Friday, February 17, 2012

A Day in My Crazy Life

        I have been experiencing a writers block of sorts lately. I have been racking my brain for a topic,an idea, but nothing really seemed to come to mind,certainly nothing blog worthy. I just haven't been in a very creative mood. I guess you could say I have the blahs! I know this will pass and it has too because I have too much to do. I sure hope I don't lose followers or even worse bore to death those who stick with me.
I am very grateful for the fact that I work with my family, it does make a difference. On top of everything we have to do to settle my Dad's estate and clear out his condo, it's tax time! Not my favorite time of year to say the least.
So in the mist of all this there was one day this week I had to laugh. My oldest son had an idea of how we could better use Quickbooks so he was trying to show me. Well My brain just wasn't in the mood to learn any new tricks, yes I am an old dog!
You see at the shop I am it for the office staff. Amy works when she can,but she has the kids and that makes it tough for her. So I do most all of it. I answer the phones, I set the appointments, I do the payroll, I pay the bills. So as an example of what our phone system could sound like......for appointments press 1 for Rebecca....for human resources press 2 for Rebecca....for accounts payable press 3 for Rebecca....for accounts receivable press 4 for Rebecca.......for complaints press 5 for Will...hahaha well that part I will pass on!

On this particular day Amy had just arrived and so had my youngest son Jason (right). Well before I knew it everyone was in my little office trying so hard to teach this hard old brain of mine with new ideas. Nope just wasn't the best day for it!
Soon I was on verge of screaming when Amy handed me a tootsie roll sucker and we decided to capture this tender moment of me and my little boys. They are a couple of goof balls and thank goodness for it because it does help to laugh, especially at times when you don't think you can.
 I also had several nice surprises for Valentines Day,one of which was a delish box of chocolates and some beautiful pink roses. There were more roses when I got home from my hubby and some assorted yummy chocolates from the grand-kiddos.
I also wanted to totally veer off topic here and share a couple of photos with my grandsons during the plays they performed in last December. I had intended on writing about the holidays and the fun things we did, but all that changed on December 28th.
So much fun to have both boys in A Christmas Carol at Floyd Central HS
It's always a great moment when my teenage grandson gives me a hug!
Tax time will pass, and with hope, prayers, and of course lots of chocolate I will clear the fog from my brain and then my creative juices will hopefully start flowing again....... I sure hope you all will stick with me while I work through this, and regain my passion for creating toys and blogging!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Paint By Number Art Idea

             While stopping by some blogs I haven't had time to visit lately I found an awesome idea. It's another one of those  "why didn't think it" idea!! Ponder and Stitch a wonderful blog I discovered a while back from an Etsy team we both belong to. This idea I think everyone will go crazy over. So many times I have walked through a thrift store and noticed stacks and stacks of unloved and just plain ugly framed art. What a great idea to turn these discarded pieces into what looks like fun paint by number pieces. Paint by number pieces have made a return to the collector scene....and who on earth would have who'd thunk it!

This has me so excited to take a trip to our local Goodwill to see what I might find to re-create some fun art pieces. You can also go to the site where the entire tutorial can be seen. Under the Sycamore is a brand spanking new blog discovery for me, and I can't wait until later when I can steal some time to go back and check it out further.
I just had an idea. Wouldn't it be fun if Goodwill or other local thrift stores hosted  re-create classes? Classes where you could learn creative ideas on how to re-purpose and re-use items you find in their stores. For all I know they may already have them, but if not it could be a blast!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Another Clever Place To Create

Zakka you've done it again!! Check this out on her blog zakka life.

 She found a fun and creative web site that allows you to create word clouds from your url, or twitter feed  and etc. The web site is called tagxedo . It looks really interesting and it made me wonder if this could be used to create a special valentine gift for someone. I must admit I haven't tried it yet but I certainly will very soon. They show lots of examples of what all you can do with your word clouds. She said it's fairly simple and easy to use......that's good because if not I will need my teenage grandson to help me! I am not from the computer generation.