"hippie chik designs" is born!

I had a very good friend move to Georgia. We met when our first born boys were babies. We got pregnant at the same time and had girls 2 days apart. I got pregnant with #3 and she waited three months , but not to be outdone, she had twins: a boy and a girl! I finally caught up with Bunnyboo.......and we are forever even! Our kids are very close and were devastated when they moved "home" to Georgia. Georgia is where my friend was from and she met her husband at Georgia Southern University. After marrying, they moved here to his hometown in Florida. She remained a country girl at heart and couldn't wait for the opportunity to move back.



We did everything together and had minds that just worked together. You know what I mean? Once we got those brains going there was no telling how high we could go. It definitely scared our husbands!



We were forever putting all of our kids together, throwing food on the table and getting going on whomever's house we were at that day. Furniture was being moved, closets reorganized, rooms painted, or new recipes tried. One of the things we loved to do together was Yard Sale. We went to plenty and even hosted quite a few! She is taking this to the next step and though I am jealous, she is allowing me to be a part ~ vicariously.




"hippie chik designs" is born. She has opened her own booth at a antique shop in Loganville, Georgia. I am making her start a blog so I can keep track of what she's doing and add my 2 cents! Please go visit her and leave a comment. Tell her what you would buy if you were shopping her booth!



Obviously, if you are lucky enough to live near Loganville, Georgia you MUST hurry over to Bygone Treasures antique mall and buy all her good stuff before someone else gets there!

WFMW: Laundry Quandary

With 6 of us laundry is a daily chore. I do at least a load a day. Most days it's two. So if I didn't get a system it would quickly become overwhelming.

Here is how I solve the Laundry Quandary in Bahama Shores: Laundry Baskets!

Each basket serves a purpose. I have four of these big mamma jammas. In addition each of my older children have smaller baskets. My Man and I have another of the big mamma jammas we use as a hamper. Bugaboo also has her own hamper that is cute and matches her nursery. I also have a traditional basket with the side handles that sits on top of our front loading washer.

Here's the process:

In the morning, the kids bring me their baskets with the dirty laundry in them. They leave their baskets in front of the laundry room door. I drag my hamper over and start sorting the clothes.
We use three of the big mamma jammas to hold clothes once they've been sorted. The one closest to the door holds most colored clothes. The middle basket has whites that WILL be bleached. The last basket is for items that need to be washed in cold water. The basket that resides on top of the washer is for towels and sheets.

Whichever basket is most full gets thrown in that day. If there is more than one brimming, two will get done. Never more than three because I know realistically I won't have time to fold and put away that much. I time them so I am constantly flipping laundry. We upgraded to a front loader and a high efficiency dryer last year, but I am convinced the dryer uses more energy as I usually have to do two cycles to get the clothes dry!

On to the folding! I use the fourth big mamma jamma to bring the dried clothes into the living room. I set up the kids baskets on the trunk and turn on a DVR'd show I've been wanting to watch. I fold the clothes and put them into each child's respective basket. I then take my man and my clothes and any towels, etc. and put them away during commercials. When the kids get home from whatever activity/school they take their baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away. I have trained them to lay the clean clothes out on their beds and sort them into what drawers they go into. Then put them in the RIGHT place. I will do spot checks. With Boo Bear, I still have him come get me once he's organized his piles so I can watch him put them in drawers. When I've been lazy at this step, his drawers have no organization and everything just shoved into whatever space he has. He is also famous for returning clean clothes to the laundry room to be cleaned again instead of putting them away!

They then use their baskets as hampers for the night and everything starts over again the next day. I do the baby's laundry separately for now and so when her hamper gets full I pull it to the laundry room and wash hers in a baby laundry detergent. Then it goes into the big mamma jamma and back to her room where I fold and put it away. I have bought her a basket like the big kids and as soon as I finish this last bottle of baby laundry detergent, she'll be in the rotation!

This is what totally works for me........let me know if you have any questions. If not, go see what works for others at Rocks in my Dryer.

SPT: Home Sweet Home

This week's assignment is Home Sweet Home.

I could have gone with the obvious and taken a picture of our house. However, we are in the process of painting our house and she is currently stripped down and primed. She is showing her private parts and is not comfortable with baring it on the internet.

So in honor of my blog name, I chose to take a picture of the street sign that says home to us. Sweet.

Wave to me if you find yourself doing a driveby! If not, STOP at Amuse~Bouche to see other's homes.

Fifteen Years Meme

Domestic Spaz tagged me for this meme. I am grateful as this is my first.....yup, a virgin meme~er (I'm pretty sure that's not a word, but works for me).

Here's the deal. Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn't seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life?You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love.

June of 1993....... I just moved back to Florida to be near My Man. I was 24 years old.

~I married My Man in 1995. Some would be surprised by that and others.......not so much. My Man was my college roommate's boyfriend for a short time in 1990, and he and I remained friends after their break up. I remained unaware he had a thing for me until 1992. I'll save that story for a post on it's own.

~We have four children~ two boys/two girls. I would have had more but My Man was done at two......so the fact that we have four show my powers of persuasion.

