grateful for that. If it weren't for their thoughtfulness I don't know what would have happened.
I've put a lot of thought into this. They say that alcoholism is hereditary and I know it can destroy lives. Ross and I both have alcoholics in our families and through our years and years of working in bars we have seen quite a bit. One thing we are very naive to is the recovery process. Thankfully we have family that have been very supportive and helpful.
My cousin said something to me that really clicked. She said that being an alcoholic is sort of like having a severe allergy. That if you have it, alcohol has a different effect on you. This is an interesting concept to me and I think it makes a good bit of sense too. Ross is allergic to shellfish, if he eats it, he dies. In many cases this is the exact thing that happens to alcoholics.
I am so excited for David too. I feel like he is really at a good place in his life. He is so creative and intelligent and he will discover how much more he will be able to do with his new-found clarity. I am very hope full for him right now.
If you'd like to write to him, or send a card, email me and I'll give you the address.

Little Tykes red car

Week before last my cousins came down for a visit to celebrate a Birthday and they brought Lily a new car. Well, an old car but new to us. It is so funny how this car has the least amount of bells and whistles but Lily loves it best. She can't "drive" it on her own just yet but she will climb in and out of it over and over. Every now and then she can get it to go backward a few feet but I don't think it is on purpose. It is pretty funny how she will get out and push it across the room then get back in.
And another funny thing is how she climbs in backward. She gets in like her granddaddy gets in his Miata....but first.
Here is a video of David pushing Lily around and her backing into the car

So busy

I hate that I haven't added anything to the blog in so long. I have been so busy and so behind on my work that I just never seem to get it all done. And, I think it is a disorder or something because I keep coming up with new projects and new commitments. Maybe subconsciously I don't want to get finished?

Yeah, that is probably it. Having nothing to do would be boring.

I am so annoyed right now!

I have been listening to the stupid paypal info loop on their hold for about 25 minutes now. They updated their site to "offer more to sellers" and although I am very happy that now I can accept international sales from my website and not just ebay, but now my shoping cart isn't working properly. It is giving everyone FREE SHIPPING! I know that is great for my customers but it is eating into my profits. Luckily I've had big enough sales this week that I haven't actually lost money yet.
I'm writing about it now because I think it is funny (and annoying) that the automated thingy can't understand me because Lily is squawking in the background. She is trying to play ball with Zelda and every time Zelda gets the ball she squeals. And everytime she squeals the automated system tells me that they are sorry but they did not understand my response.
oh boy... this is annoying.
Crap.. they finally got a person on the phone and only to tell me that the department that I need is closed and to call back tomorrow....eerrrrr

Oh My Goodness!

I am here at the dining room table working away on my new laptop. I'm getting work done and Lily is happily typing away on the old broken laptop. I set it up on a small table next to her little chair so she has her own little office. And then, I hear that distinct sound of the computer booting up. Hmmm. I go over and check it out and sure enough whatever she did, she fixed the computer! It was on an online screen where she had reported the error! My child is a genius!

Playing with Photoshop

Out with the old, in with the new

My stupid slow laptop finally bit the bullet this weekend. It had been on its deathbed for about a year now and finally decided to quit completely. I bought it in '02 so I guess that is a decent life for a computer. I can sometimes get it to turn on, but only to show the bios screen telling me that the program that is causing the problem is ar5110. No clue what that means! I took it to the shop about 2 years ago and spent about $300 and it never worked right after that so I decided this time to just ditch it and get a new one. I'm going to keep it for Lily to type on though. She doesn't even care if the screen is on, she just likes to type.
So, bargain huntress that I am, I found a laptop for less than $400! Obviously not top of the line and the salesman tried to talk me out of it or at least into an upgrade, but nope, the cheapest of the cheap will do me just fine, thank you.
I'm so excited about it but I don't know how to use Vista yet. I guess I'll figure it out.


Lily has been waking up too early these days and she gets cranky and tired early in the morning and a couple of times has fallen asleep on the floor even before I get her out of her pajamas.


