fsoriginals

We are moving!

2011-06-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

fsoriginals boutique is currently closed while we relocate to California.

We will reopen on July 1, 2011 with a new line of bows and crocheted photography props.

Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fsoriginals and become a fan for updates, coupon codes and giveaways!

More New Bows

2011-06-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

New Hats

2011-06-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

New Bows

2011-06-08T20:28:00.001-07:00

Ultimate Blog Party '11 & $50 Amazon.com GC Giveaway From Mommy D!

2011-04-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ultimate Blog Party '11 & $50 Amazon.com GC Giveaway From Mommy D!

Hats

2011-02-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

Facebook Fan Page Giveaway!

2011-02-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

2009-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

My latest creations!

2009-10-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

We have a new look. Come check it out and see what is on sale!

Heather's Birthday Present

2009-07-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

www.thepcsqueen.com

2009-06-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

Visit me at www.thepcsqueen.com or check for updates at http://twitter.com/thepcsqueen

Where has time gone?

2009-06-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

I have been horrible about keeping up with my blog :(

The girls have 3 more weeks of school left. Paul will be home at the end of July. I have been doing very well on my new healthy diet and lost 7 lbs in the last month. My new goal is to start running so I can take Buster out to get rid of some of his puppy energy.

Buster and his new BFF

Love the mullet honey!

Briar's new braces

Darian modeling her new clothes and bows

So cute!

My girls are now yellow belts!

2009-04-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hollywood

2009-03-29T00:06:00.001-07:00

We went to Hollywood last week. It wasn't as much fun and the show it on tv. We didn't see anyone famous. We had fun but will visit different places when we go again.

Wow, I am so bad!

2009-03-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in over a month. Bad me!

We have had visitors for the last two weeks and my dad is coming tomorrow for a week. We are missing Paul so much. Buster is still a puppy! Chewing and barking and running around like a nut. He lost 3 baby teeth. Two we rescued and the third he ate.

Both the girls will be getting braces. Darian will need them longer than Darian. They need x-rays next week.

Here are some pictures we took last night.

Buster

2009-02-22T18:01:00.001-08:00

Here is Buster. He is our newest addition to our family. He is a ball of energy.

The Puppy Saga

2009-02-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

We went to the shelter today to sign the papers for our puppy. They told us to go visit with her while they got our paperwork together. The cage she was in was empty and had been cleaned. She was in there with what they though was a puppy from another litter. After some confusion they finally found her in the quarantined area. The puppy she was sharing the cage with developed Parvo and died on Saturday. She has been tested twice, both time being negative. They said I could take her home today with a $50 deposit. I spoke to the vet there and he said he would not recommend it. I think they just wanted her out of there. The vet told me that even if she is negative, it could take 7 - 10 days to show up. Apparently it is very hard to treat and very expensive. We were sad because we really liked her. I decided that it is better to keep looking for another puppy than risk getting a sick one.

I wasn't really happy with the shelter. They really didn't know what was going on. The cards that were on the cage when we were there last week had the two dogs listed as Pomeranian mixes. I was told today that those cards were left there from the last dogs that were in that cage so they weren't even for the right dogs. Turns out that the dog was an Australian Shepard mix which wasn't a surprise. I am going to another shelter tomorrow to look at some other puppies.

Our Valentine's Day Without Our Valentine

2009-02-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

We had an uneventful Valentine's Day. Paul sent us chocolate covered strawberries. They were so good! The girls and I played with their gifts, legos and a HSM3 game.

Coupons, Puppies, Bows

2009-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am such a bad blogger! I think about all I want to say but keep putting off getting it into my blog.

We have had a busy couple of weeks. Paul left for Ft. Benning on February 1st. He is still there and will be leaving for Kuwait tomorrow. We miss him very much but still get to talk to him every day. After tomorrow, I am not sure when we will get to talk to him next.

I have made some new bow sets. I need to take pictures today and will get them into the blog tonight.

I saw information on tv this morning about coupons and saving money. I want to save money!!! Here are the websites I have found so far:

BeCentsAble
HotCouponWorld
CouponMom

I will let you know how much money I save.

