Milk-Bone Theft Prevention Device:

New things

So, my little sister got a boat.

Just a little boat. She's trying to get her commercial fishing license, and hopefully soon after, a lucrative pasttime. She already has the first level license for shore fishing and has been turning quite a profit this summer. She'll be a senior in high school next year; I'm pretty proud!

I've been trying to get some new items listed in all three of my Etsy shops. This little flamingo cosmetic case is the first of many to come:

All in all, it's been a pretty good week. My day off is tomorrow and I hope to be productive. I really wanted to take advantage of the tax-free 'Back-to-School' weekend so I could get some new clothes and shoes for work, but the restaurant business has been very slow this week and I've had to scrape through the savings account to pay bills. Allen, luckily is making some overtime the next few weeks, so hopefully we'll still be able to go camping at the end of the month. We haven't been camping in at least two years,, so we're long overdue :)

tuesday

Hooray for today! I'm very excited to announce two new additions to our Etrelle's shop:Two adorable leather change purses!

I have a to more lying around just WAITING to be listed online, so we'll see how much I can get accomplished today. There's also a to of beads waiting to be put into my Blenderbach store, also.

But, mostly I'm excited because today is Allen and my anniversary and while I'm not entirely sure what we'll be doing this evening (my poor guy has a cold) hopefully next weekend we'll be able to dart out of town for a few days and go camping! I'm typically not big on camping. I love nature and the great wide outdoors, but not necessarily sleeping and eating and relieving myself in it. However, for some reason Ive been dying to go out and spend a night outdoors. I blame the books I've been reading.
There are actually way more state parks and camping sites in Florida than I was ever aware of. We're still not 100% decided but I'd really like to visit Koreshan State Historic Site on the west coast of Florida. It's the location of a spiritual group that settled there in the early part of the twentieth century and died out by the 1960's. Fits in perfectly with my current Christopher Hitchens read. (almost done!)

ridiculous fascinations

Silly Bandz.I love these ridiculous things.

I was first introduced to them by a (adult) co-worker of mine who was given hers by a child on the beach. I thought they were cute and when I saw a package in the checkout line at CVS I bought them and brought them to work to split with my co-worker.
Since then I've been collecting them via donations (noted and not).

Working at the restaurant full time I've noticed that these adorably overpriced accoutrements must certainly be a pet peeve of parents everywhere. While I can see them as a silly hobby, it's apparent that they've become a menace to peace and quiet in much the same way as Pokemon cards and Pogs and Slap bracelets.

Luckily for me, children are easily distracted and messy. Cleaning up the tables after the patrons have gone, I've made a game of collecting these little bands that get left behind (and I'd like to think that this is much to the relief of the parents who now have one less plastic toy cluttering up the carpet and counters at home).

Hooray for fads!

and the winner is...

EtsyCerra!

She wins this cute bug coinpurse:

Congratulations and thanks for entering!

I really want to list some of the huge mug collection online, but I'm not sure where the majority of them have gone. They were in two giant storage tubs and when my mother moved everything around for her yard sale we forgot where we put them. But I'm sure they're around somewhere.

Here's another mug from the cabinet; a cheerful Christmas collectible:

whataday

My morning started off brightly with a hot cup of coffee and a hopeful outlook on the day. Of course, it soon came crashing down and I had to postpone most of my scheduled itinerary to deal with interruptions and shennanigans and now I have a stunning headache which I hope to dispel with a hot shower and nice long nap.

I did manage to get some lovely pictures of my garden early in the day.

My serrano pepper plant:

And my newly-transplanted corn has begun to grow:

Maybe I can spend the evening curled up on the couch with a good movie and a giant bowl of ice cream with hot fudge.

more treasury fun

Featured in TWO more treasuries!

First this beeeaaauuuutiful and bold one called There's A Bright Idea by CheersToJuly:

And this colorful and supremely super treasury called To The Rescue by LysanderNViviana:

GIVE-AWAY!

It's that time again! Time to host another GIVEAWAY!

This time I'm offering this cute coinpurse for the insect-lovers.

It's made from a bold blue metallic leather and soft brown leather in the front. Closes with a segma snap. The beetle is a thick 3-D sticker which has been sewn onto the leather.

These little coinpurses are durable and holds a heck of a lot of change!

To enter you simply go check out our leather shop HERE and come back to leave a comment about your favorite item. That's it!Don't forget to leave your name and a way to contact you (etsy shop name or email address).
For extra entries you can:

#1 - Follow my tweets at twitter.com/etrelles (please leave a link for your twitter account)

#2 - tweet about this giveaway (please leave a link for your twitter account)

#3 - Blog about this giveaway (please leave a link to your blog post)

Please leave a new comment for each entry.

This contest ends at 11:59 pm EST on July 29th. The winner will be announced the following day.

Things for Tuesday

I wish I didn't have to work today, but, well, you know. Bills.

I'm trying to post new coffee mugs again. If you've followed my blog for awhile, you may remember that I was posting pictures of my mother's enourmous mug collection. I've recently cleaned out the cupboards and am once again trying to use a new mug every day.

Here's one I found of my sister's (it has her name on the other side):

And in garden news, I've torn out some old, dying tomatoes the cucumbers that never really were to make room for new peppers. I also have three watermelon seedlings to get in the ground but I haven't decided where to put them yet because they'll need so much room.
Check out these awful creatures that were devouring my tomatoes earlier in the week: