You know who you are!

You guys crack me up!!!! I just signed up for twitter. I've not tweeted/twitted a thing. Not one single thing. How the heck did you guys find me???? Hysterical!

FYI - not only am I going to figure out all this tweet mess - BUT I'm about to start texting! That's right - I've never text messaged a thing! Okay, except when I found out Em was a girl! Lonnie was at a school in Little Rock and I tried texting him! It took me about 12 and a half minutes to say - "it's a girl" - that's sooo sad!

So, it's official - I'm now a twit!! haha!!

Wishful thinking . . .

It's 4 am - every time I start to dip my paint brush in paint - I hear Hudson gagging. He needs to puke - but won't. Or I should say that he does just a little. I have no idea what is wrong with him. I'm assuming a virus he picked up somewhere. But he is scared to death of puking. It honestly is making me gag! And I have a very strong stomach. I'm not going to go into details - but know it is disgusting!!! So, it looks like no school in the morning. But wait - it is the morning - I mean later in the morning!

I had every intention of staying up all night to paint. The best laid plans . . . .. It's bad when one of the kids are sick - but now I just wait as it makes its rounds with them all. Including my husband!!

I can't help but laugh at this situation. I'm never sick - or at least I wasn't before I had kids. Never missed a day at work. I might be 5 minutes late every morning - but never "not there." THEN, I had kids. I'm not sick often and normally I don't catch the viruses {I probably just jinxed myself!} BUT I do get all paranoid that I'm going to. I just feel it - "Oh.Lord. I think I might ralf today. I need a sprite. QUICK! Get me a sprite!!!" I think it is the fear of not being able to take care of everybody else that is sick. I've got to get over it! AND just know that I'm not going to get sick!!! You know, the power of a positive thought!

I'M NOT GOING TO GET SICK!

There, I said it. And I meant it! Not me, not today - nor any day in the next few months!! Never!

OKay - I feel better! Much better.

But it still does not help the fact that I didn't get any work done. Since we are not going to school {or anywhere else for that matter} maybe I will get a really long naptime today! I like to paint with natural light anyways!

Power of a Positive thought! I'm feeling it. Kinda.

Let's stop talking about being sick and unaccomplished work . . .

check out Carson at the funeral home! Yeah, I took my camera!




Not the best pictures, but I tried to NOT use the flash for obvious reasons! I mean really, who comes up into a funeral home with a camera?? I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Wait a minute . . . Who am I fooling - I was the quack that brought in all 4 of my kids - ages 3 and under - to a funeral home!!!!! We already had a crowd! All eyes were on the Wheelers - we even added a few extra kids in the mix! One of my many cousins' little boy, Gunner, came over to play. He is a few months younger than Hudson - but he and Carson had way too much fun! Obviously {from the above pictures} Carson had a lot of fun by himself! I thought I got pictures of him flipping over the pews! YOU read right! Flipping over the pews!!! He would put his head in the crack {where the seat meets the back} and kick his legs over! Now, what white trash momma lets her kid do that - at the funeral home??!?!

Yeah, me!

I've got to go shower - and wash these germs off. I just can't get past it - I think I might be getting sick.

You guys are good!

Too bad I'm not giving a prize! "Roll Tide Roll" is correct. Since the 5x5's are soooo hot right now and it seems the coordinating designs on each canvas are even hotter with this size - the juices had to flow to come up with some "original" stuff! But I did - I hope no one doubted me!


Of course the above design is a fav-O-rite and I always seem to work it in some how!


This design, as well as the "tide", were new.


And to tell you all the truth - I'm not a sports fan {at all}! So, I have surprised myself with how well I like these! It really amazes me what all you can do with this size canvas.

And as promised - the "shower" painting from the last post! I have to tell you, that the same person received it that got the "roll tide roll" - sneaky, huh? Jennifer, were you shocked???


A little side view! I couldn't resist using the dot roses!


I love these colors together!! I should have taken a picture of all the fabric swatches so you can see it all!! I normally do not paint the background the same color as the wall - BUT I really thought this painting needed the pink!! And I had a paint chip so I used a shade darker.