Our big news this week is we having been puppy shopping! We went to the humane society and found an adorable puppy. She will be ours next Monday if no one claims her. They just got her a couple of days ago so they need to wait to see if she has an owner. She is 3 months old. They have her listed as a Pomeranian mix. She looks more like a beagle to me. We are not sure how big she will get. With my luck we will have a 100 lb dog! The cats have no clue about our new addition. Sammy will be fine. Jelly is the one that will have a problem. I am sure it will just take some time for him to get used to the puppy. As soon as we have her I will take some pictures.

Busy Bow Day

2009-01-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

I was busy this week getting my bows done. Here is what I made.

My new Ebay groups!

2009-01-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

I am proud to announce that I am now a member of La Bellezz Designs group on Ebay. We have a launch starting on 1/20. Please check us out on Ebay. Search for Bellez!

And also a member of bowchicks!!

My husband is the best!

2009-01-18T22:30:00.001-08:00

Paul is the best! He made me this ribbon rack today. I feel so organized now.

Here it is. Isn't is wonderful! And some other pictures of my studio.

Promotion Ceremony

2009-01-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

Paul is officially a Major!! They had a small promotion ceremony at his unit today.

He will be leaving on January 31st for his deployment.

Busy day making bows

2009-01-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

We just had our first earthquake. Or at least I think that is what is was. The house shook twice within a minute. Not very exciting but quite strange.

I had a productive day. Here are the bows I made.

Valentines Bows

Mouse Bows

Heart Bows

Froggy Bows

Our Disneyland Trip

2009-01-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

We got our Disneyland season passes yesterday and spent two days there. Here are our pics:

Day 1

Day 2

We were going to go back again tomorrow but I think we need a break. We will go back on Friday to finish what we didn't have time to do. I love taking pictures with the characters.

Tomorrow I am going to meet with a counselor at the local community college to find our what I need to do in order to finish up my RN. I am hoping to get in to at least one class this semester.

Still no word on Paul's deployment date. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

New Year's Resolutions

2008-12-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2009

Lose 10 lbs by July
Take a Spanish class
Learn how to cook
Do Yoga & Pilates daily
Not miss Paul too much while he is gone

Have a wonderful and safe New Years!

Bows

2008-12-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

I have my studio unpacked and ready to go. Here are a few bows I made today.

House Pictures

2008-12-24T16:57:00.001-08:00

We finally got all the boxes unpacked. Here is our house...

Backyard

Girl's Bathroom

Briar's Room

Darian's Room

My Studio

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Office/Front Room

Family Room

Kitchen

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

2008-12-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

We have been unpacking since Saturday. It looks like we might finish it up tomorrow. Paul hung the pictures today so it feels more like home. My "studio" as I am calling it now, is coming along very nicely. Why do I have so much scrapbooking stuff?! I haven't scrapbooked in a couple of years. I have so many pictures so I am sure I will use most of the things I have. I am going to organize my photos once Paul leaves. I am going to make a list of all the things I want to get done during Paul's deployment. I will make a New Year's Resolution/Deployment list.

The weather here is not as warm as I expected. It was 55 here today. I checked the weather and it will be in the upper 60's next week and sunny which is more like I expected. At least we aren't in Wisconsin!!! Sorry guys. Hope you are keeping warm!

We went to Paul's new unit today. We met with his new Colonel who is very nice. Paul does not have a definite date for his deployment yet but we should know very soon. Right now it looks like it will be between January 5 & 15th. Paul will be taking leave so we can spend time with him. We are going to try to go to Disneyland next week.

I am going to take some pictures of the house tomorrow once we get the last of the boxes out of here.

Off to bed. We are finally getting used to Pacific time so we aren't in bed every night at 9. It is almost midnight.

California, Christmas, Sad News

2008-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

We love California! There are so many things that are probably so dumb for most but so exciting for me.

I love being able to look down my street and see mountains with snow. It is so pretty.
All of my house is on one floor!!! No more stairs.
The washer & dryer are so convenient. No more basement for me.
The grocery store is only 5 minutes away. No more Philly traffic!
I can buy wine at the grocery store, Rite Aide, anywhere!!!
There is a pool in my back yard!!! Who knew!!!

