No day Off for a Mommy

This morning I woke with a bit of a sore throat and the sniffles. I ran quickly to the bathroom and took some vitamins and cold medicine. All that ran through my mind, was I CANNOT get sick this week. I have 3 kids in 4 different schools, I have to volunteer this afternoon, parents meeting tomorrow morning, All School Mass tomorrow afternoon and my Daughter has a birthday party to go to tomorrow night. Then my son goes in for surgery next week and will be staying in the hospital, so next week is not a good week to get sick either! All this started rushing through my mind and I began to think, when IS a good time for Mommy's to get sick? I had a tonsil and adenoidectomy on the 23rd of December last year, right before Christmas, so that I didn't inconvenience anyone or mess up the kids' school schedule.

My first thought was.....hmmm I need a vacation, a little Mommy get-a-way! That would then require my husband to take off work to get the kids to all their appointments, then I figured well if he is taking the time off, we could all get away for a vacation and once again the Mommy takes charge of everything and I am left needing a vacation AFTER the vacation.

I try to get away on my own for at least 1 hour once a week and yet in that time, I still get calls to my cell phone or my thoughts just wander to what the kids need while I am out. The life of a Mother is a tough one, even when our children are grown and out of the house. How do I know this? When I got my sons surgery schedule for next week, I realized that it fell right in the middle of the school hour and it would be awhile and he would be staying in the hospital as well. First thing I did? Call my mother to see if she would be able to help out with our schedule.

When my son was violently throwing up at 3am and shivering, the first person I called, was my mother! She was dead asleep as she wakes at 5 am and yet she was still able to calm me down and talk me through getting my son back to a normal temperature. A mothers job lasts forever, I just have to get used to that!

I found it quite ironic that after all that, my husband finally wakes up hours later (He works 16 hour days, so I'm NOT expecting him to help out with the morning run arounds) and says: 'ughhh' I'm sick, I think I may call in and stay in bed all day'

Where is my sick day?

Wow, Hello?

WOW! In need of a pink bear? I have an auction ending soon! Check it out!!! Feel free to drop in a bid before it's too late!!

Sorry it's been so long, life has gotten away from me. Running around with the 3 kids and their schools, helping out as much as I can with homework and outside of school activities it's just been so much! I haven't even been able to add new things to the shop in goodness knows how long! Hopefully time will come back to me soon!

Mail is Fun!!!

Yay for a good mail day! A big thank you, to my friends that sent in these goodies to my house! I believe in Karma and appreciate all you do! Thank you! Have a wonderful weekend!

Organizing!

Today I have been feeling a bit exhausted from the whole back-to-school thing, that I wanted to get some work done, but wanted to take it easy! Since I'm making Meatloaf for dinner, I need to stay close to the kitchen and spend time with my kids too! I figured it was time to sort my big bin of charms. This is a nice way of getting everyone involved and getting stuff done! What do you like to accomplish, that still allows you time to hang out with your little ones?

5 a Day Book Project!

The Imagination Tree posted about a fantastic project that I knew we had to be part of straight away and this is how we embarked on the 5 a Day Book Project! Please Follow along with us AND share your lists too!!

 The idea is that you choose 5 titles from among your usual books (or from the library) and read them every single day for at least a week. They suggest choosing short picture books which feature strong rhythm and/ or repeated refrain so that the children can quickly memorise the words and join in with the story-telling. This empowers them to be able to "read" and re-tell stories from a young age, and also makes them very fluent in a range of text types and literature styles. 

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

Please continue to follow our adventures!!

Have You Added Me Yet?

Twitter: @MichellesCharmW

Facebook: MichellesCharmWorld

Box Top Check In

So far so good! I will start posting this weekly, if I have a drastic change, like I did last week! Thank you so much to everyone that helped me out! Our family did our shopping last week by following the list of items with box tops on them! It was wonderful getting coupons from the site and spending the same if not less than we would have using our regular brands!

We had 20box tops alone on our own!

My parents got involved (anything to help out their grandkids!!) and had 15 for us ready to go when we stopped in and then I had 10 mailed to me by 2 different people! That's FANTASTIC! I truly appreciate all you do to help us out!

