sevenchicks

spring fairytale sale

by singerchick~We are getting all geared up for our Fairytale Spring Consignment Sale.  By we I mean babychick, socialchick, plannerchick and yours truly.  You know what's funny challenging this sale is the fact that three out of four of us are pregnant.  So, yes we will be soliciting some much needed help from our strong husbands and a couple of other strong and special individuals.  Cause let me tell you, this non prego chick isn't anywhere near strong enough.  I should get to the gym.  Should being the operative word. However, I do set up a mean set of big heavy brown tables, right planner?  

So anyway the sale starts Thursday afternoon, February 25 with drop off.  The pre sales are Friday night and the public sale opens bright and early (8 a.m. to be exact.  We learned are lesson last sale.  No more 7 a.m.) Saturday, February 27.  Check out our website at www.fairytalesale.com for more information.

We would love to have you consign with us or shop with us.  Shoot, we wouldn't mind if you just stopped by to say Hi.   

they say a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

 by photochick~ But really. Sometimes you just need a few, or more, words. There have been so many questions about my snow photos on facebook, so I thought I'd elaborate before I posted a few here. Shocking. I know.

Snow Day 2010 was more than we could have ever expected. The snow was expected on Friday and with every day that passed Punkin became more and more excited. He watched the news religiously to hear the updates. Finally Friday arrived. My husband doesn't work on Fridays and I had taken off for reasons unrelated. Everything came together perfectly and unexpectedly.

We woke up Friday morning to reports that it was already snowing just north of us. The forecast still called for snow in our neck of the woods, but as the day progressed the rain was steadfast. At about 11 a.m. Mr. Photo called his cousin in Andalusia, AL (justa few miles north of us) to check on the snowfall there and to our delight he relayed that not only was it snowing, it was several inches thick. He was not exaggerating.

As we neared Andalusia around noon the snow grew thicker and thicker. Everywhere we looked snow blanketed the landscape and it was falling so steadily that high windshield wipers were required to maintain visibility to drive.

Finally the moment arrived. We pulled into the cousin's drive. Mr. Photo opened the door and took Punkin out to bundle him up. However, with the excitement only a four year old could feel (although his dad and grown cousin were a close second and third), he ran right out into the snow without a jacket smiled a HUGE smile and immediately fell backwards into the snow as if participating in a team building exercise. With no fear. No pause. As if playing in the snow were something he does every few days just for kicks.

A snow angel ensued seconds later. How in the world did my big boy know how to make a snow angel?? "Mom, from Oliva," he later explained as if I was crazy to think he didn't know such things.

The cousins (two grown and one kid) played in the snow for the better part of two hours. Building snowmen on the lawn, snowmen and in the middle of the road for the firetrucks to plow over, snowball fights and more snowball fights.

Such an amazingly unexpected experience for the twelth day of January 2010.

So how much snow did you all receive??

 
 

 
 
 

(apparently no one noticed that my sweatshirt was nearly over my head before we took this photo. that comes from 2 hours of wrangling a baby, who looks equally disheveled, in the snow and freezing temps!)
 
  

accepting help

by socialchick~If you are a family member or a close friend do not read this because you are tired of hearing it. Ok to the rest of the readers I am pregnant (if you forgot) and let me say I'm feeling it very strongly! I have never been one who enjoyed being pregnant but this time around has been horrible and it has gotten worse the past week. I'm having severe burning in the right part of my chest which the doctor says is tendinitis, bad upper back pains, and now I have started having pain in my left inner thigh. I'm falling apart.

I know what you are thinking. She is a baby and needs to suck it up. Well I usually have a pretty good tolerance for pain but this is just miserable. Being pregnant with the third while taking care of a toddler and a 3 year old is for the birds. So much that I'm thinking about telling the doctor to tie my tubes so I never have to do it again.

Which leads me to my title. Why is it so hard to accept help from others? Yesterday Bossychick called and asked if I needed her to come and help me clean my house (because I was fussing about how bad it was). I said no but deep down I was crying yes. Than another friend called and asked if she could cook supper or keep the girls for me and once again I said no.

So why is accepting help like accepting defeat?  I feel like people think she got her self into this so she needs to deal with it. Let me just say that I don't feel that way about other people and love to help when I am able to, so why do I feel like other people feel that way.

