Orthodontist- Trip two

I am really liking that we found this orthodontist in Seattle. Now we are able to take these mini trips together and see what we can find. Nathan was fitted with his spacers today. Little black bands that are fitted on his back molars to cause a little extra space for his braces. They will be put on August 12th. His mouth is already sore and he has to have them on longer than the standard week because of his upcoming 250 mile bike ride trip with his scout troop. Soon, he will have a mouth of metal!

As usual, we made a dash for the Goodwill Outlet. I found a Vintage Fisher Price cabin for .50.
I haven't decided whether or not I want to start reselling my finds. I know that Vintage Fisher price can go for quite a pretty penny, so we'll see. I ended up with quite a few things and ended up spending just 9.30. They charge you by the lb at the outlet. As I was leaving, I nearly lost my breath at the sight of this amazing painting. I thought it was for sale and at Goodwill outlet prices, maybe for under 10.00 even! I was so excited, I couldn't hardly contain myself and asked the closest Goodwill worker how much it was. Sadly, it belonged to a shopper. He pointed to a tall, shabby looking African American man. I approached him and asked him about the painting. Apparently he painted it! I asked him the price, 300.00! He wouldn't accept a check, just cash, so I gave him my info and I am really hoping that he will get a hold of me. I have a feeling that he might be homeless, although, how in the world could he create such a masterpiece?
Amazing Urban art, reflective of our city streets. I love/HAVE to have it. I offered to sell his art at my store. I really hope that he contacts me.
Once again...we RACED to Nathans ortho apt with seconds to spare. I always forget about traffic.
Afterwards, we hit the Goodwill NON outlet on our way to the ferry. I REALLY wanted this mirror below, but not for 39.99. I just can't justify spending that much on one item at a thrift store.
I did end up finding a great bike for Brennan for just 25.00 with a 20% off discount because the chain has a lag when you pedal. Minor fix. All in all, I spent 62.43 at Goodwill and walked away with tshirts for the boys (they like the random vintage ones), Vintage books (looked up the values and I estimate them at over 100.00), some care bears for Mae, sports gear and bike gear.


Great day, but I am happy to be home. I am battling the flu right now and todays adventure might set me back, but it was worth it!

Mae...future ARTISTE!

See the above art piece? Visual poetry, yours for 45.00. Well...Mae decided she could create her own work of art below for free!
Voila.....Zee puppy in zee cage....
I'm thinking I should auction this off on Ebay as "Indie Craft art". Seriously though, I did entertain the thought of stuffed animals in cages as some sort of funky art .
Ps- I could never figure out how to get the bottom off the cage. Wouldn't you know it...it took Mae no time at all. Gotta love toddlers and their ingenious plans!

FLORA comes to town!

One of my close friends moved away 4 years ago? A long time ago. She and I have kept up our correspondence via email and she FINALLY came for a visit this past week. I was in tears on Sunday when my kids returned home from church and let me know that they were there.
Not only were they at church, they were at Pioneer Day, which we had to miss because of the Blue Grass Festival. I knew she was coming some time this month, but this has been such a busy month, it slipped my mind. I thought she was long gone, but today she surprised me by showing up at the store. Yay for Flora! I miss her and her sweet family so much.

Vintage Strawberry Shortcake~ Swoon

The above photo would have been MUCH cuter, but my husband made me crop, and crop and CROP so you couldn't see his special whities. FYI, at the bottom of the photo is an immense pile of dolls and clothing. I just adore the expression on Mae's face. Sheer delightment with her daddy. I love my husband...swoon...On to the story..



As Mae gets older, it is harder and harder to find sweet, modest, educational toys. I played with Barbies until I was about 13 and although, they were lots of fun, I find myself not ready to allow her to play with them. Not only does it make me cringe that they are plasticy fakeness, in all areas of Barbidom, but she doesn't represent a "typical" body type and is all about fashion and romance. Anyhow...not an ideal role model for a young girl. Bring in Strawberry Shortcake. I played with these in kindergarten and just adored them. It doesn't hurt that they have some really adorable vintage childrens books with good morals about Strawberry Shortcake herself.
I went on Ebay and won about 5 of these little sweet girls for under 20$. Mae just adores them. Sure, they are plastic, but I figure since they are so modest and sweet, I can overlook that fact.
She enjoys taking their clothes off more than putting them on and this is yet another reason why I am so happy that she does not have a Barbie at this point in life.