To show my appreciation, I have pledged to donate in cash to the school the same amount of box tops collected by the kind people of the blogosphere! With 45 collected in the past week, I rounded up and donated 5.00 to the school! Let's get rolling!! Remember, every little bit helps!

Lesson Learned

Back to school Haircuts are as common as School Supplies and New Shoes! With the Summer, we let it all grow out and wreak havoc on heads. Well this year, we decided to try someplace new, other than our regular Barber for the boys. We were drawn in by a new place with shiny new signs that boasted GRAND OPENING 5.00 Kids Cuts (Regular Price 13.95)! We pay around 15.00 per box to have their hair cut, and figured this was a great deal!

We should have known right?

Warning Signs to look for:

1. Anything that says GRAND OPENING (no clue as to how their past clientele was or any sign at all as to what people think)

2. An Empty waiting area with only 1 other name on the sign in sheet.

(A good place is always busy, no matter what time of day!)

3. Only 1 chair occupied by a stylist and the others are empty.

(Even on slow days, there should be someone else on hand should it get unusually busy)

4. When told what kind of hair cut to give, she asks if we really meant something else.

All these signs were against us, and yet we put the hair of our little guys at her mercy.....

She hacked away at the hair and it looked BEYOND awful. At first it was hard to tell, but when the hair dried (once we were gone of course) it was a DISASTER! There were some parts she hacked all the way to the scalp!

Many would be quick to say 'head back and make her fix it!!' Is this really the smart solution? She hacked it so bad, her only choice in her eyes would be to shave the head!! We headed back to our regular barber, who could only shake his head at us. Fixed and ready for school, we have certainly learned our lesson.

Did we save money? Nope, we overspent! 15.00 at our regular barber PLUS the 5.00 'special'.

What did I do? Took photos of the bad hair and contacted the Better Business Bureau. I contacted the Rockford Association of Businesses and really, truly hope that this was a one time mistake. At least they can check and see if she has her license up to date!

School Lunches

Does the thought of Hot lunch in a school cafeteria skeeve you out? Do you want your kids to have healthy fun, lunches but you just don't have the time to throw them together? I used to think the same thing, but last year I started getting on a fun food kick. I LOVE the idea of the Japanese Bento Lunch and how fun and creative it can be. Keep in mind it will take a few more minutes than your normal box lunch, but imagine the face your child will have when they open it! Cookie cutters and Cupcake picks can take you to a whole other level! Have fun with it! The kids at school always tell me that they wish they had Autumn's lunch and the teacher's have said that they crowd around to see what she will have each day! (YIKES! The pressure is on!).

It's not hard to get creative, but it can be hard to stick with it! Make it a routine (I do most of the work at night) and then it will just become habit! Shave 5 minutes off your morning shower, get up earlier, go to bed later, it can be done!

I will do a post on my supplies and keeping it all organized coming up soon!

A New Focus

Hi everyone! My little girl has started Kindergarten and is already in her 3rd week! She's having an absolute blast and we have fallen in love with this small school. This school is extremely tiny and we want to help as much as we can. I've taken to collecting box tops for her school. Did you know that each box top is worth .10? On the first day of school when I found out about this program, I went through my pantry and with no shopping, just what I had in the house I collected 13 box tops! Want to know what products carry these tops? CHECK IT OUT HERE!

If you have some of these laying around and are not donating them to a school, I would LOVE to take them off your hands! I will pay postage, all you have to do is message me at MichellesCharmWorld @ Gmail.com (no spaces). I have pledged to donate the EXACT same amount in cash as the box tops are worth to the school.

Just how small is this school? It is Kindergarten thru High School and there are 26 students. Yup, I typed that correctly. There are only 2 children in Kindergarten! (One of them is Autumn!)

If you can help, YAY! If not, just spread the word on how AWESOME this program is!

Thanks so much!!!!

~Michelle!~

Kids in the Kitchen!

Make Room for the Kids in your Kitchen!
I 100% believe in letting the kids have an active roll in the kitchen. It teaches them about food and they are more apt to eat anything they create.