Picture from the Elwell's blog.

Yes, I lifted this picture - I hope they do not mind! But it was such a good picture!!

Hello, are you there??

Okay, so I've been getting tons of emails - and I've been trying to do a post . . . . but I just keep falling asleep at night! Lonnie has been out of town {conference} but he is back. So, I've been going at it alone around here. And the evenings are rough when you don't have the help. Once I get the kids in the bed, I sit down, I crash! Except one night, I got up at 1:30 am and just started painting! I didn't turn on the computer, so no emails got answered that night.


It has been a rough week. Tuesday marked the anniversary of Brenda's death - that is one of my BFF's mother that I was extremely close to. Three years ago pancreatic cancer got her. It was devastating and I've never experienced anything like it. It seems like she was just here a few months ago, but at the same time like she has been gone forever. There are times when something happens and in a split second I think, "I got to call Brenda, she will love this, oh - wait I can't, she's not here." And those times are numerous. I was pregnant with the twins when she left. I didn't know it. And I never got to tell her. She would have flipped when I told her. That has always bothered me. I'm pretty sure I'll get to tell her someday!


My great-grandmother passed away this week. She has been in the hospital for some time, but it was still a shocker. But when do you really expect it?? It is actually my step-mom's grandmother. But my dad and step-mom have been married for a long - long time. So, I have a lot of memories of this woman. As you can see, my hair is somewhat dark. Not black. But Grandma told me one time, "I sure wish you would stop dying your hair black." Hahaha!! She couldn't see very well! I haven't put color on my hair in years! It's all natural! It seems the more kids I had the darker it got - which thrills me! I use to be blond and I hated it! Just a nasty, mousy color! I really like my dark hair! But she told my sister that she wished she would stop dying her hair white!! Allyson's hair is very blond - but not white!! I love old people!!!!

I promise I've been working! Some of them have gotten shipped before pictures were taken . . . sorry!


The above picture is for a shower gift that is being given today! I promise to post tomorrow with the full picture!


The above picture is a set of 3 that is also being given as a gift - today! I'll post pictures of it as well! NO it's not a baby name - I can see all your wheels turning TRYING to figure this one out!!! haha!

I've got to get my kids ready for a funeral {this should be entertaining!} Please pray for me!

Womble, I've got a sneaky peeky {almost} ready for you!!!!!

And once I get home tonight, I will answer my mail!

The devastation . . .

We got electricity last night. I was worried because it was suppose to be somewhat cool and I was afraid we might get cold. So I was so relieved when the lights came back on. A couple of hours later, we got our cable back. The horror when we turned on the 10 o'clock news. A mother and her 9 week old baby didn't make it and were killed during the storm. And the houses . . . man, oh, man - The neighborhood that is right beside us had a house on top of another house!!! And there were several house flattened. But what is crazy is the tornado went around the perimeter of Murfreesboro! It just circled around the city!

I still don't have internet and I'm using my Sprint aircard - which is HORRIBLE in my house!!!! So ssssllllloooowww! And I'm about to throw this computer I'm currently on!!! It's that bad!

If you emailed me - give me some time to get back to you! And thank you for all the comments and prayers! It is appreciated!!

I've been thinking . . . . watch it now, this could be scary!! I'm really trying to finish up the boys' room - I'm so close! I was thinking that once I'm done, maybe do one of those linky parties that you see everyone doing! Everyone do a post on their children's room. Baby, Toddler . . . preteen - Whatever the age. I want to see how YOU decorate your kids' rooms! And I'm sure everyone else wants to see, too! Let me know your thoughts! I would be completely embarrassed if I was the ONLY person to do it! So, tell me . . . interested?????

Okay, I've got to go make some potato salad - yes, that's right. The potato salad that is so good that if you put it on your head, your tongue would smack your face to get to it!!! Yep, this one!

Gotta go - this slow internet is killing me!!! What did we do when we only had dial-up??

Friends . . .

