Long Time No See!

  



Its been over a year since my last post. My how things have changed! The pic to the right is Maylee, she will be 4 years old in October. She has got so big and is such a blessing! She is a total joy to have around.

I cut my dreads last November for my mom. She is happy, and I feel lighter. I figure I have a short time to make mom happy and a lifetime of my own to have dreads. Mom was diagnosed with advanced cirrhosis 2 years ago and its been downhill ever since. All prayers are appreciated.I have moved in with mom since November last year and I feel blessed to have the chance to take care of the woman who gave up everything for me when I was a child to take care of me so well. Im glad I get to return the favor. At school I was one of like 3 kids with a homemade lunch to eat. I could always depend on mom to be there when I was sick, like when I had chicken pox she did everything she could think of to make the itching stop. The only thing that worked was ice packs on my feet cause thats where it was the worst! Mom was always there and always worked hard to give us the best freshest food every day and a clean nice house to live in. I am grateful.

 My firstborn child Justin turned 18 on August 19th. Yes, this is him...all manly. It feels like just yesterday I was changing his diapers and begging him to eat something besides bologna! LOL
We had a big cake and I baked him a huge cookie cause thats what he likes. Mom bought him all kinds of Darth Vader stuff cause he is totally dark side. And I know for halloween  he will be Darth Vader...again...Justin will be graduating this year too. He has Cerebral Palsy and has really made me proud with all he has accomplished. Everyone who meets him loves him. He never meets a stranger and is always hugging old ladies...and flirting with the young ones! He cracks me up cause he tries to be smooth when he flirts. Girls like him though...they better not like him TOO much cause he is still my baby!!

 Tyler is gonna be 14 soon. He left me and moved in with his dad cause his dad does stuff like hunt animals and drives a big truck with monster tires...thats OK son I forgive you. Maylee misses him and wales the tar out of him when he comes down for a visit. She was always crazy about her "Brugga" At least with Tyler knowing how to use firearms maybe boys wont be too much of a problem when Maylee is a teenager?? LOL I always try to see the bright side of things...

 

Funny Picture I made on my iphone..the app is called "Where do I put my Outhouse" Its free go to the app store NOW and get it! I almost peed myself laughing the night I downloaded it!

Im still making soap, trying to get back into sewing...I stay pretty busy taking care of everyone but once in a while I have time to sew. Since winter is coming there will be lots of time soon.

We had a good garden this year and I grew this...its a Tigger Melon. It tastes like a mix between cantaloupe and watermelon but it has a creamy texture and the taste isnt overpowering. I am quite pleased with it and will be growing tons more next year! I plan on making this into a smoothie soon! Its such a gorgeous melon. Maylee likes looking for ripe ones. They go from dark green to this gorgeous brown golden color. I think its the prettiest vegetable ever!

 I love where I live now, I am next door to my aunt and uncle and their grandaughter and her husband and baby Olivia, Their daughter lives behind us both with her 3 kids and husband. This is like the most perfect situation ever! I love it! I can go outside anytime and there is someone there that I know and can talk to. My uncle mows the grass for the whole "community" and we all help each other out. Its totally awesome here and its like the most perfect place I always wanted to live but didnt know it till I got here. And to think if I hadnt lost my home, I wouldnt be able to live here and be so happy. Always remember no matter what happens good WILL come out of it! 

I hope to have some new tutorials on my YouTube Channel pretty soon cause I just found out my Smocking tutorial has got 14,500+ views since I posted it in 2009! I was shocked! So Im gonna be making more tutorials cause I know how to do lots of things so why not share, right?

Thanks guys for listening to me ramble on. I had a lot of catching up to do and that aint even the half of it! LOL

Redneck Asian Style Running Water Contraption

          The force of the water coming out of the pipe is so great we had to use one of the strongest materials on earth to tie it to that metal shelf...DUCT TAPE!

Amazing isnt it? Let me tell you how this contraption works.

First Hubs tied a sump pump to a stick, and tied the outlet pipe coming from the sump pump to the stick...there is a LONG pipe going into the well that you cant see cause I am NOT taking all that crap from the top of the well, I may fall in! AHHHH!

The pipe runs from the sump pump hanging in the well all the way out to our trailer, about 90 feet....yes those are blackberry briars,and yes the blackberries were rather good this year but my goodness the thorns!

