Wordless Wednesdays: One of my many models!

Tuesday Tidbits!

I decided to keep this post dedicated to the wonderful world of boutique that most of us know and love so much. I know that we are all cutting back and watching what we are spending, but there are still lots of great deals on eBay. You can save money right now and still dress your little one in one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories.

Here are a few great deals, new designers, large lots, even some $0.99 no reserve auctions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Boutique-Resell-Christmas-Hair-Bows-Lot-3-Hurry_W0QQitemZ320319473220QQihZ011QQcategoryZ57922QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-CANDY-CANE-Boutique-Woven-Ribbon-Headband-DBCB_W0QQitemZ230309853462QQihZ013QQcategoryZ79717QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Boutique-Beaded-Socks-custom-Christmas-Colors_W0QQitemZ370117432754QQihZ024QQcategoryZ15632QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Then there are resells you can get that have only been worn a time or two and you can usually get them for a fraction of the cost.



http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Boutique-Resell-Christmas-Hair-Bows-Lot-3-Hurry_W0QQitemZ320319473220QQihZ011QQcategoryZ57922QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Here is just a cute product that I wish I had when my son was a baby!



http://cgi.ebay.com/Boutique-Baby-Boy-Custom-Tiny-Tents-Pee-Catcher-LMS_W0QQitemZ280285180179QQihZ018QQcategoryZ20399QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Monday's Rant/Stupid People : Can you tell me why?

Why would you be so lazy as to stop in the middle of the road with your car, open the door and place your trash in the road and drive off?

I saw this happen twice this weekend. Are Americans really so lazy, selfish, and have so little pride in our country and land that they think it's alright to just sit trash down where ever they are?

If you have done this yourself before, let me ask you a question. Would you eat a piece of candy or a bag of chips and just drop the wrapper in the floor of your bedroom or living room or where ever you were standing? What would happen if you did? You would have bugs all over your house! Your house would eventually be so filthy that it wasn't fit to live.

So why would you do the same thing to our country, states, cities? If we continue to be this selfish, there won't be anything left for our children or our children's children.

Book Review: Marked by PC Cast

I missed last week's book review, so here it is.

Once I finished the Twilight Saga, I went looking for another book that would be comparable and I found that their was another vampire series out there geared towards Young Adults. It is called Marked and it is written by PC Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast.

At first glance, the series seems pretty harmless, it's another version of teenage vampires. This tends to be symbolic with the teenagers as none of them feel they fit in. I guess that's why it's so popular with them. PC Cast called on her daughter Kristin to give the book a decidedly more teenage feel.

Though the story flows easily and keeps your attention, there were several red flags for me.

First, after reading Stephanie Meyer's books I was struck by how she could keep your attention without all the crude and vulgar cursing and language that the Casts' chose to include in their book. I find it irresponsible that a Mother wrote a book and geared it toward teens and included the "F" word more times than my kids have probably heard the word in their entire life. Stephanie Meyer wrote an incredible book series, whose mania is sweeping the nation, actually the whole world, right now.......why could the Casts' have not written their story and gotten street credit the same way with out the foul language?

Second, I have a major problem with the Casts' portrayal of the faith "Believers". She uses every chance she can find in the book to cast a negative light on those of us who believe in God or claim to be Christians. She casts them as hypocritical, judgemental witch-hunters.

Third, there are way too many teens out there treating sex as a casual thing and giving it all away way too soon. This book goes into a little too much detail and talks about a girl giving a guy a blow job in the first few chapters.

In lieu of these things, I think the book should have a Parental Warning on it, and I don't recommend it for teens. At least I know I don't want my girls reading it.

I am so behind!

It's the plaque of the holiday season. There is so much going on right now, I can hardly keep up.

I have basically went from a WAHM, to working part time outside the home, to working full time outside the home and still keeping my afterschoolers and still selling some on eBay. We've had lots of Girlscout activities, lots of end of term projects with the girls, christmas shopping, and Angel and I even went to see Twilight.

I will try to catch up on the posts that I've missed today and tomorrow, so keep checking back.

Check out my daughter on youtube!!

