Little baby getalong

Not only am I a terrible blogger but I also am
kind of a creepy mom. This little baby turned
a year on the 2nd and I'm just now getting around
to telling ya'll about it. (how do you like my usage
of the popular Southerism?) At least I'm doing
it now, right? Right!
I cannot tell you what a joy it has been to have
Madelin be a part of our ever expanding family!
You know when I found out that James and I were
expecting 21 months ago I was completely knocked
off my rocker. It suffices me to say that I was a very
stressed, unhappy momma for awhile. Anyone that
had close contact with me at that time could testify.
But then an amazing thing occurred, I actually met her!
What a wonderful spirit she has brought into our lives.
I honestly can say that I can't imagine NOT having her
here. It's interesting that for 9 straight months you fret
and wonder what it'll be like to have the extra little
body in your home and then all of the sudden it's like
you were never really with out them at all.
Now she's all sorts of crazy busy! Hence the pics
down below. She picked up the whole walking thing
recently and will not be stopped! She also has
developed a temper to match her hair. It's incredible!
I never knew such a sweet looking baby could be so
insane with rage....it's kinda scary. Oh and she
mastered the cake thing. She's pretty much a pro at it.
She wore that cake down to the very last crumb!
Go figure.

Lovely Autumn

I'm in love with fall! Seriously, as soon as the temperature
drops and the leaves turn I'm all about pumpkins, apples,
cinnamon and Halloween costumes! I also seem to turn into
some sort of retro house wife. All of the sudden I have a
strange desire to can fruit and sew all of my children's clothes.
I also get a hankerin' to scrub my house from top to bottom with
a tooth brush. I often wonder if maybe I was born in the wrong
era but then I remind myself that I don't actually have that much
motivation...so I'm glad that I wasn't born back in the 20's. I'd be
such a disgrace!

Among other things, I really love to take my kids to the Fruit and
Berry Patch. Evelyn and Caitlin accompanied me this year. It's
always such a treat for us to go. I get to buy my apples in bushels
and they get free license to filthify themselves. It's great! I always
leave feeling slightly nostalgic. It's that "born in the wrong era
thing" again. Oh well.

Here we go!

Ok so for any of you interested the Fly Lady blog thingy
starts today! I'm sorry for my convoluted way of getting
the point across in that last post. Here's the deal. My lovely
auntie and I are starting a blog game. The incentive? Organizing
and keeping up with the mundane AND actually learning to enjoy
it! She and I will take turns posting tasks but we also are taking
part in participating. If you decide to join us in our quest just perform
each task and then leave a comment. It should be fun. There's a link
in my "Places to go". Hope to hear from all y'all!

Attention all Fly Babies

So most of you all are probably wondering, "What The?"

Let me explain...About a year and a half ago I read a 

little book called "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley. 

This is a must read for anyone that feels like they're being 

swallowed wholeby their house work. As for me I didn't 

need it one bit...hah joking. I have a startling confession to 

make....I struggle with prefectionism. Some of you may think, 

"wow what a cocky girl this Amanda is". Negative my friends.

 Perfectionism is kind of a bad thing. I found a list that proves

 that point. 

Perfectionism is:

• the irrational belief that you and/or your environment must

   be perfect

• the striving to be the best, to reach the ideal, and to never

   make a mistake

• an all pervasive attitude that whatever you attempt in life must 

  be done letter perfect with no deviation, mistakes, slip ups, or 

  inconsistencies

• a habit developed from youth that keeps you constantly alert 

  to the imperfections, failings, and weakness in yourself and 

  others

• a level of consciousness that keeps you ever vigilant to any 

  deviations from the norm, the guidelines, or the way things are

   ``supposed to be''

• the underlying motive present in the fear of failure and fear of 

  rejection, i.e., if I am not perfect I will fail and/or I will be

   rejected by others

• a reason why you may be fearful of success, i.e., if I achieve

   my goal, will I be able to continue, maintain that level of 

  achievement

• a rigid, moralistic outlook that does not allow for humanism

   or imperfection

• an inhibiting factor that keeps you from making a commitment

   to change habitual, unproductive behavior out of fear of not

   making the change ``good enough''

• the belief that no matter what you attempt it is never 

  ``good enough'' to meet your own or others' expectations

  
  

 So what do you think? I mean I'm not a clinical case or anything 

like that, but I have a tendancy of being unneccesarily hard on

myself....I also have a feeling that I'm not the only one and that

many of you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

  Now, what the heck does all that have to do with this charming 

book I spoke of? Well...the whole gist of the book is learning to deal

with this problem by organizing your life and learning how to love 

your self. Sounds good huh? 

  Sheesh, as if I hadn't already taken up enough space, now I'll 

get to the point of this post. My good friend (and aunt) are putting

together a blog game/ help center for fly babies (read the book and

you'll know). If you haven't read the book, no prob. Each day we'll 

post 1-2 tasks to perform. There will also be a weekly task. Kristi 

and I both thought this would be fun. It'll be great to have more 

than just us to share in the joy of....uh...cleaning? If any of you get a 

chance to read the book you should. It's very inspiring...at least it 

was for me.

  I'm gonna be done now. Love ya all and if you'd like to join us just

let me know.

Crazy Name Tag

1. Your rock star name (first pet, current car): Ebony Caravan

2. Your gangsta name (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Caramel Skimmer

3. Your Native American name (favorite color, favorite animal): Green Tiger

4. Your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Williams Blackfoot

5. Your Star Wars name (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Penam

6. Superhero name (2nd favorite colour, favorite drink): Pink Hot Chocolate 

7. NASCAR name (the first names of your grandfathers): David Lonny 

8. Stripper name (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Polo Chocolate

9. TV weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Kaleikini Kalamazoo   

10. Spy name (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Autumn Gerbera 

11. Cartoon name: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Apple Tee

.12. Hippie name (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Muffin Dogwood

I tag any one that wants to participate!

Please don't tell me that's in her mouth!!

 I guess I'm having a bit of bloggers block.

I thought I would share a funny story...I hope like

crazy that this content doesn't offend anyone. But 

like I said, it's a funny story.

So, my baby is at the age where everything is in her

mouth. Lately, her favorite thing is a Littlest Pet Shop 

Frog that she carefully and lovingly places in her mouth.

It's a common occurance for her to crawl all over the 

house with that poor frog hanging out of her little gob!

We have tried really hard to keep the bathroom door 

closed for this very reason...I don't care how often a 

person cleans their bathroom...it's still a bathroom!

Dirty, dirty things happen in bathrooms and I just have

this thing with letting my baby, who tastes EVERYTHING,

crawl around on the bathroom floor. With that being said, the 

other day James & I walked into the bathroom to find her

with a box of tampons scattered across the the floor, one in 

each hand, and one in her mouth. She looked up at us like,

"what did you expect lady?" I couldn't help laughing my 

bottom off. It was just so disturbingly funny. Of course I 

ripped the stuff away from her before taking a picture. 

Oh well. You can picture it in your mind right? 

            

Why is it that kids have such an attraction to these personal, 

embarassing little devices? When my youngest brother was

really little he used to unwrap them and place them on each 

finger. Or some times we would find him with little pillows stuck

all over his scrawny body. I'm sure that you all can relate to this

strange phenomenon...if not, I apologize for this horrible post and

I'll try to post something a little more proper next time.

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.