The Start of Our Summer Bucket List

Last month, I started a summer bucket list.  Yes...In April, I was creating a huge list of things I wanted to do with my kids in June!  Why?  Winter would not end!!!!  I was hoping that my optimism for summer would make it quit snowing and the sun would shine brighter, longer, and warmer.

Our First Summer Bucket List...2013 Style

Now it is Thursday and it is Natalie's last day of Kindergarten...tear!  I am kinda sad.  I cannot believe how fast her first year of school has gone and that she is now a first grader.  Wow!!!!  She has grown so much socially and emotionally.  No longer my little girl, she is turning into a little person who knows how to stand up for herself, she knows what she wants, and she will tell you no when she does not!!!  I am enjoying watching her interact with her brother as a sister who cares..."what do you need, what do you want to play, are those your cars?"  The fighting gets a little old though, but she is turning into a little provider who loves to read!!

Now, the bucket list...

The kids and I are trying to accomplish quite a few summer "tasks" that we have never done before.  My husband works a very fluctuating schedule, so we want to stay busy while staying creative!  If you look closely, some examples of this are:

• Have a backyard/neighborhood treasure hunt
• Read 50 books from the library
• Make ice cream out of a tin can
• Break matchbox cars out of a giant cube of ice
• Driveway painting
• Host a carwash for grandparents
• Make our own melted crayon candle

These are just a few highlighted items we are shooting for this summer!  Our goal...all of them!!!  Tomorrow, Friday, May 31st we are going to Tie Dye shirts and have a backyard/neighborhood treasure hunt!  Pics to come!!  Tonight, to celebrate the end of school, we are having ice cream BEFORE supper and then a pizza party at my parents!!!!

What are your plans this summer?

Let's Celebrate!

Yesterday, we celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday!  My Grandma Marianne is of extreme importance to me.  Not only am I named after her, she is one of my best friends.  We have a very close bond, one that started when I was very young.  I don't know if part of it is because I am the eldest grand-daughter or I was just fortunate enough to spend lots of time with my grandma and grandpa growing up...either way, it doesn't matter.  There was no other place I wanted to be yesterday, than celebrating her day of birth!!!

Our family is getting quite large.  All of the grandchildren are getting grown, married, having children of their own, full time jobs, college...so the times that we are ALL together are very slim.  We try for Christmas, but yesterday we all made a grand effort to be there and it was a HUGE success.  It meant so much to Grandma to have us all there!!!!  For her gift, we all chipped in and got her a Chamilia bracelet and filled it with charms.  The greens and blues are her favorite colors and each charm had special meaning from the person giving it!

Some of my favorite memories with my Grandma include:

-the love that she shared with my Grandpa

-our trips to the cabin on Rainy Lake

-spending a summer with her while I worked at Bethel

-when my dad had his brain injury, we had special "dates"

-our mutual love for the theatre and trips to shows every other month

-taking a cruise to Alaska with Grandma, mom, and my sister

-when I first was starting at Bethel, my Grandma was along for every step of it.  She came to orientation, she came to first chapel, she helped me move, we even went to the cemetery to visit my Grandpa because he was right down the road

-Rummikubs and Bridgemix...enough said!!!!

-sleepovers at my moms and watching movies

-having her at my wedding

These are just a small handful of my favorite memories.  What I value the most?  Her love, her friendship, how she smells and the softness of her hands.  Family is very important to me and she is the head of our family.  I have great respect for her and the role that she plays.  I have learned so much from her, about being a woman, a mother, a wife, a Christian, and just a good person.  Happy Birthday Grandma!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being you, and for always believing in me!

Grandma and Grandpa

Helicopter Ride

Graduation of Dr. Heather Blue

My Sisters Graduation from High School

My First Born

My Second Born

Slightly Discouraged, Depressed, and Duh?

Today was CindyBlue Designs first craft sale.  I honestly wanted to be able to tell you that it went AWESOME....but, it didn't.  I was up at 5:30 to the sound of...what's that???? say it ain't so???? raindrops! thunder! lightning! oh crap!  Not only did I have to change my outfit choice...GASP!!!, we had to move all of our stuff from the back of the truck into the cab.  Paper products DO NOT fare well in the rain.  Back to the outfit, the best part about having to change my jeans choice?  I got to wear my new Coach rain boots!  I really am not that shallow....I just love shoes!!!!