If you have a few minutes, watch these videos. My daughter is very determined and of course most of you have heard her sing before. Well she was determined to put some videos on youtube though I really don't think she was ready. However, it could be a good teaching tool for her, especially since we can't afford voice lessons right now.
So anyway, if you would take a few minutes to watch the 3 videos she has up I would appreciate it. If you have a youtube account, then please comment. And constructive criticism is absolutely encouraged. I don't want everyone to jump in there and say Great job Angel, if you don't think she did great. I think she needs to harden up a bit to criticism too. Right now she takes things too personally. So check it out.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x221/sewrtess/logos/teresalogo.jpg
Thanks everyone!

This is important

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life.....this is important. These things affect our children. Please read this.

http://www.fightfoca.com/

Freaky Friday Deals!!

Yeah, I know I am a little late with this. Better late than never, huh?

Ok, I am going to keep this short and sweet.

The best deals I found recently........go to www.oprah.com, check out Oprah's CLEAN UP YOUR MESSY HOME show with Peter Walsh. There is a link to a free picture book at www.snapfish.com . You have to go thru Oprah's site to qualify and it says that it expires on the 14th, but they've extended the deal thru the 22nd.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7

There is also a great 20% coupon for the Container Store. Again, this is only for those on the Oprah site.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/21

Who doesn't love free or discounted stuff? How cool is that?

http://raptureready.com/featured/graham/g29.html

Warning: today's rant is about politics!

But it's not what you think. I am not complaining about the election results or even about the candidates. This time.



This has been bothering me for a couple weeks.



Why do people have to scare kids with their hate-mongering and lies?



Now, don't get me wrong. I voted for McCain, I am not ashamed to admit that. I am not happy about Obama winning, but I can show respect for our next president regardless. What I don't understand is why do so many people ........and it's both sides, not just the McCain backers........ have to spread malicious lies.



My children, especially my 8 year old son, have come home and told me all kinds of lies. Someone told him that Obama winning would be the end of the world and that he'd start WWIII. Then my 11 year old daughter came home and said someone was telling her and others that Obama would make it illegal for any girl younger than 21 to have a child and that they'd have to have an abortion. Now this one is particularly scary for my girls. But WHY...........why would spread such rumors? I could go on and on. I have heard so many lies this campaign, from the one about Palin and how she doesn't know that Africa is a continent not a country. And some of them are believable and some were even pushed by the media. I just don't understand why anyone would spread rumors and lies and why so many people tend to believe them. With the Internet at pretty much every one's finger-tips these days, the truth is only a click away. People do your research.......don't go scaring my kids with things that they don't need to concern themselves with or that aren't even true! Geesh!!

Do you think he was fascinated with it or what?

Local air show this past weekend.....my son was mesmerized!

Here's both the younger two. (yeah, I know, I know, this defeats the purpose of wordless wednesdays!)

My new posting schedule

So I want to have a schedule of when to post what. I think it will make things a little easier on me now that I am working outside the home again. That way my topic of posting is already narrowed down, and I might even be able to get it written ahead of time.

So, here's what I've come up with.

Sunday is Book Review day
Monday is Stupid People (yeah I know that's a little cynical, but it gives me a day to rant if I need to)
Tuesday Tidbits from Ebay (could be listings, group announcements and so on)
Wednesday Wordless Wednesdays (I've seen this done on other blogs and think it's pretty cool. I might do a picture from my life, or a picture I saw in an auction, or just a random cool picture I found)
Thursday !! (okay this day will be for me to share some exasperating story of what my little monkeys have done now, or maybe even my husband. If I don't have a story to tell then maybe I will share some other bit of info from my life)
Friday Freaky Friday deals (now this one should be a fun one, I will share great deals on ebay, tips on sewing, great new sites I found to use, etc)
Saturday Giveaways (...I am going to try, and notice I say try, and start giving away free gifts for my readers every Saturday. You will have to read, and post comments, and maybe even answer questions from the previous posts to qualify. OOOOH this is going to be fun!!)

Now this is going to be my tentative schedule. It may change as events and holidays come up, but this will give you an idea of some of things I like to blog about and will try and do more of in the future.

I can't wait hear what you think!!

