Announcing the winner's LOOT!

A WHILE back, in MAY, I posted an "Ultimate Job" post and asked you all to find the scary job lurking in the picture I posted. It was in fact a contest and I had two lucky winners from that post.

Tia Gathright and Nicole Caldwell. I contacted both ladies to let them know they had won and to contact me to go over details of their winnings.

The reason there were two was that they guessed within minutes of one another the correct job and I just couldn't let one go missed. That job was so intense to me that anyone guessing/noticing it was probably just as freaked out about the job as I was so they deserved the loot.

I had only gotten a response from one of the winners and she FINALLY decided on a canvas painting for her girls' room. :) So exciting. Nicole, if you are reading this and you never got your contact. This is an official contact as well :). You won, If you contact me we can set up a fun something for your family too!

Here is her loot from that contest. Stick around, soon I will post pictures of it hanging in their fun room.

Tia chose the verse Psalm 19:14 for her daughters' canvas and I painted it to match the bedding and colors of their room. So much fun! It will hang by 3 ribbon tabs suspended from a wrought Iron rod (or wooden :)) fixed to the wall.



Also stick around because there will be more chances to win some super fun stuff here on my blog... just as soon as I find that "slow down time" button on this computer!

If you have not already gone by to take a gander, head on over to my etsy site to see some more fun paintings and if you are feeling REALLY great... place your custom order today! It's never too early for Christmas, Birthday, Holiday, event, ANYTHING shopping!

briwachsmann.etsy.com

I did it!

No. I didn't go sailing.

BUT I am SELLING - this painting as well as others I have done (and will do).

I joined the Etsy world ladies (and gents?)! :).

I had enough encouraging people tell me that I should sell my canvas paintings on Etsy. I started one up and it is ready to roll. I am still getting the hang of it all but the important thing is that it is up and running FINALLY!

I still have yet to sell anything. That is a bit discouraging, but it is still early. Right? I mean RIGHT?!? I did sell the "Hawaii blue "C"" listed on there but can make another one really fast. So it is still listed. She is a friend of ours through our foster agency so that doesn't REALLY count as an Etsy sell. haha But it IS a sell all the same and I am excited about that.

I am hoping that the ins and outs and side jobs here and there with some photo shoots and selling some paintings will help until J finds another job. For those of you who haven't heard, J was in a wreck Tuesday and totaled the UPS van as well as the other guys vehicle. Thankfully, THANKFULLY nobody was hurt and no charges were pressed. It was J's fault, he was looking at the clock because he was worried about getting into trouble for being on the clock more than 12 hours. Serious reprimand. But when he looked up there was a car going a bit slower than he and he smacked it.

Yeah, still a serious reprimand coming his way. TERMINATION!

He has the opportunity to fight it again like last time. This time it is in Louisiana. :) I am thinking this is NOT the way to take family vacations people! We enjoyed getting to go to KY and really look forward to traveling again some day but NOT to pursue a job that takes you away from your family. We were thankful for UPS for the past 6 + years that J has been there but they were not as thankful for him and it showed every day.

The days that he needed off because he was VERY ill, or we had court, or Moe had surgery. They threatened his job for him taking off. EVERY TIME! Nothing was enough for these people, He was there from 8:15AM to most nights 10:30PM and still they wanted MORE.

He knows in his heart that he is to return to school. He is looking to finish out his degree for middle school math teaching (more power to him). I agree that it will be a great job for him and I also agree that it will be great having him home more when he is teaching. We did however think that he would keep this job until Sept and then he would go back to pre-loading at UPS until school started. Yeah, well, God has another plan. Not sure what it is yet, but I KNOW HE does!

I had been thinking of getting some pictures together to display for selling them BEFORE he lost his job and I was feeling rather confident about it this time. Typically I am very nervous about my art work and self conscious. But I felt like God had given me the determination I needed and I was ready to roll.

Maybe that is what will help in this season.

So without further ado... here are some of the items I have listed for sale.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/briwachsmann
Naturally each order is custom made so the names that are on there are not the actual item for sale. It is just a replica of what you will be receiving with your chosen name on there. Unless otherwise stated. There are some that will be for sale on there that are waiting. Right now the sailboat no.3 is waiting (I was making them for the boys room but I figure I can just paint more). And the giraffe gift set is for sale right now as well.