Last night I had a major breakdown and cried (which is very unusual for me) because Mr. Social came home and started cleaning up. I felt so guilty. I should be the one doing it. He told me on the phone yesterday to take it easy but deep down I didn't think he meant it. Call me emotional and I know he wouldn't of said it if he didn't mean it but why can't I just believe it and rest. Why do I think that he thinks I'm making it up? Why can't I accept help from my own husband?

I wasn't raised to not help people or not to accept help. I was raised by a pastor who always helps people. So what is wrong with me?  I guess I don't want to take advantage of people or impose on them.

Do you feel like accepting help is defeat? How do you do with accepting help? What do you do to try to help people who won't accept it? Let me know your thoughts on the subject.

the joys of growing up

by sassychick ~ My son has learned to whistle.  Yep.  Which would be one of those “milestones” I would happily embrace, right?  Well I’m darn close to taping his mouth shut. 

Whistling, constantly.  This has come on the heels of him perfecting the enunciation of the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious which lasted until I had to pull the car over and explain what “over use of a word” was.  Im pretty sure I did a fist pump against the armrest.  Im human.  Deal with it.

I'm also pretty sure I need to hire a tutor.  Not because my children are not doing well, but because if I have to do another second of homework this might start sounding rational.  And Yes.  That wasn't rational.  Please send all hate mail to pleaseunderstandthisisjustajoke@getasenseofhumor.com

But can I just say what a lot of people are thinking, I didn't become a teacher for a reason.  Im not patient.  Im not nice when I have to instruct someone and they don't pick up on it after the tenth time Ive explained it. 

I don't understand how you can spell astronaut (yep, I used spell check on this word) correctly and get stumped on THE.  BTW, both my kids confuse THE and A.  Just sayin.  Frustrating.

I love my children and there are MANY things I will have to go over COUNTLESS times...LIKE saying yes mam...Which, might I had, I have seen a 3 year old say without having to be prompted EVERY SINGLE TIME. 

Parenting is difficult.  I think we try to be all positive about it, especially to new parents, because if we told the truth, we'd scare the crap out of them.  This is a subject where truth needs to come in SMALL DOSES.  Or there will be no more kids on earth.

Its NOT just 13 years of school then possible college...Its 13 plus 4 plus another 13 plus however long it takes that stinking last kid we had to get through school.  And I guarantee you'll at some point say, did we really need another kid???  We were victims of false advertising. 

And this is the real kicker. Shouldn't you be smarter as you've progressed?  Im pretty sure I wouldn't pass 3rd grade FCAT.  I think my kids "hero worship" of their parents subsided a bit when we took their math papers to the computer to look up the answers.  Or when we sent a corrected paper that we checked back to school and missed a few.  

NOTE: When the teacher says, "he did really well on that homework assignment, with the exception of a couple, smile, nod and say, he's doing better every day!" turn.  walk away quickly, lest she find out you insisted that was the correct answer.  And at one point said, "IM 30 Bray, I THINK I KNOW!" 

To Bray's teacher, who sometimes reads this blog, this was a "hypothetical situation".  Don't know ANYONE who has experienced this, personally.

nana's day

by singerchick~ Grandparents are a great treasure.  I'm discovering this more as I get older and I'm thinking how I miss chats with Grandma or Papa's larger than life personality or how I'm not able to share the joy of my babies with them.  I miss them and it makes me appreciate my Nana even more.

Nana is a Southern lady through and through; committed to her family, standing by her husband, care giver and strong.  A strong lady that perseveres when times are hard and emanates strength from her very nature. 

Growing up, Nana always made me feel special by doing the little things that were unique to me like making favorite foods and having peaches and cottage cheese for breakfast after spending the night with her.  That was tradition. To spend the night with her about once a week.  She mostly allowed only one grandchild at a time.  I think this was so we each had our own special time with her. 

Nana can find the good in anyone.  She is an encourager.  She's always made me feel as though I can do anything I put my mind to and I never saw a moment's doubt in her eyes.  

