A Month to Go Until the Terrible Twos are Official!

Exactly one month to go until the twins 2nd birthday! They are already in the full swing of the terrible twos with the screaming and the tantrums. Terrible twos times two! I am exhausted by the time I put them to bed each night. They are great though so I'm not really complaining, but they are a handful. Tabitha's language skills are slowly improving; she is expanding her vocabulary and her non-verbal communication skills have certainly come a long way. Tommy is a little behind her on that, but he asks for less. They are still at the point and scream ah stage. Boy, will it be fun when they enter the "no" and "mine" stage. They are getting better using the spoon and fork to eat with, but they still seem to think the plate or bowl is optional.

Yesterday, me and the kids went to the at-home reception of the "unofficial" wedding of their Grandpa Cookie (hubby's dad) and Melba (life-long friend of my mother-in-law Ellie who passed in November of last year). I wasn't thrilled to go but Cookie really wanted us to be there. It's nearly an hour drive each way and we cannot really afford the gas. I also anticipated absolutely no help with the kids while I was there, and I was not disappointed. I spent a little over two hours there completely trying to keep the kids from drinking strange drinks, playing in ashtrays and playing with things they weren't supposed to like the laptop someone had set up on the table out on the back porch. There I was, surrounded by actual adults, but not one deigned to speak with me about anything other than my kids and that was pretty insipid stuff (Oh, you must be tired, Oh, you have your hands full, that sort of thing. end rant.) Cookie did have his photo op with the kids eating wedding cake so looking back it was worth it. I wish Cookie and Mel all the best. I survived, the kids survived, and lots of new family met the kids so I have to chalk that up to time well spent.

My hubby did take the job at U.S. Security Associates for $11.00 an hour. He also took a part time job with the U.S. Airways Arena security staff to fill out his schedule. He is still technically employed by P.E.S. but I am not sure if he will really do much for them anymore. His new goal is to get a job with the Department of Corrections. He passed the written test which is better than half the people who took the test did. Now he has to get in better shape to pass the physical requirements. He has the discipline, but i hope he has the energy to do it. Hopefully in a day or two when he doesn't feel like his ass is so kicked from his schedule he will get started on it. I definitely have to give him credit for getting his butt out and getting a new job when his hours were cut so much. His new job, along with the child support payments being finished (yay!) and our tax refund should be a good bump for us financially.

And now an update about my jewelry: I finished a new necklace bringing my total to 4 necklaces made from the eBay stuff I got! I made it with all green beads, and a large green pearl drop in the middle in honor of St. Patrick's Day coming up. I also put up the jewelry slide show on my blog page here so everyone can see what I've made. The slide show includes 3 of the charm necklaces I made last month. The weird thing is I had all these things in my head to do, now I feel a bit unmotivated for the next project since I finished the new necklace. I suppose if I actually sold something I would feel a bit better.

About a week later...

Thank goodness this month is almost over! At least February is the shortest month of the year, even on leap year. The kids finally got over their stomach flu last Friday, but I was not in any shape myself to go anywhere, including my sister's farmers market. They are starting the terrible twos a little early, though. I understand that is really the frustration in the gap between being able to communicate and what they want, but I do a pretty good job understanding the body language and pointing. Sometimes the thought they want to communicate is sort of complicated and they just throw a fit, but now I am starting to figure those out also. Tommy likes to tell on his sister, or maybe feels it is his duty, and that usually involves a full-on scream fest complete with not wanting anything including what he was just holding. He did that to me the other day out in the yard. I was around the back and they had gone to the front (it's all really a wrap-around yard so it's one big yard) so I was going to check on what they were doing. Tommy comes around the corner and starts throwing a humongous fit when he sees me, complete with throwing down his toy, plopping his butt on the ground and stomping his heels and kicking. I have no idea what that's about so I try to see if he's hurt or something but he just keeps going so I shrug my shoulders and go on to see what Tabitha is doing. She is sitting in the middle of my garden. A short sprint later gets her out of the garden. By this time Tommy has collected himself and is pleased with himself now that I found out what he was trying to tell me. I'm starting to see how this sibling rivalry thing is going to go. Tabitha goes the more direct route; hitting, scratching, biting, taking the toys, that sort of thing. Tommy will be the one trying to get Tabitha in trouble while he keeps his hands clean. I gotta figure these things out early or else I am going to get played like a fiddle by both of them.

Thank goodness my melancholic fog is starting to lift. I finally have my jewelry in a slide show on the blog, yay! That took a while to figure out and download all the pictures. All of the pictured jewelry is for sale at the farmers market on Saturdays and Sundays. I would also sell them online but I would only be able to do it by check or money order. Now I have so many things I want to make I need to prioritize them; right now it's like I have ADD. I'll think of something to make, then see a picture or look at a book and want to do something else. Then I'll look at my supplies and get pulled in yet another direction. It's like a mental list of 5 things that all have a gold star next to them. One of my biggest problems is wanting to do so much I wind up doing nothing because I'm paralyzed by indecision. I still try to work though, at least in the prep area. I finally mounted my wire wizard bending jig on a board so I can clamp it to the table for stability while I bend wire to make repetitive shapes. I couldn't very well screw it directly to the kitchen table, but on the board I can C-clamp it on for stability. I have only owned that thing for about a decade and managed to not lose it through 3 hurried moves in the last 4 years. I think I needed to finally feel like I was in a permanent place before committing to attaching that thing to something. I did give my bead supplies a do or die priority during all the moves because they would be the one thing I would regret the most not being careful with, not to mention they are my highest value capital investment in both actual material value and potential value as finished product. I think I'll do the project that's been banging around in my head the longest first; it involves to stuff I got from eBay a few weeks ago. It's like I have a creative burst, then I need to rest until I get the urge again. I'm starting to burst again so I better get to work....

