Our Family is growing!

If you were expecting a post with the announcement that I'm pregnant, sorry to disappoint folks! 

This is not it! 

I'm happy with my 2 children and that business is now closed. 

That said, our family is still growing since we adopted a little kitten! Let me introduce you all to Shadow (and all the food crumbs under my kitchen table lol)

We owned cats before but if was my life before kids and it was a little easier. 

But the kids have asked for a pet before and now there is really no reason not to have one! 

Shadow fits right in with his "independent moods" and playful energy. 

Here he is, showing off his brand new collar that made him "officially" part of the family!

Cuddling up with my daughter

Playing with my son and his brand new mouse toy

Enjoying the new scratch post my husband bought for him

...and finally just requesting my attention!

If you'd like to see more picture of him and his everyday adventure, hop on Facebook! 

Christmas presents.

I'm enjoying watching on Facebook and reading through blog about the wonderful gifts my friends and family got and I think it's time to make my very own post about it.

Telling the truth, there is very little material things that I wanted this Christmas season, which is weird as I'm a person that loves to put my hands on the latest gadget (and if Santa is reading this, a Kindle or better yet an iPad, will come handy in the next months!) 

But right before Christmas I had a job interview and there was NOTHING, nothing I wanted more, than the job! 

I tried to keep my feet on the ground, but I couldn't help thinking how wonderful it would be to have the news about me getting the job?? What better way to celebrate for the holidays?? 

Well, I didn't have to wonder much, because my wish came true! 

A lots of beautiful things will be happening in the next month....I will be going back to school to take some courses. I got my temporary teaching certificate and will take tests to make it a professional certificate. In the meanwhile, I accepted a job as an ESOL teacher to an High School down town. 

Yes, there will be some more driving and some schedule adjustment to go, some running around and some going crazy at times, but I will be finally earn a salary rather than be paid hourly and the salary start at 5 times more what I was making so far! 

What's an ESOL teacher you might ask? ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. I will be teaching basic English skills to students that, like me, came to the States from other countries and have a hard time getting to understand how everything works here in America.

I don't have words to describe how happy excited and a little bit scared I am!
But I'm ready, bring it on!

What I've been working on

It's been a while since I showed off any of my crocheted creation, so I thought I will take care of it now. 

In the mist of the trip from Jacksonville I did have few nice sales. 

The first thing I sold while I was away from hone is the over sized cupcake pincushion, to a man nonetheless that was praising the idea of over sized objects in my shop. 

 

So now I'm wondering if I should study giant versions of the other pincushions I usually make. 

On Etsy I had a wholesale inquiry that turned in a nice sale. 

Again cupcake pincushions, this time normal sized. 

Freshly made! 

I recently made a dinosaur plush for a sweet friend of mine! She loved it a lot, so I decided to list it for sale as well

  

As many of my reader know by now, my daughter takes ballet classes and I made her a nice bun cover to match her leotard. 

Her ballet teacher asked me if I could make them for everybody, so now I have a bunch up for sale on my website. 

So far, everybody is loving this one: 

 

I'm also gonna venture myself into selling some vintage gowns on Etsy, so please welcome CLTvintage. 

Not much listed as for right now but I plan to have more and more up soon. 

What are you been working on instead?

Tamales!!!

I must confess that I had no idea what tamales were, I was totally oblivious that it was even food. 

But I refuse to believe that I'm the only one! So, if you just like me, don't know what they are, here to you a description directly from wikipedia: 

"A tamale (Spanish: tamal [taˈmal], from Nahuatl: tamalli [taˈmalːi])[1] — also tamal — is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa (a starchy dough, usually corn-based), which is steamed or boiled in a leaf wrapper. The wrapping is discarded before eating. Tamales can be filled with meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, chilies or any preparation according to taste, and both the filling and the cooking liquid may be seasoned." 

 I'm always up to try new food and after researching about it, it seems much healthier that anything available out there. 

So, Imagine my joy when a local mom from the Emerald Coast Autism Center starting making them and selling them......I knew I had to purchase them and make this new experience! 

So I did and YUM!!! Got beans and chicken so far but I plan to buy them in every flavors she'll ever make.......

New hair cut!

New job, new hair cut, right? 

And.....ta-daaaaa 

It's till very hot her in Florida, so I'm enjoy a short cut that make for a very light head! 

Sorry for a not-smiley picture....I was very tired when I took it! 

Wish me good luck for tomorrow: first day back to school for the kids = first day of my new job!

New hair cut....

....not the best picture but here it goes!

Al last.....

I'm sure most of my readers are wondering why I'm not writing anymore. The reason is the the past few months have been a little bit of a roller coaster with so many things happening one after another that was difficult for me to absorb them all and put them down in writing.
But now I really need to get some of it now.

