Just another Manic Tuesday.. ??

Boring day so far, but still so much to do!
Let's see..

Started off the day with some delicious apple cinnamon muffins, which Canon helped me make (he stirred and handed me muffin papers)..


Then we lit some tart buttons from The Serene Dream Shop in Texas Storm and Southern Rain - my house always has tarts burning, usually more than one at a time! I'm an addict. :D






We did some laundry, painted on some letters, swept the porch (I still need to do the front porch and patio), washed the dishes..


Then we played Wii Fit for a while - Canon loves to watch and play beside me. He swirls his hips like a hula hoop, lifts his feet for step dancing, and throws punches when I'm boxing..














(Yes, I'm still in my pajamas.. well I mean I'm not right NOW, but I was then.)

We went to the Post Office.. nothing good :( But then I got home and the UPS man came with my big ol' box o' soap and stuff! Hooray, now I can make soap!
I have some orders I need to fill and ship out tomorrow, and I want to make some soap for Kenai for his birthday.. I'm going to put his name inside the soap :D
And now we're just about to have lunch and pick up some more stuff, fold laundry.. more painting letters.. I'm finishing this order today and starting the next one - I can't wait to get through these so I can take more orders!



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Alright so after lunch, Canon fell asleep on the couch. I wanted to nap with him, but I just have too much to do...
I'm exhausted, however I did manage to finish the pink/green ladybug order! Hooray! Just waiting on the glossy coat to dry so I can package it up. :)
I'll get a pic of that tomorrow, since it's after midnight..

I was really missing McCayla today, so I decided to drive up to Mom's and pick her up. I couldn't wait to see her.. which, of course, lasted about halfway home. I have a migraine the size of Montana right now. Argh. And yes, it's midnight and both kids are still up. Welcome to my world!

Anyway, at least the kids are bathed (which is good because McCayla came home so dirty that even *I* was embarrassed by it, which is saying something. I guess she was playing in the dirt..) and they're fed, so if I can just get them tired....

Off to try to wear them out, clean up the mess they've *already* made in the fifteen minutes they've been playing, and get them to bed (please!!!!)... Pictures of finished letters tomorrow.. along with the cupcakes that are baking right now :D

Yay for lazy days!

Sure, it's Monday.. but it went more like a Sunday here :) Canon and I were lazy most of the day.. did a little laundry, worked on some letters and stuff for our upcoming Halloween themed stocking at the congo.. ate cookies like they were going out of style, made pizza flips and lemon poppyseed biscotti for dinner/dessert.. it's been a good day :)
James is still at work, but he's getting a lot done, which is always good.

Our Realtor called James today, he said the people who came by yesterday really liked it and wanted it, but she needs to sell another property first (otherwise she'd have bought it right then, at asking price, which is fantastic!).. she bought the general store down the street, so I know she has money - apparently she owns other properties too, one of which will have to sell first. Hopefully she'll still be interested at that point!
I need to get out there tomorrow and try to get my lawnmower working again, our yard looks like a jungle..

Off to give Canon a bath, then more work on Lil' Outlaws stuff - I've got leggies, shirts, and hair clips to make for stocking the congo, and I'm about 6 deep in letter orders so I need to get going on those. My current custom is almost finished and then I can start on another - it never ends, but I certainly am not complaining. I love what I do.. I get to express my creativity, zone out and destress, and when I'm making soaps and stuff I also get to sniff yummy things all day :)
And speaking of yummy things, I have another tart from Mookie Doodle burning right now, it's called Chocolovers and it's just divine.. mmmm my house smells good enough to eat. hehe

Man, I need to clean house :(

So we're trying to sell our house.. okay actually BOTH houses. James' dad lived next door to us, and sadly he passed away this May. Now we have two houses, which means two mortgages. Which means we want to sell both houses and move, preferably soon.
So our Realtor, Rick, calls me tonight. He has two people who want to see the houses... right now. They're down the street, will be here in five minutes.
Great!, right? Nope.
As you may have read, I've been feeling not-so-hot for a couple of days.. meaning I haven't done a darn thing around the house.. Canon has demolished it, I haven't picked it back up. I've got a matter of a few minutes to make this place presentable, and I'll be honest here.. that's really not possible at this point in time.
So I rush around (still not feeling well, I might add), I throw as much dirty laundry as I can fit into the washer and dryer, just to get it out of sight. I bag up things and put them in cabinets. I grab my Bare Naked cleaners (I love this stuff, it's natural cleaning products that don't bother my children and their asthma/allergies; check her out here - I particularly love the citrus toilet cleaner and the all-purpose cleaner!) and I rush around the house spraying and wiping counters and appliances and flat surfaces. If nothing else, it puts a great smell in the house LOL
Then I light the candle in my tart burner to get some more "clean" smell in the house (at the moment I'm burning half of a tart from The Serene Dream Shop (pink sugar!) and half of a tart from Mookie Doodle (banana!) at the same time, mixed together. My house smells delish.