She insists that daddy and I play dolls with her all the time and we are more than happy to oblige. We sure adore this whole little girl phase and encourage every little bit of role playing.
Look below to see some great close ups of these sweet dolls that encourage imaginative play.
Did you ever have one yourself? What were your favorite dolls growing up?

EMP

Having a membership to the EMP pays off in more ways than one. Although, I don't care for the place, the kids have a blast and we have an excuse to come into Seattle more often.
Mae had so much fun on the instruments and told us that all she wants for Christmas are instruments, LOTS of instruments.


Ps- During our voyage through The Supremes fashion exhibit, we were accosted not once but twice by the EMP security. The first time for having a toddler browse the area without shoes....ooohheee, big scandal. The second, for daring to put Mae on her daddys shoulders. Seriously people...pick your battles. It was pretty funny when Shane commented under his breath " what would they do if I were 2 ft taller then?".
nBeing without Myron and Nathan was strange, but it was nice for Rylan to be included in the jam room this time. :)



Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

He's leaving....on a jet plane...

Well to be correct.....he has already left. Boo hoo. Seriously though, I am a baby. Just being at the airport and getting him off on his own, made this mama tear up more than a few times. I know it's safer than driving, but it still FEELS like he is going farther away and longer than 2 weeks.
Saturday morning, the phone rang around 8am and on the caller ID, my dads number came up.
Shane and I both thought someone had died. If you have been keeping up with this chaotic life of mine, than you know that my dad and I haven't spoken in nearly a year and a half due to reasons, I do not want to get in to. Well, since my little sister Haley (18) always calls me from her cell phone, it wasn't too crazy for us to assume something horrible had happened. As it turned out, my dad wanted to take Myron on an extreme jeep trip in the Colorado mountains for a week. This is what rich old men do when their kids are out of the house and they do or dont have a wife to nag them about it. They get their "posse" of other like minded/looking individuals and go out "jeepin". He has taken several of us (not me actually) out before and from what I hear, it's more like getting "stuckin", because that's all that happens. I don't know the thrill in this, but it sure seems to knock his socks off at his ripe old age of 56. ANY how.....I gave Myron the decision. He had been preparing for a 250 mile, week long bike trip with his scout troop and his braces were scheduled to be installed this week. Believe me, he is really bummed about the second event. He was so excited to fly and called me the minute he landed and again, just a little while ago to "talk". He described the amazing lightning storm that is so amazing where my dad lives. Right in the Snake River Canyon with the lightning hitting all over the sky, just up on the ridge. A skunk was following him and the air was hot and sweet. We love you Myron and can't wait to get you home again. Have fun!

Rachel Ray....WATCH OUT!

Today was my onscreen interview with our local news. BITV. I was nervous, but it was great.
The whole interview took just over an hour and the reporter was so excited about our interview, that she asked me if I would be interested in hosting my OWN craft show once a week on BITV!

The rest that I announced earlier, I deleted because, I am superstitious and don't want to count my chickens before they hatch.
Just know...I am excited about all the new possibilities.
xo

We're the Butlers and we're.........CUTE!

Available for guest appearances at birthday parties, weddings, special events etc.

Mae turns 3....a while back...

Yay Mae....My sweet girl. So much pink! It was definitely a special day for her. She woke up at 5am and said "it's time to open my presents"! So..we did. She came to work with me and all day, people were telling her Happy Birthday and asking her age. She got very upset if I answered that she was 3. She wants to be 2. Isn't that a typical woman? Always wanting to be younger. :) So, I bought a new laptop..this time it is a MAC! It has been difficult to figure things out. Photos included. Funny thing is....last night I found my camera cord! I may have to do the rest of the uploading at the store on my PC.

xo

Baby Knoebel is here~!

"Baby Knoebel: Born at 7:14 am on July 11 2010 after a long 24 hours in the hospital. She is 7 lbs 15 ounces and is pretty cute. There is no agreement on a name yet, Regen has to take a nap before she can think about it."

Welcome soon to baby Knoebel.....we hope!

