Can You Say FURIOUS?!?

I have been telling myself for the past 24 hours that the Lord is in control. He has a plan. His plan is what's best for me. Try to control your anger. Take the high road. Try to set a good example. Trust and have faith!!!!

I am a very black and white person. If there are any gray areas in my life they are very small. If it's right--it's right. If it's wrong--it's wrong and you better do whatever it takes to make it right.

I have worked really hard to build my business. I love my business. I love my products. I love my customers and have worked really hard to let them know that I value them. I didn't do all of this to find out that someone is buying my product (I will find out where), repackaging it and then has the absolute gall to sell it under another name.

I am going to see my attorney on Monday and I will pursue any and every legal avenue I can to not only stop this thief, but to demand restitution.

****PLEASE****

Don't be fooled by Shimmerz or Blingz knock off's. Don't be fooled by anyone who tells you that their product is "exactly" like Shimmerz. Shimmerz and Blingz are unique to Shimmering Products ONLY. Shimmerz is trademark protected for this very reason.

Please pray for me. I am trying hard to control my anger. . . but I AM FURIOUS!!!

Yep! I Know

I need a banner. I know I need a banner for my blog. I go and I look and see really cute ones. Loads of cute ones. So here's my problem. . . I can't decide which one to use. Then I start to think. . . hhmmm. . . can I do it? What if it takes a lot of time and then I screw it up. Yep, I'm a weenie.

Why is it so hard for me to make decisions? It completely drives Dave nuts. I can't tell you how often I rely on Sami to help me decide on what to wear. I even rely on Gracie if we're out shopping. It's really sad. And Kaleb. . . he's like his Dad. Drives him crazy!!!!

So the question is. . . will I ever have some tootin' cute banner for my blog? Uuhhmmm, MAYBE! I can't decide.

See---told ya.

Craft Critique

I was so nervous for today. Nervous in a way the is excited and yet not really sure I want to hear what's coming.

Shimmerz, Blingz and Spritz are being revieved for the next 3 days. We are the featured vendor for Craft Critique. They have 6 of their reporters reviewing all 3 products. Now if that doesn't keep you awake at night, I don't know what will.

So far the word is great. They list pro's and con's and as of today, I'm not concerned with the 2 con's that were mentioned.

Go check it out. And oh, I'm doing another give-away, so be sure to sign up for that on the Craft Critique web-site www.craftcritique.com.

Happy Post Father's Day

We had a super busy week. The Shimmerz blog birthday was a HUGE success. We had approximately 500 entries for the grand prize. It was really fun. We will definately do it again.

We spent yesterday celebrating Dave. Because of the yucky rainy weather, we didn't get to go with our plan. It was disappointing. We took Dave to a late lunch and then just kinda lounged around. It was just a quiet day. He's such a great guy. He was just happy to be appreciated. We are very lucky to be blessed with him as a husband and father.

Dave and I worked on the downstairs bathroom, trying to get at least one part of the remodel finished. It's really close to being done. We had the floors tiled in the downstairs bathroom and the girls bathroom, and of course just like any remodel it can't just be easy. We have tiles in both bathrooms cracked. So that will have to be fixed. I'm not worked up about it because, I knew that something would happen, so I prepared myself for it. I'm certain it won't be the only hiccup either.

Can you guess what bugs me the most? Yep, it's the mess. Bags and boxes and STUFF everywhere. I couldn't believe what a mess cutting tile makes. . . and it was outside! I had to hose down my house. I tell myself to just look past it all and focus on the end result. :o)

Hope you all had a great weekend and that all the Father's in your life had a super great day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SHIMMERZ!!!

It's our birthday! We at Shimmering Products are celebrating the Shimmerz Blog's FIRST birthday. I can't believe that it's been a year already. We have worked hard and grown a ton and feel incredibly blessed.

So because June 16th is a BIG day for us. We are doing a blog hop. It starts on the Shimmerz blog (http://shimmerzpaints.blogspot.com) and goes through all my Design Team members. All the details will be on the blog. It will be loads of fun. . . and. . . one lucky winner will recieve a Shimmerz birthday gift with over $80.00 worth of Shimmering Products (see picture--sorry--cupcake excluded).

We are also excited to announce that we have a new Design Team leader. We are so blessed to have Danielle Wycough accept the position. She is full of excitement, ideas and enthusiasm for Shimmerz, Blingz and Spritz. She is a very talented christian wife and mom. I am just tickled to be working with her so closely.