We decided to put our tree up. We were debating since it is only a few days away but what would Christmas be without a tree. Hopefully we can find all the ornaments.

So we are here a whole two days and Paul finds out he will be going to Afghanistan. Looks like he will be leaving around January 5th. He will be gone for six months. At least we have him here for the holidays.

Our House

2008-12-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

We will finally have furniture tomorrow. Yay! No more air mattresses. Obviously we had our internet connected today. Our appliances were delivered so we can finally do laundry. I have never been so happy to do laundry! Paul and Briar are out grocery shopping and Darian and I are watching Horton. I really don't need to buy her anything for Christmas!

Darian watching tv

My view from the kitchen. Those are mountains in the distance!

The girls hanging posters in Darian's room

Jelly wants to get into the pantry

The kitchen and family room

This is how Paul talks on the phone now!

Driving Day 5 - Snow in California?!

2008-12-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Blythe, CA - Menifee, CA
175 miles

We woke up this morning to chilly California. Our drive started with rain which turned into snow. It isn't supposed to snow in California!!! It was very foggy so we could not see much. The drive was short compared to what we had been doing. We arrived at the house around noon. The cats were happy to be out of the car. We spent a little time inside before heading out to Sears Outlet. We got a washer, dryer and fridge. We made a stop at Walmart to buy cleaning products and household essentials. We had to hurry through Walmart because I was beginning to feel like the girls had and hate using public bathrooms. I was pretty nauseous all night be thankfully no throwing up for me. I have a IBS so I never know what is going on with my stomach. We are happy to be in our new home.

Driving Day 4 - Snow, Rain, Long drive

2008-12-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

Santa Rosa, NM - Blythe, CA
885 miles
51 degrees upon arrival. Yay!

We started our day off with snow on the ground and 17 degrees. The roads to Albuquerque were only plowed in one lane but didn't last too long. We had to reroute a couple of times to avoid traffic, accidents and snow. We did hit a little rain but it wasn't too bad. We decided to head into CA for the hour time change and less driving tomorrow.

We should only have to drive 2 -3 hours tomorrow depending on traffic. Our internet will be up and working at our house on Friday so I will be back then with some pictures.

Good night!

Driving Day 3 - Never a dull moment

2008-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Fort Smith, AR - Santa Rosa, NM
610 miles

After a trip to Walmart for supplies we decided to continue our journey. We had everything in the cars. We were in my car waiting for Paul to get in his after putting the cats in the back when Paul discovered his doors were locked! The car was running. The girls and I headed out while Paul waited for road side assistance.

The drive was long but uneventful. We checked into a Motel 6 in Tumcumcar, NM. I checked the room only to discover that even though it was a non smoking room it stunk of smoke. I returned to the front desk just as the power went out. They weren't sure why and when it would be fixed. We decided to drive one more hour to Santa Rosa. It was a lovely 17 degrees and snowy when we arrived.

The weather was for more snow. We had a reservation for Flagstaff, AZ for the next night and decided to avoid that area because they were to get a foot of snow.

Driving Day 3 - No more bodily fluids!

2008-12-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

We were making such good time yesterday. We must have jinxed ourselves. I guess we should have stuck to our schedule!

Briar started throwing up at 9pm last night. Darian started about 1am this morning. After having to get new sheets and towels from the front desk, I think we are done. The girls took their medicine this morning so we are going to leave at 10am. We will be in Amarillo tonight as planned. We are all set with bananas, applesauce, crackers, sprite, garbage bags and what ever else we can do to prevent vomit in my car.

I checked the weather this morning. It went from 60 to 26 overnight here in AR. We are due to arrive in Menifee on Wednesday and the weather is supposed to be in the 40's and snow!!!! I swear we didn't bring it with us!

Driving Day 2 - Fort Smith, AR

2008-12-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Morristown, TN - Fort Smith, AR
7:45 - 5:30 (1 hour time change)
726 miles

We left the hotel at 7:45. A lovely 26 degrees and ice on the cars.

We decided to drive further than we had planned. The drive was uneventful. Traffic was very light. The speed limit was 70 for most of the drive. If we can drive the same distance tomorrow and Tuesday we will arrive at our new house a day early. We are planning on stopping in Albuquerque, NM tomorrow night and Menifee, CA at our new house on Tuesday. The faster we get there the better.

