Someone else's (creepy) shoes!

I wanted to add a picture of a funny pair of shoes for this post, and I found these. How creepy are they?!?
Tonight for Enrichment we have been asked to bring a pair of shoes that have a story behind them, or hold special meaning to us for whatever reason. I've been turning this over in my mind for a few days, trying to decide which pair to bring. I have lots of shoes. I don't want to count them because it seems like a daunting task. They are all in a jumbled-up pile in my closet. The closet is too small to lay them all neatly out in pairs. Well, I do it occasionally,
but I have to keep layering pair upon pair. Then when I am in a hurry I just destroy my neat piles searching for the pair that I want to wear that day. Anyway, I digress. I finally decided to take Kacey's first pair of shoes instead of a pair of my own. She wore them for the first time when she was 8 weeks old, at a family reunion in FL. They are itty bitty white cotton mary janes with embroidered flowers on the top. They are only 3 inches long. It's hard to remember her that small now. She is growing so fast, and is tall for her age anyway. I suspect that she will be taller than me, which I suppose isn't such a stretch considering that I am 5'3".
Do you have a pair of shoes that hold special meaning to you?

Tootie Fraces is a good, good girl!

I have to tell a little story about Tootie Frances. She is very well liked in her class, and the little girls in her class often compete for her attention. One of these is a girl named Zoe. Last week Kacey came home from school with 3 Littlest Pet Shop animals and was so excited to tell me that Zoe just gave them to her at school. If you have a little girl you are probably familiar with The Littlest Pet Shop. They are itty bitty bobble head animals. They are also $5 each. I told Kacey that I didn't think Zoe's mom would be happy if she knew that Zoe was giving away her toys at school. I wanted her to give them back, but she got really upset and said that Zoe gave them to her and she didn't want to give them back. I let it go for a little while, and then a couple days later she brought home another one that Zoe had given her. I had a talk with her this time, and told her that it wasn't right to keep them. I said that maybe the only reason Zoe was giving her her toys was because she felt like that was the only way that Kacey would like her. I think that made her feel bad, because the next day she took them back. She said that she asked Zoe if she was only giving her toys to make her like her. She said that Zoe looked down and nodded her head yes. Kacey gave her a hug and told her that she didn't have to give her toys to be her friend, and she gave them back. I was so proud of her!

It's heeltastic!

I like to think of myself as an honest person. When I was growing up, my mom always knew when I wasn't telling the truth. I don't know if it was her mother's intuition or if I was just a terrible liar. Anyway, because I am an honest person I guess I just assume that everyone else is too. The funny thing is that even when someone has lied to me over and over again I still believe everything they say! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

I also have a terrible tendency to believe that all "as seen on tv" products will work just like the spokes person says they will. Imagine my disappointment when MightyMendIt didn't keep my broken mug together, and when The Bender Ball didn't leave me with abs of steel (okay, that might have been partially my fault). I am finally pleased to announce that one product has lived up to the hype. Heeltastic is pretty great. I bought it, with only a glimmer of hope that it might actually make my heels smooth. The woman who invented it is also a chemist, which piqued my interest even more. I brought it home, slathered it on my dry cracked heels, and it worked great! As a soap maker, I am familiar with a variety of oils and waxes used to make toiletries. All of the ingredients used in Heeltastic are natural oils and waxes. No petroleum. I have been very pleased.

Have you tried any of the "as seen on tv" products?

What a bargain!!!

Country Living magazine's February issue inspired this post. It's all about bargains. I love to shop, and what is more euphoric to a die-hard shopper than finding a great deal? NOTHING. That's what. Most people (at least the ones I know) don't got around saying "hey, check out this awesome dress I got for full price!"
I have lots and lots of super awesome bargain buys, but the photo above is of one of my favorites. It is not my own photo- I went on ebay to see if I could find a photo of a dish just like mine to put on my blog. It is a pink hobnail milk glass ruffled candy dish, believed to have been made by the famous glass-maker Fenton. I paid $10 for mine at an antique/junk store and knew it was a steal! Not by much- I think the one on ebay is selling for $40. I don't care. I love it, I use it, and I look at it every day and think it is beautiful. I love pink.
What is your favorite bargain buy?

Best Present Ever!

How was your Christmas? Ours was great! I got lots of lovely things, but I have to say that the photo on the left was the best gift I got this year. Dustin and Jess are visiting from San Diego, and as a gift they had this photo blown up and framed for each of us. It was taken in July when we were all visiting Hill and Frank in Mesa, AZ this summer. There are not many photos out there of Nate smiling, and even fewer of him laughing! I love my family.

Mr. Alligator?!?

The thing I fear most in this world are alligators. I'm not kidding. Masked assailant waking me from my sleep and demanding all my money? No. Natural disasters like earthquakes and tornados? Not in the least. Only alligators leave me paralyzed with fear.

Once Joey and I went to Jekyll Island just to drive around and check it out. As we drove slowly around a bend in the road, I spotted something walking on the bike trail. I made Joey back up a bit so that I could see it again. Yes, it was an alligator, out for an afternoon stroll. My guess is that it was hoping to take an innocent walker or bike rider by surprise. My pre-school kids used to love that story.

I also dream about alligators. When I am in a state of terrible stress or sadness I will dream that I am standing on a rock in a river or lake, and that I can see hundreds upon hundreds of them under the water. I am stuck on the rock, and if I want to get off I will have to get in the water. Again- I am paralyzed with fear and never get off the rock before I wake up. Isn't that weird? What are you afraid of? And don't say something bad happening to your kids because we all worry about that. I'm talking about something physical, not hypothetical!

The reason for the season

Does anyone else feel that this rotten kid is the poster child for the Christmas season nowadays? What happened to Jesus?