Beads for Life

I was invited to a BeadsForLife party today by my friend Heather. I had a great time #1 and was extremely touched by the whole thing. Ugandan women take recycled paper and make beads that they place sealant on and put out on a line to dry. The necklaces, bracelets and earrings are amazing and beautiful. I know that she will probably post something on her blog about the party but I was just so impressed and will now be hosting my own Bead for Life get together that I couldn’t wait to tell you all about it. Straight from www.BeadforLife.org:

BeadForLife began with a chance encounter between a Ugandan woman, Millie, who was rolling beads near her mud home, and the founders Torkin Wakefield, Ginny Jordan and Devin Hibbard. Stopping to admire the beads, the women learned that there was no market for their jewelry, and that Millie worked for a dollar a day in a rock quarry crushing stones in the hot sun. They admired her paper beads and bought a few, never realizing that their lives, and the lives of so many impoverished Ugandans, were about to change.

When friends at home admired the beads, the three women realized that there might be a market after all. Torkin returned to Uganda, and Devin and Ginny began to develop a marketing strategy. In Uganda , Torkin held classes to improve the quality of  the beads and develop several styles of necklaces and bracelets. Soon women in the US began to hear the stories of the beaders and buy their jewelry.

It’s not your typical home party. You aren’t expected to spend your money. You sit and listen to their stories and experiences, which will touch your heart. You listen to Ugandan music which some of it they have written for BeadForLife. If you do choose to purchase one of the beautiful pieces of jewelry than you are helping a woman across the world feed her children and build them a home. Simple as that and know that 94% goes to the ladies in the village. With all of this said…. I can’t wait to show you what I got today. L of course will be modeling some of the jewelry because she claims that “we are sharing it”. It’s not the case but we’ll let her think that.

I bought this beautiful 3 strand black necklace.

I also bought the brown 3 string necklace that L is wearing and I did purchase one thing for L… the blue pastel bracelet she has on ($5).

Here’s one more of her modeling just because I think she is so stinkin cute.

So this is to my family, friends and my cohost Mrs. Ritz ;)…. know that when you receive an invitation to attend this party (Aprilish)  there will be wine and food but also a sense of doing something bigger and greater for the women of the world. There’ll be more to come later. Thanks again Heather.

4 years, 8 months, 1 day

Since Sex and the City was on tv. I am all tingly just talking about it. I don’t ever get a chance to watch Oprah and this morning I am catching up on a little DVR while the kids play dress up and the cast of the new Sex and the City movie are on. I cannot wait to see this movie. I will need to call all of my friends and go see this one. I will also need to start watching all of the DVDs of the episodes I do have and buy the ones I don’t. When this show went of the air, L wasn’t even here in this world yet. Wow, it’s been a long time. I just hope the movie doesn’t disappoint. I need to go watch Oprah.

Oprah is now over and I am even more excited.

The movie opens on MAY 30TH!!! Wow, I should start lining up my babysitter now. I am in the midst of trying to get a countdown ticker on my site, it’s giving me problems though. That would be because WordPress doesn’t allow Javascript on it’s blogs. Thank you WordPress once again you impress me to no end.

Are you a Sex and the City fan?

Some stuff from today

So I am totally geeked out!!! AGAIN!! I received my first scrapbook kit from Paper Posies. I could not be more excited to use the new items. Here is a picture of what I received….

If you scrapbook you probably understand my enthusiasm. If you don’t bear with me I will move onto something else.

Right now my 4 year old is watching High School Musical. You of course know what this is or you might just be living under a rock?! Okay so I had never seen the movie until yesterday and thought L might want to watch it with me for the first time. So now she’s really “into it” those are her words, not mine. I am just surprised that she’s so “into it” I thought for sure it would be over her head. Oh well guess you can’t keep them young forever.

I’m being edjumacated

That’s right I am taking a “class” in nutrition. It’s actually a very good class. My Parents as Teachers Parent Educator recommended me to the class and I am having a blast, it’s one of our group meetings. We are learning all about the pyramid and what to serve our kids instead of what we currently serve our poor starving children. The presenter is awesome. I adore her. She is down to earth and knows her stuff and knows that we aren’t perfect. You can tell me what I need to eat and 7 times out of 10 I will listen but don’t we all have those days.

Here’s the pyramid we are using:  You can click on it to make it larger.

Now I have learned me some new things in this class… listen up did you know that after the age of 30 women stop producing calcium. What you have at that point is all that you will ever have… unless, you have 3 cups of calcium daily, then you replenish what was used and continue to add to your body. I had no idea, wait, let me take a drink of my milk :-).

Oooh and the best part we eat in this class. Tonight I had the yummiest enchilada with fruit salsa and homemade cinnamon chips. Seriously the yummiest I have had outside a Mexican restaurant. I do currently make an enchilada from Campbell’s Kitchen and it does not even compare to the one I tasted this evening. I’m in love, can you tell?!

Our nutritional leader also gives us handouts with recipes and snack ideas for our toddlers. All in all I look forward to every Thursday night. I even switched from white bread to whole grain bread because she convinced me it was better for me.

All these little things can help in my case, I am a junk food addict (as I eat some cookies). So here’s to eating healthy or the beginning of eating healthy.

Breakfast anyone?

