Spring Break Festivities

We are back and had a good time in San Antonio-- I have like 100 pictures but will only post a few here--- I have a million things to do so not much time to type today.

First day we got there and checked into our overpriced hotel room- but it did have good beds and right on the riverwalk in downtown. San Antonio is the only place that can combine a river, a mall, and outdoor entertainment all in one-- it was pretty cool and we were very close to the action.

the first day, we walked around a bit and took the kids to some museums.
Second day was seaworld which was mega fun.



The kids got to do this beluga whale interaction program-- it was really fun for them and definitely the highlight of the trip for them.

Third Day--
The Alamo


Then the zoo

This is the only good picture I got at the zoo....really!

Then last night we had a ball...Keith was sicker than a dog, running a temp of 101.5 and already spent 2 days in bed but said he was going without a doubt.
Some of the girls of 6-4

Officers of 6-4

More people from 6-4

Wet Cat

Had some storms come thru and I guess Shasta got stuck outside- haha

Spring Break...almost full force

Almost full force in the fact that the kids think they haven't had any fun as of yet. But Keith and I have fun in sleeping in and lounging around the house. Well, more Keith than I in the end. I tried to take full advantage of the laziness yesterday but in the end- Swanky Graffiti was calling my name-- so I worked vinyl for a full 8 hours at least--someday I will be paid the full 8 hours of work!

Next week I am presenting my work at an Officer Wives function and I don't have much on hand-- I feel I can only work to keep up with current custom orders and all my extra stuff is at Snickelbritches, which is doing quite nicely by the way. So I am working hard to get some extra stuff done AND keeping up with orders I already have.

Here is a current custom order:

This is actually for a babies room I think--- I would actually like to see a picture of what it would like in the room because the colors are definitely different for a baby.

Working like crazy to have some frames available next week-- so got several painted last night- just need to finish up today


Making a new series of signs that are about 8 x 9 and thick enough to stand up by themselves though I am going to explore the option of putting them on a small easel also. Perfect for small tables or shelves.


If you live in Texas- this sign is a MUST-- so I am making a couple to take to the mini showing


So we leave out tomorrow for the fun part of Spring Break and will make it back in time to attend church on Sunday-- I am sure I will have a ton of pictures to share on this forum when I return.
Happy Easter!

Weeping and Nashing of teeth

That is what it has been in the Tyler household lately...feels sort of like a friend died. Haven't felt much like blogging either- but am going to force myself to do this and hopefully move on-- just move on.

We were informed this week that the Montessori School will no longer be available to us after this week. The Montessori School of Central Texas is now going year-round (216 days of school) and is no longer offering bus service from Killeen to Temple because of gas costs (and I didn't think gas prices were affecting me that much). If that was all, we could quite possibly come up with paying 3 more months tuition a year and carpooling or whatever it took to get there.

But the big kicker is the school it cutting out its upper grades and only going through the 4th grade!!!!!!!!! So it knocks Bridger out of going there-- Jadyn could continue but Keith is determined not to give them one more red cent-- he is ready to picket the school. It was quite inconsiderate to give us parents short notice and even let us enroll kids in January so they wouldn't even be going there for a full year. Their motives are not pure and their policies are not about the children----but themselves.

As a military family we always struggle for some stability especially for our kids and in no way would I ever imagine that a school would take it away from us. I homeschooled Jadyn last year just so she wouldn't have to attend 3 schools--- now, she will have to attend 3 schools and I am mad as hell.

From what I understand they are now losing all their Killeen students---now...as a business major, I maybe wrong (but I don't think so) wouldn't you rather choose to lose a couple hundred bucks on some gas money rather than lose several thousands of dollars in tuition? It makes absolutely no sense to me- but I also feel like the school isn't being honest with us. There are other reasons that they don't want to come out with.

Anyhow the main reason I am writing this and I am going to tag this entry because one of the boneheads who runs/owns the school will eventually google their own schools name and this will come up.

And here is a little note to you!
What you did was selfish and wrong and not in accordance to any Christian values that you claim to have. Good luck to you---seems you will be needing it!

Ok- I have wept and nashed my teeth
I am done!

Random Musings

This would be a day that mind is everywhere...so this post will reflect all my randomness. I only get like this when I have a million things to do but I am not very motivated to get it all done. Today I am sore, really, really sore. From what you may ask?
Well, I played the Wii
A video game made me sore
You may think that is crazy until you try it yourself! I read an article in the Sunday paper about Senior Citizens who get together to play Wii Sports (which is what I played) because they can't do it in real life anymore. They bowl via video games and even have tournaments and such. I played tennis, baseball, and boxing and my arms are having a difficult time even extending all the way straight!!!
If you have never played you actually have to do the actions of what you are playing. So boxing, I was tearing Bridger up- I knocked him out, but I am paying for it still 2 days later.

Tonight I have to run an FRG meeting...was trying not too but I didn't do one last month so we have a lot of information to get out to the families. So it is a must! A couple of weeks ago I was telling keith that I just wanted to be done with FRG and his soldier drama but it is hard to leave when he is still the commander. He listened but didn't say much. The next morning though he called me to say Congratulations, you are the Brigade Volunteer of the Month.
Ok, fine....I will stick with it a little while longer!!!!
But I am looking forward to the few years of 'rest' we will get when Keith leaves command. We have been going at this neck-breaking pace for almost a year now. It was fun in the beginning, but not so much now!