Anyhoo, we have this contraption rigged up so when you plug in the sump pump from inside the front door, the pump comes on and you hear this rumbling inside the pipe...then out of nowhere ice cold water comes GUSHING out of the pipe and you can catch it in a clean garbage can like we have set up here...then you can take it in the house for whatever you need it for. Hey it works well for now! I am happy! Its better than nothing which is what we had before...just packing water in gallon jugs.

I am NOT drinking this stuff, it slightly smells of sulphur and thats just gross...but the water works great for everything else! Its clear as it can be and ice cold. Mom says thats a sign it comes from an underground spring. I hope shes right!

Next week we hope to get the well pump in the well and get the water hooked up RIGHT. But for now this works, and Noor rigged this up with his own brand of Asian redneck genius and with materials we already had on hand. Clever huh?

Stay tuned for more clever Redneck Asian Contraptions coming soon! LOL!

Moving right along

Since last time I wrote we have got so much done. Its been a busy month! We got our driveway ready thanks to a nice guy who works at the quarry not far from the big town here. And after much headache we got the trailer moved! Mostly it was rain that kept setting us back but we finally got it done and boy was I happy to see this sight

Thats them coming with the trailer. What a relief!

So now that its on site we have a lot of work to do but first...some pics of how we got to this point. Hang on to your seat cause this is exciting!

We had a pretty major issue of how to mow off the land...we couldnt find no one to do it so we took matters in our own hands. We figured gas is reasonably priced right now and lighters are very affordable so lets do this!

Well...as you can see it kinda got out of hand....the fire went up in one of my cedar trees and the wind blew it over to the next field across the dirt road...so we not only had one fire but two...and all we could do is stand there and watch in amazement/horror as the fire burned so quick  thru everything. We ended up calling the fire dept who happens to be just right down the street from my mom who lives about 5 miles from here...as luck would have it the fire dept holds bingo on saturdays and when mom is feeling frisky she likes to go and play and gossip with the other old women...

so there is mom sitting there playing bingo, minding her own business when the bingo caller announces he has to leave right now there is a call for a fire and he has to go help. He is of course totally excited cause they dont get no calls much down there. Mom said he was grinning and everything (sigh) So he leaves and this other lady calls bingo while the real caller is gone fighting a fire....MY fire (sigh again) I swear to god I cant hide shit from mom LOL! The good side is, mom thinks that because this *new* caller was calling is why she got to bingo once...at least there is a good side to this.

So moms bingo caller and a bunch of other guys show up in cute lil trucks to fight our fire...they were really super nice. We didnt get the attitude that we normally get from fire dept people (Me and hubs had a bad experience with them at work once, they came on a false call made by another nurse and was less than kind about it) anyhoo...as we watched them bring their trucks over the hill Noor says,"You know, we should have brought a fire extinguisher." yep...two brainiacs here trying to do something like this...yep..

a month later we get a nice bill for 500 bucks. Its OK. I doubt we could have got it mowed so nice for so cheap LOL, and all the burnt grass is like fertilizer!  I always try to see the good side of things. Nonetheless we wont be burning off a field again. I was pretty scared. And in case your wondering, there isnt a house anywhere near where this occured other than the shed our neighbor lives in..and the fire got no where near his property. Its pretty big and open out here...

So now that we got the grass problem taken care of we then was able to move the trailer, and then comes the remodeling..ugh

Purple and orange for my bedroom. The small bedroom is the same color purple tooo. I really liked it...obviously. I also scrubbed and cleaned the carpets so we could keep them. Other than the paint that Maylee got on them, they look quite nice. Maylee helped me paint of course.


As of right now we are STILL working on getting the floor put in. We need to replace all the floors but we are running out of time! We need to get out of here by the 10th, so we will replace the living room floor which is the worst and hope for the best.

We also have a horsie! He isnt ours he is the neighbors horse but he eats my grass and keeps it mowed and I appreciate it a bunch even if he does poop in front of my door LOL

Maylee is pretty scared of the horses even though she acts like she isnt...she is so cute LOL




This is what I get to wake up to every day from now on...Just look at that big sky!

