I Made it Monday...

With Valentines day on the horizon

I felt it necessary to get a move on 

some red and pink craftiness.

I have been a day late and a dollar short these days. 

Adding Christmas things to my etsy shop

(2 weeks before Christmas)

and now

 just beginning to make Valentines day things

(2 weeks before Valentines day)

This sight for sore eyes may have a bit to do with it...

I CAN BARELY MOVE IN HERE!!! 

My friend Becky told me about this special quote she saw on pinterest...

(I ixnayed the itshay)

I suppose, if the shoe fits...

Amidst all the madness and stacks,

I have managed to make a couple little Love Day things.

Love is a many splendored thing...

Doin' a Drive By...

I literally lol'd when I wrote this post title.

Did you ever do a drive by?

Not in the gang banger-ie 

sort of way,

but in the "I totally have a crush on this boy 

and maybe I can get a glimpse of him or anything that pertains to him" 

sort of way.

My friends and I used to do these kinds of drive by's 

in high school.

I remember one instance when

 "he" was actually outside 

(with his mother mind you)

when we drove by. 

We simultaneously dropped to the floor of the car, 

laughing hysterically, 

hoping and praying

 "he" hadn't seen us.

Oh the shame...

I'm pretty sure this sort of thing is called 

STALKING
 now a days...

good times :)

So on with the real post...

Today I had a ton of errands to run

 before my kids got out of school.

I filled up the car, then headed out to conquer my list.

On the way to my first stop,

I saw the thrift store looming in the distance. 

I haven't been to said thrift store in weeks.

I got super burned out after intense months 

of hunting and digging,

preparing for my holiday shows.

 I was just going to keep on driving,

but that didn't happen...

You see, antique stores and thrift stores,

they have a certain gravitational pull on me.

I literally can't do a drive by.

But like I've said before,

I sort of have a love hate relationship with them.

When I find something awesome,

they're awesome.

When I spend hours sifting through crap-o-la and find nothing,

they too are crap-o-la!

Guess I'm fickle that way.

Today was one of those days.

Crappity-crap thru and thru!

I found one plastic giraffe and one plastic horse to craft with,

PERIOD.

Man it was slim pick-ins. 

To add insult to injury,

there was one cash register open 

with about 50 people waiting in line.

(ok, so perhaps not 50, 

the suggestion of 50 was for dramatic effect)

After 15 fidgety minutes in line,

I remembered that I hadn't looked in the collectables section.

(and I use the term "collectables" loosely) 

I'm uncertain who or what the deciding factor is in

deeming these things keepsakes.

Whomever or whatever it is... 

He or she needs a thorough chalk talk from

those chaps over at the antiques roadshow!

Geesh!

This trip really couldn't get any worse,

 so I got out of line and headed back to the

"shiny, special, rare, not grossly overpriced, under lock and key and behind glass" collectables section.

And there is where I had to eat my sarcastic words!

These 2 matryoshka Russian nesting dolls were staring up at me from underneath that sordid glass...

why hello little gems, 

I have come to rescue you from this glass prison,

filled with all kinds of riff-raff not suitable to be amongst you...

 To add to my elation,

all the little dolls in decreasing size were inside!

Oh how I love that each of these little ladies has a personality of her own

oh how I love these little fellows (but oh how  I wish they weren't a set of  quints)

and I am beyond thrilled when something still has 

the original marking/tag on it...

...actually

Made in Russia

and I will happily pay $5.00.

So my lesson learned today...

If at first you don't succeed 

try try again.

OR

If after lots and lots of grimy digging,

dig a little more...

p.s.
I found this sweet little vintage children's book too, I forgot

Remember a Dream...

When I picked my children up from school on Friday,

they were all a buzz about the discussions they had in class

about Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Mom, black people couldn't even go into restaurants

 with white people, that is so weird!"

"Mom, black people couldn't even go into the same bathroom

as white people, can you believe it?"

"Mom, black kids couldn't go to the same school as white kids, that is so crazy!"

Then my little six year old Smith, started to relay the story he learned in class about Ruby Bridges.

"Mom, there was this little girl named Ruby

 and she gotted to go to the white people school.

 But guess what? 

Police had to walk with her 

and people were yelling mean stuff to her

 and calling her bad words

 and throwing lotta stuff at her.

 And Mom, guess what? 

A lady spit on her.

 And that is so gross and rude."

As I listened to my sweet baby telling me this story 

my eyes welled up and my heart stung.

I could see this tiny little girl

surrounded by federal marshals

walking through a human tunnel of hatred

into a school where she wasn't truly welcomed

into a classroom filled with empty desks

because by law she could be there now

but no one else wanted to be there now.

But she was brave.

My heart stung again 

as I envisioned my little ones 

taking this same walk.

People having so much hate in their hearts for my own children.

Children that they loathed...

because of their skin color. 

Children that they wouldn't allow their own to play with...

because of their skin color.

Children that they didn't know were 

"kind and smart and important..."

because of their skin color.

But my children would be brave.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream.

Teach your children 

about his dream, 

embrace his dream,

remember his dream... 

I Made it Monday...

I'm working on some

 Valentines day things

to put in my etsy shop,

but alas 

they are not finished.

 I didn't want another Monday to go by

without an "I Made it Monday"

so I'm posting some pictures 

of a few of the "birdcage dolls"

that I've made...

The Queen Bee

 and

The Circus Princess

The lady at the antique store

(where I bought the dolls) 

told me that they were from the 50's and 60's.

She said the brunette one was a Revlon doll.

I have no idea the significance of that

as I am in no way shape or form a "collector."

This would probably explain my reasoning

 for sawing them in half..

Which in the doll world is most certainly a form of blasphemy.

So my apologies to all the 

plangonologists

(i googled that)

for dichotomizing 

(googled that one too)

the dolls.

I think they quite enjoy being cage girls,

makes them feel more fancy...

2012...

There are so many things in life

 that we simply can't control.

So my hope 

for this new year

is to focus on the things I can.

To be more accepting

and

to be less judgmental.

To take more chances

and 

to worry less about failures.

To triumph in others' differences

instead of being afraid of them.

  

To focus on the ones I hold dear,

and sometimes 

even the ones I don't hold as close.

To use more of my right brain

without losing the good sense of my left.


To remember that the small things 
are often the most important things
in the grand scheme of things.

to do more

and

  to be more...

So

"Happy New Year" 

to you and yours

from me and mine...