I Took A Moment

Cuteness! That's what they are. The church even has a bell in the tower that rings. LOVE IT!!

This Tool Shed even has an adorable little fence on it. The squirrels love this one.

Life has been beyond crazy for me the last two weeks. All the details of releasing Shimmerz Spritz has been at times overwhelming. I've had a couple of melt downs during all of it. I spent many long hours working and many late nights trying to get everything ready with May 20th fastly approaching. I guess you get to a point where you've done all you can and just have to (once again) realize that the Lord is in control. His hand is at work and all my stressing isn't going to change His plan.

So yesterday I decided to take just a few minutes to go in the back yard and just breathe.

I love birds! I love the sounds they make, I love to watch them eat at the many feeders we have. There is just something very relaxing about watching them flutter about. I also love bird houses. Mostly the (many, many) birdhouses that my Dad has made for me. They are full of charm, cuteness (is that a word?) and love. I make a request and then a couple of weeks later, Whaa-laa! there it is. I just love em and so do the birds. He makes them big, small and in between. I always have feathered friends around them.

Well, I have one Robin that decided to take up residence under my patio. She has been really fun to watch. We just discovered yesterday that she has two babies. We get the pleasure of watching her feed those sqwaking little mouths and protect them like only a mother can.

So I grabbed my camera and sat under her home and just watched her. It was like therapy. It was so relaxing. She just looked at me and I know it's wierd, but somehow knew that I wasn't going to hurt or bother her, cause I'm a mom too.

I was so thankful for those few moments of peace and relaxation. I hated to leave and go back to work.

Because He Loves Me. . .

I have been without a craft room for quite some time now. Once we moved a year ago, it just wasn't a huge priorty. There were just too many other things to do---like ---uummm, building a business. The business is still taking most of my time, but I told Dave in a casual conversation that I've missed stamping and scrapping.

Well this last weekend he took a corner of the "Man Room" (that's where the "MAN" creates and makes all the Shimmerz, Blingz and now Spritz colors) and made a wonderful desk for me. He even painted the walls in colors that I love. How sweet is that! I was so touched. He told me that he wanted to do something special just for me, to show me how much he loves me. I love that man!!! I haven't had even a minute to sit and just enjoy my little corner of the world, but hope too very soon. My plan is that once Spritz is released and running, I'll get an hour or two to play. I see all the wonderful things my Design Team makes and it makes me want to be able to create again. I see that day coming very soon.

Thanks Honey! I love you very much.

It's Almost H-E-R-E------

We have been working ridiculous hours trying to get all the details of this release ready. There is still a lot of work left to do, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek.

Shimmerz Spritz is an old product made new again. We reformulated, repackaged and are releasing Spritz. It has a great punch of sparkle, 20 awesome colors (thanks Honey!) and a price that will knock your socks off! And, most of the colors will even coordinate with Shimmerz colors. How cool is that! We've had them tested and the reviews are coming in with raves about how much they love Spritz. Gracie even tried it and off course Sadie (our basset hound) got into the action and ended up with a Spritzed tail. She had a tail of many colors. Tee-Hee-Hee.

May 20th is our B-I-G day. We hope to have a tutorial video (or two) to include on the Shimmerz web-site. www.shimmerzpaints.com We want to make sure people can see just what this product can really do. We have worked hard to try to cross every T and dot every I, and I really think all the time spent will be worth it.

Look at what Jeni did to me. . .

I went out a couple of weeks ago and had some new pictures taken. I was told that I needed to change my blog picture because it looked too "stuffy". I had that one done when I was a loan officer at a Mortgage Co. So it was all professional looking. Well those days are over! Dave and Sami were my photographers. I have a sweet friend that is a budding pro. She said she'd be happy to take some pictures. It's just so hard finding time these days that works for me let alone her schedule. So off we went to an old run down barn here in town. Between the two of them, they took several pictures.

Then I asked another sweet friend of mine (and a Shimmerz Design Team member), Jeni to tweek some of the pictures. She put a funky twist to a couple of them. She made them fun, so I wanted to share her handy work. I can say that there is no more "stuffy" Stacey. Let me know what ya think.

Coolest Kid on the Block

I seems like I've been posting an awful lot about my girls. Sami prom, Gracie kindergarten. So today Kaleb was playing his guitar (loudly I might add). Trust me--deaf kids do everything very loud. You'd think his hearing aids would control some of that. Anyway, so I thought I would share his "coolness". Kaleb has been using virtual guitar lessons for less than a year to learn how to play both the accustical and the electric guitar (not such a fan of the electric--it's the loud thing again) :o) He has learned so-o-o much. He's already playing full songs, and not Mary Had A Little Lamb. I'm talking real songs. He loves songs from my era (the 80's). It just cracks me up. He thinks all the "old" songs are great. He holds himself accountable to practicing everyday. Which is awesome--one less thing for me to nag about.

I get such a kick out of my girls. Sami is a kick in the pants. Always fun and laughing. Gracie is our little ray of sunshine. She is always happy, happy, happy! Kaleb, he is my joy. He is an easy going kid. Very laid back and shy. He and I have always had a special bond. We just "get" each other. He LOVES his mama and I love that. He doesn't give me grief. He is very rarely ever in trouble and he's truly a funny kid. The things that come out of that boys mouth are hilarious. Then there are those blue eyes and dimples. UGH!! I know I'm in for trouble---that's if he can get over his shyness to even talk to the girls. Tee-Hee-hee.