I need to get my garden tilled up ASAP too. I got a bunch of heirloom seeds to plant! I am gonna have a 100% organic heirloom garden this year thanks to these fine Etsy Sellers:

The Bearfoot Shaman

Wall Flower Studio

Azure Dandelion

SmokyMist Gardens 

I have got some really fun varieties of veggies from some of these sellers. I highly recommend them all, as they have been a joy to work with. Ship fast too!

OK I gotta run we are planning on doing more remodeling today since hubs is actually off...this thing is so slow going cause he has been working so much but next week he is off! So we can get this show on the road!

Prayers and well wishes welcome for a safe move from Louisville to Rough River. Thanks guys!

A year of Dreadlocks

Well guys its been a whole year since I got dreads.I am pretty excited to show how they have progressed in this year! This Picture to the right is me today with year old dreads, here are more pics:

If you want to see the post I made the day I got my dreads done click here

 

Here is the pic of me the day I got them done

This is before I went to the salon

This is after I came back from the salon

This is 2 months into it. I am losing the length on my hair at this point too...keep in mind I have NEVER cut it except for some witchy dead ends when the dreads were about 7 months old. Those ends wouldnt lock up for nothing so off they went but it was only an inch or two...

This is me today:

  

I went thru such an "ugly duckling" phase with these about 4 months into it I was wondering if I reallly wanted to do this or not cause I looked SO bad. You could not tell I had dreads it just looked like I didnt comb my hair, and it was embarrassing to go out without my head wrapped up in a cloth.

Thru my dreadlocks adventure I have learned a lot about myself, and that was one of my goals for getting dreads. I learned that hair shrinks a LOT when its locking up too!!!

I have learned to have patience, especially with the cashier who laughed out loud at me for having dreads...laughed HARD too, not just a giggle..That ALMOST hurt my feelings, it was a close call on that one LOL I have learned I am still a bit vain after all these years, cause I was so embarrassed to go out during months 4 thru 6 before my dreads miraculously locked up.

One thing that did help my dreads lock up quick was making sure my hair was clean. For my particular hair it was not in my best interest to go without washing it for weeks like people told me to do, once I started washing it, it locked up. Greasy dirty hair cant get locked up. Thats the way my hair works anyways.

I started making dreadlock shampoo bars cause I didnt want to buy the stuff of course, and I noticed a huge difference. My advice is use a plain simple soap on your hair, no conditioners nothing fancy, just a plain castile soap and you will see a big difference. I dont care if you buy it from me or someone else, just buy handmade! Be good to your dreads, you got em for life! Make sure nothing gets built up in em!

in a way my tree like twisty crazy looking locs have grounded me. Like the roots of a tree. I am happy I did this. Its been one fun adventure for sure.

New Liquid Soap Home Test Results

  We have tested this soap pretty thoroughly here at home and here is what I have discovered! 

Dreadlocks shampoo: KILLER!! I love it! It lathers up great and rinses away so easy. Its not like commercial shampoos that want to linger around. It cleans wonderfully too. I will definitly be offering this recipe as a dreadlock shampoo!

 

Dishes: WOW! It got a tea stain off my tea pitcher that will NOT come off with commercial dish soap. I was in AWE! I gets food off of dishes super great I had NO problems using this for dishes...I was actually excited to do dishes by hand just to get to try it out! LOL

 

Laundry: Would not do well in front loading machines due to the suds...however I may test this theory later...This cleaned clothes great, and left them as soft as my usual laundry soap once they came out of the dryer. I had to use about 4 tablespoons worth to get the water to turn milky they way my usual laundry soap does, so it may not be cost effective to use this over my usual laundry detergent, however I plan on offering it for sale anyways for people who just realllly want a liquid soap.

 

Handwashing soap: Not bad for general purpose. My hubs is gonna try it out on greasy hands the next time he works on a car, so we will see how that does. But for general use its awesome. Doesnt dry out your skin or anything!

 

Regular Hair Shampoo: It cleans great, left my hubs long thin hair shiny but frizzy...Worked great on the boys short thick hair, and I am gonna try it out on Maylee tonight. I am thinking this recipe wouldnt be that great for a regular shampoo so I am formulating a new recipe for a shampoo today.

 

I am thinking this particular recipe which is olive and coconut oil would be awesome as a general purpose cleaning type soap and dreadlocks shampoo. The coconut content being so high gives it tons of cleaning power which is what I wanted in a liquid soap and its not harsh on skin which is great!

