Etsy made my dreams come true!

Ok so the title of this post is completely and utterly full of cheese.
Oh well. I guess you'll just have to put up with me. So I've always
had this terrible habit of always wanting to try new hobbies. The
problem is that I never really stick with one. So I'm not that great
at any one thing. A lady at church once told me that she considers
herself a dabbler. I've decided that that's exactly what I am. I,
Amanda Pendley, am a dabbler.

Well A couple of months ago I started browsing Etsy. (Those of 

you who are not familiar with Etsy need to become aquainted 

because it is an awsome site!!) So I created a profile with the 

intent of selling some...uh..stuff. Unfortunately it took quite awhile 

to decide what to sell. I ended up settling on finger puppets. I'm also 

working on a doll pattern. So I'm mostly going to stick with toys.

It's been alot of fun and yesterday I made my first sale! Woohoo!!

So that's it. I'm officially an Etsy store owner and it's been so much
fun. I'm not nearly as seasoned as most of the folks on there. I mean
I only have one thing listed right now, but still.

A quarter of a century already?!

Wow, I guess today is my birthday. It's strange that I just keep getting older and older and yet somehow I never feel a day past 18. For some reason (don't ask me why) when I pictured the more mature me I thought I'd be...uh...more mature....or something like that. But nope! I'm still the same old me (haa..old.). I still don't like tomatoes or avacados. I still adore skittles, dum-dums, and gummi worms. And I still don't have a clue as to what I want to be when I grow up. Of course having a few babies has helped me age a little. Especially when the 5 year old can't even fathom all years it's taken to make up my life. Sheesh!! I did have somewhat of a panic attack when I realized that I'm now on the fast track to 30! I'm over it now, but it sure gave me

a fright. Well, on the sunny side, I had a great birthday. James took a day off (sort of) so that I could take a day off. It's really all I wanted. What a great guy to make all my hopes and dreams come true. And of course, what birthday would be complete without a little Office to tuck me in.

Ahh this is good!

A little bit of Family time

It's always amazing to me what just a little bit of
good old family time can do.
James and I have tried really hard to make sure
we have some sort of family night on Mondays. All too
often we slack in the planning and preparation end of it
and wind up popping a movie in and calling it good.
I suppose it's better than nothing.....but still.
Last night, however, DH (dear husband) and I decided
that it was time to shake things up a bit. So we loaded the
kids in the car and ventured out to the Fruit and Berry
Patch to pick us some blueberries.
When we got to the farm they told us that most of the
b.berries were gone but that we might still be able to find
some. It was pretty slim pickin's but you know it's a good
family home evening when things go awry. We set a goal of
getting at least enough berries for blueberry muffins. So
we searched and James kept telling the girls to keep their
"eyes peeled" to which they responded, "We're good at
peeling our eyes, huh dad." They actually did a great job.
Spencer of course was mostly a hindrance than a help.
I don't think we got home with any that he picked. Yah, they
pretty much all ended up in his mouth and so on and so forth.
It's too bad that he was picking all the red ones. sigh...Oh well.
Wow..I'm a little long winded today...for me that is. I guess
the point I started making was that besides all the crazy things
that my family does I'm really grateful to have them. And
spending time with them last night really was a joy, even though
we all ended up with a million and a half bug bites!

Just a few tears!

Well, we are officially a part of the public school
system! Evelyn had her first day last Thursday.
She was a little nervous before we left but was fine
once we got into her classroom. Actually, the day
before she had a sort of mini tantrum because I
wouldn't let her ride the bus on her first day.
(independent little stinker) There were a couple
of tears but it wasn't when you might have thought.
The tears actually sprang as I was picking her up
from school. I guess it finally sank in then.

I have to say that having a baby grow up
is a strenuous hardship on a mom! This is so
cliche but I'm going to say it anyway, it wasn't
that long ago that this little girl was in diapers!
Now she's a big girl that would really like to ride
the bus to school. Unfortunately for her, she has
a really uptight mom. It's a strange phenomenon
for me....all of the sudden I feel like I'm a grown-up.
More responsible, if you will. The weirdest part is
that I think I'm ok with it.

Oh just a side note...for all you moms that haven't
had the joy of sending a little one to school yet.
Don't worry too much about buying the most fabulous,
trendy clothes for them because chances are they'll just
want to wear the stuff you got on sale at Wal-mart.

A trip down memory lane

Ok...so my sis in law had this fun little thing on her blog and I thought it would be interesting to play. Hopefully you can think of something non-embarrassing...for my sake! However, if all of the things you think of happen to be strange and spastic, I'll understand. Have fun and enjoy.

Directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Name Eight

Eight Things I Have A Passion For:

1.The Gospel

2.My family

3.Art

4.Music/Singing

5.Sewing clothes

6. Baking

7.Reading

8.Trying new food



Eight Things I Would Like To Do Before I Die:


1. Go to Ireland and England

2. Make a "Baked Alaska"

3. Start a buisness sewing stuff....that's right, stuff!

4. Go to Washington DC

5. Learn how to reupholster....so that it actually looks good

6. Learn how to make my own sewing patterns

7. Do my family history

8. Write a song


Eight Things I Say A Lot:

1. "No!"

2. "OH NO SPENCER!!" ( we're potty training)

3. "Umm"

4. "Whatever" (I know...total valley girl, right?)

5. "Hooray" (again...potty training)

6. "That's true"

7. "That's awsome"

8.


Eight Books I Have Read Recently:

1. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

2. The Secret Life of Bees ( Sue Monk Kidd)

3. Alabama Moon (?)

4. She Walks These Hills (Sharyn Mccrumb)

5. Suprised by Joy ( C.S. Lewis)

6. Twilight series (Stephanie Meyer)

7. Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)

8. Currently reading, The Giver (Lois Lowery)


Eight Movies I Have Seen Eight Times:

1. Ever After

2. Oklahoma

3. My Fair Lady

4. Holes

5. Toy Story

6. The Best Two Years

7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

8. Monsters Inc.


Eight Bloggers I’ll Tag

1. Amber

2. Marca

3. Laura

4. Marie

5. Kami

6. Amy

7. Nikki

8. Aubrey

The monster...that is to say my daughter.

I'm afraid there's a monster running amok at my
house! Of course she only pops up occasionally but
there nonetheless. See...above is the adorable Caitlin
we all know and love. Some of you may wonder, "why
in the world would her mother do such a thing to
that poor little girls' hair?" Now here is where the
monster comes into the story. Just a week ago I was
at choir practice and as I walk in the door I'm accosted
by all sorts of shouting and chaos. Quite normal I assure
you. One comment caught my ear however..."Honey, you
really need to keep the scissors up where the kids can't
reach them."HUH?!! Scissors?!!
That terrible little monster came into MY home
and terrorized poor Caitlin by cutting off her beautiful
golden locks 3 inches from her scalp! And on the Sabbath
no less!

I did what I could to tidy up the mess that was Caitlin's
hair. I also (surprisingly) managed to get a good shot
of the creature.

Now tell me that doesn't look like a mug shot!!
Hopefully we've seen the last of her!