The Nester's - An easy easter craft story.

These are The Nester's.  Are they not cute?...

I posted this super easy, super cheap craft up on my hub pages.

I kept it short and simple there, but here I can tell you all about my adventure.  Lets start with the craft.  When I say cheap, I mean cheap.  

Walmart had the Yarn for $1.77.  You could make a ton of these with the little ball of yarn.  They had hairspray for $0.94.  I didn't need it because I had some from like 2000 that I never use.  I am not really the hair and make up type.  I got a bag of little balloons for $0.94.  I had the double sided tape, but that can't be more than $2 and the tissue I had but I know that is about $1 or less.  Peeps are super cheap and the chocolate eggs were BOGO at Publix plus I had coupons so I used my free ones.  I only needed to make 2 for K's 2 teachers but I could have made enough for a small crew.

I thought it would be perfect if I ever decided to host easter brunch.  It would be really cute on the table at each seat.  Then, of coarse, that brings out even more ideas for using these in different colors.  I thought of baby showers and other things that other's can use it for.  These crafts came to me after I flipped out about another craft.  I wanted to make something a dear friend made for me a long time ago.  We are talking at least 4 years ago.  For a girl that has a memory issue, this was a crazy attempt.  She made this delicate little crochet egg.  It was so pretty.  Now that I think about it, what was I thinking?  It has been years.  I had no directions and she has not made them again which should tell me that they were a pain in the tukish!  I knew that I got the wrong string when I got it home.  K and I tried anyway.  What a disaster.  The string would not stay and it looked horrible.  A little bit later, frustrated momma stabs a couple of balloons and carries a soaking wet, messed up globe of hairsprayed yarn over to the garbage to be passionately disposed of while growling.  Honestly, I thought I used up all of my patience in the first 32 years of my life.
I wanted to enjoy crafting with my baby girl (9).  All of the sudden, it was bedtime.  I told her she would have something to share with her teacher and I didn't mean the wet mess in the trash can.  It was after my 2 minute tantrum that the idea for these nests came to me.  Thank the lord.  K loved them!  As it turned out, I still have some patience in me, my filters are just not functioning well.  So, now I have small tantrums here and there.  :D

Pinteresting!

So, all of the sudden, I started to pay pinterest some attention.  Now, I am not sure if this is the new me.  I don't know if I now become a temporary fanatic about new things.  I just LOVE pinterest.  It is freeing up some of my time and space.  For me, pinterest is an enormous memory bank.  There are so many things that I once wished I could bookmark and find at a later date.  So many ideas and inspirations for a future birthday, move, or what have you.  A lot of them are just gone.  I don't have a good memory.  I always had moments where I knew there was an awesome idea out there but I just didn't remember what it was, where I saw it, or how to find it.

It is also introducing me to a world of blogs that I never visited.  I am very new at it but I think I am pin happy.  Well, this is short and sweet.  Here is the pin page if you want to visit.  Feel free to leave yours in the comments so that I can see yours.  :)

http://pinterest.com/momssecret/

Runty, Trayvon, and Kony2012

I have enough thoughts in a day to support several blogs, so why do I not write?  Well, I am slowly getting over the stage of grief that keeps you in your place unable to move.  I am really happy about that.  It is a slow process.  Now that I am coming around, my eyes are being flooded by two main topics in the media today.  I don't even have cable and I can't help but be in the 'loop' about these two topics.  They are Kony 2012 and the Trayvon stories.

