Phew!

I'm finally finding a little time to catch my breath. It seems like I've been going and going since last week, with all my spare time going to keep up with homemaking & spending time with my loved ones. So here is my long update. My trip with my mom went wonderfully! After dropping her off at the convention center, I made my way to the local CVS. Here's my loot:


The Chex mixes were all free as they were 5/$5 and there is a $1 IP. The Johnson's Buddies Foaming Shampoo were a great find as they were on clearance for $1.90 and I had a $1 Q for each. It was kind of an expensive trip, with my OOP being around $6, but since I have recently weaned the baby, I needed the feminine products. YUK! My eyes nearly fell out of my skull when I opened the door to our eensy-weensy hotel room. Mom & I both agreed that it was the worst hotel room we had stayed in {in the US at least, for me}, but that rural Guatemalan huge-tropical-bugs-in-your-bed, concrete-floored, shower-is-a-pipe-sticking-out-of-the-wall hotel is a story for another day. The bed sagged & creaked and the noise from revelers outside our building kept us up til the wee hours of the morning, but at least we kept a sense of humor about it. It sure was memorable. The Bead & Button Show was A-MAZING! Seriously. Even though I'm not a beader, I sure can appreciate a passion for a craft when I see it. Miles and miles of beads. I purchased two things for myself. One is a beaded cross-stitching project. I am making that as sort of a Thank You gift for Mom. She picked out the design. The second one is a funky bracelet kit. Since it's sold as a kit, I think it should be fairly easy. I totally fell in love with these, but at $8 per bottle cap, I would need to spend about a weeks worth of grocery money to make myself a junky-funky bracelet. Couldn't justify the purchase at the time, but maybe next year. Now I am working on designs for Mom to make with all her bead purchases. I wore this to the bead show since it is the only beaded project I've ever made myself:

::Odessa by Grumperina::

::top view::

I got several comments/inquiries about it, as well as the tote bag I was carrying. My mom was cracking up by the end of the show & insisted that next year I carry some business cards with me. Immediately upon my return, Tatiana had her year end dance recital. Twice. This was the first year that she was in two shows, which was a little crazy. Here she is in all her glory:


After that I've been spending time doing my part-part-part time job for Metrostudy. When people ask if I work {meaning outside the home} I usually just say "NO" since this job is only a once every 3 months gig. It's works out kinda nice because I basically can do the surveying at my leisure as long as I return my materials within the allotted time. I have been "working" for them for 2 years now & am thanking God for recently expanding my territory {it nearly doubled!} as an answer to prayer for extra income. He's too good to us, isn't He? Hope you're having a lovely week & I plan to meet you here tomorrow for another Talk About It session.