We are fine - so far we survived the big tornado without any damage {we think?!} I saw it drop out of the sky in front of the house. I have no real perception of how far it was, but with all the phone calls and news coverage it seemed to be about a quarter of a mile from the house. We started throwing all the Christmas stuff out of the closet that goes under our staircase. The kids thought we were throwing some kind of party! That should tell you how the stuff was flying through the air while the closet was being cleared!

We sit here with no electricity. We hear sirens in the distance. Please pray for the families around us. The neighborhood between us and our zoned school has several flattened houses and assuming some causalities. We also hear that several neighborhoods across town have been hit.

It seems the storms are over {for now.} You never know with crazy-Tennessee weather.

I will keep you all posted.

What a day . . .

It's 3 am - I'm tired, but I have too much to do so why go to bed. Right? I had a crazy day. Let me explain {you knew that was coming.}

After my last post, I checked facebook. I had a message. Remember this painting . . . .


Well, the name is spelled wrong. Unfortunately, that is the way I was told it was spelled. Unfortunately, it isn't spelled that way {now.} Unfortunately, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Unfortunately, . . . . well it's just unfortunate!

Let me also remind everyone, it's Tuesday . . . . my busiest day {I hate Tuesdays} - strong word, but I mean it! I get everyone dressed, fed and loaded in the car. Carson and Lawson get dropped off at Mom's Day Out. I left Hudson and Em in the van - I know, breaking the law . . . but it was cold and I really felt no need to get everyone out for a few second drop off! Fortunately, my friend Rachel always checks on the kids in the van when I do this {okay, so I do it often!} When I got back to the van, she asked me when Hudson learned to "flip a bird?" {smirky, smirky . . . I hear you all!} I have NO IDEA what she is talking about. She informs me Hudson not only flipped her off, but continued to flip everyone off that walked by our van! GREAT! I asked him what he was doing with his finger . . . and, well . . . he showed me. I honestly think that takes some kind of coordination - so good for him for being able to do it. But there is absolutely no need to flip folks off at the age of 3! Now, where in heaven's name did he learn such behavior?? School he says! I'm up that kid's butt so far that would have to be the only place I could think of! I'm with him every other place! And people, I have not used my middle finger since high school - towards my step-dad {every chance I got} and it usually followed some horrible words such as " . . .," . . . okay, never mind - I'm not going to say . . . but you get the picture! Because I was classy like that you see!

But anyhoodle, surely I nipped it in the bud!

Then I go get my car tags renewed - since they expired in March. Lucky for me, my husband is in the military so I don't have to pay wheel tax! My tags cost me 24 bucks and not the $76.50 it costs everyone else . . . UNTIL today! That's right - I had to pay the full price! Too bad I didn't budget that out! "Effective immediately - all active duty military personnel can only have 1 vehicle exempt from wheel tax . . ." {because the county is broke!!} Thanks Rutherford County - I know you appreciate my husbands loyal service to this country. It shows.

But it gets better . . . I go to pay. They don't accept my "banking institutions debit card" - I'm not kidding! So, I pull out my VISA - the one I've had since my 18th birthday. They don't except VISA. "What do you accept?" "Cash." "Who has cash?" "MasterCard, Discover and American Express." "Well, I'm sorry. I try to carry only one credit card with me at a time!" "Can you write a check??" "You accept a check and not VISA? That makes a lot of sense?" Let me add - with my kids in tow!

Basically my day is like this all.day.long. Finally at 4 pm I get my kids to Lawson's physical therapy. Since yesterday, they have added one of those automatic buttons that opens the door when you push it. My kids love buttons and especially one that opens doors. The waiting room was packed {I normally figure out the time to get in when it is empty.} And someone was sitting in "our spot" - which was obvious when Lawson tried to push her out of the seat!!! Let me say that it threw him off so bad that we couldn't do PT. I had not been home all day, None of my kids had a nap, I was tired, I was hungry. I was snapping at the kids. We just all needed to go home.

And it took the entire night to unwind! I completed my taxes. E-filed. We are officially rich. But soon I will get the check and we'll be poor again. Thank you God for 12 months same as cash - but unfortunately 12 months are here before we know it. We can finally pay off our fence that we paid a ridiculous amount of money for!!