I have good, honest friends who speak their minds and I love that.  I recently published an article to help save a dog from injustice and a friend of mine asked me why I was not compelled to write about the bigger stories out there.  I was blessed with many opinions and most of them I do not share.  I chose to be this way because I like to process information and see what new directions these stories are going to take.  The reason that I wanted to write about Runty is because the family who would be against him had he done anything wrong, spoke out for him.  Runty was removed from his home and is being held as a 'dangerous dog' without cause.  This is simple.  It is very black and white.  What is happening to Runty does not have the issues of missing information that the other stories have.  There is no 'what if' about it.  Runty can't speak for himself so I am simply doing what I can to help.  Another friend mentioned that Runty is in this position because his owner was negligent.  She has a valid point.  Now, that part of the story I don't have much to say about simply because this is something I will never know.  Runty got out of the fence.  I do not have details as to how long he was out or whether or not the owner new that the fence was being compromised.  I know that I have my own experiences with doggie jail breaks.  Fortunately, no one is afraid of my little shitzu monsters, but it took a few trials before I finally found a solution to her escape escapades.  She also shared a tragic story of loss at the hands of a pitbull.  I am not going on record defending the breed as a whole.  I tend to deal with things case by case.  The sad story of a wild dog killing is a terrible tragedy but the entire breed shouldn't be judged by the good stories or the bad.  I shared the story of a good dog.  Even if the owner were negligent, the dog has done nothing to earn the title of a 'dangerous dog'.  If it is okay to do it to one dog, then expect to see more of it.  For all of you big dog owners out there, the results of this case can affect you.  Your dobermans and pits that like to bark are all going to be in jeopardy.  Any scared kid or old lady can call your dog dangerous and have them taken from you even if they would never bite.  Add to this the fact that there are no reform programs for dogs they way we have for people and it is safe to assume that your dog could be put down for no reason.  That worries me.

Now for Trayvon.  The loss of a young life is always tragic.  I do not believe that we have to know everything about the person to agree on that.  Whether they made good choices or bad choices makes no difference.  17 years old is not a long enough life for someone who is not battling illness.  It is a useless death that didn't have to happen.  That being said I will not be donning a hoodie.  People are in an uproar about racial profiling that I fear is fueling the fire.  I am not saying that racial profiling was not part of the story.  Bigotry of all kinds exists today that will never truly be gone simply because as long as there are naive, close minded, and ignorant people in the world there will always be issues with one ism or another.  No laws, no amount of time, no progression will be able to wipe ignorance off the face of this planet.
So, whose side am I on?  I was never one to chose a side.  I have no religious preference.  I have no political preference.  I believe not siding myself allows me to have a clearer view with no predisposed notions.  It doesn't always work but I can't bring myself to claim my undying loyalty to anyone other than to those I love.  You can win me one minute and lose me the next.  It's based on actions.
My emotions are on the side of Trayvon's parents and family.  They were the ones plagued with the death of such a young boy and if there is something I am an expert on now, its the toll death takes on the ones left behind.  No matter what the outcome, this story is tragic and could have been avoided.
I do not feel sorry for Zimmerman.  Intentions are not enough.  He could have had the intentions to protect but the unfolding story tells me that he was overly vigilant.  This caused him to jump to conclusions and I believe that it made him look for trouble.  The thing is, what you look for most you are likely to find whether it is really there or not.  It is like having a self fulfilling prophesy.  This story is a great example of the reason that cops do not involve civilians in investigations.  Now you arm an all ready overly vigilant man and you will eventually end up with a body.  I honestly believe that this situation would have been in the cards for Zimmerman even if Trayvon was never in the area.  It is really, hugely sad.  Both sides of the story had the chance to back off and walk away.
Zimmerman could have fallen back after calling the cops.  He didn't have to play detective and follow anyone.  That behavior is offensive to anyone.  Teenagers especially.  Teenagers are passionate and dramatic by nature.  Don't you remember how many times the world, as you knew it, was over as a teen?  The class you failed, the guy you liked liking someone else, your friend is friends with someone you can't stand and all the other mellow drama.  Trayvon probably felt that he was being disrespected and instead of going to his families house to share the story, he went to defend himself.  No one every thinks that this person that ticked them off could do worse, especially teens.  Everyone knows that teens can do anything and everything.
I wish that the police got there in time to stop this from happening.  I wish that different decisions were made on that day.  I wish that people stuck to fist fights like they did in the 80's when they used to get you down then walk away but these days people don't stop and they come armed.  Zimmerman, being the adult in the story should have to account for his bad decision and the road that those decisions created.  That is as far as I can go because I was not there.  No one knows the true story and I am not a judge.