Here are just some random pictures of this last week at our household.

Jadyn in my bed and on my computer!?! I asked her what she thought she was doing and her answer was "researching grubs"-- such a Montessori answer if I do say so myself.

I have this new obsession-- cupcakes, donuts, sweets of almost any kind- but they are not real. Fakes, posers. They are knitted, felted, crocheted, painted, silkscreened or whatever but I have decided that I Love them!!! All of them!! Sometime this next week I will share some of my favorite pictures from other people, but I do have one of my own.

These are my hand sewn felt donuts! One even has sprinkles!! Are they not the cutest thing ever? Keith thinks I have gone crazy and can't understand why I would want to sew donuts, but I can! I think I am going to collect all things cupcakes. I just love them and can't resist them and must have more of them!

Talking about sweets-- I have found another love. This one is a new brand that Target carries and it is awesome.

Dark chocolate covered expresso beans!! you used to only be able to get these in speciality coffee shops- now Target has come thru for us again! They are so flippin good and give you a little zing.

Here is another project I am working on

I am not going to mention what it is yet just in case it doesn't turn out!! But this is wool yarn and I am going to wash it so it will shrink immensely and look completely different then it does now. I so don't have time to do this kind of thing BUT doing vinyl 24/7 drives me crazy. So I just figured that I will have to make time to do other creative things to keep me from burning out. Have a ton of projects in mind! Hopefully this will turn out cute.

And lastly-- talking about cute--- I guess---well, cute isn't being on my kitchen table-- but when you put a basket there and the cat gets into it to sleep, I guess that is cute.

Happy Mail and other Updates

I have gotten some happy mail in the last few weeks and I have decided that it makes me happy (hence the name) and I want to pass it along. What is happy mail exactly? Well, it is unexpected- that is for sure. You know nothing about it coming so there is no anticipation for what is about to arrive. And when it does arrive- well it was about the best thing that happened to you that day-- or maybe even that week (or longer!). So I thought I would come up with a happy package of my own. But it is kind of hard to just randomly go out and buy someone a gift- so I decided a way to make this much easier is to go with a theme. Then you pick up items in your theme and somehow it all works together and makes it much more special.

Ok, can you figure out what my theme is?

Well, it is simple. Pink and Green-
That's it. I even repackaged a few things I bought to only include pink and green items (and keep the leftover for myself!!=)) So, whoever gets this- will be happy, I am sure! I was even thinking of embellishing the bucket a tad bit-- a monogram perhaps??

Anyhow, today I stopped over at the craft booth I have set up at Snickelbritches in Temple to drop off a few things and take a picture. I am waiting on some more hooks to arrive in the mail so that I may fill this in more- but I am thinking I need to work more on wood signs-- they always do well at craft type places- At this place I even got to rub the words onto the wall above-- I am thinking I might take down my signs that "explain" and jut rub more words on the wall? What do you think? Or....I could add some shadowbox frames on the wall too. Now that is an idea.


As for the updates, we have planned a lot of trips. I will only mention this once (and I may come back and remove this later) but Keith's time here is short as he is getting ready to leave again for another year or more (this makes 3). So we are trying to do a lot in a short amount of time. Anyhow we just made plans to go to San Antonio for Spring Break and take the Alamo!!! And Sea World. All that matters to me is that we are staying at the Marriott-- LOVE THEIR BEDS.

And then, we are going to my family reunion on the Arizona Strip and Northern Utah in May-- (Look out girls--here I come!!) In fact, here is a picture that reminds me of the Arizona Strip reunion even though this was taken in Southern Utah.

This is my great-grandmother and that is me and my siblings (I am the oldest and I think that dress is in style again!!) It is in her small house(was only 2 rooms total) on a big piece of land(cattle ranch), in the middle of nowhere (Arizona Strip for heaven sakes) where we are all headed. It has been 9 years since the last time I went so I feel blessed that I can finally make the trek again.
Then I am heading to Ogden to hang out for a few more days. We are having our family picture done with EVERYONE on my side--- we are also going to do individual family shots and I am thinking I want to do a Western sort of theme. Texas is really getting into me and I think with the rugged mountains of Utah, some jeans, hats and boots-- that would make for a cool family picture.
And Brittlyn gets to come. Can't have a family picture w/o her, so she will be flying in last second to be in them.
Everyone talks how expensive pictures can be....well ya!! I have to fly 5 people a couple thousand miles in order to it---weird.

Real Quick

Because I have to be somewhere in like 8 minutes---

Some pics I just downloaded, of my new favorite item that every house should have!!! At least one!! It will be a piece you will treasure forever.
Here is another one of mine in my foyer-- tried taking a pic w/o a flash-- I really wish I was a better picture taker. I did learn that I should never take a picture straight on because it the flash on the item always looks terrible! I should really think about having some professional pictures taken of these items-- or perhaps a new camera??? Keith??


So, my pic is a bit shaky-- an unfortunate part of not using the flash or a tripod-- but it was like 6am and no coffee yet. I just thought it was pretty.

I am just about done with this one that I made for a California client. It is a poem that was written to her from her husband that I put onto the frame. It does not have the glass mounted in it yet as the client has to do that herself so it does not break while being shipped. But I think it is still awesome.



The most awesome thing about this-- it was priced to be done somewhere else and because it was a custom quote it was going to cost her $350 ($100 just for the custom quote part). I could do it for her for about the custom quote price only!!! And I MADE her day! Ya for me!!