Monday, November 9, 2009

Poof! There went October...

That was fast! Can't believe October is over already. We attended two fall festivals, baked pumpkin cupcakes, 2 pumpkin shaped cakes (we even got a thank you note from one of the people that won one of them at the cake walk, letting us know how good it was, lol!), took a field trip to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and sunflowers:

And enjoyed a fun night of trick or treating, too!


Work has kept me super busy- too busy, really, but we are finally at the point where we are able to bring in more staff to help! We have a full time embroidery gal, which is helping a ton, and after my last round of help wanted ads for seamstresses, I am feeling incredibly blessed to have found FIVE new seamstresses, all of them wonderful. There's still a bottleneck with emails and also with cutting here at the studio, but one crisis at a time, I guess. Actually, the email issue should get resolved this week, *crosses fingers*

I am still sick, coughing like a lunatic, but luckily I'm the only one here that caught the bug- go me, lol. Also feeling a lot of sadness about last week's tragedy at Fort Hood. There really aren't words for it, or at least nothing that probably hasn't been said, and said better, but suffice it to say, my heart truly aches right now.

Really do wish I was more prolific at blogging, the new year is going to filled with lots of stuff (good and bad) that I want to be able to talk about, but I know no one's reading if I can't manage to post more than once a month, so I will be working on that.

Happy November everyone!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Fall is in the Air!

I just love that it is getting cooler. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are my FAVORITE holidays, so this is my favorite time of the year!


We also celebrated Sophie's 3rd birthday!


We are booked solid this entire month with "fall" activities. There's a pumpkin decorating contest, a fall party (must make fall themed refreshments), a fall festival (where Sydney's class is charge of the cake walk, so we must make a fall themed cake), a fall class field trip to pick pumpkins and sunflowers, and the Moonlit Hayride at the Equestrian Center. Oh, and then the actual trick or treating, too!

There is a slight problem. Everything is "fall" themed at school, and not Halloween themed, I guess so as not to offend anyone, but Halloween is so much fun! And the best part- Halloween costumes, yes? Uh, no. There are to be no Halloween costumes. :(

I'm one of those mom's that goes WAY overboard with Halloween costumes, case in point:


So this is a huge bummer. Instead, October 30th is "50's Day" at school. Well, at least Sydney's going to have the poofiest poodle skirt in all of K5!

Not much else going on here, but hop on over to the other blog, actually got several new posts over there, too.



Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Funny Things...

...that my children (ages 5 and 2) say:

Sydney: Mama, what's for dinner?

Me: Steak

Sydney: What kinda steak?

Me: Sugar steak (the marinade has brown sugar in it)

Sydney: Okay, well, just don't burn it this time.

***

Me: Hold still, Sydney, you have an eyelash on your cheek. Okay, there, got it! Now make a wish and blow.

Sydney: I wish Mama would just let me do my own thang. (Blows away eyelash)

***

Sophie: Knock, knock

Me: Who's there?

Sophie: Banana pie

Me: Banana pie who?

Sophie: Banana pie POOH POOH! (Laughs hysterically)

***

Sydney: I don't wanna go to that restaurant, mama lost my balloon.

Daddy: That's right, mama let your balloon fly away last time, but you can get a new balloon today, and just hold onto it tightly, okay?

Sydney: Okay

(after dinner)

Daddy: What does that sign say?

Me: I don't know, its raining, roll down my window so I can see.

Sydney: Dada, Dada, roll down my window too!

(Daddy rolls down Sydney's window, Sydney's balloon promptly flies out the window, Sydney breaks down, balling)

Sydney: See, I told you I didn't wanna go to that restaurant!!!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Random-ness...

I have grand illusions (delusions) about being a blogger, but I just haven't gotten into the groove of yet, ya know, posting something every three weeks and all...Oh well, to those of you reading, my apologies for the sparce-ness of posts, and here's one to catch you up! (in no particular order)

Sophie's hair is now long enough for pig tails:


We did a custom order this week for paperback book covers (a la Vera Bradley). I think that they turned out great:


However, this lead to the conversation about how I just don't "get" the whole Vera Bradley trend (when my Mom first pointed them out to me in Ohio, in all seriousness, I thought it was an Amish thing). Is it just a southern thing? Because here, they are EXTREMELY popular, and I mean with everybody- grade schoolers through Grandma. So I went to the local store to try and wrap my brain around the whole vibe:


Then it started raining, ya know, because no one ever tells you, but it rains in Alabama like it does in a rainforest. So I'm stuck in the this store, surrounded by all these bags, and I'm just still not getting it. So someone, please help me out here- explain it too me, or at least tell me that I'm not alone in not feeling the whole quilted paisly look.