Kony 2012 -->  This about fell out of the limelight because of the Trayvon story.  There are a lot of questions as to the urgency of this issue.  This represents an important cause that may or may not be a bit dated.  The video put together was awesome and very inspiring.  The rebuttals were equally interesting.  There are concerns about where the money raised is going and how it is being used.  There are doubts by a huge amount of people.  Is this a pertinent enough issue to involve troops?  Are there underlying interests?  Some will support, others will not.  Whether or not they are misguided, I was happy to see the amount of people that stepped up to help with something.
You have to admit that we live in a self centered world.  This inspired masses to get involved in something.  I do hope that it is not a disappointment for the masses and is the start of new things for society as a whole.  If it is not a worthwhile cause, the cost was not too high.  I looked up there site.  The most common thing sold is their little kit with posters and such.  It's $30.  I don't see that as a huge, risky cost.  I think it is funny that some thought they should know what percentage of the cost was being used for what services.  The humor came from the fact that most of what we pay for is grossly over priced and no one asks what percentage of the $100 pre-broken in jeans are going to good causes.  How much money of your restaurant trip is being used for worthy causes?  The truth is that it doesn't matter.  People go through $30 bucks in no time and really do not care what retailers do with their profits.  So those who do not agree with any particular campaign do not have to find ways to discouraged those that feel compelled to help.  Just as I said before, I will wait to see where it goes before I pick a side on the Kony situation.

So there it is my friend... this is where I stand on your important issues.  I will see where they go...
Thanks for inspiring me to write.

Finally

AHA!  I finally got the password.  I have memory issues and honestly have not been writing much about this topic.  My current status is an obstacle to say the least, but I am not too far.  I have a couple of classes that are private but am expecting to book some more public ones soon.  People find it odd that I enjoy doing the classes but am not a coupon blog site like couponers united and such.  I am not the reinventing the wheel type of gal and love teaching.

Oh well, I am just happy that I got back into this thing.  We will talk more soon...

Truth

I visited 2 friends in the last week that are booth needing some relief from their financial responsibilities.  The number one on going expense for them both was GROCERIES!  Could you believe that?  I sat with one of my friends and just one sunday paper and we found about $15 in savings in minutes.  Of coarse this was frustrating for her because these were purchases she had just made but it got her more interested in saving.  My other friend recently had her household of 4 people increase to 6 with the addition of 2 young adults.  This of coarse means more groceries and toiletries.  These are friends of mine, they now what I do.  So why do they not use coupons?  The truth finally came out.

Both of my dear friends thought that saving 50-90% on their groceries had to be complicated.  They both have very demanding jobs and families and just felt that they didn't have the time to learn how to do this.  Of coarse, you know that they are both going to my next class right...

So is it easy?  At first no.  It is something new that you are learning.  You are changing some habits and organizing yourself a little differently.  This learning curve, while extremely beneficial, can feel like extra work.  Like other hugely beneficial things, the work is nothing compared to the reward.  For some families, it can mean the difference between survival and failure.
It does, however, become extremely easy.  I would say give it two months.  By then, you will have gotten addicted to the savings, found your personal system, and will be able to know if you prefer paying a lot more.

I'm Sorry

I wanted to Thank all of you who are emailing, texting, and posting your condolences on my personal fb page, my phones text screen, and in my email.  Please excuse my disappearance but the sudden loss of my young, sweet husband is going to take me away for a while.  I will be checking the page but not posting much at all.  I appreciate everything.

Unreal

I am not sure what to do or say.  I have readers and all of the sudden I stop writing.  There is a horrible reason and I am doing my best to cope with a horrible loss.  I will be back as soon as I can.  I promise and I am sorry.

New Ventures Bad for Sleeping Habits

Oh goodness, I have been up way to late trying to learn all about this in a day.  So far, I think it is coming together well.  I am completely faking the funk at this tech-y stuff.  Well, I am still a mother and have plenty on the to do list tomorrow.  I am just testing this thing.  I needed another label to see how they worked.

I want to learn how to do so many things.  Like the drop down menu on a label.  Maybe I should get these books...