It's barely 7 am here and I've been up from 1 hour already. Why?
Gabriel started at his new school today. And nope, it's not the school where my daughter is going, the one that he wanted in so badly. They decided he wasn't good enough for them. Instead the county sent him 30 miles away. I guess for the Okaloosa County is perfectly fine for a disabled child to have to wake up before 6 to be sent to a school far away to get some "services" that the local school seems to think they don't need to provide. It sucks and it's wrong. They are wrong by thinking that I'm just going to accept that.

So after fighting from September, hiring a lawyer and threatening legal action, my son still didn't get in the school he wanted. Maybe I'm old, but when I was school age I picked my own school and my parents had a say so if they deemed that inappropriate for any reason. For the Okaloosa county the students opinion is nothing and parents are just tax payers fools. Nice.

I'm so worried for my boy today and I know that I'm more scared than he is.
It's 7.20 now and I imagine he just made it to school and somebody is directing him to his classroom. I can only hope that he remembers me telling him to listen to what people say and pay attention so he will get in the right classroom. You see, for people with Autism like me and him every new thing seems out of place for a while and can be very scary. This morning for him all it's new and although I know we showed him the way to cope with all that and he has been doing wonderfully, part of me still fears. But of course I do, is the Autism making me talk this way.

This will be a very loooooooooooooong day I can tell.....

New products at Sweet Irie!

Michele is been really busy and wonderful new product and fabrics are picking out her shop! Let's take a look together, shall we??

Tweet Checkbook Cover, $11

Sugar Pop Wristlet and Wristlet Keychain Fob Combo Set by Sweet Irie, $25

Lime Aid -Wrist Key Chain, $6.50

Lollipop Lanyard ID Holder or Keychain, $10

Makeup Bag Sewing Pouch Purse -Sweet Treat, $14.50

Wristlet Key Chain Key Fob -Piggy, $6.50

I could go on forever since there is much to see at Sweet Irie!
And don't forget to check out her blog for a super giveaway!

Out with the old, in the new - Part 1

Easter and Spring is fast approaching and I know a lot of people are, like me, busy with spring cleaning and news. Here's mine. If you're doing one too, please let me know and I will be delighted to feature you!

Out with the old:
My old etsy shop is closing and I'm having a 50% sale: these items will not be made any more, so this is your last chance to get them at unbeatable price!

In with the new:
New items are available and will continue to be added in my Crocheted Little Things shop

Crocheted birthday cupcake with candle - RASPBERRY, $10

Crocheted cupcake pin cushion with pink flower, $10

Crocheted cupcake trinket box - Easter, $8

Crocheted Easter eggs fillable in pastel colors SET of 6, $9

Plus a big news:
March Madness promotion. Buy anything for any of my shops during the month of March using the code "MARCHMADNESS" in the note to the seller and you will be automatically entered in a drawing for a $25 Gift Certificate for my Artfire Studio!

New year Giveaway! {CLOSED}

Hello readers, how the 2010 is going so far??? Good for me! So good that I decided to give back with a giveaway! How cool is that?? Stick around because this time we are going to have 3 lucky winners....yup 3!!!

Prizes Details:
Three lucky winnere will receive a gift of their choice for my 50% off sale section!

How to enter:
Please leave a separate comment for every entry for increase your chance of winning!!

The holiday are behind us and most of us enjoyed unwrapping present under the tree. Did you ever got a less-then-perfect gift? Had someone has the best thought for you but they got the wrong brand/size/color??? Or worse: ever got a re-gift?? Share your present-story with me, I really want to know! And be sure to include a way for me to contact you in case you win!

Extra entries:
1) Subscribe my newsletter to stay in the loop about sales, promotions and new products and you will gain 1 EXTRA entry.
2) Become a follower of my blog and earn ONE extra entry. Leave another comment telling me you did! Past follower don't count, sorry!
3) Subscribe to my blog and you'll earn ONE extra entry. Leave a separate comment about it! Past subscription don't count, sorry!
4) Blog about this giveaway and receive ONE extra entry! Just come back here and leave a separate comment with your blog link.
5) Twit about this giveaway and earn ONE extra entry. Be sure to put @piccoladonna before your twit, so I will know you did it :)
6) Earn TEN (10) extra entries by purchasing something from ArtFire shop. Just come back here and tell us what you purchased along with your contact info to claim your extra entries!

This giveaway will last for 2 weeks and will end January, 15th.
Winners will be picked randomly and announced on January, 16th, at which time I will contact the winner to get shipping information for delivery.
If the winner does not contact me within three days, I will appoint another winner through another random number drawing.

Giveaway Thursday Linky & Happy New Year!!

Happy New year to all my readers!!!!!

I will update this list every Thursday to give you the best of the best of all the giveaways!
Feel free to post yours if you have one and be sure to specify the prize and the ends date!
Enjoy!

New signature!

Jus checking out my new signature that my best friend sweetirie designed for me :)
What do you think???