Anyway, the people who came have FIVE children, so hopefully any mess that was left won't be taken to heart hehe.. cross your fingers for us, because selling this house would be the greatest thing to happen to our family in a LONG time. Maybe forever.

And now I'm off to ACTUALLY clean the house :/

Quiet day, but man I'm forgetful..

So today was pretty easy - my daughter is at her Nana's house this week (she loves her Nana and Papa so much) so it's just me and Canon for most of the day. We were all up late last night, but luckily we also got to sleep in a bit today. Canon and I got up before James and snuggled on the couch watching Spongebob for a while. I'm nursing a really bad sore throat/headache, so I'll take any rest and relaxation I can get.
James got up and headed out to work, he has a photoshoot today (bridals) so he had to head into San Antonio. I went to take some stuff to the storage unit and then I was going to go in to San Antonio so James and I could meet up when he finished.. however, I'm forgetful. Which ruins it all.
The gas light comes on so I pull into the station, start to get the credit card out and.. crap. My wallet is at home on the kitchen counter. Like 30 miles away. I go to a gas station in town that I know takes checks, just to get gas to get home. But by the time I go all the way home, there's no point heading back into the city.. guess we're rescheduling our "date" LOL

The photoshoot yesterday went well - it was animal themed, four models, plus me on makeup and James and another photographer (Andre) behind the cameras.
We had Tiffanee' as a golden snake, Jesse as a wolf, Ines as a peacock, and Kelcie as a cheetah. Every one of them has been in our studio a time or two, and they all did great. Jesse, in particular - but that's because he's been in the studio so many times we've lost count! He's just incredible and really puts himself into his shots.
Some teasers for you guys, then I'm off to work on some wooden letters for a customer's order (I'm so close to finished with them, I just want to knock them out so I can start on the next order!)


















And a peek at what I'm working on..
This is the customer's bedding set












And here is the progress on her DD's letters - still adding more flowers and buggy-trails LOL but they're getting close!










More tonight or tomorrow :)

Quick overview - Team Outlaw

Alright, so you're not confused in the future, let me just break this down for you.

Jacklen (Me)
- I run Lil' Outlaws (children's items, decor, and soap/body products)
- I'm a makeup artist for Outlaw Photography Studios
- I'm a retired professional model
- I am the photographer for Little Outlaws, which is the maternity/children's division of Outlaw Photography.



James (hubby)
- He runs Outlaw Photography Studios
- He's also the photographer/editor for the local newspaper
- He has a side-business working on marketing and web design/consults for local businesses.
- He's so cool, his photography is on at least 3 billboards in town. :)
- He's my hero.



McCayla (daughter)
- She's 4.5, which just about says it all.
- She's not my offspring, she's my clone. She looks exactly like me as a kid.
- She's very spirited and can be hard to deal with, but she is so sweet and loving that it makes up for it :)



Canon (son)
- He's named after the camera.
- He'll be 2 in January, so he's really into everything right now! Such a sweet boy.
- He looks exactly like James as a baby, but with less hair. We both have strong genes, I guess!



Outlaw Photography Studios
- previously mentioned company belonging to my darling husband. He's the photographer, I'm the makeup artist, and Little Outlaws is the offshoot for children.
http://www.outlawphotography.net

Lil' Outlaws
- previously mentioned children's items/decor company - everything there is handcrafted, so even when there are imperfections, it's still perfectly beautiful. Wooden letters are one of my best sellers.
http://www.liloutlaws.net/generalstore

Animal Crackers on Parade
- a congo on Hyena Cart, where some of my friends and I have come together to sell our goodies. Until I get the shopping cart feature set up on Lil' Outlaws, this is a great way to purchase - although not everything is listed there yet. We stock every other Wednesday, and our stockings are usually themed. Everyone there makes adorable stuff, I highly recommend trying them out! If you're new to Hyena Cart, you'll need to sign up for a free account in order to shop, but it's so worth the time! There are hundreds of shops on HC, from jewelry, to cloth diapers (we love cloth!), to soaps, body products, photography, and more!
http://www.animalcrackersonparade.com

Like I need another hobby?

So my husband, James, keeps telling me that I should start blogging. Which is all good and well except for a couple of things:
A) I can't write well to save my life.
B) I don't have anything interesting to write about.
C) C'mon.. like I really need yet another thing to occupy my time!??!

Here's the deal -
I have two kids (three if you count James!), two houses to take care of (don't ask.. I'll just say that it's not a good thing), a fledgling maternity/children's photography company, a makeup artistry company, and a home-based crafting company.. ALL of which I currently don't have the time to deal with! And yet, James says that people may be interested to see how just ONE mama finds a way to manage. I respectfully disagree, of course, but we'll see.
Who's right? You choose!

More soon, for now I'm off to a photoshoot; makeup by me, photography by James.. then home to work on Lil' Outlaws (crafting) stuff.
Maybe tomorrow I'll have a few minutes to show you some of my work :)