WAIT. . . . there's more.

We also offered the Product Development position to Jeni Boisvert and she graciously accepted. I can't tell you how excited I was to meet with her (my Twin Falls meeting) last Monday. Jeni has amazing ideas and is an incredibly talented photographer and scrapper. I have no doubt that the Lord brought Jeni into my life. She is so sweet and like Danielle, so excited and bursting with ideas to help us continue to grow.

It was a good week. I have two more reasons to be very thankful. I am looking forward to my work load easing a bit. . . or maybe. . . just changing. It's all good----very, very good!

Lesson # 1

I had a meeting in Twin Falls on Monday (I'll tell you about that in my next post--it's really cool). So I took the opportunity to leave on Sunday and spent the day with my parents and stay the night. It was such a treat to have them ALL to myself. I didn't have to share. I know it makes me sound like a spoiled brat. My brother would probably agree --tee-hee-hee. We had lots of time to chat and laugh and just be together.

While we were chatting Sami texted me. That intrigued my dad, so I took the opportunity to teach him how to text. What a HOOT that was. I laughed so hard. My 72 year old dad texting! He is one hip Papa! He and Sam exchanged texts, of course, not without challenges. He would hit the wrong button, then couldn't delete it and he tried to speak the lingo, which just ended up sounding redneck. I think he did add an "lol" in a messages or two. He's so cute!

What a memory!

Changed My Attitude

Another week has flown by. I meant to post each day, and each day just got away from me. The last couple of days I've been so-o grouchy and very willing to admit it. Some things you just can't hide. I don't have any reason to be grouchy. No one got in trouble this week. Dave is as wonderful as usual. I had my house professionally cleaned (that was AWESOME). Business is booming. So really I had no good excuse to be such a grouch.

Well I was basking in my own mood, ready to bite anyone's head off and then it happened. The Lord laid it on my heart to e-mail members of my Design Team that I haven't chatted with lately. Don't know why. But knowing His way is better than my bad mood, I listened. I just sent them a little note to let them know I was thinking about them. I think of them often and am incredibly grateful for all they do to help promote my business. They are an amazing group of ladies!

I got a response from one member of the DT. She thanked me for the e-mail and told me how hard the last two days have been for her. Her best friend of 21 years --that was only 41 years old, suddenly got very ill and quickly passed away. Stacy's (my DT member) heart is broken. She's grieving over the loss of a friend and worried about the three little ones that her friend left behind.

I felt like a brick hit me on the head. My heart is heavy for Stacy and the family of her friend. I quickly realized that I (we all) have so much to be thankful for. Even those bad, grouchy days are something to be thankful for, because we can learn from them. I was very quiet the rest of this sad, grouchy day.

Please pray for Stacy. Please pray for the family of her friend. Three little boys don't have a mommy anymore. Please hug your kids just a little tighter. And be grateful for all your blessings, because tomorrow they could be gone.

A Special Sunday Afternoon

So many Sundays are a frantic day of playing catch up before Monday comes. Yesterday started that way. I had a long list of To Do's. I HAD to get the Shimmerz and Spritz video made and on the web-site. UGH!!! I can't begin to tell you how I didn't want to do that!!! After one huge panic attack I finally mustered up the courage and got it done. I must say I had a very dashing camera man! :o) Dave was able to first calm me down and then film the video just how I wanted it. He's just awesome! Go check it out at http://www.shimmerzpaints.com/ and let me know what you think. We'll be adding more videos very soon.

After the HUGE relief of the video being done we all kinda lost our ambition. We spent the rest of the day just dorkin'. I came into the bedroom to find a daddy and daughter moment. I just love how Gracie adores her daddy and likewise he enjoys being wrapped so tightly around that little finger. It was fun to just watch them interact with each other.

Dave has a unique relationship with the kids. He and Sami go for a drive or out to coffee. He spends time listening to her (mostly about boys) and sometimes laughing at her (like when she's learning to drive a stick shift and kills the car). He and Kaleb give each other a hard time. They watch "guy" movies together. They play some kind of wierd computer game together and just spend guy time. His relationship with Gracie is sweet and easy. She just wants to be with him, no matter what he's doing. No special agendas. She said to me, "Mommy, I get to go to the grocery store with Daddy today." I said, "Oooh, a Daddy and Gracie date." Her response was, "No, it's not a date. . . I just like to be with him." Ugh---so sweet.