Resting...

If you happen to have the day off today, I hope you're enjoying your day! Thank you all for being the best blog visitors out there, all the kind comments and emails you send me, and supporting my business as well as other mompreneurs.





Happy Day!

vacation

Some of you might remember that we took a nice long vacation to Orlando back in October. We had SUCH a great time! Of course we did the regular tourist type stuff and even though we spent 10 days there it still was not quite enough. We spent a few days at Magic Kingdom, a few at Animal Kingdom (which was my personal favorite!), a few at Epcot, a few at MGM, and even one evening at Downtown Disney. Next time we will do a longer day at Downtown Disney because we didn't get to do all we wanted to there. We can't wait to go back again! Did you realize that E.P.C.O.T means Every Person Comes Our Tired? Kidding! It actually means Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. But boy were were we tired at the end of the day!

The next time we go, however, I just might have to look into sightseeing tours. Trusted Tours & Attractions is a great company for that.

They are the perfect spot to find more info on numerous vacation destinations. They have a newsletter sign up here. If you sign up soon you could win a $150 itunes gift card. Look out Orlando, because we'll be back! And with the help of sightseeing tours, we'll find even more to do this time.

We are also considering Las Vegas this summer. To see Things to do in Las Vegas, click the link.

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
Youre a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And youre covered with the fingerprints of god

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in.

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints. Be sure to link back here so others can find the entire list of participants!
2. After you've posted your blog, sign the Mr. Linky below. Have fun exploring the other links as well! Please only sign in if you're participating and sharing pics. Hopefully this will make us look at things through fresh eyes throughout the week!
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Sadly, Steven Curtis Chapman's family suffered a tragic loss this week when their 5 year old daughter, Maria, was accidentally ran over and killed by her big brother. It was a horrible tragic accident. Maria is the one in her daddy's lap here.


Steven Curtis Chapman has had a big impact on my life. The Man and I have been to see him in concert several times. One of his songs was sung at our wedding. I've seen the passion in his eyes as he talks about his family and the call he and his wife have for adoption.

Only God knows why something like this can happen and only God can see the Chapmans through this, granting them a peace that passes all understanding. This week, I'm reminded of God's fingerprints in his faithful followers.

For sweet little Maria who is now in the arms of Jesus, a hot pink flower like any princess should have.


If you'd like to leave a message of hope or encouragement you can click here to see the Chapman's family blog.

Soon

Father's Day will be here soon! Can you believe it? I am sure that you will probably agree with me that most men are very hard to buy for. You can't just do candles or a pretty journal or a gift certificate to go shopping to men. I mean, you probably could but they would not appreciate it like a woman would. So what do you get dear dad? Electronics! What man doesn't love those? All the men in my life do.

But if you don't have the cash to get what you think Dad really wants, you can just enter him in the Charter Father's Day in HD giveaway. Yep, they are giving away a giant HDTV along with the best CHARTER hd service. You know I love a good giveaway and boy is this a good one! To enter all you have to do is visit Charter's website and fill out the entry form along with a 250 word essay on why your Dad deserves to win a giant HDTV with the best Charter HD service and The Charter Bundle.

For complete Sweepstakes Rules go to Charter.com. Even if he is not the grand prize winner, he might win one of the runner up prizes. So go rave about your dad and then cross you fingers that he wins!

You've been outs'mored.

I didn't set out with the intent to outs'more Nic, but I thought of her the other day as I made my s'more with a Reese's Peanut Butter cup rather than the typical chocolate bar. I went with the traditional graham cracker and toasted marshmallow though. And it was divine!



So can you outs'more me or Nic? I dare you to do it. Blog about it. Consider yourself tagged with this challenge. I'd love to see what you all come up with!

Let's talk business....

Etsy business to be more specific.



I've heard about a thousand and one times that being seen on the front page of etsy is great exposure. I've now experienced it twice.

The first time was brief. Like 3 seconds, give or take a few. I was looking at the homepage and happened to refresh, and a new treasury popped up. I was shocked to see my own earrings there, and instantly remembered the advice I'd read that if you can do it, make a multiple listing so that if one sells your picture will remain on the home page giving you more exposure. I clicked my item to update the quantity and it was already sold. Literally that fast. It was great to have a sale, but I would have hoped for a bit more exposure!

Yesterday I found myself in that situation again. I clicked etsy and noticed that my necklace was on the front page. This one was a one of a kind, so I couldn't increase the quantity. Instead I looked at the views on it - 131. Not bad, not good, just an average number of views that item had received. I wandered around etsy for a while and about 5 minutes later I looked again to see what the views had done. It was over 800! That is crazy good exposure, people!! Crazy good. You can't pay for advertising anywhere I know of and get that many hits in that amount of time.

The necklace did end up selling, which I am thrilled with. But more than that I recognize the importance of being seen on the front page of etsy now! So how does one get there? Well, it's a bit of skill and a lot of luck. Etsy members create Treasuries, which are little galleries. (Even getting the chance to create a treasury means being in the right place at the right time.) Many have themes of some sort. (The one I was in yesterday was red/turquoise.) Every day, several times a day, an etsy admin chooses a treasury to be shown on the front page. These vary widely in color and theme, but the one thing they all have in common is that they're eye catching. Every picture/listing in that treasury must have a great photo. So that's where the skill comes in. Online sellers have to have good photos in order to get buyer's attention.

And then you hope you get chosen for a treasury, and then you hope that treasury gets chosen for the front page of etsy... Easy, right? ;-)

I am warning you...

Ahoy!

New earrings from me.


On a different note, click here to see some adorable pictures of my clippies in action!

I hope you're have a fabulous weekend!