Her family members are not the only people she has encouraged in her life.  There are many young women whose lives she touched in a big or small way.  Nana coached high school girls sports many years ago.  Back when girls sports were just starting.  Nana pushed, encouraged, believed in and helped instill confidence in many young ladies over the years.

This Saturday, Nana is being honored for her achievements.  If you are a reader of this blog and are a former student or friend of Mrs. Mitchell, you are invited.  For more information, read about the event here.

She has given so much in her life and it's her time to do the receiving.  I'm very proud of her! 

 

cardboard testimonies

by plannerchick ~ I totally stole this from uncommonblonde, who I think stole it from somewhere else, lol. Well you know that we chicks are already partial to the song "How He Loves Us" so that on top of what this video is about did me in. I just finished sitting here crying for the past 8 minutes watching it. It ministered to me big time.

Apparantly a lot of churches have been doing this b/c when I searched on youtube a ton of these came up. All I can say is, it's only grace.

melt me

 by photochick~ Punkin just ran over to Baby Brother, kissed him on the head and said, "Baby brother, I've always loved you."

Melt this momma's heart.

its not her fault

by socialchick~ Before I start this blog let me just say that I'm going to refrain from cussing, but if you see several of these ######## in a row, know that I wanted to and probably thought the word in my head while this story was going on. After all I am human!

Monday night Mr. Social holds up this small piece of paper as he says to me, "You know this is due Sunday." Well my comment was, "I don't know what you are talking about." He then proceeds to tell me that he showed it to me a long time ago. I had no clue what he was talking about. It was a card telling me that I needed to get my drivers license renewed. Well apparently he thought that he had shown it to me but I never saw it.  To make matters worse I  had until Friday to get it and I couldn't do it any other day but Tuesday.

This would have been stressful enough all by itself, but it's not the worst part of this story. Heck no!

So I called Bossychick and asked her if she could watch little sis for me and she said yes. Before I left I tried to do it on line but it wouldn't let me. So I rush and get ready and try to disguise my double chin with some makeup so I can look somewhat nice for the dreaded license photo. So off I go with everything that the little card (that I had never seen) said for me to have. 1) birth certificate; 2) marriage license; 3)proof of social security number (Which still has my maiden name on it.  I've never gotten it changed and haven't run into any problems); 4) documentation showing your residential address (so I take a recent bill from a doctors office that has my name on it and my address).

*If you are totally perfect, holy or very religious then you should stop reading now.

So here is where my fun begins. I get to the Drivers License office with all 4 documents in my hand. The very nice lady (this is not her fault) says to me, "Do you have your birth certificate, marriage license, social security card, and two2 documents with proof of address?" 

I replied, "Two documents with my address on it? The card said one." as I start pulling out my card (that I had never seen).

She then said, "I'm sorry honey, you must have two and the card isn't proof of one and I can't over ride it. No one here can over ride it.  It is the law. You will have to come back honey."

She then hands me a piece of paper that lists all of the things they will take as proof of my address. I grabbed all of my documents and headed out the door while I was thinking to my self if you call me honey one more time like I am 10 years old then I'm going to shove this ###### paper in your mouth until you choke on it.

Got in to my van, (yes we got one that is another post) slammed my keys in the cup holder and started looking at this piece of paper that she handed me and noticed that I could have my voters registration card for proof of address. Well check, I have this. So I grab all of my documents once again, lock and close the door, and head back inside as I realized I just locked my ############# keys in the van. GREAT!

So I go back inside to the (It is not her fault) lady and start telling her what I have and that I have locked my keys in the car. Right then a state trooper walks in and I asked her if she can help me get my keys out. She lets me know real quick that they are not allowed to do that any more. (It is not her fault) So I called Mr. Singerchick and now he is headed to come and help me out.

Back to all of my forms of documentation. The sweet (not her fault) lady starts making a face as she looks at my doctor bill and says, "Honey, this won't do. It has to be a legal form of some kind."

Once again my little white card (that I had never seen) did not say that. She started spitting off things that I could use.

"Um a credit card bill?"  "No mam I don't have a credit card. "

"A mortgage statement?" "No mam I'm not on our mortgage."

"A car title?" "No mam I'm not on that either."

"A pay stub." "No mam I am a stay at home mom and don't have a job in which I receive a paycheck."

