BOO!

So, it's that time of year again... the time when all of the outside world is shut off to me and I crawl into my sewing studio to not surface until November 1st.  

{ HALLOWEEN COSTUME CRUNCH TIME }

I had some fun creations to work on this year and I kept the amount I took in minimal but it was still that same mad dash.  I swear certain fabrics/ supplies are just never available to me or on sale until just that moment where I really start to sweat and question if I have enough time...  ;)

Sooooooo... without further ado... I give to you

Crumbs Sugar Cookie

THE SPECTRE

and the ever sweet little 

Gypsy

So, Happy Halloween to all.... 

bad addiction in the making

I have seen oodles of friends posting things on facebook about pinterest and had looked around and gotten stuck in the nearly  endless loop  of "Oh, that's cool's" and  "ooooh, look at that's" ...



 I requested an invite quite a while ago and had yet to get anything from pinterest directly.  So, being the mildly obsessive person that I am... I finally broke down and asked a friend, who is pretty active in the world of pinning, if she had invites she could pass out and <poof>  I'm in...

I haven't added a ton as of yet, but I'm getting there.  you can see all of my new found loves here...

http://pinterest.com/PredisposedJoi/



...turn it all around...

I am { p.l.e.a.s.e.d...a.s...p.u.n.c.h } to announce that my darling dear husband has accepted a job offer and is currently picking up his company vehicle, doing paperwork and meeting the rest of his NEW company.  What a super speedy turnaround!!!  We have been blessed with him being able to not only continue on with the freedom he had before in working with his clients (the SAME clients) but he has a lot more chances at making some pretty good bonuses!  What a welcome change...

In our families brief two week stint of unemployment freak out (trust me, it seemed infinitely longer) we have come out on top.  I may have a few new grey hairs and a couple extra heart palpitations under my belt but we are looking to be better off than we were before his previous company shut down Michigan operations!  How crazy is that?!? 

So here's to his new company,

our fresh start

and  knowing how I will be buying groceries every week! 

[ ...thank God... ]

just be...

My little man turned 6 today!  I'm not the sappy sentimental mom rocking the "Oh no... my baby is growing up... whatever shall I do?" stance...  I love that my kids are growing and exploring.  Not that I want them to grow up TOO fast (okay, there ARE days that I wish they might progress a tad bit in age and/or maturity).  I'm not into the whole  "I want another baby" thing, nor will I be. 
I thoroughly enjoy my kids... I really did love when they were babies, but I am so thankful that I am done with that part of our life.  Every age is a new adventure.

I enjoy watching them explore new things, helping them muster courage

 or being blown away when they strut around in their

{ Fearless Boots }

you know, the ones that they can do ANYTHING in and not have an iota of hesitation or fear

(in adults they are called "Stupid Jeans" ) 

<yeah, you see what I did there, huh?!>

So, to my little man...

H A P P Y
B I R T H D A Y

 

Grow up at the right pace...

Be a good friend, but not a doormat

Be wise about your choices, but not afraid to take risks

Be courageous

Be bold

Be strong

Be tender

Be creative

Be inventive

Be a good man... 

But remember you will ALWAYS be my little boy

 

is it school yet?

We are in the home stretch of countdown before school starts... 60 hours from now I will be waking the kids up for their first day of the new school year!  WOWZA!  Where did the summer go? Can it still be summer with the benefit of the kids going to school certain days (for my sanity... and their own). 

We are spending the day laying out clothes for the week, getting our plan in place so that come Wednesday morning when we think we are all prepared we can go bonkers trying to find everything (still)... lol

Brandon had an interview on Wednesday last week and is having a follow-up interview this week.  So, we are very excited that we could have a job under his belt sooner than anticipated! { Dear Lord,  Please! }

This post is short but sweet... Good things brewing for this predisposed family... 

... time out... wait a minute!!! we are going to have FUN!

One thing that I (we) have tried to do is make our children aware of Brandon's job situation without making it a burden on them.  nothing worse than a 7 and soon to be 6 year old having that weight on their hearts.  We have made it clear that we have to cut back and make smarter choices about money, but not to the point that we are screaming "No, we can't we are POOR!" or "Don't ever ask for that again, we can't afford it!"  as I've heard other people say and it breaks my heart.  Give a kid some hope, some faith that they CAN achieve things even if it seems a little out of reach.    It's not the end of the world... and family money issues should be the last of their worries at that age.

