Matty Poo-Poo Head & One Angry Rant

I've gotten so many emails concerned about my Matty and I'm so thankful for all the prayers he's getting. Yes, he still needs them. Of course after the bloody stool (sorry, TMI) dilemma, we took him to the vet. He didn't notice anything unusual, so he sent us with some Rx dog food and some fiber to mix inside it.

He's gotten much better in the potty department, but he now associates me with him getting hurt so badly and is so terrified and untrusting of me. This absolutely breaks my heart and believe me, I've cried about it many times. I just want him to know how he's safe with me and I'd never hurt him like in his former life. Thankfully, he is not at all afraid of Southern Hubby. As soon as he gets home, he runs up to him and starts trying to walk on his hind legs to get closer to him. It's absolutely the cutest thing ever! :)

Keep the prayers coming please, cause I really want him to be able to trust me again. Here are just a couple of recent pictures of my baby. Isn't he the cutest ever!? :)

Ok, here's the rant... today we went to Walmart to buy a Better Homes and Gardens desk. It was a beautiful desk and I'd wanted something to put my Bible study materials on. I've been using our breakfast area table and it just looks so cluttered with all my books, journals and what not. So now I have a dedicated spot just for my studies. I wish they had a picture of it online, but I think it's not being sold anymore. (On the side, if you're looking for dirt cheap, super cute pieces, go check out their BH&G collection. It's all so cute and looks like really nice quality.)

While we were there, I saw a young girl with her mother. I'd say she was about 13 or 14. For some reason, I glanced down at her shirt and saw that is read "Cubby Hole- Open 27/7." I couldn't see the accompanying graphic but I didn't need it in order to get what the shirt was trying to tell the world.

How are parents letting their young daughters wear such provocative and suggestive clothing?! Do they not understand the sexual innuendo the shirt is proclaiming? And this one isn't even the worst of them. "Trust me, I know what boys want," "Two boys for every girl," and, "Yes, but not with you."

I'm just astounded and appalled. I like to think of myself as open minded, but never would I let my daughter walk so much as a step out of her room with a shirt like that. When did parents stop telling their kids what they can and can't wear? When did it become okay to have your mom be your best friend or just like an older sister? Moms are just that- moms. I don't think the best friend thing normally comes until the child is a young adult and has left the house. At least that was when I was on a friend level with my mother. I was on my own and realized the struggles she went through to raise me and reason she did the things she did.

It just boggles my mind. Am I the only one?

Ok, let me leave you with this disturbing picture of a pre teens underwear.

Did your mouth drop open like mine did?! I was just speechless. Something has to be done about this! I'm not a mom so I don't know all the girl shops out there but there has to be a way to get manufacturers to stop making them. And mothers need to stop buying them. Monitor their closets. Monitor their facebooks and myspaces. Why do they have to be private? If it's something you can't read, then they probably shouldn't be writing it at all.

Ok, I've obviously had too much coffee this morning. No more ranting. And I apologize for unloading on you without any proper warning. I'll gave a hand signal for the next time I think I'm gonna blow!

Happy holding on to your 12, not 19 year old baby girls!

xoxo Y

The Smallest Blessings Thursday 5.28.09

Thanks for joining me for the Smallest Blessings Thursday this week! Where are you finding your small blessings? Are you looking for them or do they just pop up? This is the whole point of this meme- recognizing that we are given many blessings daily, big and small, and remember to give thanks and praise to the Lord for them. Even the small ones deserve our thanksgiving!

If you would like to participate this week, just hop on over here to the see the rules. They're super easy and we all know each one of us has at least one small blessing to share!

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If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you remember this post about my discovery of our little patio friends. If not, go back and read it. My smallest blessing for this week is how their sweet story ended...

Now we knew those little love birds were up to something. They've been circling their nest, never leaving, and poor hubby got kicked out and had to sleep on the ledge a few times! And yesterday, I finally got a few glimpses at what that something was! Er, well, actually- what the somethings were!

How cute are those little baby birds!? As soon as I saw on of their little heads, I ran and got my camera, hopped on a chair and started clicking away. Unfortunately, the lighting conditions were horrible, I was way underneath them, so I could never get a good focus shot on the babies themselves, and the pictures came out blurry, BUT, I'm not letting that get in the way of the fact that not many people get the privy of seeing the tender moments that nature can have.

When I was done, I let them get back to their lunch. I stepped off my chair and was reminded of just how awesome and powerful God is. He has made so many mysteries and secrets of the world. He knows why he created these animals, what purpose they serve and how they live out their lives daily. There are some things us humans will never know. I went inside and thanked God for creating such a beautiful universe. And I thanked Him for letting me in on such wonderful secrets.

Happy Smallest Blessings Thursday!
xoxo Y

U For whatever reason, Mr. Linky is not working. So, leave your links in the comments section and I'll try to check periodically and post them in the message for easier reader access.

PS- I joined The Nesters Lampapalooza Party. Check it out here if you love all things lamp.