I gave them an entire low cabinet for their cups, silverware and plates and bowls. This allows them to set the table and serve themselves snacks

30 and Fabulous

As you all know, I have turned 30 this year. I committed myself to getting healthy before my birthday and managed to drop 50 pounds. I am now determined to tone up with the rest of this year. I will be Jogging (in hopes of running a 5K), doing my Wii, Winsor Pilates....Pretty much you name it and I will try it. I will be embarking on this new challenge as my daughter begins her new challenge, on Monday. She starts Kindergarten and I get toned and healthy!

I am not sure if I will continue the checking in here or start a separate blog to follow through. I can only hope that many of you will join me and this can become a group effort of sorts. When my husband gets home, I will have photos of myself put up (YIKES) so that I can track my progress!

If you are interested in joining me, I have started a Facebook Group for us all to check in and chat a bit easier! I will update my progress there daily and am even keeping a food diary there as well starting tomorrow!

My Equipment:

Reebok Easy Tones from Dicks Sporting Goods (for walking)

-I got these for my every day errands and around the house shoes. I'm curious to see if they tone me up during my off time! (can't hurt)

Nike Lunar Elites from Sports Authority (for running)

-I got these for training for my 5K, I hope to run one in October maybe end of November depending on our schedule with the kids and husbands work.

Nike Plus for Ipod from Sports Authority (tracks calories and miles run)

- Easily my favorite work out gadget!! Slips right into my shoe for EXACT mileage and such!

Let's Get Started!!

Featured!!

Giveaway Prize: Lego Heart Necklace

The Comments for This Feature are Closed, but in order to Join The Giveaway for MichellesCharmWorld's Necklace, just click HERE and Post your comment in that thread after following the instructions to first Follow the Blog and then link to your favorite item in her shop!

Nesting Dolls Necklace

I like to call MichellesCharmWorld a Plastic, Pastel Paradise! Everything is Bigger, Bolder and Brighter! I love color and I love making normal everyday things, extraordinary. This shop started offline in 1995 when I started making jewelry on my own. I was tired of wearing a uniform all my life in Catholic schools and looking the same as everyone else, so on my weekends I loved purchasing off the rack pieces and combining them into something chunky and fabulous. Daring and Different, I love to say:

If It Ain't Chunky, It Ain't Funky!

Stop in and see the different things I work with! Vintage Buttons and old school toys too! I'm also constantly on the hunt for unique vintage finds, check it all out!!

A Chance to Win One of Seven Prizes!!!

My STREET TEAM is hosting a LARGE Giveaway of 7 different prizes! Take a minute to head on over there and see what you can win and how to do it!!! So much to win and so many artists to meet!

The Summer!

Summer is coming to a close and I keep wanting to spend as much time as possible with my little ones before school starts! We are having a blast and enjoying the last weeks! We hit up the Wisconsin State Fair and love spending time in the pool! What all have you been up to?

Weekend Vintage Finds

Weekend Vintage Finds
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

Vintage Jewelry is my weakness! I am on the hunt for the perfect Vintage Jewelry box to hold it all in :)

Vote For Me!

Hi Everyone!!! Please Take a Moment to head on over to the EART BLOG and vote for my Vintage Button Bracelet! Thank you for your time!

This month we had a challenge for the Eclectic Artisans Street Team members! The Challenge was to create something in our medium using the colors Red, White and Blue. Please take a moment to look at each amazing creation and then vote in the upper right corner for the one you think deserves to win! Please vote only once and also take a moment to pop into these shops! Enjoy!

To see an item in more detail, click on the BLUE link, to go to the artist shop, click on the RED link!

Rolled Fabric Rose Headband by PunkyNMunky

Lampwork Bead Earrings by EDCCollective

Beadwoven Pendant Necklace by MaryTDesigns

Vintage Button Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld

Purging Earrings

Purging Earrings
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

Vintage 80s Earrings are leaving my stash and hopefully headed to the home of someone funky, fabulous and oh so glamorous!