We went school supply shopping:


Slightly amused that they tell you what brands to buy (Play Dough NOT Rose art!), but its all right, we are all stocked up!

Sydney started Kindergarten, and thinks it's "great":


I'm sad that she's growing up, but also happy that she's enjoying school and making new friends.

I also celebrated a birthday during my blogging hiatus. My present? New iphone 3G-S:


Anybody know what you do with your old iphone when you get a new one?

I guess that's about it. Lots going on with Hero On My Arm, keeping me busy, but never fear, I have great blogging plans, I just have to get that far down on my to do list. Someday.

Happy August, with your suck-y birthstone and all!



Monday, July 20, 2009

More pictures of my hometown for my one faithful blog reader...

Better?
LOL.
Okay, just kidding, here you go:










Sunday, July 19, 2009

So many emails, so little time...

This post is more than anything, just to let you all know that I am still here, working, lol. I am actually completely caught up on orders, but unfortunately, not completely caught up on emails. I hope to remedy that in the morning though.

In other news, we are t-minus 19 days and counting until Sydney starts Kindergarten!

I took her school shopping, and I would pick something out only to have her look at me, sigh, and say "But, momma, that's so boring". She has very colorful taste. (And I did, for the most part, let her pick out what she wanted.)

My mom is coming again next week to help me out, so I'm very excited to hopefully be able to actually be able to report on some new things we get done, instead of constantly reporting that I'm "almost caught up" with stuff that should have been done last week.

And just in case any one was wondering, the song selections (other than the musicals) are usually just whatever I happen to have heard on the radio recently, lol, there's really not some deep meaning to the choice of song, nor is it meant to necessarily compliment the post. (I'm probably going to do away with the music altogether when "work on blog" comes up on my To Do list.)

I heard "Small Town Saturday Night on the radio this weekend as I was out grocery shopping. I always loved the line:

"Lucy, you know, the world must be flat...
'cause when people leave town, they never come back."

(my hometown)

LOL, life in small town, USA- gotta love it!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Thanks, Mom...


I have to say a very big THANK YOU to my Mom, who traveled all the way from Louisiana to spend the entire week last week helping me get caught up on orders. By the time the week ended, my mom was a pro on the embroidery machine and over 150 orders were in the mail- it was a very productive week.

Oh, and the purse in the picture, that's the very last one we did for the week- its been on my "to-do" list for quite some time (see here)- hopefully it was worth the wait!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Post-It Note Revelation...


I figured out that if I put all my "to do's" on post-its, when I get behind, I can just peel and stick them on a later date!  Pretty cool, eh? (yeah, I'm easily impressed).

Several people in Hong Kong are still trying to give me money for free, too!  What a lucky girl I am...

I am Mr. Patrick K. W. Chan Executive Director & Chief financial Officer of Hang Seng Bank Ltd, Hong Kong.
I have a lucrative business proposal of mutual interest to share with you; it involves the transfer of a large
sum of money from my bank here in Hong Kong. I got your reference in my search for someone who suits my
proposed business relationship. If you are interested in working with me contact me through my private email
mrpatrick_chan202@yahoo.com.hk for further details.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Patrick Chan 

Back to work now, work, work, work...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Emails, Scams, Books, Lack of time, and other bits of randomness...

WARNING- the song playing over there on the right is not g-rated!  If you are easily offended or children can hear, please mute.

Emails will be the death of me!  I just realized last night that I've lost several hundred emails over the last few weeks- the perils of having 4 emails and trying to juggle forwarding them when life interrupts business, and someone has to be out of the office.  GRRR.  I'm stuck emailing everyone with an order today, in the hopes that if they've emailed us, they don't think they are being ignored.  Great way to have to waste the day, when I have so much to do in the studio and am *this* close to being all caught up.  Ick.

Actual emails, those get lost in cyberspace, but what makes it through?  Stuff like this:

Good Day I am MR.SONG LILE, I work with the Hang Seng Bank,I need your assistance in effecting a transaction worth $30.5m I intend to give 30% of the total funds as compensation for your assistance.respond to my private email: songli20@yahoo.com.hk 1. Full names 2. Private phone number 3. Current residential address Kind Regards, Mr Song Lile Email: songli20@yahoo.com.hk

Really?  People still fall for this scam?  Its annoying that certain members of the human race can be so devoid of ...what?  A conscience?  A soul?  Makes me sick.