It was 62 degrees when we arrived at 5:30. We ate at a cute restaurant where the girls were excited to throw peanut shells on the floor. It was nice to eat a salad instead of something fried.

The cats are settled and I am tired. It is only 8pm and I am ready for bed!

Driving Day 1 - Morrisville, TN

2008-12-13T15:16:00.001-08:00

We have arrived safely in Morrisville, TN.
595 miles
8AM - 5PM

We started out at 8 am this morning in Bryn Mawr, PA. It was a lovely 27 degrees. Traffic was very light. We did encounter the slow pokes in the fast lane but not too many. We made two stops for gas and potty. I was exhausted once we arrived at the motel. I am feeling better after some Excedrin and Sonic!!!

The cats and kids are happy to be out of the car. Sammy is guarding the litter box and Jelly is annoying as usual. Paul had the cats in his car. He thought they would stay in the back but our very smart kitties kept getting out into the front seat and under Paul's feet. During one stop Paul blocked off the back so that kept them from traveling through the car. We did miss seeing Jelly standing up at the back window waving at us!

Glen the hamster was very good during the trip. We tried him in his little travel bus last night but it was way too small for him so he is now traveling in his cage. We did take a picture of him in the bus.

The camera is in the car so the next time I go outside I will grab the camera and put some pictures up.

Hotel Pictures

Moving Day 4 - Last day in Philly

2008-12-13T03:34:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting today. We ran some errands. Signed paperwork to get the girls out of school.
Darian picked Chinese for her birthday meal. We finished cleaning the house and loaded the cars.

Jelly and the bus

Glen's super bus!

Darian's Birthday - One day early

2008-12-11T16:56:00.000-08:00

We decided to celebrate Darian's 8th birthday a day early. She got some great presents. Her favorite was the DS. Instead of a cake we had a huge cookie. She will get to pick where we eat tomorrow night for dinner. She is going to take cupcakes and juice to school for her friends.

Moving Day 3 - Memory card finally worked

2008-12-11T16:21:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness, no more stairs!

Empty rooms

Moving Day 3 - More Rain, Cleaning, Paul comes home

2008-12-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

It is raining again! Or should I say still. At least it isn't snow.

We now have an empty house. Easier to clean but I still hate it. I have tackled the bathrooms (good thing there is only 1 1/2!). I have cleaned out the fridge. Hope the squirrels don't get into the garbage.

My neck is sore from sleeping on the air mattress. Hope I get used to it since we have two more nights here and then who knows how long in our new house. The movers are not sure when we will get our stuff. We are the only ones on the truck right now so they will have another load or two to pick up before they head out our way. They have until the 29th to deliver. Hopefully it won't be that long.

Paul is graduating from his TLOG course today. He once again got Distinguished Honor Graduate. The is like valedictorian. I am so proud of him. He will be home tonight. Yay! Tomorrow is Darian's 8th birthday. I have to go shopping for cupcakes and juice for her class. Briar wants to take donuts and juice for her class since it is her last day. I think we will have Darian's birthday tonight so the girls can spend the night at their friends' house tomorrow night one last time.

The cats don't know what to do. They keep following me around the house. Too bad they can't help clean. I am sure they don't know what will happen on Saturday morning. They absolutely hate going in the car so that should be a fun time.

Sorry no pictures right now. For some reason my memory card shows up as empty on my laptop. It shows pictures when it is in my camera. Of course I don't have the cord. It is in one of our many boxes on a truck who knows where.

Well, back to my cleaning so I can finish up and run errands.

Moving Day 2 - My lucky day!

2008-12-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning up the garbage in the master bedroom. Wow there was a lot of trash under my bed. I found a Best Buy gift card with a $15 balance!!!! Yeah me!!! What do I need to buy?! I would really like some new photo editing software. I got a $20 gift card for Best Buy when I purchased Briar's Ipod so now I am set.

I am so bored. All I can do is sit here. Maybe they will let me vacuum one of the almost empty rooms.