She is very into opening drawers and cabinets these days. This is my mom's old antique sewing machine that Lily is getting into here. It is funny because I've had this for almost two years and never even looked in these drawers before now. Lily keeps bringing me little things that make me reminisce. Mailing labels for our house in Pensacola, to-do lists that my mom wrote, wooden spools of thread, old stamps, etc. This used to sit in the foyer at our house in Pensacola, then it was hidden away and not really used in Atlanta. In Pensacola my mom kept our lunch money in one drawer, stamps in another and various junk in the other two. Now they hold mega blocks, a shoe, and a plastic spoon.

baby Ross

Such a Ross look-a-like!

Go Noles!

Thank goodness, at least we won this week!

More pics from Daddy's visit

MTSU vs. FAU

If you want to see ALL the pictures CLICK HERE

My dad is here visiting right now and he conveniently planned his trip to coincide with the MTSU/FAU game yesterday. He bought us tickets to the game and although we had a great time and had a ton of fun, MTSU got whipped.
We got a babysitter Friday night so we went and had some world famous burgers at Le Tub (hence the toilet pictures) and a couple of drinks at O'Malley's. Yesterday we did the game all day and now today Daddy is insisting that I put some pictures of him and Lily up on the blog.
He has fed Lily her breakfast for two days now and now she is trying to make the silly noises that he makes.
He also has combed her hair to match his. I remember my poor brothers having to have my dad's same haircut for their entire childhood and so I guess now Lily has to have that hairdo too.

I'm a centerfold!!!

That magazine that I've been talking about for months finally hit the newstands today! They didn't make me look as foolish as the last time I made it into the press, but it really wasn't what I was expecting. I'm still very excited about it though.

My picture is real big and the article is about myself and a couple of other sellers. I'm not really sure why they don't have pictures of the others. It is almost kinda silly that they have such a big picture of me. They don't even mention my name in the article until about half-way through the next page. Oh, well.

Oh, and just in case you are wondering where I got that really cool retro playsuit....www.addictedtorockabilly.com

busy busy busy

I've been so busy and so behind on my work that I haven't had any time to post anything. I can also blame my stupid laptop too. I have the desktop set up in "the cave" (aka, the converted garage with no AC) and because it isn't childproof, I can only work in there when Lily is asleep. So, most of the day I am trying to balance taking care of Lily and working on the stupid laptop. Well, the reason I keep calling it stupid, is because it is so slow and turns itself off for no reason. It is so slow that I will click something then get up and walk away to go do something else and come back two or three minutes later and the page is still loading! So, needless to say, I don't get much web-work done.

Somehow or another I have managed to get alot done even with the limitations. In the last two weeks I've inventoried, pictured, described and posted over three grand worth of products on both my websites and ebay. And listed, pictured and managed 17 auctions for a friend (in exchange for him to install an AC in the cave!) and earned him over $800 from a shoebox full of junk that he got from a past remodelling job. And pictured, listed and managed over 2 dozen red hat auctions!

Last week I felt like I would never catch up, but now that I have finally done it, it feels great! I'm about to get swamped all over again though because Monday we are going to do a photo shoot which means I'll have a ton of photo-editing and re-posting do do afterward. And then Daddy comes in town next weekend so I won't get much done then either.

And, Lily has been so much fun to play with lately that I just want to spend all my time playing games with her. She even gives me hugs without me having to ask for them. She just wanders over and wraps her arms around me and squeezes!

****

I wrote this days ago but never posted it, now I'm behind in my work again! ughh. Two really great things to post though. 1. Finally got a babysitter! She worked out great and Ross and I got to go out together last night for the first time in forever. 2. Got an AC in the cave! Mark installed it today and I am sitting here in my studio sweat-free! Yay!

Melbourne

Week before last Lily and I took a day off and drove up to Melbourne and spent the night with my cousin and her family. My aunt took us out to eat at Outback and I discovered that I really need to plan better for Lily when taking her to a restaurant. She refused to eat anything and thought it was so funny throwing things on the floor.


She took her very first bubble bath and didn't like it. She finally started to have a good time once she realized that there were toys in there.

Lily really enjoyed playing with her cousin Allison.



Lily and Allison really enjoyed one another's company. Allison really loves Lily and Lily watches every move that Allison makes.

New Arrivials

Right now I am very inventory heavy for BOTH websites. The bills are starting to roll in and the summer is SOOOO SLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWW for retail. I'm going to have to start doing some creative financing soon.