I am in the process of researching oils to formulate my shampoo/bodywash recipe and I will be testing that out this week so wish me luck! This is all so exciting! Now I have to go order some bottles to package this in!! YAY!

New Project: Liquid Soap!

I just realized I have not posted since before thanksgiving! (gasp) I have been THAT busy and I want to take a moment to sincerely thank each and every person who has bought from my shops in the past year. I am eternally grateful for your business as it has helped me and my family thru some insanely rough times I wont bother to get into here. Just know each dollar you have spent has HELPED me tremendously and it was all VERY appreciated. Thank you all SO MUCH! ((HUGZ))

I wanted to let you guys know all the exciting things I been up to since the "busy season" is pretty much over. Sales have went down to usual numbers and now I have time to catch up on some things I been dying to do like make LIQUID SOAP!!

I had quite an adventure making liquid soap yesterday I had done my homework for sure but you never know how something like this will go till you jump in with both feet. So I jumped!

I had what was supposedly a fail proof idiot proof recipe in hand that had been tried by others with success. This made me feel at ease a little bit more.




I mixed my potassium hydroxide and oil and stick blended the daylights out of the mixure till I got something I was pretty sure was trace...then I blended more. I wasnt taking NO chances with this one!! Everything I read said if you cant get the potassium hydroxide and the oils to trace then it WILL separate on you later on down the process.

The only part of this process that I dont think I fully "got" was the fact you really do have to keep this stuff HOT! I put it in a double boiler set up and had the water just below simmering...that wasnt enough, I needed to keep the water boiling the whole time. Once I turned up the heat I got better results.

I figured out from the "test" globs I took out of the "paste" I was cooking that I needed to BOIL the water that I was testing the globs in. So I had a ton of boiling water around the house yesterday LOL

I finally got tired of cooking this "Paste" I was supposed to be making after about 7 hours of cooking so I boiled yet more water and poured it over the paste I had made. I boiled this for about 15 to 20 minutes.

I broke up all the chunks of the paste in the boiling water as best as I could. This was the hardest part was breaking up this stuff so it could dissolve and thus make my liquid soap. I went and watched a movie and when I came back all I had to do was hit the whole mixture with my stick blender and it blended just perfect. AND to make it even better for my ego, it was just a WEEE bit cloudy. I was shooting for 100% clear, but you never know when this stuff sits for a couple of days it may be as clear as commerical dish soap! I am OK with partly cloudy though, as long as it isnt milky I am happy.

I have tested this so far in laundry : works AWESOME!
Dishes: I was amazed! It took the tea stain off my tea pitcher and commercial dish soap wont touch it unless you SCRUB with a scratchy pad. All I had to do with my soap was rub!

You could put this in a foamer bottle and make foamy soap for handwashing too! So many applications for this stuff the possibilities are really limitless and I am so rejuvenated and excited to be able to KNOW I can definitely make this stuff now!

I have in the works a new product I wish to announce here today! This week I hope to be unveiling my newest invention: ~JIGGLE SOAP!~ This will be similar to Jell-o as it will be jiggly and squirmy but it will be soap you can take in the shower with you. This will be 100% chemical free unless there is a fragrance oil to scent it but those are always pthalate free at least. This will also be 100% vegan! I will be making an experimental batch this week. I know it wont be till at least wednesday cause I have no car to get supplies till then...UGH!! but be on the lookout! I will most likely announce it here when I get this made. I am super duper excited!!!

I will also be coming up with an original recipe for shampoo. I am still researching oils and deciding what I would like to see a shampoo do, so that will be coming up in a couple more weeks as I get time. its definitely a top priority of mine to release a completely natural shampoo that works great!

I am so excited about all this, cant you tell! (jumps up and down and claps hands)

And, I am rapidly approaching 1,000 sales in Maylee's Garden on Etsy ! As of right now I have 982 sales. A lot of sales came in the past 2 months, I remember recently having my 777th sale and being all excited about it...and here I am staring at the big 1,000! I feel SO successful right now, and to make it special, I am gonna do SOMETHING nice for the person who buys that 1,000th product. I dont know what yet, maybe free shipping, free goodies...not sure. But I promise SOMETHING nice will happen to the 1,000th customer!


Again thank you ALL for your continued support of my little business. I truly enjoy cranking out all natural goodness for you all so we can all be healthier. I am so proud of what I have accomplished, and I could not have done it without each and every one of you who have supported me along the way.