And to celebrate - we are taking the kids to the aquarium tomorrow - in Atlanta! haha! That's right - we are passing an aquarium in Chattanooga to go all the way to Atlanta {3+ hours away} - yeah, I'm smoking crack and eating this . . .


So, all the emails I've not answered - I'll get to you tomorrow - on my ride down - I promise.

Waiting on me?

Talking about taking my time - I swear it's unintentional! Everyone is getting a cootie bug around here and of course who do you think has to take care of it??? Who did you say? That's right, me. Was there really any question??

Without further delay . . . I introduce to you the birds . . . .



I'm in love with these!! And I'm really torn about giving them up! So, it might be a few days still before I ship them!

The bedding they are too match! I don't know if you guys know {because I sure didn't,} but Land of Nod will send you swatches! Neatly trimmed in a clear little envelope! I was really impressed! My fav-O-rite pattern on the entire bedding was the dots! {Imagine that?} Which is where the inspiration came for the flower!




It is hard to see, but there is a tiny amount of glitter on the teeny-weeny white flowers. And how can we forget the feathers!!


As most of you know, I normally embellish my canvases with something! I've been dying to paint birds so I could use feathers! These are going to look great over a bed on a soft pink wall! I can't wait to see pictures! Sorry I made everybody wait!!!

Last night, I had just got the kids asleep and had started painting. Lonnie came and got me and said, "You have got to see this on tv." It was a show called "Amazing Families" - has anyone watched it? On Discovery Health {I think?} Anyways - this week's amazing fam had 6 kids - all with some form of autism. All I can say is WoW! I pretty much cried through the entire episode! Really, I did. It was overwhelming to me. They had 2 that were severe - what most of you think when you think of autism. They had 3 with asperger - which I could completely relate to. And one child - the youngest at 3 - that has some kind of autism that really doesn't have a name to it - BUT she is the most "typical child". The parents talked about how it was so wonderful that they can carry on a normal conversation with her - apparently they can't with the others - But can with the 3 year old! I learned that there is only a 10% chance for a family to have a second child with autism after having the first child with autism . . . so this family is quite amazing. I believe it was the University of Utah that is doing a huge study that includes extracting DNA and looking through blood work and the such to see if they can detect the autism gene.

The mom talked about how some days she can do nothing but watch TV or barely get out of the bed because it might be a day that she can barely deal with it. And their house - oh my! Hey Ty, where are you!! These people need a major Home Makeover! One child pulls the drywall off the walls in her room! In sheets!

After I watched it, I couldn't get off the couch. I just couldn't stop thinking of that family! I need to clarify and say that my children have NOT {yet} been diagnosed - and I doubt they will anytime soon only because of the success we are seeing at the moment. Hudson and Lawson get therapy as if they have aspergers. And we have seen HUGE success. Whether they have it or not - currently doesn't matter. We have found what is working and we'll keep going at the pace we're going to see the continued results. We have wonderful therapists who {I feel} will do anything for my children. Their efforts are amazing and I couldn't say thank you enough!

I get several emails on a regular basis that I can tell are wanting to ask me . . . but in a polite way skirt around it hoping I will "take the bait" - I don't want to explain everything a thousand times so I thought I would just blog it. Made sense and it's not a sensitive subject for me - might be for others, so I'm sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes {or feet for that matter.} The hardest part is having twins with one considered "typical" and one not. You can easily see the differences even without comparing. And I DON'T compare them - so NOBODY give my some silly comments about that - please! But the obvious is there! Carson had a true speech delay - only! And I think his speech therapy days are numbered!!! Actually, I'm guessing Monday might be his last! Whoo-hoo! I actually hear him and Hudson carrying on conversations in their room while they are playing - music I tell ya'!! I've waited a long time for my kids to interact with each other!!!

Okay, I'll leave you with this . . .


Laws with 2 strawberries - only 2! And we had somewhere to go - hence the reason he had on no clothes - I was trying to save them with the anticipation he would make a mess!!!