Kaleb also has a true and very deep love for the Lord. That boy knows what he believes and why he believes it. He has a level of wisdom that often amazes me. I do believe that when you loose one of your senses (or it is dramatically diminished) the others kick into high gear. Kaleb can sense the Lord and the Holy Spirit and he is in tuned to them both. He loves our family Bible study each week. He's hungry to learn and he enjoys his theological discussions with his dad.

He's just a joy and a blessing. Right up there with his sisters!

Happy Mother's Day

Did you have a happy Mother's Day? I really hope so. I hope you felt valued and treasured as a mom. I L-O-V-E Mother's Day!!! I don't really get into my birthday. It's just another day, which drives my family nuts. I just don't care about my birthday. But, I make up for it on Mother's Day. Being a mom is one of the greatest accomplishments I have. I was able grow and give birth to 3 very special and unique blessings. How can you not be tickled by that?!

Well. . . they spoiled me rotten (with a little help by their Daddy). I got some really sweet gifts and cards from my kids and a very sparkly something from Dave. You know how I love sparkly things.

I was able to share this special day with my mom. She and my dad were in town. So that made the day even better. My mom is one of my best friends. I never get tired of spending time with her.

So here it is Monday. Off to another busy week. I'll post more about that later. We've got some exciting news coming!!! (No- I'm not pregnant---don't even go there!) Have a happy day!

It's Prom Night

Okay. . . I'm going to try to be humble about this. I'm really going to try. I'm trying. Yep, still trying! Oh SHOOT---I just can't do it anymore. Will you look at my GORGEOUS girl. I just can't get over how tootin cute she is.

What's so fun about Sami is that she marches to the beat of her own drummer. While all her friends are buying long flowing dresses with tons of fabric (which I was prepared to buy), she wants to be different and go with a short flowy dress. I gulped and said, "Okay Honey, it's your Prom." Actually it turned out to be a blessing (for me). Most long dresses measure 58 to 6o inches. . . well poor Sami is 48 inches with heels on. A long dress for Sami would be a taylor's nightmare. That's a lot of fabric to alter and actually would ruin a lot of dresses. She's just so tiny. And sure enough when we went to take group pictures, she was the only one in a short dress. Was she insecure? NO WAY! She thought is was awesome that she stood out from the pack. I admire her confidence.

Depending on how the night goes, I may post pictures of her and her date. If the date isn't successful and fun, then I'll leave those out. But for now, I just want to enjoy how beautiful and sassy my sweet girl is! I just LOVE her so much!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away / YEA! Gracie

I'm feeling like a duck. I swear I'm growing webbed feet. I know we need the rain. My flowers and lawn are beautiful because of all the wetness falling from the sky, but we are so sick of cloudy, wet, gloomy days. I guess I should be thankful for global warming---otherwise we'd really be cold and wet. Tee-Hee-Hee. :o)

Anyway, we've been feeling cooped up and so doing school is hard. Not to mention we are now at the end of the year and the kids (and me too) are jittery. So it's easy for us to get on each other's nerves. So Mom to the rescue!! Kaleb and Gracie and I (Sami was going too, except we were REALLY on her nerves, so she opted out) went bowling. Aaahh, don't look to any of us going pro! We did have fun though. It broke up the cold, rainy, blah day. We laughed a lot and admired each other's technique. I won't say what our scores were---but---ummmm---- I WON!!! :O) Tee-Hee

I have to share what I think is good news. Gracie is the first kiddo that we've homeschooled from the beginning. Sami and Kaleb started to homechool at middle school age. So I was really nervous. I was going to send Gracie to Kindergarten, but she missed the cut off date. She was so, so ready. So off I went and bought curriculum not having a clue if I was "really" doing it right. I said my prayers and really relied on the Lord to help me not screw it up. :o) She has done so well. I'm very proud of her. I won't lie--we had some tough days, but overall we both learned a lot. Well, I went to the State Board of Ed. web-site and printed off all the kindergarten standards and began to pour through ALL those pages. UGH! I am very pleased to anounce that Little Miss Gracie not only met, but exceeded in every standard in every subject -- in April. That would be 6 weeks early. I was tickled!! She needs to know, and be able to use at least 25 site words. As of yesterday she now knows 45. Little smarty! I can't tell you how relieved I was. I really did fear homeschooling her. Being responsible for teaching her her letters, numbers, adding and reading was a daunting task, until we really got started. It was fun. It brought new depth to our already close relationship, and I can't tell you how rewarding it is to see her doing double digit math and reading. The Lord got us both through it. What's even better is that we incorporate her devotions into her lessons and then we end our school time praying for each other. How could you not LOVE that?! I would have missed so much if she was able to have gone to school. I am so, so thankful!!! I think we will do a little Kindergarten graduation party with some friends and family to celebrate her accomplishments. That should be fun. I'll be sure to post it!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Hey!! It's National Scrapbook Day (May 2nd). Go over to the Shimmerz web-site www.shimmerzpaints.com and the Shimmerz blog http://shimmerzpaints.blogspot.com and see what kind of fun stuff we have going on. You don't want to miss out! The Design Team has done some great projects!

It's been another super crazy week. I'll have to fill you in later. I've spent a lot of hours working. I am so stinking lucky. How many people can say (honestly) that they love every part of their job? I (honestly) can say that I love my business. Every part of my business. I'm very blessed!

Hey, if you live anywhere near Meridian, be sure to head over to the Farmers Market tomorrow (Saturday) morning. I have a very dear friend (she used to be in Dave's youth group years ago--but we won't go there now) who will be a vendor. Kelly has been busy sewing up a storm to get ready. So be on the look out for some super cute hand sewn things and say "Hey" to Kelly from me.

I'll fill you in on all the craziness going on around here soon. Have a super weekend!