Today was a busy day. I worked until 5, the boys came home from scout camp, we went with the Tophams to Cades championship baseball game ( they lost by 1 because the opposite teams catcher was obstructing the base), and then I went by the hospital to sit with Regen while she is in labor. The plan was to be there the whole time, but her labor has been so slow, it will be an all nighter for sure. In the morning, i'll call to see how she is doing and see if she wants me to come back, but I am pretty sure she will have had the baby. She is doing great and beautiful as ever. Just being in the hospital room brought back so many anxious, happy, scary feelings. I don't know if I will ever have another baby again, but for now, I am so glad that it is her and not myself in that place tonight although the spirit was very strong in that room.
Sweet dreams to my dear sister Regen. We have been friends since we were 7 years old and I love her dearly. I cannot wait to see the new little spirit they are getting ready to welcome into their family. xo

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence day to everyone! The above photo is all I am going to see of fireworks this year. Some brilliant person planned the boys scout camp the day after the 4th so...that means, the kids have to be in bed, well, now so that they can get up at 4:30am to leave. I haven't heard any complaints yet. That might be because we have been downtown for three straight days celebrating. The perks of owning a business downtown really make themselves known during holidays such as the 4th. Friday, many people were clamoring to find red white and blue items. I was thankful to have many bright felt colorful flowers for the women and little flags for the kids. Saturday, the street fair began at 5pm and I stayed open until 10pm. I held hula hoop contests and gave out prizes. It was pretty fun. Our little Island is so safe, that the kids were able to go off on their own with their friends and come back to check in from time to time. Today, we headed into town around noon and hung out in front of the store (right on main street) to watch the parade and join in the festivities. I have spent maybe 3 (out of 22)years attending the parade and 0 years attending the street dance and other events. We are always in Idaho at my dads and it never really feels the same without my family around. Our favorite 4th by far was the one that we thought would be ruined by the approaching lightning storm. The Idaho skies were deep black and wide open so that we could see the lightning touching down all across the valley. My dad lives in a canyon, so we could see it up on the ridge as well. I was totally freaked out, but my little sisters and kids ran around on my dads big lawn, dancing and seemingly "electrified" by all the energy. It truly was beautiful although very frightening for me. My dad assured me we were safe.
The above photo, is obviously over water, but these were the kinds of strike downs were witnessed for over 2 hours. Natures fireworks if you will.
So, there you have it. Happy 4th to all of you and happy summer....(fingers crossed for good weather). Next week, camping trip with friends.....stay tuned.

Text again.....blah blah #4

Okay, this not having photos to share kind of thing is really starting to get to me for a couple of reasons. 1, so many amazing things to share via photos and 2...the amount of catch up that I am going to have to do because let's face it..this blog has replaced my daily journal and I plan on printing up this blog into books someday. Don't worry, I haven't just been sitting here, taking it!
I went into the photomat today to print them all up so that I could scan them. Cost to print them all up? 185.00. Why? Because I have over 1500 photos on my little memory card. Why oh WHY do they make memory cards so ginormous?? And I have to have them all because, well...they need to be released someday right? If I want to just get a cd, well, I can't. I have to buy 6! Anyhow...I am still on the hunt for the cord(s) or other camera to upload my photos. Have one?
I was able to copy a photo from facebook to show my little Nathan on his pioneer trek(back left with hat and red bandana). I was so excited to see him afterwards, that we drove straight from the Port Townsend show (more on that later) to Silverdale, two hours early even to see him in what I expected to be dire straits. Dirty, crying and oh so happy to see his mama. Weylll....it didn't exactly go that way. Does it ever? My awnry teenager came back...hm....awnry. I ran up to him, expecting a hug and he of course obliged half heartedly and then announced that it was terribly easy and proceeded to get upset with his brothers. Right where he left off. So, he is a trooper and a special guy and made it through alive even though he did wander off with a friend and find a black widow..shock!
As for the PT show...hm.....it was interesting. I have many wonderful photos to share....trust me...no I do! PT is a sleepy town and I wont be leaving the Island anytime soon to do another show. No real shoppers came until after noon. The hall was very dark and it was so beautiful outside that about 10 of the artists decided to move onto the lawn outside. Sad fact....the customers started coming and didn't shop at the outside booths. I was lucky and pulled in over 300.00, but some artists didn't even make a sale. It was their choice to move outside. So be it.
I did run into a friend I hadn't seen since I was 18 in Idaho. I was up at the farmers market (amazing) passing out flyers and he turned around. It took a minute, but we just kept hugging, happy to have run into each other again. I have been very blessed to have so many close relationships. Relationships that have lasted since elementary school. Redge and I were very good friends right after my mom died and he really helped me through a lot of boyfriend issues (his best friend) and family issues. Anyhow...interesting weekend.

Happy summer to everyone!