http://www.Michellescharmworld.etsy.com

Making The Most of Your Treasury

Paris in Pink Treasury

MichellesCharmWorld Eiffel Tower Earrings

Today, I was lucky enough to be featured in 8 treasuries, yes I said that right 8. I love those curators that love my pieces enough to feature them and I enjoy the fans that heart my items and even the ones that buy them too! Treasuries can lead to sales, especially if you help them along! I once wrote a feature about making the most of your treasury feature and it was a hit. I proved that in following simple steps in promoting the work that others are also promoting, it can and most likely will lead to a sale. With 8 treasuries, this will prove to be a bit difficult today, but there are ways to make it work! Be sure to help others promote that treasury that you are in. Make that link spread like wild fire. Write a blog post, tweet it, facebook it, flickr the screen shot etc (do as many of those as you can). Then go back and comment on the treasury iteself. Thank the curator for featuring you, offer a special to those that buy from you that found you there AND leave a link to where you yourself featured the treasury. Make sure all links can trace back to you in some way. I am a bit late on this promotion, so hopefully I can prove a point and I will update what happens tomorrow.

Treasuries I am Featured In:

MichellesCharmWorld

My Blue Carousel Horse Necklace
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c45e1a23f476d91171e6528/merry-go-round

My Lemon Wedge Earrings:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c4280b857e06d91d4fd8271/citrus-bliss

My black and white Lego Bracelet:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c41bd7f57e06d91f7e36671/the-world-of-black-and-white

My Windmill Ring:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c44ee01c9fe8eef4b1ddb18/a-touch-of-dutch

Lemon Wedge Earrings again:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c46fef0afa68eef639f9831/bright-colors-to-brighten-up-your-day

Pink in Paris Earrings:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c47162fafa68eef06039d31/ooh-la-la-la-parisin-pink

Lemon Wedge Earrings Again! haha!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c4719b05aaf6d916bfa2877/salad-days#4c471dd8afa68eef710c9f31

Lemon Bracelet:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c4729c15aaf6d91a3792d77/rainbows-and-fruit

Please take a moment to click and comment!!

Garage Sales!

Today I stopped at a tag sale and found a box of dolls. I got a great deal on them, only to come home and find many of them dismembered! My daughter and I sorted through the tub and she took out the ones she wanted and I found one that I had even played with as a child! Sorting was nostalgic and fun! I even had some stories to share with her. As we got to the bottom of the tub (over an hour later as this tub was overflowing to the max!) we noticed we had a lot of parts that just didn't match up. So what does one crafty chica do when Life gives her a box of parts?????

Make earrings of course!!!! My daughter was a bit mortified at first, but then when she saw them on, she asked if I could just make her a hand pair since the arms were too long! hahaha!! Has she learned the art of:

If you can't understand your mom, join her???

WIN IT!

Win this Black Heart Lego Necklace! Just leave a comment on my Facebook Page thread for an entry!!

A Few of My Favorites.....

Just wanted to share some of my favorites with you!! I'm in love with color and vintage and fun stuff!!!

A Love of Vintage Buttons....

I LOVE vintage buttons! They seem to want to share a story of the times and things they have seen. I love how buttons did so much more than just cinched clothing. They were intricate, they were made of wonderful materials and different shapes. A plain sweater was made so much more elegant with a rhinestone button or a celluloid one. My collection has gotten so big, that I had to begin sharing these buttons in a way that did them justice. I started making jewelry that got so many compliments that I started selling them. I was excited to find the above sill glove box and vintage buttons at an estate sale this past weekend and I fell in love.


What do you enjoy collecting?

New Pieces!

Working on New Pieces
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

Check out http://www.MichellesCharmWorld.Com for all your funky goodies! I just added these new things to the shop and 3 of them are already sold!

Estate Sale Haul 3.50 Spent!

Estate Sale Haul 3.50 Spent!
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

Have a Fabulous Weekend!!!

Here is my Estate Sale Haul from yesterday! It was AWESOME! Just pop on over to Flickr to see my notes on everything!

On the way home from running errands today, we spotted a moving sale sign. It was about 15 minutes through a winding forest filled path until we got to the GREATEST 70s style house EVER! I was in love!! 87 year old mom was headed to a nursing home, so all her stuff (including this fantastic home) was for sale :( It made me sad as we stepped into this house that was so loved. The sale closed early as they were open really early, so the stuff was pretty much picked over. I still found some amazing goodies!

Before and After Vintage Train Case

Before and After Vintage Train Case
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

First time taking stencils to vintage luggage!

Busy Bee....

