Dreams

I HAVE THE PERFECT BOYFRIEND!

Ok so no one is perfect and he does have his flaws but right now he is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
Apparently he had his own little start up business a few years ago that never took off so he still has products from a company he bought supplies from.  A couple of years ago I got this crazy pipe dream that I would one day open my own pagan supply store.... well these products are all pagan!  Pagan jewelry pendants (i will turn into full blown jewelry) pagan art, incense (so much incense! lol) and more.  So once my jewelry site is back up online I will no longer be selling just jewelry my pipe dream is no longer just a dream its reality!

Thursday he and I are going to get all the paper work going and soon we'll be open for business!!!! yay!

Busy Busy Busy need a breather!

Me: Hi there I'm Anielle and I'm a workaholic
Everyone: Hi Anielle

Seriously what woman in her right mind would take on two jobs while being a mom and a full time student...let alone FIVE jobs!

I've always been told I'm a little on the weird side. Yes folks this crazy woman is now working 5 jobs.  I went for a interview the other day, the gentleman then sent me to another shop and that got turned into an unexpected interview on the spot.  The second interview was at a consignment shop to sell some of my jewelry.  When I got home some friends getting ready to start selling costumes for the Renaissance faires asked if I would be interested in working for them sewing beads and jewels on to the belly dance costumes.  I took them up on it.  I'll also be spotted at the Texas Renaissance festival from time to time at booths 501 and 502 where I worked last year showing the new hawkers how the job is done and giving breaks as needed, I planned on doing this as a favor to my boss because she went an hour out of her way in the spring time for a faire to pick me up and take me to the Sherwood Forest Faire so I could earn enough money on the weekend to pay for my cell phone bill.  However she wants to pay me if I make any sells for her whenever I give a hawker a break if the break is needed, I will also be getting a couple of complimentry tickets for doing this so I can get into faire with my stepson and see his daddy selling dip-n-dots or kettle corn.  So far in the story we are now up to 3 jobs, don't forget I have my own web shop that makes 4 (sadly we are off line at the moment the host site got hacked and we are having to start over.)  I sign  into my email around midnight this morning, remember that first interview that kicked of this story?  It was to work part time for the gentleman by helping organize his work shop and designing steampunk jewelry.  He hired me!  Right now the payment for that job is set up as an hourly wage plus a percentage on the sells that come from my designs!

Every single job i have now except for the jewelry shop hand/designer one is sporadic pay so that will be our grocery money while my boyfriend pays for daycare.

But that's not all folks!  Nope not finished, I also volunteered this summer to teach 2 pagan classes online, Stones (the jewelry artist had to jump at the chance to teach this class lol) and Gods/Goddesses.  A lesson a month I'm currently writing my lessons and submitting them for review I hope to have all of the lessons finished by the end of this week.  Teaching for the whole online school starts in September.

Job Hunting

My stepson started daycare yesterday.  While he was there I spent hours cleaning and organizing the master bath and started decorating it.  In between bleachings I was job hunting.  All of today I have been job hunting.  My eyes are so dry and red and I have almost nothing to show for it.

The hunter has become the hunted it seems.  I just know fate is hiding around that corner I just passed, I saw fate duck back there, she's waiting to kick me while I'm down.  CHMS will most likely only cover about half of the baby's daycare the other half will eat up any grocery money we have for the month and that just wont do.  So far the only luck I have had is a possible job interview to work at a cat rescue and adoption center.  However the fact that I'm overweight may keep me from this job if they even decide to interview me in person because its a labor intensive job.  (I worked at the Texas Renaissance Festival and at Sherwood Forest Faire...if those jobs aren't labor intensive I don't know what is, even my previous job at walmart wasn't as bad as faire on the physical demands.)  The other possibility is selling my jewelry at a consignment shop.  I saw an ad online wanting a jewelry designer and one with knowledge of steampunk (I just had to jump at the chance.)  The pay is anywhere from $4-$8 hours based on the experience of the jewelry designer (I have 13+ years so far.)  I'm hoping to make at least $7 an hour, its just below minimum wage, I think my years as a jewelry designer/maker would gain me at least that.  I'm meeting the possible employer tomorrow morning for coffee and to show off my current stock of jewelry in person.


My living room floor is covered in jewelry, construction paper (to make dividers in my jewelry box which is nothing but a plastic shoe box, and a marker to label.  I also got smart and I am writing down everything I am taking with me and how much I'm selling each item for.  In each little bag I also have a slip of paper describing the item and it's price (matching up to the list I'm taking with me.)  I just need to remember to take pictures of those that aren't listed yet so if they sell tomorrow I can at least display them under my archives tab on the shop site.  Anyhow lots and lots of things to do to prepare for tomorrow!

99 cent Treasures

I was out of the house with my stepson today all day.  One of our stops on this day of random window shopping was the Hastings bookstore where I made a purchase.  I found two books for 99 cents each.  One for my boyfriend, "The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolasus Copernicus" and for me I got, "No Place Like Home: Staying In, Kicking Back, and Living It Up."