Before the "bad news" came down... we had already had the plan in place to go to Michigan's Adventure with the kids on Sept. 1st to celebrate the boy's SUPER SPECIAL BIRTHDAY!!!   

A long time running tradition (at least in my mind) is that whatever day your birthday is, when you turn that age, it is your ultra super duper amazing birthday!  

So little man's birthday is Sept. 6th making his 6th birthday { awesomesauce }....    

Well, when his first question after finding out about my hubby's lack of employment was "do I still get to have my birthday?"  It completely broke our hearts...  The kids had no clue what our fantabulous surprise plans were and we maintained the :: TOP SECRET :: nature of our plan... until the very moment we pulled up to the entrance to the park.  :)

They both knew there was a surprise.  what it was exactly was open to speculation.  There were plenty of guesses but I like hat they believed for the better part of the ride that they were getting shots for school...

*yep, I'm THAT mean!*   It just made them all the more grateful, didn't it?!?  ;)   Their other favorite guess was great white shark fishing... haha

So, as we had been blessed with tickets to the park by my mother-in-law, all that it entailed from us financially was the gas and food (which, you have to eat anyways).  So I made a variety of sandwiches, cut up some fruit, grabbed some string cheese and other snacky goodness, tossed it all in the cooler and we were off.

The moment we pulled up to the park entrance was ~bliss~...  They were both so excited!!!   We were somewhat apprehensive that the day before Labor Day weekend had the potential to be REALLY busy...  wrong!!!  It was great!!!  There were basically no lines at all, with the exception of bumper boats, which I am not getting into.  ;)

 

I was not aware that I had two Ride Warriors on my hands.  He was a little bummed that he was that 1/2" short to go on the good rides... but they still had a blast!  

Next year they are going to experience Cedar Point... forget this "baby park"!!

 

All in all it was an amazing day and we are so thankful that we were able 

to celebrate little man's big day in style.  

our crew all wet and worn out from the water park...  

nothing better!

 

Here we go... again... again...

Okay, so here it is.  I've had the best intentions on blogging at regular intervals; I REALLY did!  Sadly, this has been on the back burner.  We've been dealing with curve balls that this lovely game of life has decided to chuck towards us at lightning fast speed... with  uncomfortable spiky bits... oh and thrown from behind while we were completely distracted... did I mention they were ablaze, as well??  (See where I'm going here??) 

We received a ever so delightful proverbial cherry on top yesterday.  My husbands company has decided that they are no longer providing services in Michigan.  Yeah, we live in Michigan.  So, with that announcement, you'd tend to think an offer to relocation would shortly follow. 

*EERRRRNNNT*

  ~that was  a buzzer for those of you that don't speak (or read) joi fluently yet at this point.~ 

Well, surely they will give clientele (and in turn employees) a fair bit of warning so that they can possibly make the appropriate arrangements and changes.  {Yeah, that was big fat negative as well.}  

No notice...  just a big fat "finish out your week; it's not you, it's us" spiel... a little pat on the bottom before kicking you down the stairs type of vibe.  

That being said.  We've been here before... in fact, in the nearly 11 years that we have been together, we have survived 3 major lay-offs...  By major, I'm talking could NOT find work for over a year (each time),  living off of ramen noodles and hot dogs, struggle to figure out which bill we could pay, which we could put off until the next unemployment check came tough.  

Yet we were still guilty of finding strength in each other and l♥ving one another the whole time through 

(well, there were a few of "those" days!)  

We lived... we know what to cut and where we can go without...  

but I'm a big pouty 4 year old stomping my foot down...

"I DON'T WANNA!!!"   

*you think if I throw myself on the floor kicking and screaming they might decide his job really IS needed?!?*

I didn't think so...

So, here we are... wondering where this change will take us...  

but I'll be here  narrating our story with 

•  heaping scoop of creativity 
• a spoonful of whit           
• a pinch of sarcasm                        

 and hopefully a whole lot of laughs and new thrifty ideas for you to gain inspiration from.