Painted with my boys' room in mind but figured I'd try selling it
to see if it would be of any interest. Also I didn't have any boy-ish paintings
that I have done, SO I may as well try my hand at it :).

Just to sell. I thought this up the other night while thinking of fun ideas. I keep "seeing"
the letter "K" in the middle but I figured I will leave it blank for ANYONE.

This one was created for a fun craft swap thing I am a part of.
This was my craft to the girl whose name I drew.

Just to sell. I thought it up one day and kept "seeing" the letter "C" in a circle.
I painted it and it sold to a lady whose family's last name is Cook :).

These were painted for a friends girls' room. She won them from
one of my contests here on this blog

This was painted for a friend to give as a baby shower gift.

This was painted for a friend to give as a baby shower gift.

(hope you don't mind Mariah's room being on display Mandy :). It is rather beautiful!)

This was painted for a friend's little girl. Her bedding was the Circo Girl Safari bedding from Target. I painted three of the characters from the comforter.

I am pretty much able to paint most things. If you would like to have a custom made piece of art to have or to give as a gift, please contact me and we can discuss the details. If you can think it up contact me and I am sure you will see it come to life.

Thanks so much for following along on this whirlwind journey. OH and if you think of it please say a prayer for our family in this season of in between and figuring it out. J feels awful and just like he is not good at anything. I really have been building him up but I am sure the stress is hard on him being the "provider" for our family and all. He is a great man and a wonderful husband and father. He needs to FEEL God's love and strength to make it through even this. Thank you all!

More on Moe

He had his surgery this AM for his adenoids and tubes for his ears.

The dr told me other than his hearing being slightly off in the left ear that his ears look healthy. He did have to drain the ear drum and put tubes in but he said they look great.

Moe also has very enlarged adenoids and tonsils which cause him to stop breathing at night. I typically hear him choke and then adjust in his bed, fall back to sleep and continue snoring so loudly it keeps Bear awake at times. He doesn't get adequate sleep due to this routine. Neither of them do really.

The dr told me that they do not like to take the tonsils out before the age of 3 so he worked with what he could. He shaved the adenoids down and we will see how that goes.

He did great this morning. I got him out of bed at 6:45 and he just smiled and walked "sideways" to the bathroom, still trying to adjust that early. I got him dressed and he got into the car with me ready for some "cucumbers" (veggie tales soundtracks).

We got to the clinic and everyone was smiling at him b.c he had a huge grin on his face. He is our happy little boy. (A week ago one would not have thought that... our kids were WAY off. I was ready to pull my hair out. I believe the combination of me being gone at court so many days the week prior and just so many new faces in and out with family taking care of them and attending my uncle's wedding got them WAY OFF TRACK. They were very clingy and VERY annoying, disobedient, loud, you name it... they were acting it. I didn't know WHO they were! But alas, we are back on track and we have happy, balanced (whatever that looks like) children again... whew... nightmare is over!)

Anyhoo... He was playing in the waiting room and then when it was our turn to go back he took the nurses hand and walked away, "Bye Mom".

Such a difference. He used to cling to me and cry. I think seeing visits tapered off a few weeks ago his trust is already starting to root. What a big boy!

I went to wait in the consult room for them to call me. About 20 min later (if even) they called me back to see him. He was coming to when I was walking down the hall, HILARIOUS. The nurses were trying to keep him calmed down on the bed. He kept trying to get up, calling for me. The nurses saw me and told him I was there. I sat down and they slumped his little body into my arms where he laid his head on my chest and proceeded to let me know he wanted a drink and food.

HAHA, Daddy's boy... ALWAYS ready to eat!

After a cup (8 oz) of pedialyte, a cup of juice/water, a snack cup of sugar-free vanilla pudding, peanut butter crackers (6 pack), and a blueberry muffin he was ready for some action; slow action, but action all the same. Cracked me up!

We made a quick errand or two and then headed home. On the way home he informed me that it was time to eat AGAIN!

He had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a snack cup of applesauce and was good to go...to bed. :) There he still resides after 3 hours, snoozing away!