PPS- I've had several sweet inquiries about precious Matty and tomorrow I will be back with an update. Thank you SO much for thinking about him and praying for him. My dogs are my babies. I love them with my whole heart. And when one is hurting, I hurt, too. So your prayers mean just so much to me.

Lampapalooza Party!

Courtesy of my favorite design chica, the Nester, I am having a lamp party over here in the Southern Household!

I am quite the lamp fanatic. I have at least on or two in every room. Not only are they so pretty, but the lighting they give is so much more warm than the overhead lights. Oh, and you get to hang tassels on them! And I did mention how much I love tassels, right?

Here are all my down stairs lamps!

Love this night light (I'll count it as a lamp!) in my powder bathroom. A steal at Kirklands for $9.99. I have it in red in my kitchen.

The lamp in our master bathroom. This is by Southern Hubby's sink. Amazingly, his is always the one that is clean! Mine is a mess with my makeup and skin care stuff!

The lamp by our reading area (aka where the unfolded laundry likes to hang out) in our master bedroom. If you missed my master bedroom re-design, click on here to catch up!

Our bedside table lamps. Mine is the one with the small dish. Oh, and now we commence with tassel-mania.

This table is in our living room. That is our wedding invitation on the left side. Luxe creamy paper with dark brown letterpress with our monogram on the top....ahhhh...*sniff* I miss my wedding!!! Waaaa!

Ok, ok, I've stopped crying. On with the lamps... this one is in my living room as well. And here we start with the roosters. My two favorite things. Tassels+roosters= and over the moon Southern Housewife. :)

This lamp is in our our office. (aka the waste of a room we like to print stuff in and that's it.)

One of my fave lamps in the entire house! I got this at a primitive boutique a while back and I've loved it ever since. How cute is this chick?

Yes, another rooster. I did tell you I was in love with them right? Oh, and I'm banned from bringing anymore into the house. :(

The simple buffet lamps in our dining room. Psst....These were from Walmart!!! Their Better Homes and Garden collection is super cute and super cheap! See- you don't need a fortune to furnish your house and make it look nice!

Well, ladies, that concludes our tour! Y'all come back now!

Happy lamps, and tassels, and roosters!

xoxo Y

CM044: Black & Strawberry

CM 044: Black & Strawberry

Black & Strawberry??

Bersempena motif strawberry pada kain kapas berwarna hitam...menarik bukan?

Potongannya adalah sederhana; berleher bulat dengan reben di pinggang. Namun nampak sedikit berbeda kerana dress ini panjang cecah ke buku lali.Di samping itu lengannya pula panjang sehingga ke siku.

Bahagian kaki kain di tampah dengan ropol minimum dari kain serupa. Sungguh anggun si cilik ini bergaya

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

Okay, so as mentioned previously, I'm thisclose to launching my new PMC (precious metal clay) line just in time for summer. Can I tell you that I am having an absolute BALL designing these cute necklaces. And each night, I am coming up with other new ideas.

I have no idea how long it will take to get a website up and running, so I'm thinking about just putting them in my Etsy shoppe for now. I still have my massive sale going on because I'm hoping to stream line my collections into less than 20 or so pieces to make it easier on myself as well as the buyer (You have no idea how many people wait a week or so because they simply cannot decide on what to get.)

But before I put them online, I wanted to give my readers a first glimpse at what I have coming up. Please bear in mind that I have so many ideas just bursting out of my head so this is just the tip of the iceberg!

I was also hoping to get a few of your creative ideas to help me come up with my photos. Right now, I have my necklaces on this vintage wooden box. I think it looks great but I didn't know if I should use any 'props' or just keep it simple so as not to detract from the necklaces themselves. What do you think? Have anything in mind for props? I'm wanting to go with a preppy/southern/girly sort of theme. Sounds crazy, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. Well, if anything crosses your mind, I'd love to hear about it!

On with the show! Here are my newest designs... I'm so proud of these and I hope you all love them as much as I do!

Inspire Growth Necklace

My Sunshine Necklace

Bee Happy Necklace

Happy Bursting Creativity!

xoxo Y

May Showers

This weekend, I attended the gorgeous shower of my cousin, Lorena. From the flowers to the sangria, everything was beautiful and delicious.

It was great to see all my cousins and aunts and get to spend a few hours gabbing. I volunteered to take some pictures of the shower so she'd have them to scrapbook. Here are the shots I took.


I made her one of my necklaces and she loved it! I hung a lobster charm on it because she calls him her lobster and he calls her shrimp. How cute is that? :)

The happy couple!

ANNOUNCEMET!!

GC back on track...

Do email me for details should you interested to book a slot (future order esp RAYA) or place any order.

Do reach me at norashikinkamal@yahoo.com both via email n yahoo messenger.

On another note, i'm in the midst of collecting latest cotton fabric. Do stay with me for the latest PROMOTION!!!

Stay tune!!!

Cheers.........