I've been a busy bee lately and figured I would share what all I have been up to! I started out with planning our family menu for the week on Sunday. If you have any questions, just ask!

What I need:

Menu page (holds 3 weeks of menus and grocery lists
Ruler
Pencil
Pages of Recipes

Family Planner

I start with my Page printed out from PhotoScape.
I break this page up into 3 weeks worth of BLD (breakfast, LUNCH, Dinner)

I use the bottom of that menu page to write the groceries needed and break that up into 3 sections (1 column for each week).

I keep a file folder stuffed with magazine and newspaper and internet clippings of recipes we like, want to try etc. This is full of snacks, meals, drinks and anything else that looks yummy to us. This keeps me from having stacks of magazines everywhere. I just keep pages and that's that!

I plan our meals so that no one day is too calorie or carb heavy:
Sandwiches for lunch, means that we will have a light dinner.
Full breakfast usually means salad or soup or something equally fresh for lunch.

We try to eat meat for dinner only 3 or 4 times a week.

If we end up going out to dinner, I usually tuck that meal away for another week and follow through as normal, UNLESS I have already pre-prepped for it the night before.

I ALWAYS use a pencil in case I want to change things up and I always have our day planner at the ready, to compare days I need to have lunch on the go or breakfast has to be light or we won't be in at all.

I made up a new Twitter Backround for my page, since all of the items on my old page were long sold out!
I made an EART TEAM treasury about SUMMER! Check out the Treasury. Please remember to Click on Each item and leave us a comment about the treasury! Thanks so much!!!

Flea Market Finds!

As you all know by now, I'm a sucker for a junk shoppe, yard sale and thrift store! When we saw that there was a flea market being put up near by we headed over. All in all, I was not thrilled with what some people were trying to sell. So much garbage, torn and broken stuff, not to mention all the dollar store items. Let me say it first, I HATE no I DETEST when people think they can buy stuff from The Dollar Tree in bulk and set up at flea markets and the like. These are NOT items that belong here. I cannot stand that the venues holding these events are so in need of the 15.00 that they accept the booth fee and disregard their own rules for a: Vintage Flea Market. If the people lied on their application, then they should be made to leave no matter how long it took them to set up their boxes of crap. (can you tell this is a huge pet peeve of mine???)

We biked to a flea market today and these are my goodies I came away with! 4.00 spent!
L-R:
Heart Shaped Glasses in bold red that will be perfect for some of my plain outfits that need a little pick-me-up. They are HUGE!

Black and White 80s earrings (Acrylic) they are chunky and sooo funky! These will be in the shop soon....if I don't keep them for my personal collection!!!

These fabulous gnomes were cupcake toppers, but I took off the bottoms and they are on their way to being an awesome charm bracelet!

Parenting Tip!

I am in the process of putting together a compilation of tips and recipes for parents of preschoolers. It will have easy and fun ways with food and other things. Here is one I shared recently on Facebook, Twitter, The Eart Team Blog and several other sites.

The book will hopefully be available in my ETSY shop in time for Holiday giving!

Tip:

Save all the socks that are too dingy after the wash in a gallon sized ziplock bag in your laundry room. As the bag fills dump it and pair them up and move this bag to your car. Now you have socks when the kids go to those play places that require them. After they play, toss the nasty little buggers in the trash and you don't bring home all those germs or dirty good socks!

Have You Added Me Yet?

Twitter: @MichellesCharmW

Facebook: MichellesCharmWorld

Have a Happy and Safe Weekend!

Come visit a candy colored oasis of ordinary things made extraordinary!

Meet Eclectic Artists

These Intricate Works of Art are from JaybirdDesigns!

These Amazing pieces belong to EDCCollective!

Last but not least it's ME! MichellesCharmWorld!

New Containers!

New Containers!
Originally uploaded by MichellesCharmWorld

I love supplies, I love storage containers! These are my latest pick ups and I'm in LOVE! The metal tins were picked up at an estate sale and I LOVE their vintage feel! They are metal, but the caps are plastic with raised animals on their lids. Can you believe these nesting vintage tins were .25 for ALL THREE?!?!?! I almost died!!!

The Donut containers were on sale at Joannes for .97! I fell in love as soon as I saw them!

Share any of your latest deals please!!!