honorable mention

(via mackenzie bee's flickr photostream)

I saw this tattoo and couldn't help but smile. I am hopeful, always hopeful for today, tomorrow and beyond.

Etsy Treasure Hunt #2 (Snowmen) WINNER

Brandy, you were the one and only entry this week. So CONGRATULATIONS dear, you won!!!

I loved your snowmen necklace (and HappyearlyAnniversary...10 years is awe-inspiring).

Check out Brandy's blog You Don't Know and her winning entry here.

not the best Christmas week ever

I don't want to delve into the subject too deeply because I don't want to sound like I'm whining. I'm a lucky lady, I know that. I have many blessings and I count them daily.

But still yet...Justin got laid off Thursday. We've been expecting it for awhile, but now that it's here the reality of it is surreal. We'll make it through. We might be spread thin and Christmas might not be all we were hoping it'd be for SidMo, but she'll understand. We have each other and that's all that really matters. In the end, that's all that will ever matter.

We're also part of the local community dealing with the rolling power outtage. It's been off since Friday; luckily we were in Columbia until yesterday. Not so lucky for us is the thought that the power might not be turned on until AFTER Christmas. Maybe if we open presents in the dark, SidMo won't notice Santa was kind of puny this year. Maybe not.

No matter though, we're perservering. We will have a wonderful Christmas, celebrating our family and our friendships. SidMo will love the gifts she gets and the time she'll spend with everyone. Even at 2-years-old I think she knows part of the reason for the season (even though she was understanding and excited about Santa and "presnits" this year). I am hopeful for the future. I know Justin will find a way to provide for us through everything. We will overcome this bump in the road the same way we overcome everything in our life: together as one, bound to each other by love, hopeful for tomorrow and all the promises a new day can bring.

Etsy Treasure Hunt #2 (Snowmen)

This will be the last Christmas-themed Etsy Treasure hunt, seeing as how Christmas is only a week away (ohmygod)!!! So have fun, guys and gals! Make sure you come back and link your post in the MckLinky system here on this post. I can't wait to see the entries (and here's an early thanks for playing along).

P.S. I'm in Columbia until Monday, so there'll be no more blogging this weekend. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Justin, SidMo & I are going to be stuffing our faces with my Mamaw Ruth's wonderful cooking, opening presents with the family, and thanking our lucky stars we made it down here with no bad weather! Also, Justin & I get to go to a Tennessee Titans game on Sunday (vs. Miami Dolphins) so look for some football pictures next week! See you all on Tuesday!

I Spy the Cyrus Parents

I'm shocked. I'm stunned. I'm speechless....almost.

I know that by even writing this, and re-posting this, I'm probably adding more fuel to the fire I'm trying to extinguish. But I just don't get things sometimes. And when things overwhelm me, I come here and explain them hoping that maybe you won't get them either, and then I won't feel so alone in my uncertainty.

Where in the world are the Cyrus parents at? Seriously, do they have their heads so far up their butts that they can't be bothered to watch their own children anymore? You know, to teach them right and wrong, appropriate from inappropriate? Have they just completely given up on parenting their children? I realize that Miley has raked in more $$$ than they'll be able to spend in three lifetimes, but seriously - they have younger childen (and older) who still need them. Heck, even Miley still needs them! But I've given up on her. Now, I'm just waiting for the Britney-esque trainwreck to ensue.

But there was is hope for Noah, whom I believe is their youngest daughter at age 9. Read that again folks, she's ONETWOTHREEFOURFIVESIXSEVENEIGHTNINE. I get that it must be pretty cool to be able to hang backstage at your big sister's concert and see all these dancers and lights and hear loud music. It's a total celebrity lifestyle; one little Noah's been around since birth, only amplified by her sister's success. She knows no other way of life. And I understand as a young girl, she must be somewhat jealous of all the attention her sister (and other famous siblings) get. Just like any other normal nine (see how I keep stressing the nine year old part here?) year old girl, I'm sure there are times when she wants the spotlight on her, if only for a moment. She wants a little recognition, too - I get that. It's something we've all dealt with before, as children ourselves and with our kids.

However, I can't believe that the following happened:

And the only thing that Noah learned from this little situation? Shake your butt, sing a little song, and the room will go crazy for you - they'll all stop to look at you, cheer for you, and talk about you for days/weeks afterwards. NOT A GOOD LESSON TO LEARN at NINE FREAKING YEARS OLD!!!!! Where are her parents? Where is someone, anyone to step in and say, "Look, nine year old Noah, you are just a kid. You shouldn't be shaking your butt in front of strangers singing a song by Akon about sex! You should be playing with Barbies, having sleepovers with your friends this late at night - not backstage at your sister's concert!"

DEEP.BREATH. IN. AND. OUT.

Now, that's my initial reaction - to jump and scream and judge and call out her no-good parents and their no-good parenting skills. Obviously, that's a knee-jerk reaction, and I should take a moment to reflect and review.

IN. AND. OUT.

Noah is only a 9 year old kid. She probably has very little clue about how intensely graphic that song is; she also probably doesn't associate those movements she's doing with the actual movements they're meant to be. She's just attention-hungry and knows that people laugh and smile at her and focus only on her for two minutes out of the day. That's about as far as her internal processing goes, I'm sure. She's an innocent here; confused by stardom and looking for a little love. I get that. I sympathize with her situation. I almost feel bad for her in a way.