Okay I am not sure if I have mentioned this or not… but I have a severe sweet tooth. Just look at what I am having for breakfast. Not such a healthy choice but I couldn’t resist.

These are such a once a year addiction. I only buy one box because it’s about all I can handle. JT got this box for me through work and I have been saving it, for what I don’t know, apparently breakfast for a leap day. Do any of you have a sweet tooth beyond control? My hubby makes fun of me from time to time, but I’ve replaced sweets with smoking. I think sweets are the better choice… don’t you?

I “heart” these scrapbooking projects

I want to do this project from Ali Edwards so bad, it’s all I can creatively think about. I can’t wait to try it. Maybe for L’s room or maybe even just for me, for my future scrapbook room.

I also love this project. I would put a different spin on them of course and wouldn’t do the whole holiday thing but wouldn’t this also be cool up on a wall. Ali Edwards is a great inspiration. You should check out her blog over there on my blog roll.

I love this card and can’t wait to duplicate it. Isn’t it pretty. Now I wish I hadn’t already purchased the Hallmark ones for this week.

Oh man I want to sit down and do a layout like this right this instant. Too bad my area is a mess. I will just save it for another evening.

If I could find the right outlet for a project similar to this, I think it could be a lot of fun to put together. Maybe just pictures of my loved ones.

Also check out Vicki Boutin’s blog. She is really a great desiner/scrapbooker. I also have a link over on my blog roll.

Blokus = Fun

  JT bought me this game last night after wanting it for so long. I have an affinity for board games and this one I have been reading about for several years now but just never got around to purchasing it. We played 6 rounds last night after the kids went to bed. It is so much fun. But you have to like brain teaser type stuff. It’s really addictive too. I actually beat JT who is mostly unbeatable at all games and I consider him to be quite a bit smarter than myself. He absorbs information much quicker than I do.

We tied the first 5 games but the final one I was victorious. Try it out you might like it as much as me. Plus, it’s kind of hard to get competitive with this game. We actually can’t wait to play again. We have to wait for the kids to disappear go to bed because if J or L gets a hold of these pieces they will for sure be missing within two seconds. They are that attractive to kids. Anyway, if you love board games as much as me, you will love this one. Another cool thing, you can play on-line.

Cool Things I Found or Want

Cool and Interesting Websites:

Choose your Candidate – thanks to Big Mama’s blog for this awesome find, the person I was going to vote for was not my first pick, interesting. I will not be interjecting my political view into my blog. No one cares that is close to me and why start a political debate in my life, not what I need right now, so my results will remain close to me. But have fun, it’s very interesting.

Things I want: 

Here is a bag that I want to buy and have it be my best friend and carry all of my important items and go to DisneyWorld with me and bring peace and happiness to my life… too much to ask of a simple bag… you may be right, how about we go with “it’s pretty”.

OMG with a stroller like this I could take on the world and my kids would theoretically behave. Plus look at that Walmart price, you can’t beat it anywhere.

I don’t know why I want some of these so badly, but oh I do. They always look fabulous on people when I see them.

A new product my hubby’s company is providing to the public. We want to sign up… right now. But, we can’t we are tied into Dish Network and it will cost $130 if we terminate our contract. We will soon enough.

I LOVE this coat. I have always wanted a coat like this, something lightweight and easy to pull on. Something the kids can’t destroy. A good spring/fall coat.

I guess that’s enough dreaming for now.

Just so you know this doesn’t fall underneath either of my title categories but it is interesting just the same. Today I watched Yo Gabba Gabba for the first time. What a freaky weird show that is. My kids were entranced and yet I was appaled… how funny that Biz Markie has a beat of the day. That was the only part that made me laugh out loud. Check it out on YouTube: (I found it first on the Kellogues blog, but wanted to share it with all of you)

Or check out this one of this poor kid named Nathaniel dancing on Yo Gabba Gabba… how funny.

It’s Snowing

On my blog that is… did you know that if you go to your Dashboard in WordPress, choose presentation, extras – you will see a box to click that says Snow (until Jan 2nd). So for only today it shall snow. LOVE IT!

Also, thanks goes out to all that visited my site for my fun St. Louis Holiday Calendar. As soon as I shake some of these cold weather drearies I will come up with some else brilliant and new. Till then thanks again for stopping by to check it out and as always thanks to bigbinder for being my inspiration.

The Spoiled Life

The Spoiled Life is a great life if you can get it. I received money for Christmas, which is and can be the best present EVER. I also received some nice gifts too don’t get me wrong. But, I was able to buy two pairs of snazy shoes today from Clarks (Privo is my favorite brand I like their Tequini style  and this new style called Spangle) and I finally joined the masses and purchased an iPod. I can’t believe it, finally!!

I didn’t purchase just any iPod, I purchased the iPod Touch. This is truly the coolest thing I have ever owned. Now I can scrapbook and be cool at the same time. I am currently rocking out to Fergie as we “type”. I am completely geeked out. I was even smiling like a geek as I walked into the store to purchase the said equipment. I know – I know: GEEK!!!

Shopping was a blast. JT and I looked at each other and commented that we hadn’t shopped like that since we’ve had the kids. It was fun and I have no regrets because I thought long and hard about how I was going to spend the money, I usually tend to blow part of it, but not this time. I am proud of myself. (oh yeah the sensible side of me bought socks too, cause I needed those).