Next, we get halfway to Eden Prairie and Ross says, "I see you have a Thermos of coffee and a cup for yourself, um, where's mine?"  Oh crap.  I forgot a cup for him.  Not that big of a deal, except he worked until 2:00 a.m. and then came home and went to the craft sale with me.  He really is super!

We get to Eden Prairie and it is a Tsunami!!!!  Absolute downpour!  It is 7:30, right on time but there is no way we could get out and start to set up our tent in lightning.  What to do?  We went to Caribou.

By the time we got back, the rain had not let up, so we sat in the truck until 8:30.  We held out as long as possible.  The sale started at 9:00 and we knew we needed at least 30 minutes to set up the tent and haul everything to our booth to get the merchandise in place.  Slightly panicked, but we made it happen.  Super Benzen duo....I only got hit in the head once by something!  Not too bad of a start!

THEN....we got checked in, only to find out??????  The sale was delayed until 11:00 a.m. because of weather.  Are you kidding me????  I am not feeling very good about this whole craft sale thing.  What do we do?  We took a REALLY long time setting up our stuff.  I don't know how many times I straightened the table cloths or organized the cards.  It was a great learning experience watching other crafters set up and see their booth designs.  Ross and I got a ton of ideas for our next sale and look forward to that.

Now where does the slightly discouraged, depressed, and duh come in????  The sale was not well attended.  We paid $55 to do the sale plus gas and a day away from my kids and I made....drum roll....$23 bucks.  Wah Wah.  Pathetic.  With the delay, bad weather, and extremely soggy ground, we just didn't have a lot of customers.  Let alone, any who were buying.  We sold two things.  We got in the truck to leave and all I could do was cry.  My mom, dad, and myself put so much time into this sale and were so optimistic.  We have so much to show for our hard work and I feel so under appreciated in sales and support from my family.  No one came to support us.  I sent out over 50 postcards, advertising on Facebook, my blog, Twitter, emails, locally....no support.  That is the duh part that makes me feel down.  Family is supposed to be there for you and I have done nothing short of beg.

I will tell you this.  I may feel these three D's today.  I may be having my pity party right now.  I will not give up.  I am going to make this company succeed and I am going to put my whole heart into it until it does, with or without the support of close family and friends.  I can do this because I have faith in my mom.  I have always known she had talent and I am her number one fan.  I am going to show that talent to the world....one town at a time.  Look out...CindyBlue Designs is on the move!!!!

P.S. I want to give a huge shout out of thanks and appreciation to my in-laws and sister in-law for taking such fabulous care of my babes.  They had the most fantastic time at the sleepover, playing outside, taking a bath, going to the playground, and messing up your house!!!  Thank you so much!  This wouldn't be possible without the help of you, loving on them.  I love you.

It's Thursday!!!! Holy Crap!!!!

So....it's Thursday. That may mean nothing to you... One day closer to Friday!!!! For me, it means we are one day closer to our first craft sale!!!! I am more excited than nervous. If you know me fairly well, you know I suffer from anxiety and I HATE new social situations!!!! Thank God for drugs!!!!! The nerves are more because I am afraid no one is going to buy our stuff and I have 100's of hours into this sale. Not so nervous about doing the sale. My kids will be in good hands, praying the weather holds out, and Super Ross will be by my side at my beck and call!!!!

The dilemma I am facing today...this Thursday, is a major one....the weather!!!! It is so stinkin' gorgeous outside, I want to do everything but work indoors. I even want to clean up dog poop. That is how badly I want to go outside. I feel like a kid who is being punished.

Oh well. If you want a great payoff, you have to work hard. Here are some pictures of our preparations...

My Realization

Lying in bed last night, I came to this realization.  I'm getting older.  I know, I know...I'm only 31...almost 32...but I am getting older and I am ok with it.  What brought this shift in attitude?  Good question!  I think it has been a couple of different experiences in the last few days that made me realize I am ok with who I am.

Let's start with the obvious for me.  My mom stopped by the other morning and I was wearing matching flannel pajamas.  The first words out of her mouth were..."Oh my gosh, you are getting old.  I never thought I would see you in flannel pajamas."  My witty response?  "Excuse me?  These are from Victoria's Secret!"  In my defense, I had a migraine and they are comfortable.  Comfort trumps style most days for me.

