Product Photography Opportunity

Do you want your shop or website to get more views? Great photos are the best thing you can do for your shop.

My sweet friend Beth (who owns a very successful etsy shop and is a photographer) is teaching a class on product photography... See the flyer for more details.

Summer

It is here. Does anyone else think that summer is not as fun with young kids as it was when we were in school? I mean, when I was younger summer was all about sleeping in and doing nothing all day and getting a tan and staying up late. It rocked. With young kids, not so much.

(thrown in for good measure are some pictures are my daughter and her new baby. You can read about her here.)

They don't sleep in. You don't want to sit around and do nothing all day because that is not good for them. Getting a tan for mommy requires dealing with kids and sunscreen and swim diapers and tiny bathing suits and floaties and more. It is virtually impossible to work on a tan with little ones. Unless you have a nanny present and I don't. And as for staying up late. If you mean staying up late to clean house and play on facebook then yes, I do that.

Last year was my daughter's first year at a preschool program. It was my first experience with getting a "real" break from her during the day. It was great for both of us. Then the last day of school came. I was actually looking forward to summer. To an empty calendar when we didn't have to get up and be anywhere. It only took about a week into summer for me to realize that an empty summer calendar is bad. Really really bad. So, I raced around and lucked into some spots for summer activities.

This year, I knew what to expect. I have been dreading the last day of school since about Christmas time. The closer I got the sadder it made me. (Now let me interject here and make sure that you know that I love spending time with my daughter. That is not the problem. It is coming up with things appropriate and eductational and fun for my daughter to do that scares me. I am not a teacher and do not have a bone of that type of creativity in me. I love having time with her every day. That is why I am a stay-at-home mom however, a schedule and planned activities are best for both of us). Back to the story....

The closer we got to summer the more sad I became. I wanted to make sure that we were ready to go with activities so I started signing up for stuff the minute I was able to. We have this week off and then we start swim lessons, music class, VBS, one session of summer school and lots and lots of playdates. Don't worry, we still have free days set aside for lounging and errands but our calendar is looking pretty good. Yes, the calendar looks good for summer but it is certainly not the same type of summer that it was as a kid.

Garage Sale Week

We are having a big garage sale this weekend. 5 families are participating. It has been on the calendar for weeks. I am so excited. Seriously, so excited.

 

We don't have a bunch of big ticket items like we did last time so I bet we don't make much but I just enjoy the entire experience. Organizing junk, meeting people, hanging out with friends, getting rid of junk and of course, making a little cash.

 

This is the third sale we have done together as a group. We kind of have it down to an art form. the advertising, the cash collecting, the set up...all of it.

 

The girls are getting together Friday night to organize, price and hang out. It is going to be like a grown-up slumber party. I am excited about that part too.

 

In the mean time, I am cleaning out closets, cabinets and the garage. Digging out even more stuff that we don't need. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of stuff we accumulate from week-to-week.

 

This past weekend was focused on my daughters first dance recital. It was absolutely precious. You can see more pictures and read all about it here.

 

 

A quick thank you to all of you who are participating in the free advertising co-op that I have going on. I know that I have not had a lot of crafty-type news or giveaways lately, so I was thinking that maybe one of you would like to be featured. Maybe give something away? Maybe write a crafty tutorial to be shared in conjunction with a feature about your shop? If you are interested, please email me. noodlesandmilk@gmail.com

  

It is going to be a hot summer

I bought one of those baby splash pools to put in the backyard. I figure it would be a good thing to play in and cool off this summer in the evenings after dinner. The other night, the kids got into their swimsuits for the first time and we tried it out.

 

This was Ashton's reaction. Think he liked it?

It was such as sad reaction. Sad and funny at the same time. I am not sure if this was in reaction to the cold water or the spraying or all of the above. Don't worry, we pulled him out immediately and did not force him to stay in. Regardless, I still think this picture is priceless.

 

He better get over this fear or it is going to be a long hot summer for this little man.