THANK YOU!!!!

Our big day in BeaverCreek Ohio

Getting to Ohio yesterday was half the fun! I was very very surprised on Friday to a bunch of "gifts" in my paypal account from my loving hippiesew mamas JUST so I could go meet Kristi and Christina in Beavercreek at Kristi's house on Saturday. Christina was the sneaky sneak who set it all up thru a note on Facebook asking for help from anyone who had a buck to donate so I could have the money to get up there. Thats how bad she wanted me to be there, and thats how much I am loved. Have I ever mentioned how blessed I am?? A lot of things in my personal life are as wrong as they can be right now but I swear I have the BEST friends in the universe and I love and thank you all!


We left about 9 AM and after a bunch of bathroom breaks and other breaks such as the one depicted here where Tyler and Maylee gang up to figure out how to spend mama's spare change we finally made it to Ohio in about 3 and a half hours. The day was so pretty, not too hot not too cold and traffic was ok considering the massive amount of road construction I incurred while driving. Its seriously insane guys, ease up on the road construction seriously. Last time I drove I-75 it was NOT that bad, come on now!






So we finally get to Beavercreek! I was so happy to finally meet Kristi and to see Christina once again. We all went out back to Kristi's awesome backyard so the kids could play as it was a VERY nice warm day.

Maylee (In the pink) and Lavender loved jumping on the trampoline, of course with all the leaves on it is HAS to be fun right! its like a never ending leaf pile that you can jump in over and over again! What fun!







Maylee loved the "Yabbit" (rabbit) Kristi had. She has never seen a real Yabbit before so this was fun for her to finally get to see one up close. Yes sweet baby, they arent just in your story books they are real!









All of the kids loved playing in the awesome treehouse with the cool slide. Maylee and Lavender played there for a long time.
The kids all had so much fun while us grown ups talked...all was well...until....




Cass finds a BUG!


We have no idea what he was. We call them "Armour bugs" and thats what Kristi called it too, all I know is Cass is one brave young lady cause I wouldnt have touched it! EWWWW! LOL


Kristi had a massive Hula Hoop collection and lil Dom tried his hand at it. I think he secretly wants to be as awesome at it as his sister Cass, but again we ALL wanted to be that awesome at it! She can make the hoop go up to her head and then down to her feet like its no problem at all! Yeah we were pretty envious, I wish I had a video of it! Cass is not only brave but pretty darn good with a hula hoop too!




You all know how Maylee loves Kitties, well Kristi had a kitty that seemed to really love little girls. Maylee was pretty excited to find a kitty that didnt mind being played with. That was the most patient kitty I have ever met. She really didnt mind being carried around by the neck. I guess she knows how toddlers are LOL

Maylee really liked kitty's "Puppy" (Tail) too






We had some awesome pizza that Kristi made too! Maylee loves Pizza. Its one of her food groups. Kristi also made a pesto pizza that was to die for! I loved it and wish I had one right now! YUM!

I also got to sample some coffee made by Jill of Capital City Coffee. I am not a big coffee drinker, I prefer sweet tea really. But THIS coffee makes me want to pick up the habit in the worst way. I have had Starbucks, I have had Gevalia coffee, I have had a local coffee shop's fair trade coffee, I have had plain ol cheap stuff from the grocery store, I am NOT a coffee expert but I swear to god this is the BEST coffee you will EVER hope to drink in your whole life! It is worth every last penny, trust me!

It was so awesome to drink the finest coffee and eat the finest pizza in the finest kynd company I could ever hope to be in. I cant thank Christina enough for organizing this so that I could have a MUCH needed break. I feel so much better today after being able to get away for a little while yesterday. Thanks so much to all who donated money or bought from my shop Friday to help get me there. You are very loved and appreciated. I will remember you guys and if you need ANYTHING I can help you with you dont hesitate to ask! I mean it!

THANK YOU ALLLLL!!!!
HUGZ!

Maylee's 2nd Birthday

First we started off today by getting Maylee some cool new pants made. I whipped these up this morning. Next challenge was getting them on her body...not fun. Then the next challenge...getting that cute bow from julibeeKitsch in her hair. Juli, thanks for getting that here quick! She looks like a little birthday present with it on her head. LOVE IT!