~I've not held a full time job since the summer before we were married. I've had the occasional part time job but prefer not to work. I am a total live and let live person, so I have no opinion on whether YOU work or stay home with your children. This is my dream job. I wanted to be a wife and mother when I grew up and it's what I do. I need to remind myself of this occasionally when I get lazy or feel overwhelmed and undervalued. I have the best job. For me.

~I have lived in this city longer than I have ever lived in any city before. I have lived in this house for 4 times as long as any other house in my life. This is not my dream house, but others seem to find it desirable. If I won the lotto I would consider remodeling this house to become my dream home. It is close to my kids' schools and My Man's work. I find something admirable in staying in the house you raised your family in. Of course, I would also consider razzing this place and totally rebuilding. Or, if My Man got another job which necessitated a relocation for us, I won't settle until I find THE house. We could rent if we needed to.

~I'm so boring that it's hard to come up with 10 things to tell you! I need to get a life.

~I still love to cook, entertain and read. I am still finding ways to use my creativity. I've taught myself to sew and am still trying to learn the hard stuff.

~ I have been every size between when you knew me 15 years ago to the present size I am ~ at least twice!!!!

~ I still procrastinate.......but manage to usually pull it off. I only work under pressure. Some things never change from college days!

~ I'm still too much of a people pleaser. Except with my kids. I have no problem with disciplining them.


~The last thing: I may have the goods on anyone we once knew.........and I want to hear all about anyone you can deliver on. Come over, I'll fix us something sweet and we can start right where we left off.......

I am gonna spread the love by tagging my RL friends I pushed into starting a blog: Neurotically Yours, The Keeper of All Things, and By The Seat Of My Pants. The other two tags will have to go to Well Behaved Krissy and Cheaper Than Therapy as they always leave great comments and I'd love to learn more about them!

I am still alive.........

just a bit overwhelmed. I've had a baby with double ear infections AND getting 2 new teeth, a extremely active boy with a cast from fingertips to elbow who is not supposed to be moving fast (yeah right), and I've been doing it all with PMS and without much sleep OR coca~cola!

To give you the abridged version of the last few days:


I got mail! The goodies from the giveaways I won. Now I can put my apron on and whip up some baked goods and read while it's in the oven! Thank you again to Grace Violet and Domestic Spaz!

(can you believe she deconstructed a dress and made the apron? yeah, me either!)

I have been trying to keep distracted from the loud repeated crying (and the kids are also guilty of this) by getting creatively crafty!

I yard saled for the first time in years and had a great time. Chickiepoo went with me and she got her first sewing machine. It's actually so nice I may jump on it today while she's at camp. I got a few tables, chair, and a picture frame to paint and shabby up, some chairs for the pool deck, a bag full of ribbon, some winter jackets for 2 of my kids, a new cookbook, some cute dishes and some pillows I may or may not recover.



I saw this tutorial from Chocolate on My Cranium and decided to try it out. I am a self taught sewer and though I can complete a project, one must never look too close! I don't have the perfectionist gene that gives straight lines or stitches. But it works good enough for me. I look forward to learning as I try to teach Chickie Poo. Here's the bag I made. It's reversible, but I really like it inside out (meaning the pocket is on the outside).


Last night I whipped up some cute burp cloths for a friend who just had a baby. She didn't know the sex of the baby beforehand, so I was even more last minute than I usually am. With all that's been going on here, I haven't gotten over to see her or little Jace yet, so we are going today.

Domestic Spaz tagged me and I'll be completing that later today and tagging some of you as well :)

WFMW: Soft Feet

It's WFMW and I've got a tip for those of you who don't have the time or money for a pedicure.

Whenever you have to wear socks and shoes, put thick lotion on your feet. Whether I am cleaning the house or going for a walk, I will slather a thick body butter that comes in a tub on my feet. Then add socks, wipe the remaining lotion on my elbows and put my tennis shoes on. When my feet heat up from the exertion, it's like a mini spa going on in my shoes! By the time I change shoes my feet are newborn baby soft!

Works for me!

Go check out Rocks in My Dryer for more things that are working it today!

Are you gonna hate me?

I just began reading this new to me blog, Grace Violet.

She has tons of cute craft ideas. She totally gets my creative juices flowing.

I added her to my google read last week and noticed she was asking readers to comment between two blinkies she and her husband has created. I put my 2 cents in. She randomized the comments and I won a adorable apron she was giving away. It's her first giveaway and I am soooo excited. Just look at it:

Can't you just see me whipping up a batch of..........ANYTHING wearing this?? Yeah, me too!

Thank you so much to Grace Violet!

But, do you hate me? Have I overstayed my welcome at the land of the giveaway. The girl who wins NOTHING in real life, has now won three, yes, 3, giveaways. I don't even enter alot. Maybe 10. So that's like a 30 % winning percentage. And at least 5 of those were for Pioneer Woman and statistically, I have a better chance being Obama's running mate than winning one of her giveaways. So should I stop entering and give others a chance? I only enter giveaways on blogs that I already read, and only if I am hyperventilating about the prize. Tell me, readers, what should I do?