Number 2.
I am now the wife who sits and listens to the police scanner at night while my kids are in bed and my husband is at work.  Once again, in my defense, my husband is a dispatcher and I like to hear his sexy voice, but I have learned more about 10-4's, 10-52's, and military time than I ever thought possible.  I have always known emergency medical because my husband started out as an EMT and then moved up to a firefighter and now he is also working for dispatch.  This is my way of always knowing whats going on!  Kinda creepy though?  Oh well.

Number 3.
Friday and Saturday nights mean nothing to me.  Remember back in the day when you lived for the weekend.  I am a stay at home mom and every day is the same for me.  Do you know what my Friday nights consist of typically?   Popcorn with M&M's and watching Hoarders.  There is just something about these people they profile on Hoarders that fascinates me.  How could they let it get so bad?  How could they not smell the rotting food?  How the hell do they not see the rats running through the trash on the ground?  THAT....is a whole lot of creepy!

Number 4.
I went to take Cinder out yesterday and there was a hot guy over at the neighbors house.  What was I wearing?  I of course was wearing said flannel pants and a black and white PINK shirt with a black fleece.  My hair was in its ever present pony with a wide black headband.   Did I mention I was wearing mis-matched shoes?   Did I freak out?  No!  I may have muttered an "Oh, shit" under my breath, but I went back inside, shook my head and went back to dancing with Eli.  Would this have bothered me a year ago.  Oh yes!  Today?  Not so much  What does this tell me?  I may be older in age but I am finally maturing in that age as well.

I am a very simple woman.  To be honest, there are many days I don't even wash my face.  Why?  Why wash it when you don't put anything on it but moisturizer????  I earn those booger smears and dog licks.  I shower every da...every two days :)!  I am a mom.  I stay at home with my kids.  I find great pride in that.  I also find great frustrations.  My kids are my greatest joy, but they drive me nuts.  That is why I love them.  They keep me young at heart.  I can act stupid and not feel stupid.

It is so refreshing to be able to finally be ok with who I am and know that I don't have to please anyone.  I am loved for who I am.  Not for how I look.  I like to look pretty some days.  Put on some makeup.  Shave my legs.  These things don't define me though.  Who I am inside defines me.  The faith I have in God, my love for my family, the love I get in return from them, and knowing that yes, I may be a little bit older, but thats ok!  I'm still me!  Here are some pictures of my every day loves...

Celebrating our anniversary last year

3 Generations

Eli and Natalie

The Girls

  

My Love

My Other Loves

Craft Fair Preparations and Everything Else

As you all know, CindyBlue Designs has been accepted into two craft shows so far this season.  The second acceptance coming two weeks ago, with only a month to prepare.  This being my first actual outdoor craft fair, I don't believe my mind has stopped thinking "craft fair ideas" for the last two weeks.  Finally, my husband said, "you just need to decide what you want."  Easier said than done for this woman!

The merchandise piece has been locked down...I have been printing and cutting mason jar labels and working on packaging, my dad has been building recipe boxes and napkin holders, and my mom has been designing new faces for the napkin holders and putting all of those together.  We are a team, but it is now May 1st and we have 17 DAYS until the sale!

Now I need to think creative display.  Your display is a huge part of getting people to come to your booth.  Luckily my mom has a ton of cute, farm-chic, antique items at her house that I have rounded up for my display.  The business cards have been ordered.  I have printed off about 10 different styles of booth ideas to reference and now I am trying to determine...banner or no banner?  Did I mention that I need to figure out the best way to display greeting cards?  So much to do, so little time.  Whew!!!!!

On a completely different note, Natalie has her first loose tooth!  We are so excited.  She cannot stop wiggling!  Pics to come!!!!!

Last weekend we had a garage sale at our sale.  It was hugely successful!  Considering that the sun was finally shining, people wanted to get out and go shopping!  The money we made is being allocated to spring projects and "unfinished business."  For example, the banister that sits on the stairs missing pieces that my cousin Sara calls "unsightly!"  Looking forward to getting the banister finished, the painting done, and the grass seed laid.  Now if the snow would quit falling.  Really?  One day it is 77 degrees and today it is snowing.  I can't catch a break!

How Eli feels about the cold....

During our garage sale weekend, we were fortunate enough to have a couple house guests.  My sister Grace and her puppy Eclipse stayed the night here.  The kids love her dog!  It was so much fun to get to visit and spend some time with her and the kids love their Wee-Wee!!!!

Eclipse