Fingerprint Friday...

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
Youre a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And youre covered with the fingerprints of god

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in.

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints. Be sure to link back here so others can find the entire list of participants!
2. After you've posted your blog, sign the Mr. Linky below. Have fun exploring the other links as well!
Please only sign in if you're participating and sharing pics. Hopefully this will make us look at things through fresh eyes throughout the week!
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Recently I had this day that just had God's fingerprints all over it. There was nothing particularly special about it, but it was gloriously perfect. Gorgeous weather, cheap comfortable flip flops, laundry drying on the line, kids artwork being held down by rocks, a fountain soda, current Country Living and Country Home magazines to flip through, and kids playing in the grass. Thank you God for days like this!

Going somewhere?

I wish I were! If I am not mistaken, supermom Linda from RibbonRockStar is on vacation right now and I am insanely jealously anxiously awaiting pictures. (I agree that was a terrible sentence.)

But you know when you go somewhere you nearly always need to rent a car, right? At Advantage.com you can get great deals starting at $19.99 a day. That's a super rate on a car rental!

Minivan, SUV, full size, luxury... You name it and they can help you with it. Go to the beach, go to the mountains, go to an amusement park, go to a national forest, just get out there and have fun this summer!

Breaking News... Sort of. :)

For immediate release (I added that part to sound more important)...

Your Purchases Can Help Save a Life!
Fund Raiser for 2 Paws Up Rescue Group

Kitten and Puppy season is upon us! There are many many little lives out there that need help saving. I am a volunteer with 2 Paws Up. Please help our rescue group raise funds to pull more dogs, cats, kittens and puppies from the high kill shelters, provide them with medical care, vaccinations, spay/neuter and to find safe happy forever homes.

ALL profits for ALL sales from Ladybugs and Lilypads www.ladybugsandlilypads.com on May 15th and May 16th will go to 2 Paws Up Rescue Group.

We have everything from TOYS (look under Gifts) , FURNITURE, Diaper Bags, Clothing, Car Seat Covers, Shopping Cart Covers (these are a must!), blankets and TUTU's!

Stock up on your children's clothing, gifts for new moms, baby shower gifts and birthday gifts! Think Christmas! Buy early and know that not only are you buying for a child but you are helping us save the life of a furry friend.

Happy Shopping! :)

Social Spark

You mean you want me to be more social? I'm already on blogger, flickr, facebook, myspace, ivillage, etsy, ebay, etc. *sigh* But that's not enough. ;-) Now I am on SocialSpark too.Those sites are all fine, but I don't get paid for them. (Okay well some of them I get paid for my jewelry, but I don't get paid for talking. On Social spark I do. And apparently I like to talk, since I have become an avid blogger.)

What is Social Spark? It is a social network for connection between bloggers and advertisers. As with anything new on the internet I feel like I am leaps and bounds behind everyone else. It took me years before I finally got a myspace page. Still to this day I am not sure I "get it". The same goes for flickr and facebook. And when I signed up for payperpost.com, it took me months to understand how to do it. But when I finally got it, I was thrilled at the money I made by blogging!

So now my understanding is that payperpost.com is turning into Social Spark. From my (the blogger's) point of view it's quite different because it means learning a whole new site. But from the advertiser's and readers points of view it's still similar to the old way. I get offered opportunities to write about, if I am comfortable with it I choose it, blog about it, fully disclose that I am getting paid for the post, and then wait for payment to hit my paypal account. Not too bad.

Here is my profile on Social Spark. PamperingBeki I imagine that there is a referral system of some sort so if you decide to sign up, I would be thrilled if you use me as a referral. But don't ask me questions about how much it works or how much I get paid as the referrer because I have no clue! Haha! It's official - I'm blonde.

**This is a sponsored post.**

Flip Update...

We've been very busy working on the flip house, but I haven't show any updates recently so here is one.

Looking into the kitchen when we started.


And now...


More of the kitchen when we started.


And now...


The bathroom when we started.


And now...


It's pretty, eh? Haha! It is such a dirty job. Seriously. We've run into a few glitches, which is to be expected. There was far more termite damage than we anticipated and that alone has set us back several weeks. We've added in some new rooms in the basement as well, where originally it was just one big open space. It's slowly but surely coming along. This week I've been scraping all the paint from the outside of the house and then we'll repaint the entire thing.

I'm also working on sanding and painting the kitchen cabinet doors, which is a big job.

The Baby is completely obsessed with tools and loves to "help". He runs around with an electric drill constantly!



Hopefully next time I show you pictures, they'll look prettier. Right now we're just in the middle of the nasty dirty phase.

I'm unclean.

The Girl is now 8 years old and has started doing laundry lately. I've shown her how to sort, load the washer, and start it and about twice a week I have her do it. She does a really nice job. Sort of.

Last night she was loading the clothes in and I happened to be next to her and she told me "I really like doing this, but sometimes I have trouble pouring in the soap because it's too heavy."

Me - "Oh that's no problem. When you run into that, just let me know and I'll do the soap for you."

The Girl - "Oh, it's okay. I usually just do the laundry without the soap anyway."

Haha!! How long have we been wearing clothes that were only rinsed?!

New jewelry listed...

These, you might have seen before as I have them listed in my etsy shop, but I listed them on ebay today as well.
Baseball hair clippies

Cinderella Bracelet

I've also listed these Crisp Wave earrings.

After the huge response I receive when I originally posted pictures of this necklace, I contacted the buyer and she agreed that I could list it again as a custom piece. (Some buyers want their item to be a One of a Kind, and I wouldn't go against those wishes.) So I've listed this Heart Lariat Necklace for sale as well!