In Honor of our veterans

Your Coming Home
by Roger Robicheau

In thrill I wait, you’ll soon be home
Your land, past oceans white with foam

I brave each day till our eyes meet
Your treasured heart, I miss its beat

Such want to have you close to me
Will soon come true, God let it be

When you arrive I won’t be shy
You’ll see excitement, I may cry

I’ll rush to hold my soldier tight
With all my heart and all my might

Emotions will so fill the day
I’ll be the child who loves to play

I’ll beam with pride to be with you
You are the best, no doubt, so true

The time we share will help me through
When days do come without dear you

Your coming home is all I need
Be safe my precious one, Goodspeed

©2003Roger J. Robicheau

ALTB Cafe

Besides this blog, ALL THINGS BOUTIQUE also has another forum called the ALTB CAFE. It is a great place to go see some of the listings by ALTB members. Nikki has been busy the last couple of days updating it.

You can also advertise there, just as you can here, for a small monthly fee. It's a great deal!

Go check out all the great designs!!

http://altbcafe.blogspot.com/

Stupid things people do

So Monday is going to be Stupid things people do day. And to mark my point I want to show you a video or two!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9s5R9McLRc

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=42423443

My 100th post

My book review was my 100th post! Can you believe that? It's almost a full year since I started blogging. It's been fun. It's definitely been a learning process, but one I've enjoyed. Here's to another 100 posts!!

Twilight: Sunday Book Review

I decided since I've been so busy lately, that maybe I should set up a schedule for postings. So I don't have the rest of the schedule decided yet, but Sundays or at least every other Sunday, will be a book review.

So my book review this week is on Twilight.

It's a great book, if you haven't read it. They are geared toward teens, but there is enough meat there for adults too. The story is easy to identify with for most of us. Our heroin, Bella, has the normal insecurities. She doesn't feel like she fits in, or that she's good enough to be loved by her boyfriend. She feels awkward and clumsy. Haven't we all felt that way at time?

Stephanie Meyer did a great job of creating a story that's almost believable and that you can lose yourself in while you are reading. It has some great laughs and even some romance to boot. In my opinion, the books are fine for older teens. There is no language or anything that could be considered inappropriate. Even the battle scene is pretty well skipped over and left to your imagination with this book.

Of course this is still a vampire book, but if you read it you will see that Bella's boyfriend, Edward, is careful not to glamorize being a vampire and tells Bella that he may have no soul. He doesn't know what death holds for him, if death EVER comes.

All in all I think the book is good, and can be read by teens with caution. I would make sure to have conversations with your teen on the story line to make sure that they aren't drawn into the whole goth vampire scene and that they know the difference in imagination and reality.

I will probably be reviewing the other Twilight books soon, as well as the movie. So look for those. Also, if you've read the book, let me know what you think about it.

Renaissance Festival

Last weekend my girls went to the Renaissance Festival with their Girl Scout troop. I thought I would share some of their pictures. They made their own costumes (or most of them anyway) as part of a sewing badge. They had a great time as you can see from the pictures.

Here's both the girls, and yes they made their dresses. I just helped a little.




This is my Issabug trying on a mask that matches her dress.





Here are some of the Bellydancing Gypsies.




This the Knight during the Joust.

The kids' Halloween costumes

I have been meaning to put these up all week, but it's been really hectic with me starting this new job.

Here's the kids on Halloween. My Mom and I made Alyssa's Geisha custume. It turned out so cute.




Then we decided on Darth Vader for my son. We opted to not buy the off the rack costume but fashion a cheaper version intstead. The mask was actually a trick-or-treat bucket that we cut apart and then drilled holes for the eyes and breathing holes. Then I attached elastic thru two holes on the sides. I think it was fairly simple and considering that he only wore it about an hour, we got our money's worth out of it.

Tomorrow's the day

It will finally be done. I am honestly tired of all the campaigning.

If you haven't voted, please do so. Give your opinions and beliefs a voice. If you don't vote, then you certainly won't have room to complain later on, huh?

If you notice that I haven't been posting quite as much and my posts are rather short, it's because I decided to take on an outside job a few days a week while the kids are at school. I am still here, and will continue to post. And as always....I want to hear what's up with you!!