Moving Day 2... Rain and the cat chase

2008-12-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

We started our second day of moving today. I was pleasantly surprised that all of the parking space we had blocked off were empty when I woke up this morning. The truck arrived just as Darian and I were playing find the kitty. One would be in the bathroom and then when we would open the door to get the other one in and the first one would run out. So much fun!!! Darian thought is was the best game.

We have 4 movers and 3 packers. Much better than last time. It should all be done today. I am sitting on the couch watching tv until they make me move. I hate just sitting around while other people are doing everything.

Part 1 - Parking update

2008-12-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

So I figured I would call the police tonight. Don't want to chance the trunk not being able to park tomorrow. The power of the police! Half hour later I hear noise outside. So being the nosey person I am I look out the window and see several of the college students from next door moving their cars. I hope the police didn't tell them it was me that was causing all the problems. Hopefully they don't know which car is mine. I am sure I will wake up tomorrow morning and some idiot will have parked there again. Everyone is going to be sick of me by the time we move!

Moving Part 1...Boxes and parking spaces

2008-12-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

The time has come. We are in boxes again. Didn't we just do this? Today was packing day. They packed 3 floors and still have the basement to do tomorrow. They will also be loading the truck tomorrow. So, for the next 3 nights we will be living in an empty house. I only found one air mattress so it looks like I will need to buy another one tomorrow. Does anyone know where my shoes are? Oops, I forgot to set aside some shoes. Guess I will have to live in the tennis shoes I have on. Or, I can go to the shoe store tomorrow while out mattress shopping. That sounds like fun! The kitties are not happy with this situation. The packer almost packed the hamster! He said he didn't know there was anything in the cage. Where else would I have put a hamster?! Oh yeah, I put him in my purse for safe keeping.

So I had to have the police department block off some parking meters for the moving truck tomorrow. We live on a one way street with metered parking on the opposite side from our house. The moving truck is a semi so there needs to be room for the cars to get by. Our street is business and mostly college students with a few families. They put the "NO PARKING, POLICE DEPARTMENT" bags over the meters at 4pm today. There are 8 spaces. At 9pm tonight there are cars in all the spaces. And I know they are the college students. What part of NO PARKING don't they understand?! I know some of these cars have parked since the meters were covered. This irritates me. I would never park in a space that said no parking. Looks like I will be calling the police in the morning. They told me to call so they can tow the cars.

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Master bedroom

Playroom

Upstairs hallway

Sammy is not very happy

2008-11-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

Today was a slow day. Only make two sets of bows. Well, started the second but haven't finished it yet.

The moving guy came today. We are scheduled to have them pack on 12/9 & 12/10 and load and move on 12/11. Time is really flying by.

Busy Weekend

2008-11-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

I had a very productive weekend!!!

Cold outside, busy inside

2008-11-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

It was very cold outside today so I stayed in and made bows.

Camera battery, bows and beanies

2008-11-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

I finally got a new battery and charger for my camera. The original charger is somewhere in a tote in the basement. I needed an extra one anyway.

So, I took a couple of pictures of my latest bows. They haven't been edited with Photoshop yet. I will be making some more bows later next week once my new ribbon arrives. Oh, and I also received the beanies so here are a couple of pictures of my girls.

5 Weeks and Counting

2008-11-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Only 5 more weeks until we move. I like it here in Philadelphia but can't wait to be in California. I am hoping for a mild winter with weather warm enough to use our pool. I am not looking forward to the drive out there. 1 car, 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 cats and 1 hamster! Should be interesting.

My girls are doing very well in school. Briar is getting straight A's in 6th grade and Darian is right on target in 2nd grade. Their new schools are on a year round schedule which means they will have 12 weeks of school and then 3 weeks off. They will be transitioning to a traditional school calendar starting next August.

I have so many things I need to do to prepare for our move. I need to find some motivation!

We found a great house in Menifee, CA. Here is our pool.

Launch of my new online store

2008-10-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Please visit my new online store at www.fsoriginals.com.

I feature boutique baby items, hair accessories and jewelry.

Getting started with my bows

2008-09-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is the first step I am taking to sell my bows. I have recently gotten back into creating boutique bows. I have found a ton of information from the wonderful groups I belong to and now my bows are so much better. I will be adding pictures of my new creations and well as updates on my ebay listings.