Project Elementary School

Have I ever told you how we came to live in the house we are in now? Well, it is a fantastic story about God's faithfulness but it is for another time. It is long. And I am wordy. Hence, saving it for another time. The point of me bringing that up is two-fold. One: I have experienced God's faithfulness in times of stress firsthand. Two: We are going to try to sell our house. Let me explain.

 

When we bought our house, it was a quick fix. We knew it would only be temporary and that we were not making an investment. We knew that we would have to make a change before our oldest child started kindergarten. We knew all this 4 years ago.

 

As it always does, time has flown by. While we still have a couple years until kindergarten, the time is now to make a change. You see, in our area there is only one good public kindergarten. One. As you would expect getting into the neighborhood zoned to this one school is not easy. Or cheap. Oh, and did you know that the housing market is not good? Yeah. There is that too.

 

So, here we are with a house that we owe more on than its worth. With "projects" that need to be done. Money to be saved to paid for said projects. And a bad housing market. Not the best situation to be in. My husband and I have looked at the timeline for all this. All this being said, the time is now. As in this summer.

 

So, here we are figuring out the details, making lists, researching and visiting comp properties. We are actually considering trying to do improvements this summer so that we can list our house on the market this fall. Isn't that crazy? My mind is actually spinning because of all the logistics of the entire thing. Oh, and did I mention that our summer is packed already? Right.

 

When all of this information started coming together late last week I was a complete mess. I was in tears and losing sleep. I have been praying a lot and feel much more at peace knowing that God is in control. He knows what we need, what the future holds and all the details in between. He wants to carry the burden for me and will be with me every stressful step along the way. This brings me so much comfort.

Anyways, so that is where I am right now. I just wanted to let you know since I have been a little absent. There is a lot more to the situation than I have shared and I will explain later. Just figure that I have talked enough for today.

I also wanted to share this sweet mom with you. I met her because our daughters are in dance class together. This amazing woman has just begun her battle with breast cancer. I was blessed with the opportunity to photograph her family last week. It was truly an honor. They are absolutely precious. Please join me in praying for this woman and her family. In one short week, her chemo treatment will begin and her life will be very different. See their full preview here.

 

 

A new take on "advertising"

Here is the deal with advertising on my blog...I can't keep up with it. I love the idea of it. I love supporting other small business. Especially the etsy-based ones. I just can't ever remember to takes ads down and send people renewal emails. Consider it one too many things on my plate.

So, because this is my blog and I can do what I want, I have decided to shake things up. Here is what I am proposing...Free advertising. Yes, free. If you have a blog, I would love for you to put my ad up for free too. However, if you don't have a blog, that will not hinder your chance at getting a free space here.

Email me your shop, your 160x160 ad, your blog (if you have one) and a little about yourself. If I think you and your shop are a good fit for Noodles & Milk readers and I have the space, you will be "in". I will leave your ad up (at least a month) until enough people apply and there needs to be a rotation.

That is all of the details that I have worked out so far. I know there will be a bunch of kinks and stuff that has to be worked out along the way and I will figure that out later. I will also consider still hosting a few giveaways if shops are interested.

Anyways, if you are a stay-at-home mom with an etsy shop or just have a crafting business on the side and are interested in free advertising, please email me at noodlesandmilk@gmail.com to apply for a space. More details to come as I figure this out.

Hope you are as excited about this as I am. I think this is going to be really fun!

I am alive

So sorry for the long absence. I knew it would be at least a few days but had no idea how quickly that turns into an entire week.

 

Happy May! Can you believe that? I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Since I last posted, we celebrated Easter, had family in town, battled a stomach virus, had a birthday, a friend hosted a picture party for me (where I had sessions for 12 kids!),  it has rained a bunch and we are now experiencing a freak cold front. Whew, it has been a long 1o days. Not to mention all the "regular" stuff thrown into the mix too.

 

Anyways, I just wanted to say "Hi". And that I am back. Or at least I am really going to try to get back into the blogging groove. Hope your week starts great.

 

PS: If you are an etsy (or other small biz) shop owner...you might want to check back on Tuesday morning. I think I will have something that you might be interested in:)