Talking about One Hot Mess!

my email . . .

if you emailed me today and I have not responded . . . . please email me again! Something was wrong with the email through my internet provider! {And if you have Comcast . . . . I'm pretty sure you felt it, too!}

You all are not going to believe how many I got done this weekend! And yes, the birds were 2 of them!!! I'll post pictures tomorrow!

My name is Mud . . . .

I know you all have seen Home Alone {the movie} - I've probably seen it around 75 times over the years {for whatever reason it cracks me up!} Picture the family running through the airport. Late. Dragging their luggage. Going over everything in their head, yet out loud. Okay, now picture me . . . . I'm the chick in the picture on the left. Five foot tall. Doing the same thing. Instead, I'm not in an airport. I'm just doing my daily doings. And instead of luggage, I'm dragging my 4 kids. I would also say that my hands are usually waving above my head . . . . and I'm probably screaming . . . . screaming in a funny way. I say funny, because people usually look at me and laugh when they see me?! I have on sunglasses - even in the rain. Bad habit, maybe . . . . okay, I like to stare at other people and glasses make it much easier to do without looking like a freak with a staring problem . . . . instead, I just look like a freak wearing sunglasses . . . . in the rain!

Anyways, that really is me. Today, I pictured that scene in the movie and thought, "yep, that's me!" The whole "don't-have-it-together,-but-so-need-to" look. That is the reason you have not seen hide nor hair of me all week! We went back to Vanderbilt with Hudson. I'm now told that we are obviously going to be dealing with this minimal change disease until he outgrows it {somewhere around the ages of 5 to 8.} It is apparent {to me} that when he gets a cold - he is going to have a go around with it. That is what has happened everytime. We are officially back on steroids for another 5 months - lovely! He already has the swollen look already and I'm having to loosen all of his jeans in the waste. He is eating me out of house and home . . . but that helps with all the feeding therapies! And this time {I hope I'm not speaking tooooo soon - pray for me now!} he is not waking up in the middle of the night! Yes, I just felt the heavens part and that glorious light shine on me!!!! Sleep little children . . . . through the night!!!

Poor Ame - she has been waiting on this forever! I really told her that I would get her painting out to her the second week of March {and I meant the year 2009!} Then I "promised" it would go out to her on Monday of this week! I said I would post it about it yesterday! Yep, Mud's the name!! I hate doing that people!! But my kids kind of cramped my style this week. Any opportunity I normally would have had to work, was taken up with the little people {I really don't mind giving my kids extra time and attention - please, nobody think that I meant the "cramp my style" comment!}

She sent me the swatches and gave me the names of the wall paint . . .


She really wanted to use the fabric on top as the inspiration. The walls are painted {wide} stripes - about 12 to 18 inches apart. She used the top 2 paint colors.

I got my palette ready . . .


With the pink walls, I thought the green would be the best background color. It's going to be hard to tell in these pictures - but know I MATCHED THE GREEN! Yeah, me!


I could stop here with just a sneaky peeky - but I promised her that I would post a picture {yesterday!} So we are skipping the peeky! I want to say that I matched the paisley a little more than I intended . . . . Amy Butler, please don't sue me!


The above picture is not a good representation of the color - but you can see the design really well!


I kept the front of this painting very simple . . . With the pink stripes, several fabrics with different patterns . . . . I really wanted to work with it all and not against it!

See the big paisley?? See the darker pink dots around the edge?? They have a vine like pattern connecting them to each other . . . . Well, that is where the edge of the painting came from!


A retro, fun flower!!


Here she is! Bloggy friends, I would like for you to meet "Sutton" . . . .


Well, it is storming. All my kids are asleep. I didn't go to bed last night until 5:22 this morning to only get up at 6:23. My 1 hour and 1 minute sleep just didn't cut the mustard today. I'm tired. I'm off to bed {and it's not even 9?} If you emailed me, I'll get on it in the morning! I really hope I get up early! I'm shooting for 3, maybe 4 {yes, that is am} but I'm so tired. It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that I might just wait till my kids wake me!