But, having those boxes arriving every day sure is exciting! Just look at Lily! How excited can you get?

Lily loves to tease Zelda with the ball. She picks up the ball and holds it over her head and walks away as fast as she can. Do you see the intense look on Zelda's face?

Oh yes, we are very into hats right now. This morning I dug out my tiara and she wore it around all day. Didn't get a picture though.

$14.99 for a new mouse and I'm back in Business!

If anyone who reads this knows anyone who is a Red Hat Lady, tell them that they simply MUST go to this website right away!

www.clickforcostumes.com/redhats

This is a short-cut to all the charity auctions that I've got up this week for my aunts. 80% goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation, the other 20% goes to ebay fees, paypal fees and my ziploc bags, boxes, paper and ink.

errrrrrrrrrrrrr

I finally got a couple of minutes to finish up the huge project, and what do you know.....THE MOUSE BROKE! So now, all my pics and everything that I need it saved on the hard drive and I CAN'T GET TO IT! I can get on the internet with the stupid labtop, but it does me no good because everything I need is on the hard drive of the desktop!
errrrrrrr

Finding a babysitter?

Anyone out there have any clue as to how I can find a babysitter? I miss Ross so much. I know, yes, I see him everyday but I have not done anything social with him in months and months. I can't even remember the last time we went out together! Saturday night we are both wanting to go out and we have come up with a ridiculous plan for me to go out for the first half of the night and then come home early so he can go out for the second half of the night. SAD.

Hugs

I've been trying to teach Lily to give hugs for so long and she is so sweet now that she does it. She will give me full hugs with both arms tight around my neck. I LOVE IT! She will give her babies hugs too. This is really sweet too because she puts her face up to theirs and rocks back and forth with them and says awwww. The first picture is Lily hugging George while she has her morning bottle.

But then, it isn't so cute anymore when I can't put her down because she wants to be held all the time. This second picture is Lily trying to climb up my legs because I had put her down for 2 whole minutes!

Red Hat Ladies

My aunts used to be Red Hat ladies but have decided to quit participating after losing Aunt Kathey. Since they had a ton of Red Hat garb they decided to make good with it and let me sell it all for charity.

I love the whole concept of the red hats. It seems like so much fun. It is a shame that all my girlfriends are all too busy to do any kind of regular get together or clubs or anything fun like that. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm 50 so I can be a red hat.

Anyway, Lily is having so much fun helping me take pictures of all the red hat stuff. It just seemed to be perfect timing that she is into hats right now. I think I'm going to have to post this pic on the auction, she is so cute that people will just feel compelled to bid.

Mini Me

I'm going to have to get her a keyboard or something that looks like a computer to play with if I ever want to get any work done. She will sit here and "type" for as long as I will let her. It is really funny on the desktop because ever few seconds she takes a break from banging on the keyboard and moves the mouse around.

Richard

This week Richard and his girlfriend Emily are in town visiting. It has been really cool having them here. And, that now he is 21 he can finally go to all the places that I like to go. Of course, now I'm old and go to bed early, so they've been on their own a bunch.

I've only taken a few pics so far and really haven't gotten any really good ones. That one is Richard giving himself a mohawk I'm going to have to get Emily to send me her pictures.

Open Letter to My Sister

Dear Brandi,

I don't know wether or not you read this, but hopefully this message will find you. This morning I dressed Lily in the shirt that you gave her at my baby shower and I sat and cried while she played. I hate that you are missing this time with Lily when you are so close.

Daddy tells me that you've gotten the jackass out of your life. If this is true please call us. I'm not mad at you, I never was.

Love,

Shelley

Funny Lily

Lily LOVES Zelda! and they both love me. I am sitting at the computer and both my babies have to be on my lap!

Lily is so cool in her chair! She goes right to it and rocks and rocks. She is going to love this chair for a long long time! (see how good I am that it now matches the other furniture?!)

This week she is into hats and bracelets. Forget all the new toys she got for her birthday, she has to play with mommy's bracelets.

and I think she is either getting a new perspective on life or maybe trying to be a gymnast, one or the other.

She wore the hood up ALL DAY!