I just love this book!  Its all about "nesting," something the author Michelle Kehm calls a "lost art."  I have to agree with that statement.  I also agree that its coming back and is "very today."  This book is all about what I have set out to do in my new life as a step mom and a live-in girlfriend, crafting for the home and running it as a woman ought to.  If you are a woman who loves working day in and day out that's alright we're allowed to we fought long an hard to be seen as equals to men (who were the ones who viewed us as being lower than them.)  As for me I love being a stay at home mom, if I didn't have school to finish my stepson wouldn't be going to daycare, but since i have a huge debt that needs to be paid back I might as well finish and get that degree right?  My ideal and hopefully future job will allow me to still have time at home and be "Suzie Home-maker."

I love the idea of painting my walls but we live in an apartment currently (looking into buying a foreclosed home when the lease is up here) so we can't paint the walls we just don't have the money to paint and then repaint when we move so what's a gal to do?  Well... I have some cardboard, paints, fabric, construction paper, and a crafty heart.  My plan is to make a piece of art (using the cardboard as cheap canvas) of how i want the walls to look like in my home, once we have a home to call our own that is.  The art work will allow me to visualize what colors will go together and how it will look full scale without causing us to go bankrupt, and for now it will add the desperately needed color this place needs to liven it up.

Boo-Boo Bunny

So I am yet again cutting up an old baby blanket.  This time I'm making new washcloths.  We can only find 3 of my stepson's wash cloths, the last clean one of which was used to day to treat his first real boo-boo, he's had a tiny scrap on his knee before, but today was a head wound.  He was refusing to go to sleep so his daddy was in the room with him, he climbed out of bed and sat  behind the door.  When he refuses nap time he loves to slam his head back against the wall (he's always loved hitting his head he used to hit his forehead with his fist or bang his head on the corner of his crib.)  My stepson didn't realize that hitting his head on the door hinge would be a bad idea.  He cut his head open and like all head wounds that happens to be more than a bump, he bled, and in the style of all bleeding head wounds, it bled for a bit.

Here comes mommy to the rescue!  I had daddy sit with him in the chair we have in his room, I got our last clean washcloth, got it cold and wet, cleaned him up, then went back and got an ice cube and put it in the cloth and held it to his head for a little bit to help keep an swelling in the area down.  Then I checked him out and the bleeding stopped.

All of this reminded me of when I was little.  My mom used to take a washcloth and roll it and tie with a rubber band so it looked like a bunny and she called them "boo-boo bunnies"  so I figure I can make a couple to have on hand since our little one just got his first pair of shoes and now has to learn to walk with shoes on....now that's a sight to see, if you hold him up he runs, if you don't hold him up (by holding onto his hand) he falls back on his butt refusing to get up... frustrating yes, but cute too.

I will not be adding faces to ours lol.

The Never Ending Battle

Of good vs. evil.................. well sort of.

We've been dealing with my stepson's birth mother for a couple of weeks now demanding to see her son.  We would have no problem allowing her this, however she has certain rules and channels she needs to follow including giving us a week's notice before the meet up, she's not supposed to be rude or snarky about it either.  Then we set up the appoint for the chosen day and we meet at a family therapy or pregnancy out reach building (that the meet ups have always been held at.)

She called back on mother's day wanting to see her son since it was mother's day, but it was a Sunday, even if she had given us a few days notice we still can't due meet ups on the weekends, why? Simple the meet up place is closed on the weekends.  She texted my boyfriend this past monday wanting to see the baby this week.  Tuesday was too soon and we wouldn't be able to schedule on short notice, wednesday and thursdays my boyfriend works late, and yesterday the baby had an appointment for some physical therapy.  She also called my boyfriend a jerk and blamed us for her not seeing the baby in 7 months (other than the demand to see the baby on mother's day she only called to find out how he was doing the day after his 15th month checkup....which thanks to medicaid didn't happen.  This phone call was cut short because he was on a previous phone call where a former friend was harassing him and threatening to call CPS on him over and over and demanding to know where the baby was when it was none of her concern.  My boyfriend asked his ex to call him back in 15 minutes so he could end his previous call but she never called back, the next time we heard from her was this past monday (almost a whole 2 months went by.

This never ending battle may have finally come to an end.  As my boyfriend and I were snuggled under the blankets falling asleep last night, he got a text from his ex.  She's moved, she left town and now as long as she stays gone we wont have to put up with her anymore.  There may still be a rude comment or a curse word thrown at us once in a while on facebook, but at least now the threat of her coming to steal the baby away is gone.

for once, THANK YOU IRS!

Last month i got a refund for no reason at all no notice or letter included just a check well after 3 hours of phone calls and stupid elevator hold music I found out that i was eligible for the Making Work Pay credit and thats why I have the check! We can pay for Adam's vet bill!!!!!

but because finances are still tight for us with the baby and day care and all I'll keep the free gift for every purchase runing for the next six months on my jewelry :D

  Also and update on Adam.  I will be picking him up in 45 minutes from the vet.  Poor kitty hated the catheter so much he pulled it out on his own!  However that was enough to start breaking the blockage free although he hasn't used the litter box he had a steady trickle of urination coming out.  I'll find out what the blood work shows when I pick him up.  I am a little worried that because he pulled the catheter out and there's only a trickle of pee he may get blocked again and very quickly.  The vet and I think it was all due to a change in his diet so I'll be picking up his old kitty food after I bring him home.