Wordless Wednesday

In case you're wondering what I've been up to....

Thankful Thursday

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

~Melody Beattie 

Happy Thankful Thursday!  Can you all believe that today is the last day of January?  This month didn't go by too fast for me.  I'm thankful that I was able to enjoy each day and be more in the moment with my family.  I'm looking forward to having even more quality time for my family and continuing to live each day to the fullest next month.

I'm thankful that JJ's bruise is pretty much completely gone. There's like a dot the size of an ink pen tip left.  I'm also thankful that he hasn't had any more accidents.  However, we've been close.  For example, this morning he decided I was moving too slow and tried to climb of the bed alone.  He could care less that the distance from the top of the mattress to actual floor is about 3 feet and a some change.

Over the side he went.  Good thing my reflexes are good.  And I'm thankful that we co-sleep because I couldn't imagine waking up to him having taken a spill over the side of his crib.  Yes, he's strong enough to flip himself over the edge of his crib.  The Mr didn't believe me until one day we put him in it and JJ decided he was not feeling it and flipped right over the front.  At least we know he has good upper body strength.

I'm thankful that JJ is starting to get more vocal.  Among his favorite words are "stop," "candy," and "cook" (cookie).  I'm thankful that his teeth have come in.  He's the proud owner of ten pearly white chompers now.  And he's not shy about using them, especially on his sister.  We're still working on the whole not-biting-when-you-get-mad thing.

I'm thankful that I got to see my baby sister yesterday!  I love that kid like she was my own.  Our bond is so strong.  We tell each other everything.  And she truly has unconditional love for my kids.  No matter her mood, if I've needed her to help out with Moo or JJ, she has.  Likewise they are completely nuts about her too.

I'm thankful that this week has been very productive.  Yes, I haven't been able to blog as much but that's because I've been busy creating inventory for Moo's Closet and I got a few custom orders!!  I can't wait to snap pics of everything and get up on the Etsy shop and the Moo's Closet Facebook and Website pages.  Yes, I've decided to expand and give customers multiple platforms to order from because not everyone has an Etsy account or wants to open one.

One of my creations

I'm thankful for all the positive responses and comments I've received from my Bible 365 posts.  I was a little worried about blogging about the Bible at first because I didn't want to come off as holier than thou.  You start talking about God and people automatically think you're not as fun as you used to be or that you can't mess up.  Well, not the case here.  I'm still fun and I still make mistakes.  

The whole purpose of Bible 365 is for me to grow in my faith and getting a better understanding of the life I should be leading and teaching my children to lead.  It's a learning process.  I'll still stumble like everyone else, but hopefully a little bit less because I'll be making a more conscious decision about my actions and words.

I'm thankful for my loving husband.  He's been so supportive of me!  He saw me crocheting away this week and gave me the idea of trying to approach some stores about maybe selling some of my Moo's Closet merchandise.  I have to tell you the thought is a bit a scary but I've definitely been toying with the idea and have a proposal letter and speech rolling around in my head.  I've been checking out what locally owned stores are in our area that could be potential buyers for creations.  

I'm starting to get excited and less nervous about talking with some of these shop owners.  So, please keep me in prayer.  This will be a huge undertaking.  However, all things are possible with God, faith and action

What's on your gratitude list?

Thankful Thursday

I'm so thankful that things on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the blogs are getting back to normal.  Phew!  The holidays are coming up and we should be updating our statuses and posting about cheery things.  I for one am looking forward to Thanksgiving this year.  I'm thankful that I'll be spending it with my husband.

This will be the first Thanksgiving where it'll just be us and the kids.  Change happens and we're rolling with it.  The most important thing is that my honey won't be without his family like he has been these past four Thanksgivings.  We'll get to watch the parades and rattle pots together! LOL

I'm thankful that it was warm enough for the kids and I to get out in the yard and play this afternoon.  They really needed to burn off some pent up energy.  I was in such awe of the beautiful scenery around us.  Like not to get all preachy but it's amazing to see that God made views so gorgeous.

View from my front yard

I've been working on a blanket and I'm thankful that it is coming along well.  It was originally suppose to be listed in Moo's Closet, but Moo has become very attached to it.  She keeps asking me if I'm done with 'her' blanket every five minutes.  When I told her yesterday that it wasn't for her, she started crying a bit.  So, since most of the items in my shop are made to order, I'll just use this blanket at a display model and list it as made to order as well.

Great color combo huh?

I'm also thankful for the surprise check I got on Tuesday!  It felt a little like Christmas and my birthday.

What are you thankful for this week?

Up And Running

Well, folks I can scratch one thing off my Mind Right Monday goal list.  Moo's Closet is officially up and running!  Granted I only got one item listed, but I couldn't be more proud of myself either because I've been dragging my feet on this for some time. It's always been dream to own my a boutique. After all I was a fashion merchandising major.  So, Moo's Closet is my first project to see how well I will do as a boutique owner.

