The Good News, and then the Bad

I'll give you the bad news first.
BAD News:
I'm hella busy and stressed out. My kids, not ONE.SINGLE.ONE of them will listen. It's like they have all suddenly suffered complete and total hearing loss. My big kids fight like toddlers, my toddlers fight like toddlers, and my husband throws tantrums like you guessed it, a toddler. You know that mom in W-Mart that is just pushed beyond her limits and has the breakdown in public? That was me last night. I had a moment of seriously considering leaving both my girls locked out of the suburban. In the cold. And just driving away. That's how awful they are being.

I'm pretty sure none of my ornaments are going to make it through this holiday season alive. My almost 2 year old keeps eating parts off the dough ornaments I made with my mother when I was his age. We've had 3 balls this morning shatter on the floor. I'm going to pull my hair out.

And the final, Facebook is stupid! They have a new rule where you can no longer do FB giveaways. So while I wanted to get to 50 fans for my giveaway of those handy awesome snack and sandwich bags, I'll have to cut it short at 42.

Had enough of my overly dramatic life story? Good, me too. Moving on....

Good News:
We are almost debt free. As of yesterday, 3 credit cards have been paid off. BIG chunk of debt gone and hopefully forever. We now only have one credit card with a balance and then our mortgage. Which is a whopper, but what do you do?

My Christmas tree is decorated. I'm working on finding my holiday spirit.

And I have a winner for the giveaway, I just can't figure out how to do a screen shot of the random generator. So I'll just let you all know, the RG came up with the number 9 and counting down my fan list (not counting me) we have:

Camille Richards Stevens!! Yay, let me know your info and which one you want and I'll get those out to you.

Now I'm off to clean my house, and try to sew up some replacement stock for this Thursdays Holiday Boutique.

Breaking News: Elmo is DEAD!

Shhh, keep it on the down low. We don't want to instill panic in our little people, mass hysteria, or a flood of tears. I just had to let you know, Elmo has officially left the building. I should also warn you that Marys' Little Lamb got butchered too.

What's that I say? How can it be? Let me tell you a little story. I was tied to the nursing chair, cruising blogs and looking for crafting inspiration. I was also perusing my creativity inspiring Sewing Mamas forum. Somebody posted a linky doo to this blog with a crafting project that encompassed everything me and my blog strive to be. Creative upcycling.

This lovely creative woman (gosh I wish having all these kids didn't kill billions of my brain cells, I might have been able to remember and link you to her! But alas, I forgot where I found it) took her children's' long neglected stuffed animals. She was going to throw them away or donate them, but the children begged. And I think there might have been tears. (Not so with my bloodthirsty boys) So this genius of a mother thought up a way to keep the stuffed toys AND have them be useful. She killed them. Bisected them right down the middle, disemboweled and then sewed them into scarves. ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!

That's how we came to Elmo dying. I wanted to try it out. Elmo being the good sport he always is, volunteered. My oldest son cheered me on. Told you he was blood thirsty. We hit a little snag when it came to Frankensteining him back together. But that was just because my machine loathes working through thick materials. Perseverance paid off and we came to this:

Aren't they fantastic? I think I might actually be able to get my guys to wear scarves now, and keep them on.

WOW! I might be on a roll

Two days in a row, lovelies! Isn't it amazing? I think I've figured this blogging thing out. Well, kind of. I just need to have a 2 month old infant that never lets me leave the my nursing chair, aka the desk chair. Hey, it rocks, swivels AND rolls. Sadly, it is the most comfortable seating option we have in this house. (hint DH, we REALLY need new furniture)

We had a wonderful turkey day. And in spite of my fondness for dressing and ham, I managed to lose a pound. I think it's probably because my littlest is sucking me dry. I'm literally drained of energy. Or maybe it's just a sugar crash from all the carb loading that comes along with the turkey. Whatever, I'll take the weight loss, and gladly accept some energy if anyone has some to spare.

Yesterday my husband informed me that he was disappointed in our Thanksgiving spread because there was no pie. ??? I'm pretty sure I made a pecan and a pumpkin pie, and my MIL brought a turtle pie. No, there wasn't any pie because there wasn't any fruit pie. So I made a berry cobbler. From scratch. Like the baking mix from scratch, scratch. It was lovely. Bonus: I have bisquit mix in the freezer now, and I never have run to the store for the pre-made stuff again. I foresee some turkey and dumplings in our near future!

While I was rolling my dough out, my oldest son grabbed his mini roller, the kitchen sponge and a seat on the floor. Want to know what he was making? Sponge Cake!! How brilliant is he?

Heads Up,

Tomorrow is Cyber Monday! Pretty exciting, isn't it? Well it is for me. Most people don't even know it exists, so I thought I should share some fabulousness with my friends. So for the lowdown, cyber Monday is where online retailers offer up deep discounts, free shipping or other incentives to encourage shoppers to sit in the comfort of their homes or offices and spend their dough.

I'm no different lol. From 12:01 am to 11:59 pm Monday, November 29, 2010 I'm offering 20% off all in stock items. And just a hint: Stocking stuffers GALORE.
The coupon codes are listed on my facebook, but to make things easier on you (after all, that is the whole POINT of Cyber Monday) I'll list them out here as well.

The Etsy code is 20Thanks

The Hyena Cart code is 20%Thanks
Now here is your tease frame

Did I mention?

I'm doing a facebook giveaway. All the cool kids are doing it so I figured I needed to jump on that bandwagon. I'm kidding. About the bandwagon, not the giveaway. In my effort to spread crunchy goodness to all, I'm giving away a set of reusable snack/sandwhich bags, winners choice. All you have to do is "like" DustieBottoms on facebook to be entered. Pretty simple, huh?

Want to see the prize?
Pretty enough to start packing your lunch? How about something fun for the littles?

Don't you worry! There is a print for boys or girls, moms or well moms. lol I don't think I've done any manly ones yet. To see all of the options, head on over to my facebook (that neat-o black box with a bunch of faces can take you there) and become a fan. Only 18 more until I get to do the random generator.

Ok, and for anyone wondering. I just don't have too much exciting happening in my life to do daily updates. The girls made sweet yeast rolls for Thanksgiving dinner prep. Tomorrow's agenda includes a pecan pie and another trip to the post office. Sounds like fun.