Valentines Day & My First Day of Work in 6 YEARS & A Store Announcement!

                              Happy Valentine's Day!
Tuesday was a very busy day! Valentine's Day is not usually celebrated in our house, nothing against the holiday but it is just a commercialized day. There shouldn't be one day a year for your special someone to make you feel special, or one day for you to make someone else feel special. The best days are the days when someone makes you feel and it is a total surprise. Anyways, today was a good day! I got a job that I totally didn't expect to get and today was my first day. Now it has been almost 6 years since I have "worked". *disclaimer, I have been an at home mom and a homemaker. I also started my online store this last year! So I guess I have been working. Working so much I can finally say my business is now consistently paying my mortgage!  This is such a HUGE accomplishment for my family! Also February 14th is Oregon's Birthday! Here are some fun Oregon Facts!
1.Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state.
2. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It was formed more than 6,500 years ago. Its crystal-blue waters are world renowned.
3. Discovered in 1874 the caves located in Oregon Caves National Monument are carved within solid marble.
4. Eugene was the first city to have one-way streets.
5. At 8,000 feet deep Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.
6. Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations!

7. The world's tallest barber shop pole stands in Forest Grove, Oregon.

8.Oregon is home to the world's shortest river The D River is only 121 feet long.

 Okay Okay back to business!!!!!

Now. . . I have my items in a couple local stores so if you are out and about be sure to check it out!

You can now find my items at local nail salon called A Show of Hands!  Which is on the corner of 6th and Savage St in Grants Pass! I have been getting my nails done here for 8 years! Crazy. They also have amazing tanning beds! I have such a hard time tanning my legs and she has a leg tanner that is AMAZING!!!  I just love it!!!

Also you can find my luggage tags at the Airport in Medford! We are just trying them out to see what happens, but I will be sure to keep you updated! I am excited for these adventures! 

Also I am moving from Etsy to Storenvy! I already love it! Click here to check it out! I am slowly going to be adding items! So keep checking back!  

Here are some pictures from our Tuesday (which happened to be valentines day)!

I made 20 of these and 15 smaller ones to fill my Valentine's day orders! I have tons of fun making these, but now that I will be working, I will have to cut back the number of orders I take! I wanted to thank everyone for you support!

Reed and I made these for his friends at school!

These came out adorable! Loved them! 

I spoiled my boys alittle and made the, heart shaped pancakes to start off there Valentine's Day! I think the boys enjoyed them!

 I hope everyone had a Happy Tuesday, Happy Valentine's Day, and Happy Birthday Oregon!

2 weeks into the New Year!!

So here I sit, being totally busy and overwhelmed wondering what I want to accomplish this year. What are my goals for life, my blog, my business, my family? What projects to I want to accomplish? Last year we completed most of our goals for the year, so hopefully this year we will too. However I do have a pretty tall order!  So here is my list  for this year *disclaimer here.(I add tons of stuff to my list as the year goes, I have a never ending list. lol)

My #1 personal goal it to be more organized! yikes!!!

Let's start with my family and homestead goals and projects. I already spend almost every waking moment well and sleeping moment taking care and tending to my family. I wouldn't change it for the world.  So this year my goals for my family are a little different.

• Plan the most awesome birthday parties for my soon to be 4 year old and my soon to be 2 year old. ( If you were following my blog last year then you got the see the awesome birthdays I put together last year. Reed had a Toy Story Birthday and Ryder had a Monsters Inc.)
• Do an awesome family vacation!
• Build the boys a totally awesome 2 story tree house!
• More date nights for the hubby and I
• Building my compost bins
• Raised beds and cute picket fence around them.
• FINALLY after a year of living here I am going to landscape! 
• Clear a couple more acres.(we have 7 and have cleared 2 so far)
• Build and fence an area for a horse, so this time next year I can get my very own horse! 
• Build a root cellar 
• Have my food storage complete
• So the list will go on and on, so we will leave room to fill in some more as the year goes on!
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Goals for my Blog 

• Blog more often, once every couple weeks isn't enough. :) With all the projects I listed above, I should have tons to blog about!
• Feature my favorite blogs and shops! 
• Beef up my recipe section (I am so bad about taking pictures while I am cooking)
• Keep everyone up to date as we slowly turn self sustainable. Building our compost bins, raised garden bed, food storage, root cellar, ect. 
• Hopefully by the end of the year my blog will be 100x better and I will be a better blogger!

My Business

•  I want to expand my business to include my other kitchen accessories, like my hot pads, trivets and full aprons. 
• My Mini CSA farm.   Last year I grew vegetables for my friend Alex over at Alexandra Rose. Well it was the first garden at my new house and it wasn't all the great. I did get Alex her veggies every couple of weeks but it was not what I was used to! This year I am going to be putting in raised beds and planting a ton of vegetables, as I am going to be starting my own organic food storage. I will grow veggies for a couple friends this year, and I am super excited to see how huge the difference is.
• Also last year I designed a few gardens for friends and family and this year I will be doing the same. More info on that later!

SO be sure to keep checking back to see what this year has in store for me and my family!!!

Afraid to Live Life. . . . .

I am not one to wear my heart on my sleeve but sometimes thoughts just need to be shared. Sorry if this is hard to understand, when emotions are crazy, my thoughts are hard to get into words.      

   This morning as I was driving into town to see my brother before he goes back to South Carolina (2863 miles away) to continue his basic training, I had a ton of emotions overtake me. I was driving thinking how thankful I am to have my brother and sister there when I need the, and how thankful I am to have two beautiful children and a man who stands by my side.
            On my way into town I passed the local fire station and saw the flag flying at half staff, and I just broke out in tears. Last week a local man, who I went to high school with, who was also a firefighter and a paramedic passed away in a tragic car accident, leaving behind family and friends. Earlier that same night an elderly woman who I have know my whole 24 years of life passed away in another traffic accident, leaving behind children, a husband and many friends. The man I went to high school with I didn't know him that well, we were only acquaintances, but that didn't seem to matter, it broke my heart. I cried and cried, not only because he passed away and I felt bad for all those who were close to him, but also because reality really set it and I realized that it could be anybody. I know when something like this happens, everyone says "treat people like it is the last time you will see them, you never know." well really you don't ever know.  I never really thought about death before I had children, now I am terrified of it. And not because I am worried about where I will go. But I am terrified, my boys will not remember me, or Ian wont know how to take care of them like I do, or what if they don't know how to cope. . . and the thoughts go on and on. Or god forbid something happen to one of them, I would be beside myself.  I know I shouldn't live like that but I can't help it. The day after both these people passed away, Ian went to the grocery store and was gone longer then I thought he should be, I called him and called him frantic, afraid that something had happened, I don't like to leave my house out of fear that something might happen. Crazy right. I don't know how to get over this or deal with this fear. Hopefully in time thing will be semi normal again for me. I know things will never be the same for the families and friends of Tyler and Maria.

I pray for comfort and peace for everyone who is suffering through all this and hope that some light can be seen. I pray that I stop living in fear and accept that there is a master plan that no one knows.

RIP Tyler and Maria