But that still does not exclude Billy-MulletLoving-Ray and Mommy-Tish! Where are you people hiding at? You've already fame-whored out one child; isn't that enough? Can't we just save sweet, little Noah from all of this? You've got your $$$; you've had more than your fair share of the allotted 15 minutes. Seriously, a nine year old girl should not be looking like this:

Not in Hollywood...not anywhere on this planet.

I dare you to spot the parents in this picture. Do you see them? Look real hard. Get really close to your monitor and squint your eyes. Are you squinting? Are you two inches from your screen? Do you see them?!

Nope. Neither do I.

Etsy Treasure Hunt #1 (Snowflakes) WINNER

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

The first-ever Etsy Treasure Hunt is over - and the winner is TIFFANY from My Life as Mrs. B!!!

Thank you (to Tiffany & Brandy) for playing along. Hopefully we can more entries in this coming week's challenge!!!

Be sure to check out Tiffany's winning Etsy selection here.

two never looked so bad (or good)

The 2's - is there anything quite like them? And before you say the 3's, I say SHUT UP. I don't want to hear that next year is going to be far worse than this year - it's the only thing that helps keep me going through every tantrum and scream-session; the hope, the promise that 3 is going to be better.

So like I was saying, these terrible 2's are in full swing for Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. I always had the general notion that she'd be handful, mainly because she has Justin for a father. I knew that the deck was stacked against me before I ever even had the chance to bid - it's just fate, revenge, destiny...whatever you want to call it. He was such a turd when he was a kid (just ask his Mom) that I knew it would be coming back to him three-fold. I'm just a passenger on this crazy train.

SidMo has blossomed into a brilliant, gorgeous little kid. It amazes me daily how much she knows; she's like a little sponge. She just absorbs the world around her (including a few D-bombs lately) and she's able to knock me off my chair with her language skills. She knows things I didn't even know she knew - but she does! And she's just beautiful - that wild mop of hair makes me laugh, smile and sigh. I wished that for her, you know. I wished and prayed and hoped for every single curl on her head. And there they are: wild and unruly and just beautiful.

But with all these good-looks and smarts, she's also developed this A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E. I'm a fairly patient parent. I don't get bent out of shape easily; and I don't get embarassed when she throws a riot. Most of the time, I try my best to ease the situation into something managable with a bribe or promise. If I can remove her from the scene of the tantrum, I will. I resort to spanking her as a last resort; but sometimes she just needs it. (Yes, I'm a parent that spanks. I've yet to read or hear or witness any scenario where spanking hurt the child more than it helped.) She's got this whole foot-stomping, angry scrunched-up face routine followed by lots of "no's" and "uh-uh's". Sometimes she tries to hit (insert: spank) and that's where I really draw the line. I know these days you have to be careful of how/where you discipline your kids, but I refuse to stand in a public place letting my own child hit me. I realize she's only 2 years old, but she knows enough already to know that's not allowed period.

I always knew she'd hit this stage eventually. I guess I should just count my lucky stars that she hit it at 2 years, 3 months as opposed to just 2 years flat. With all of this attitude comes great laughter, though. It's a diva attitude that sometimes is just too funny not to laugh at. Take for instance, her love of makeup. She's turning into such a girly-girl. I had left some old makeup in a diaper bag I used to out with one night (clever, I know) and forgot about it when I put it back in her room. One night last week, Justin and I are sitting on the couch and we realize SidMo's being awfully quiet in her room. Justin pokes his head in there and just starts cracking up.

Someone was having a little bit too much fun in Momma's makeup!

But I have to give her points for knowing where everything goes - even I haven't got that one quite figured out yet.

The beautiful, silly, crazy, loud, ugly, rowdy, dainty, dolled-up terrible 2's - is there anything quite like them?

honorable mention

Today I found Holly's blog Create*Loves and I'm hooked already. It's such a pretty site, and Holly's a laugh (it's hard to be witty and pregnant - well at least it was for me).

Create*Loves is my honorable mention for the day - make sure you check it out ASAP!

a brand new look for the ole gal!

So what do you think of the fabulous new blog look? I'm loving it! I've been working on perfecting it for awhile now, and this is the look I've been waiting to unveil! I toyed around with a lot of different templates, but this one just stole my heart. It's simple, cute, light and perfect - just perfect.

So tell me - what do you think?

I also re-vamped my other three blogs:

None So Pretty as You
Fish(Food)
Mary Ruth Gilliam Photography

someone please talk some reason into me

I posted this wallet on my other blog, None So Pretty as You:

And I can't stop thinking about it!!! It's way too expensive ($165) but I just cannot get it out of my head. That blue is the most electrifying blue I think I've ever seen. Proenza Schouler sure knew what they were doing when they made this little lady - I'm in love with a wallet, dear god help me.

And the crazy thing is, I really want it - I'm pining for a wallet. I've never done this before. I've never seen a fashion-y item like a purse or a coat or a pair of shoes and just instantly knew 'I have to have it'! What's even crazier is the fact that this wallet is Out of Stock on the website, so I sit and think of other ways to find and buy it. Read my lips: I CANNOT AFFORD THIS WALLET.

Normally, I would never justify spending so much on something so little. But I just can't get this thing out of my head. I want it. I want you so bad, it's driving me mad.  Someone please say something to reason with my brain - help me get this damned luxe leather wallet out of my head. Or else my bank account, my marriage and my Christmas might suffer.

Oh, jeez.