CM043: Charm Black Dress

CM043: Charm Black Dress

Charm Black Dress

Gaun hitam ini direka khas untuk "flower girl" bersempena majllis perkahwinan yang bertemakan warna "GOLD & BLACK".

Rekaannya adalah simple..hanya ditambah butiran batu permata di bahagain leher sebagai penyeri. Digandingkan pula dengan reben dari warna kontra "gold" yang bertepatan dengan tema perkahwinan.

Lapisan bawah skirt digandingkan dengan lapisan net dari rona warna serupa untuk menampakkan kelainannya..

Southern Housewife Loves...

Vintage wedding bands
When we got married, Southern Hubby bought me a beautiful platinum diamond eternity band. I love it. I absolutely do. But, sometimes I get scared that a diamond is going to fall out. Since the diamonds go all the way around the band, whenever I do anything with my hands, the diamonds are always affected. It gets bumped and poked and scratched, so inevitably I'm always taking it off.

I told SH I wanted a band that did not have any diamonds. One that I could wear while vacuuming, gardening, playing tennis, scrubbing toilets, whatever. And what better ring to get than one that was already a symbol of great love? Ideally, I'd love a platinum band from the Edwardian period. And I want it to have an inscription. How romantic to be wearing the words of someone's great love? I think my favorite inscription thus far has been the one that Edward VII had engraved for Wallis Simpson's engagement ring- 'WE are ours now 27 X 36,' with the 'We' for "Wallis and Edward" and the '27 X 36' for the date of their engagement. Does it get any more romantic?!


Sarah LeClere
If you know me, you know that I'm all about old fashioned, snail mail invitations. There's something about getting a party invitation in the mail, as opposed to an Evite, that just gets me excited! Yes, I've sent evites before, but I only do so in dire, last minute emergencies. I usually like to either purchase some at a favorite stationary store, or try to make them myself. (I l-o-v-e Paper Source!)

But out of all the designers, Sarah LeClere is my favorite! Her invitations are all so beautifully simple and classic. I'm still trying to think up a party theme to go with this sweet boot. :) That's right, I work a party around the invitation!

Devotional Books

When I first started my journey back into my faith, I never knew what a devotional book was. People had sometimes given them to me as gifts, and the always ended up on my bookshelf, unread. But as I began to realize that I needed to read His word daily, I saw that a great way to do this was by reading a devotional each morning and thinking about what it had said to my heart.

After a long search for a good recommendation, I came across Pathways to His Presence, by Charles Stanley. The minute I got it in the mail, I read the devotional for the day and I must say that all the good reviews were right! Love this book. If you're looking for an easy to read devotional that serves as a sort of 'instruction guide' to finding God in your heart, this one is awesome!

Decorator's Tassels

Did I ever mention how much I loved tassels? And roosters. And fringe. And ribbon. I did? Sorry. But I hopping on the tassel bandwagon. (Apparently, I'm the last one.) OK, so this tassel is perfect, and I'm going to buy it. Now.

If you want to learn how to make your own, I found a couple of awesome tutorials. Here's one. And the other.

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Now, go find something that you love! Have a great weekend!

Happy Memorial Day, y'all!

xoxo Y

The Smallest Blessings Thursday

This week, my smallest blessing is my newest cousin -n-law, Sabiha. She married Southern Hubby's cousin, Julius, who is also his best friend. Living in a small town in Michigan, they spent their childhood and teen years joined at the hip.

It was quite the dilemma when sweet Sabiha, a Muslim, wanted to marry into our huge Catholic family. Thankfully, God opened up our family's hearts and everyone welcomed her with open arms.

She came into our lives at a tumultuous time in our country. I'm thankful and blessed that Sabiha has taught me not to judge someone by their religion or background. I'm thankful that I don't look at every Muslim and see 'terrorist.' This adorable Indian girl is as American as apple pie. Born and raised in Michigan, she's got the cutest northern accent. And she says, 'pop' instead of 'coke' like us Southerners do! lol.

Her and Julius are amazing and gentle dentists (she made my teeth whitening molds!) They work in a very nice office in MI and actually have a couple celebs as clients and one of those celebs asked them to be in his next movie! I don't know what the movie is called or when it's due to release, but all I know is they got to spend a whole day shooting with Minnie Driver! How cool is that?!

I love, love my sweet Sabiha. She is my blessing for the week. :)

What's yours?

Happy Smallest Blessings Thursday!
xoxo Y

Get some early Christmas gifts!

I'm clearing out all my old designs to make room for new PMC (precious metal clay) collection! I've marked select necklaces more than 50% off! Get a start on Christmas early, or get something cute for that new grad.

I've also started a blog just for my shoppe so you can keep updated on the goings on, special promotions, sales and even giveaways! Be sure to check it often cause I'll be announcing the launch of my new collection soon. :)

Precious Metal Clay allows me, as an artist, to take all kinds of creative liberties in my designs as well as allows my customers to express their own creativity! The sky is the limit! I can't wait to show you all. :)

Thanks so much for always supporting me and Her Southern Charm. I seriously have the best readers!

xoxo Y