Maylee always wants me to take pictures of her hands and feet...thats why her foot is in the picture LOL











So we go out looking for a "ride it" This is Maylee's word for anything that you can ride, like a bike, a tricycle, ect....We looked at thrift stores first cause I hate to buy stuff new usually...no luck. We went to several other stores, and found one ride it that Maylee would fit. it was a tricycle looking thing and was so cute but it tipped over a little bit with her on it, and she got so scared she really wasnt interested in "ride its" no more...so I think we will save the ride it for spring. Maybe then she will be more ready.

So now we still have money from the "Birthday Fairies" to spend on this sweet baby...what to do! Didnt take Maylee long to find something...a shopping cart full of pretend food. She would NOT let the shopping cart go. She pushed it from the back of Target to the front of the store, it had to be wrenched out of her hands so the cashier could scan it then she pushed it to the van...and played with the boxes of pretend food and the eggs all the way home. Its funny cause she tries SO hard to crack those eggs. Me and her have battled over the eggs in the fridge since she could walk. I open the fridge, she dives in for the eggs...every...time...

We made a stop at McDonalds to play in the indoor playground for a while too. Maylee dragged Tyler all up and down that thing. I think he liked it even though he complained LOL Maylee ate all her fries too! We did not make it to the donut place. We had so much to do and it was getting dark fast and Maylee was getting sleepy even faster!

So we STILL had money from the "Birthday Fairies" cause they was so darn good to Maylee! So we hit Toys R us...I know, I know...but it was fun! I havent been in there with money to spend in forever, so this was fun. I knew I could get Maylee pretty much anything she seemed like she wanted. So we started looking at the blocks. Maylee showed an interest in the big mega blocks at the last place we went...so I got her two bags of 70 mega blocks each. We also picked her up a broom and dustpan set. Maylee is ALWAYS helping me here. She unloads the dishwasher, she tries to sweep, she picks up her toys...she is so good. So I got her a little broom and dustpan so she can help mama easier. She is so cute with her purse, her cheese sandwich and sweeping the floor. My little multi-tasker!

So Maylee has a complete melt down in Toys r us crying and holding a small plastic outdoor chair above her head running away from us babbling...the cashier thinks quick and offers Maylee a balloon. This cures the tantrum FAST! I get the chair away from Maylee, and the nice lady hands her a balloon. We made it out of the store with NO problem cause she LOVES balloons in a major way. Thanks super nice toys r us lady for saving us!

So we get Miss whiney pants home, she is SO tired at this point, she has had maybe a 20 minute nap all day. We break out her other presents we got in the mail today and the ones I got last week for her. I have a lot of people to thank and a lot of people to give props to so hang on to your seat and please remember 2 weeks ago there was no way I could foresee that this child would have anything for her birthday. Each and every gift she has tonight is a miracle and proof that she and I are loved and HUGE proof miracles DO happen. Project a positive future and it will come true.

So here we go!

This is the AWESOME hula hoop made by my good friend Amanda who lives close to where I am. She was so kind to whip this up for Maylee in JUST the right size with the awesomest colors. This has tiny mushrooms on some of the tape that its wrapped with. Maylee loves them...and I love hearing her say "Muchwoom" I keep asking her what those things are just so I can hear her say it LOL
This was another gift made possible by the fairies. Amanda thanks you too and so do I...again!

Thank you AMANDA!

Amanda was also so very kind to make Maylee THE awesomest patchwork pants EVER!










You cant see them real good in the picture but I will post a pic of her in her birthday outfit she got. She was gifted an old school Strawberry Shortcake top from Tangled Hangers
and it goes perfect with these pants! My mom actually made me a shirt when I was in grade school out of this same fabric, so this top is pretty special to me.


TangledHangers also sent this amazing crayon roll! Maylee LOVES to color! This helps keep all the crayons from getting lost. It is the coolest thing, and so well made just like the top. Thank you SO much Heidi! your generosity will be remembered always!






Next Maylee opened her gift we got yesterday from my good friend Rachel of Wilmothfarms goatmilk soaps
She was so thoughtful to send a companion for Kitty. Meet Puppy.


Maylee kissed Puppy right away and held him a lot like she does Kitty. But then she seen the other stuff in the gift bag....the BOOKS!


