In other, unrelated news, I got a brief moment (during the girls gymnastics class) to start a new book.

I'd seen it mentioned somewhere on a milblog, then the ladies at Army WIfe Talk Radio had the author on their show, and I have to confess, the cover looked cool, so I decided to try and find time to read it.  So far (and admittedly, I've only made it to page 60 so far) I'm very glad that I did.

On page 15 you find out that the author used to work at the Life Cafe (hence the song playing, lol!)- she's an Army Officer's wife at West Point and she used to work in the Life Cafe- I mean, come on, you have to just know there's a great story there. 

So far, its a fabulous read, and the author is incredibly funny, witty, succinct and dead on- her description of the catty way in which Army Wives can sometimes (too often, really) treat each other:

"It's the classic judgment-go-round concealed in camouflage and wrapped in the flag."

I'll have to try and post a review of the entire book when I finish it (someday!).  Oh well, back to the emails for me....

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Visiting Normandy...

Since today is the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, I thought I'd write a post about visiting there.  Especially if you are (or one day find yourself) stationed in Germany, it is a must see.  It's just over 300 miles from Paris, so a pretty easy drive, and of coarse, very beautiful.

We took a day trip there from Paris- and just to let you know, the pictures below are not mine, we took video of our trip, which I love, but I doubt you'd want to watch a few hours of it- other people's pics are much better suited for a blog post! 

Caution- the drive from Germany, via Paris, has LOTS of tolls.


We visited on December 26th, so it was cold, rainy and very overcast.  It seemed strange to be at the beach in the dead of Winter.  Even though so much time has passed, its amazing to see how much has not changed. 

This is Pointe du Hoc, the craters in the ground were caused by the more than ten kilotons of high explosives that landed here (that's about the same explosive power as the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima).  


At the end of the war, many of the German Atlantic Wall defenses were dismantled, but some remain, like the bunker above and the battery at Longues-sur-Mer. 



In 2004, the French commissioned this sculpture, entitled "The Brave" by French sculptress Anilore Banon.  It is a tribute to the Americans who landed on Omaha Beach, and the sculpture rises from the waves at St. Laurent-sur-Mer.  


 Standing atop Arromanches, you can still see the remnants of "Mulberry B", one of two artificial harbors created for the invasion.  It took 20,000 workers almost a year to build using over two million tons of steel and concrete.  More than 500,000 tons of equipment were unloaded using the artificial harbor here during the summer of 1944. 


The  American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer:    


At the center of the cemetery is a bronze statue, "The Spirit of American Youth Rising From The Waves", and on either side are two enormous maps of the European Theatre of Operations.   


 

The cemetery itself is 172 acres, French soil which has been granted in perpetuity to the United States.  9,386 brave American souls are at rest here.  The grass is brilliantly green, the silence deafening, the rows upon rows of perfectly aligned white crosses, which, even if you have seen it before in pictures, will absolutely take your breath away and bring tears to your eyes when you see it in person.  

Monday, June 1, 2009

What happened to being nice?

First, let me say this has NOTHING to do with business, it's just a comment in general.  

Okay, so, really, what happened to just being nice?  Ya know, pay it forward, do unto others, etc. 

How is that hard?  Why does everything have to be mean spirited, catty, snarky, condescending, I can't wait to blog about how pathetic you are and for all of my followers to chime in unanimously with how much they agree with me and how my view of things is right and you are wrong, and ha ha ha aren't we all just SO funny in the way that we mercilessly comment on the pathetic lives of others while we continually blog about how perfect we are in comparison to you and take judgmental to an entirely new level???

Empathy- does no one have that anymore?  

If you haven't walked in someone else's shoes, how dare you judge them.

Be nice, please.  That is all I have to say.  For the love of everything that is beautiful and good, would it just kill you to be nice???

Seriously, try it.  Niceness. "nice, really nice, you know, on the scale of...niceness".  It rocks.

Oh, and OPSEC, OPSEC is good too!

Seriously, June already?


Why am I always trying to get caught up???
I think I will clear my entire calendar for this month and just use it to catch up on everything.  I'd post my to do list, but then I'd just be horribly embarrassed with how much I'm not getting done.  Suggestions?

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Randomness...

Just so everyone knows that I'm still here and working, a random blog post for you.  Have TONS going on at the moment, am I teeny bit behind (as always), but working hard to get caught up.  First a few more pictures from our recent photo shoot:


How cool, right?


And some pictures (finally) of the new design studio are coming soon, I promise!


Hey, anybody know how to get your MAC router to get along with your still running Windows XP computer?  Ahhh, if only I had all the answers...

