In the 70s Groove

It has become a fun part of our morning to share the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com.  Today's word is schlemiel.  Doesn't that make you want to sing?  Yes, I looked up schlimazel next.  The bad part was that this morning I didn't get to share the Word of the Day at the table, so I sang alone.  Not that any of my kids would've gotten the reference.

Next, I hopped in the car to come to work and KC and the Sunshine Band blasted me.  So fun!  

Laverne and Shirley Show Opener

schlimazel

[shli-mah-zuh l] 

 

• Word Origin

noun, Slang.

an inept, bungling person who suffers from unremitting bad luck.

Snow Days

Frontgate

The boys' band, Frontgate, had their first paying gig this month at Ben and Ari's.  They've been invited back to play again this Spring!  They debuted their first original too!  So proud of them!

Settlers of Catan Pirates

We've had plenty of slower paced days this winter which has enabled us to play lots of board games!

Behind the house

I took this shot from our window seat.  I'd just come in myself, started a crockpot of Russian tea, put lunch on and decided to blog.  Well, everything but the blog was completed.  NOW, I can check it off my list.  Whew!

New Family Member

Nellie sporting the sweater I made.

H always wanted a dog.  I promised about seven years ago that we could have a dog when we had a house of our own.  Little did I know that we'd only live in the new house 3 months before moving again.  We expanded our little family of 2 to 5 but that number didn't include a dog.  (In all fairness, I guess I should mention that we did gain 2 cats for a grand total of 3.)  When we moved (again) this summer, H got a dog.  Well, sort of.  It is Mom II's puppy, Nellie.  H says she's only half dog.

Hey, Baby! It's Cold Outside!

B helping build a church in Belize 2011

Just over three years ago we were in Belize contemplating living in a third-world country.  That part of life seems so far away, especially on mornings like today when the reality of 3 degrees and snow and ice glare at me from the other side of the window.  

Now we are business owners where I am the one out of the house and B stays home to work.  Wow!  Things sure are different!

B plowing the drive with the new (to us) tractor last week

If we didn't have God, I'm not sure how we would have handled or that we could have handled the extreme swings in life over the last 6 years.  

Holiday Wrap Up

Brother-in-law and niece playing carols for us to sing along

karaoke on New Year's Eve 

H-man and I snuggled up

Almost the entire gang

Blurry picture of the brothers with Mom

Sweetness

Scratching his head...where did everyone go?

Ugly Baby

Okay all  you yarn crafters and quilters that I know and love, don't you feel a certain connection with projects when you are finished with them?  Seasoned crafters realize that at some point you have to find good homes with your completed craft because, lets face it, you really can only have so many afghans, quilts, baby booties for no babies, scarves, table runners, etc.  Sometimes we sell our creations and sometimes we get lucky and someone has a birthday, or Christmas, or graduation, or other gift-giving life event so that our "babies" have a good home.  On rare occasions, there are some items that are unique enough and someone gave you the perfect yarn and you plan on keeping that treasure all to yourself.  But, what happens when, like me, you've spent the better part of the summer through fall on this item in your free time and it looks like this?

I love the yarn.  The picture on the pattern makes this neck shawl look so cool.  I blocked it the way I was supposed to, but I think it looks like a clown bib.  Help!  I don't have a circus family member to give this to but I don't want to give it away and I can't think of anyone in their right mind who would pay money for it.

What do you do with your ugly babies?

Truvy's Trichology

After taking some business courses in high school and being impressed by Truvy and her salon in Steel Magnolias, I decided that I wanted to own and operate my own hair salon one day.  (I also decided that my daughter's name would be Shelby, but my cousin beat me to the punch.)  I graduated high school and enrolled in college with a concentration on Business Management.  

Life took some unexpected twists and turns and I ended up finishing one year of college while continuing to work at the hardware store job I'd started in high school.  I worked there until a few months after getting married.  The business "bug" never quite left me.  I excelled at the hardware store and was put in charge of placing the weekly orders, checking in the stock, making special orders for customers and overseeing the cleaning department and I was allowed to extend that department to include specialty orders and attentions and accounts for the new local factories in town.  

Once again, I made choices that focused my attentions elsewhere and further away from my dream of owning a place that felt like Truvy's.  Often I fantasized about going to Beauty School and becoming a stylist--or beautician as it was called when I was younger.  (Now they are "designers".)

Here I am at 40-something and I feel like God has brought me back to where I was supposed to have been had I made different choices at an earlier age--the right choices.  Now I have a salon.  Trichology Salon.  I am at work right now and I love hearing the chatter and giggles and seeing the TLC that my staff gives each guest that walks into our salon.  I may not have the name Truvy, but I sure am blessed to have her salon.  

Trichology Salon
Clay Terrace Mall
Carmel, IN