He's driving me crazy!

A husband home due to lack of work available is not a good thing. The kids aren't driving me any crazier than usual, but with hubby home it somehow seems worse. I understand he is depressed and anxious, but my daily schedule of what I do is all messed up so I'm on edge myself. Not to mention, I sort of expect him to help some with the kids since he is home and all but unless I directly ask him to do something or give him the eye when he talks about a dirty diaper they are not his problem. I did have a talk to him about that this afternoon so I hope tomorrow is better. Ashley is coming over tonight so I'm just a little vexed about the next few days. Between Andy not working and Ashley until Sunday evening I am going to have to work at not being in a complete snit about all this.

Anyway, tomorrow there is a rummage sale at a nearby church. I have been combing the classifieds for weeks looking for one and finally I have one to go to! They open at 7am to I was planning to get out there pretty early. I scoped it out on the way to my sister's farmers market, since it was on the way. They were even setting it up already when I passed today, but their sign said it was for Saturday only so I shouldn't be missing anything. I am hoping to find some good jewelry, maybe some clothes for myself, work pants for Andy and clothes and perhaps a toy or two for the kids. It is half-price day at Goodwill tomorrow too, so it should be a good day in that regard. I have to get some unbreakable dishware for the kids; Tommy shattered a little vintage glass bowl I gave him breakfast in this morning. He was just so fast! I just turned my back for a second, and crash! I was bummed, but I paid half of 35 cents for it from a now closed thrift store so it wasn't a big loss, but I liked it. I think it was a dessert bowl; it had a pedestal and a cut glass design all around and held about half a cup. Oh well, I've memorialized it, now it's time to move on.

My garden is still growing nicely. We didn't get the predicted rain so I've had to water it. I'm trying to not over water it, but it has been warmer and I don't want it to dry out too much. It seems to be growing maddeningly slow. The volunteer tomato in my potted plant is about to flower already! I guess it's been growing about two months now. Both seem to be okay but I think I need to take a cutting, just in case.

I finally finished going through all the junk jewelry I got from eBay; I should be able to make a bunch of stuff out of it. My first projects will be what I've had in mind since I got it- Gypsy treasure necklaces. I only need to sell 4 of them at $15.00 each to recoup my cost for the stuff I got. I even found some sterling, but I had to keep a real eye pealed for those. Some wasn't marked, like the sterling beads. I know they are sterling because my silver polish worked on them and the way the tarnish came off was exactly like sterling. I've tried that silver polish on junk jewelry that fooled me with it's tarnished look, but the polish doesn't work on that stuff at all. It's the chemical reaction that takes off the tarnish, so when it works, I figure it must be sterling. I got some real vintage sterling box clasps from some of the old strands of pearls, so that was nice. I also have a bunch of old glass vintage pearls that I am going to remove the pearl finish so I will then have a rather huge collection of milky and bluish milky glass beads. They look rather exotic once the finish is off of them. Czech glass, Indian glass, lampwork glass, a ton of findings, and some nice interesting plastic beads I kept for jewelry was recovered. I also collected two full big jars of beads I will give to Tabitha when she is old enough for them. I need to get to work on that jewelry, hopefully tomorrow but more than likely after Ashley leaves on Sunday. Tonight I just need to rest a bit, but tomorrow, who knows?

Potpourri Thursday

A little bit of this, a little bit of that to write about today. My tomato seeds in the garden have sprouted, yay! The rest of it is growing nicely, and we had some rain last night, so that was a plus. I hadn't watered it yesterday because I was banking on that, and I'd like to work on the roots getting deeper and stronger in preparation for the heat that will come. I went to Goodwill yesterday and found some awesome stuff! I found an E.T. Journey to the Green Planet electronic solar system toy for only $2.99, and it even came with batteries so I knew it worked before I bought it. It is very cool, it is like an interactive electronic encyclopedia all about the planets in our solar system with the voices of Eliot and E.T. telling you all about the facts. I looked it up on ebay and found only two, listed for $9.99 and $21.99, not including shipping so I think I got a pretty good deal. The kids get to play with it when they are a little older. Now all I have to do is get a copy of the E.T. movie so the kids will know who the heck E.T. is. I also found a sterling silver and rainbow moonstone bracelet for the excellent price of only $3.99. Boy, I don't hink they knew what they had. It is clearly marked .925 on the clasp, and on a couple of the moonstone links. I found it was marked $40.00 with permanent marker on the back of one of the links, which is what I told Andy was how much I would have paid new for it. I originally wanted to buy it for the parts, but it is beautiful and fits perfectly so I think I will wear it for a while until inspiration strikes to make something out of it. Which reminds me, I really need to post something on my site here to lead to all the pictures of my jewelry. I also need to get back on track with making some more. I was able to buy this stuff yesterday just because I sold two cellphone charms last weekend at the farmers market. I couldn't even have bought one rainbow moonstone link from a jewelry supply store for what I paid for the bracelet; I think I'm going to be pretty proud of this purchase for a while! Relatedly, I received my huge lot of "junk" jewelry and beads from ebay on Tuesday and I need to start to sort through it. I gave it a quick looksie and I think I paid about what it was worth, just for the beads. It came with a lot of vintage glass pearls and a bunch of other stuff. This was a good thing for me, it makes me do stuff I wouldn't normally make because individually I wouldn't have bought these beads myself from the bead store. It certainly fits the bill for making a ton of gypsy treasure jewelry and such. I found some sterling in there too. Well, I hear the kids sqawking in their room so they must be done with their nap so I better get going.