Friday, May 22, 2009

Sometimes...

...you just have a bad day, that's all.  I'm over it now, back to work- more emails, a trip to the pattern maker's this afternoon, packing up orders all evening.  It's Friday- its all good!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

If...


If you knew this was your last day on earth, how would you spend it?

I'd spend it with my family- I wouldn't spend it answering emails, and I'd stop apologizing to people- I'm doing the best I can- if its not good enough, get over it and move on, I'm exhausted by everyone else's unrealistic expectations.  There, I said it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

So Much to Catch Up On!

Hi! I'm Back from you know where:

I've had TONS of stuff going on the past few weeks to fill you all in on, but until I get a free few minutes to do so, here are just a few highlights:

We had our first official Hero On My Arm photo shoot this month with all REAL military spouses (no models!), and it went really well!
 

Tonight, Monday, May 18th, Hero On My Arm will be featured as the Resource of the Week on  the Army Wife Network's Army Wife Talk Radio podcast- be sure to listen in here 8pm Eastern time.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

You know an idea is hot when...


...they make a commercial pattern for it.  How neat is that!


The downside is that it won't be long before you see people trying to make these and sell them.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Crazy Busy...

So you think you want to start a business?  Start SMALL.  You have no idea how much of your life it will suck away!  Seriously, though, I feel like I am never going to get caught up, EVER.  My "to-do" has over a hundred things on it- every time I cross something off, four new things get added.  Feeling pretty exhausted, kinda down at the moment.  I have a ton of work to do this week, so I just wanted to stop in, give an update, and an explanation if I seem MIA for the next few days.  If I have to forgo sleep entirely this week, I will- I AM GOING TO GET CAUGHT UP, even if it kills me!

Just a few pics, because I hate to post without pics:


Here are the girls, this is from Sydney's big birthday bash.


This was at the end of a crawdad (is that how you spell that?) fishing excursion, that did not go so well.  Apparently you can catch them with bacon?  When asked "Did you catch anything?"  Sophie replied, "YES!  We caught ants."


And lastly, to the stinky pooh pooh swine flu (possible) pandemic, which is threatening to ruin our planned family vacation- really, are the fates conspiring to keep me from ever taking a vacation?  It certainly feels that way!  Oh well, back to work for me...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Face of An Angel...

In case you've missed it...



John 7:24: "Do not judge according to appearance, but 

judge with righteous judgment."

Mean, judgmental people suck, but sometimes 

Karma rocks.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"today was my second day of being five..."


That is what my beautiful baby girl explained to me today (one day after her birthday).  Isn't that wonderful?  This is how she looked 5 years ago, when we brought her home from the hospital:


What a cutie!!!

We are all still sick here (I spoke much to soon in saying that we were well, lol), and I feel as if I have been cursed here as far as anything that can go wrong, has gone wrong these last few weeks- trying to remedy all that this evening, if I don't go crazy first.  Not much else to post, just trying not to make it seem like I've fallen off the face of the earth- I'm still here....working.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Its Good To Be Back!

I have been sick with the flu for the past 2 weeks, and that was just plain awful.  I am feeling much better (finally), and anxious to get back to work.  I've replied to all the emails in my inbox, but I still have quite a few calls to return this week.  I was having some problems accessing my voicemail earlier, so I'm hoping that the iphone miraculously fixes itself overnight (which it has done before!).

So just some random stuff/thoughts from me:

They STILL are not finished with my studio space.  Its driving me crazy!  I think when its finally done, I will install one of those signs:
Now, I just have to figure out where to put it...

BRAVO's 6 am episode (yes, I was up packing orders this morning at 6) of the West Wing was Shibboleth.  I love this episode.  Here's the end, it's really good:
On a slightly less intellectual note, I had the distinct displeasure of discovering (because she linked back to my website, of all things) a rather distasteful and mean blog run by another military spouse.  If I had their addresses, I'd send the blogger and all her "followers" a copy of this rather informative book:

Mean people just straight up suck.  And you know what else?  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, sure, but there's also that sage advice "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything".  So if your opinion is belittling, berating, insulting and/or cruel- do the world a favor and keep it to yourself please!  Ick, I wish I could wash my brain out from even having read their "opinions".

But on a happier note, its only 5 days until I get to go see Wicked, 14 days until Sydney's birthday, and 40 days until our trip to Disneyworld and the Space Center for the Atlantis Shuttle launch. WooHoo!  And I should be all caught up on orders this week, so I'll have next week to decorate the new studios (assuming they are done, lol).