Maylee looks a lot like me right here...laying back reading a book. She is so cute. A mini me! She read ALL of the books, and then she read the sweet birthday card Rachel sent! Isnt she adorable!

Thanks so much Rachel! I have a video of Maylee taking your magnetic numbers and kissing each one as she sticks it on the fridge, then she starts all over kissing them again as she puts them in her purse! Its so sweet! I will get it uploaded soon I promise! She loved all her stuff SOOO much!



Next we move to our next gift which came in the mail today JUST in time... it was so cool to see this pile of boxes on my porch today! I felt like it was some big holiday! Well it was, it was sweet baby's birthday (smiles)



This next gift was from Momwithahook AKA Sara. Sara also sent a BUNCH of AWESOME stuff for me too and Sara I cant thank you enough. I even was gifted a skirt from Akattywampustale
AKA, Olivia. It is the skirt pictured here. I ADORE this skirt!! I have a short story abot her skirts... I always have loved her skirts. ALWAYS. I am always broke and if I do have money I wont buy nothing for myself, but I look at Olivia's skirts and just totally admire the vast amount of creativity that goes into each one. This skirt that Sara sent is the second one of Olivia's I own (giggles) I love it that the things I like so much seem to find a home here in my closet somehow...Anyhoo back to Maylee...



Sara sent the most adorable gnome house and 3 cute lil gnomes! I LOVE toys like this so much for Maylee, we are gonna have a lot of good times laying with this for sure!

The coffee can is the gnome "house" and the gnomes go in there. We are gonna have so much fun with this! Sara, We love EVERYTHING you sent us! Bless your sweet heart mama. May you be blessed beyond your wildest dreams!


So we get to opening more presents, YES there is MORE can you believe it!

This was from Heartfelt3 Felt crafts
I was in awe of the quality of the counting cookies set, and the adorable realistic felt play Donuts! The donuts look good enough to eat! The cookie set came in a drawstring bag with Maylee's name embroidered on it, AND if that wasnt cool enough it came with a cookie cutter too! I think this would make an awesome gift for any child. If you have someone in your life hard to buy for, or a kid that has everything...think about this. I bet they aint got one of these felt food breakfast sets! Thanks so very much to Heartfelt3 for being so sweet, and getting this to our house in a bit of a time pinch. Thankfully mail takes only one day to run in state!


Next we have a wooden board game I bought last week from WishesAndWhimsies on Etsy. This gift was made possible by my great friend Mari. Thank you Mari!

This game is so fun, we played it for a little while. Maylee dont get it cause she is SO sleepy, but we will work with her again tomorrow. The colored "Guys" go on the same colored dot on the board, its a matching game. Each "guy" is stamped with an icon such as a flower, leaf, muchwoom, ect... and you just match them up! SOOO fun!






Maylee seemed to just want to line up the guys in a row, but she sure was cute doing it!

Thanks so much WishesAndWhimsies for the quick shipping too! Your game is BEAUTIFULLY made! We will be enjoying this for years to come, and it will hopefully be passed down to Maylee's children she has when she is 30+ years old if I have anything to do with it....






Next is the most ingenious idea ever...the felt board/chalk board combo play mat. Its chalk board on one side felt board on the other. It came with two pieces of chalk that so far have NOT got broken YAY! And it works great! This was purchased from the creative genious known as Rorygirl on Etsy. She has a shop full of other cool goods too, I highly recommend you check her out too. This board is VERY well made, was shipped out super quick and works great! We are gonna have a ball playing with this, and will save paper too when teaching Maylee her numbers and letters. Have I menitoned Maylee knows some of the Arabic alphabet?? Yep, Noor taught her and she can say the names of the letters just by him pointing to them. Some she dont know but she knows enough of them I can brag LOL


I THINK this is it LOL If there is anyone I forgot I am So sorry! and I will revise this post if there is anyone I did forget. I am so grateful for everything Maylee got, and so grateful for the gifts of love from her "Birthday fairies" and from Mari and from all my sweet customers who have made purchases during this time to make this birthday happen. I was able to keep food on the table, gas in the van AND get all this and normally I do good to keep the basic necessaties going so this birthday was truly a miracle in every way. I am so thankful right now, and I will never ever forget how this all came about and the people who made it happen. I pray that next year we can have a birthday this good too!



Project a positive future, dwell on your success. Believe with all your heart tomorrow will be a better day and it will happen.