I commend other online boutique/shop owners like Christina from over at Being Mrs Jones.  I admire her commitment to Chic Chanta.  And shout out to Mimi from Lipgloss & Binky for taking it to the major league with the launch of Divinitee.  It takes a lot of time, brainstorming and staying up after the kids are in bed to run a shop.  Or any business really for that matter.   You have to come up with a banner, store policies, an owner bio, background info on your brand, etc.  Don't even get me started about pictures.

The point I'm trying to make is that this is something that I'm going to take serious and work hard to flip into a success.  My ultimate goal is take Moo's Closet beyond Etsy and eventually turn it into a brick and mortar storefront in the next year.  Big dreams I know, but half of the most successful boutique owners and designers dreamt big and it paid off.

More importantly, Moo's Closet is more than just a passion or my third baby.  It's putting us in the position of being closer to our dream home.  Yes, folks we're about to kickoff another round of house hunting.  (Pray for us!)  And this time, we'll even be taking a look at a few land parcels.

I'd much rather buy something already built and renovate instead of contributing to tearing down more wildlife homes, but hey we gotta do what we gotta do at the end of the day.  I've had with attached living-apartments, condos, duplexes.  Sure I'll miss having a landlord who gets to foot the bill for repairs like $250 valve sensor replacement on the gas tank, but we've had a slew of crappy and loud ass neighbors for the past few years..  And I'm ready to get in a place where when we make memories I don't have to feel guilty because we'll be leaving the place we made them behind once a lease expires.

Anyways, I don't want to make this a long post.  So, while you can't cop an album from me, you can scurry over to my shop and cop a scarf.  Christmas lapel/sweater pins coming soon as well as other merchandise!

The Pastel Moo Scarf 

My Weekend WrapUp

BAM!  It's October!  Can you all believe it?  I sort of can because the calendar says so, but a part of me still feeling like where did this year go?  I haven't a clue but I'm not complaining.  The fall is one of my favorite times of the year.  

I have my birthday, Moo's birthday, the Mr's Birthday, my sister's birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to.  Not to mention the upcoming Presidential Election.  And I'm even more excited this year because it's my baby sister's first year being able to vote!!!  Knowing my mom she'll probably be capturing the whole moment in photos.  Anyways, how was everyone's weekend?

This weekend was a special weekend for me and my husband.  We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on Sunday!!  We kept it low-key.  I'm happy to report that he really liked his gift.  It was comic book related.  We're really big on Marvel and DC over here.

I got to sleep in until almost 11 AM.  That was a great gift itself because I needed that rest after having had a rough night with JJ.  He also got me a lovely red clutch wallet.  I love it because it matches my favorite red purse from Aldo's.  I had a matching red wallet to go with the purse already put thanks to all my store cards, receipts and just plain old usage it had a few tears in lining.  My money was starting to do disappearing acts. So, it was time for a new wallet.

Can't believe I almost forgot, but I did get an early anniversary present from the Mr.  Remember, that post I did a while back on wanting an iPhone?  Well, looks like I'll be leaving Team Droid in a few days to join Team iPhone!!  I love my EVO, but I'm super excited to see what all the hype is about with these iPhones.  We decided to get the 4S since I heard that 5 has some kinks to get worked out like the screen bleeds and some of the apps malfunction.  Either way, I can't wait for that baby to get delivered.  (Yea, iPhones stay sold out around these parts.)

Overall, it was a great day.  The best part was just being with my family and celebrating the commitment my husband and I made to each other before God, the minister and our witnesses. (We eloped for the newbies.)    I was glad the kids celebrated with us.  Moo asked a lot of questions about why we exchanged gifts and I had the chance to explain to her the whole significance of anniversaries and marriage.  I tried to put it in a way she would understand.  I think she got it but if not she'll see us celebrate our wedding anniversary for years to come and get it when she's older.

A Scarf for Moo

I also did a lot of crocheting over the weekend.  I had been giving some thought to starting up a little Etsy shop or something similar on my own.  I know I don't talk about it much here on the blog, but I really like to craft.  Crocheting, cross-stitching and all that jazz is right now my alley.  It's relaxing, helps me focus and it's really good exercise for your hand.

After much thought, I decided to give it a shot.  What's to lose really?  Plus, how many scarves and blankets do Moo and JJ need?  I can't possibly keep everything I make.   And on top of that I've been thinking about trying to find a way to incorporate more charity work or opportunities into YUMMommy.  So, I'd love to take a portion of my profits to maybe sponsor a child for Christmas this year and then with future profits look into getting the ball rolling on converting YUMMommy into a nonprofit.

I'm still working on building up inventory and getting pictures ready to upload but here's a look at the banner for my shop and I've set up a Facebook page. 

https://www.etsy.com/shops/MoosCloset

Anything interesting happen to you this weekend?