"A W2 Form?" "No mam what part of ######## I don't work do you not understand? I went to college and from there stayed at home with my kids. So no I have nothing in my name.

So then she said, "well maybe we can take this bill."  Geez!

On to the marriage license. "Um honey we can't accept your marriage license. We need the one that doesn't have the witnesses signatures on it."

"Really because that is all we have and it is a legal document. Once again your little card (that I had never seen) is not specific. This is our marriage license."

She then stated again, "well maybe we can take it."

So I'm in the clear right? Wrong!

The sweet (It is not her fault) lady tells me to go stand in front of the blue screen and get ready for my picture. So I'm standing there trying to put my tongue  to the ruff of my mouth and smile at the same time so that I don't have a double chin in my picture the rest of my life when she said, "honey we have another problem. Your SS card isn't in the same name as your license and it won't let me enter it into the system."

"So you are telling me that you have issued me a license before with this SS card but you can't now?"

"No honey it is blank because your name is not registered in our system."

"REALLY! So I have had a license for 10 years that doesn't register in your system? Are you Serious?" ( IT IS NOT HER FAULT, IT IS NOT HER FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Ok so now I'm having contractions because I'm so mad and pretty sure I could of shot someone if I would of had a gun. So I grab all of my ########## documents and head out the door when the sweet (It is not her fault) lady said, "Bless her heart!"

No she didn't! She might as well have said, "That dumb, huge, pregnant lady with a double chin needs to get it together." I was in no mood to hear, "Bless her heart."  If you have been reading the blog very long you know what "bless your heart" means to us chicks. If not then check it out here.

So now I'm waiting in the cold with no jacket for Mr. singerchick to get there with an extra set of keys. He arrives and helps me out and now I'm on the way to the SS office.

Are you ready for this? The first thing I see when I step into the office is a picture of President Obama and Vice President Biden. Now I'm pretty sure they did not make the rules for the drivers license but they are the highest up so I'm wanting to rip the pictures off the wall and stomp on them until their faces are in many tiny pieces.

So I get my number and have a seat. There are probably ten empty chairs in the room when two of the biggest ash trays walk in. (If you smoke, I'm sorry. Don't get offended.) Guess who they come and sit by? Me the pregnant lady with a great sense of smell.

It was a grandmother, a mother and her 3-4 year old son. The grandmother then says, "Put a piece of gum in his mouth to shut him up." The mother replies, "Did you hear what he told you?" The grandmother said, "Yeah, he said shut up  B*#*@."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can this day get any worse? So I sit there biting my tongue and waiting and praying for my number to get called.

I get called shortly there after and have another sweet lady. We get everything worked out. She told me that it would be two weeks before I received my new card and to please hold on while she prints my receipt. As she walked back to the little window in the wall I asked her how much I owed her and she began laughing and said it was free. So I said very nicely, "Don't laugh at me for asking how much something is because we live in a world where you get nothing free. So my question wasn't' that far fetched.

So yes I had a day from HELL! Moral of this story? Make sure you have your name on your mortgage, your correct name on SS card, and 400 types of identification that tell where you live, how long you have lived there, how many times you use the bathroom a day, and what you like to eat. Always remember it isn't the sweet lady's fault, never call someone honey, and never ever ever say "bless your heart" when something has just went wrong 453 ways.

not exactly sure why I'd post this

by sassychick ~ As the chicks know I have carried around a hideous drivers license picture for around 10 years.  This picture has haunted me, especially at work.  The day I came in for my first interview for my current job, my boss had it enlarged 8 x 10 and propped up on his desk.  I hardly made it through the interview because I had to will myself not to fly across the desk and snatch it down.  And this picture was accessible to EVERYONE I WORKED WITH.  Ill leave it at that.

I got crap about it at every turn.  I mean how hard is it to go get a new one?  Well not hard at all.  That is the depth of my laziness, by the way.  The boiling point.... my drivers license got hijacked and when I awoke on my 30th bday, facebook was plastered with THAT pic and happy birthday wishes.  ugh.

So, I believe it was socialchick that told me to post it, so, for the sake of a laugh here it is:

   

So shush it.  I did FINALLY get a new one, YAY me...and here it is: