Tickled Pink Girls Boutique Clothing

I am back-----yep, i mean it this time!!!!

With the upcoming facebook changes to fan pages i want to begin to direct you all over this way.  i love hearing from you all, good and BAD so perhaps the comments here will  be a better way of keeping up to date with you ladies.   ♥

Just a MINUTE....

Hey---- I am back!  I think this year 2012 this will be more of a personal blog with bits and pieces of tickled pink.

Yesterday Tony left for bootcamp.  I feel like a part of my heart is missing.  This happened two weeks earlier than planned and within an hour notice.  I feel cheated, I feel hurt but at the same time I know he is more than ready. Due to overcoming the asthma issues, he has been on the delayed entry program for over a year, each random spot being filled by graduated of this year since they take priority.  I have never known anyone who has the passion to be a Marine more than my son, Tony!  In my 10  years of service, I have met some pretty motivated gung-ho marines...

This brings me to the title, just a minute.  call it guilt i guess but i wished yesterday i could have allllllll those countless times i said just a minute to him BACK.  which has given me a new outlook on my priorities.  Maybe for a week, who knows...maybe even longer, but even if i just follow it for a day, it will  be better than what i did last week, last year, 10 years ago.  

As a mother and especially being a motherless it is a pretty huge title for me.  i have always done the right things, many times overdoing them.  trying to not only make their childhood perfect but making up for my loss as well. 

now as the four are adults and we have Jack, i find myself ashamed of how i parent.  loose and careless, the content he is allowed to watch on tv when eric and i are int he room is something we would have shut off with the others. the video and computer games, the list can go on and on.  then the influence of the others, too.  not to mention jack is just wired differently than the older 4.  To say he is a difficult child is an understatement.

But one thing that i learned yesterday and want to yell from the rooftops to anyone who will listen....just eliminate ONE just a minute from your day for your child!!!!  the time spent with them is priceless and when they do wander off on their own journey, you will have less guilt of the shoulda/coulda dones!!!!

My "tone-tone" has been gone less than 24 hours and i miss him so!

I love these kids...

the return of the neglected blog

wow---it has been so, so long.  this is the pefect place for me to take a break from everything and just get my thoughts out again...:)

better brace yourself for a fun ride/read. life has been chaotic and crazy -----just how i like it! ♥

Holiday season

This post pretty much amounts to me rambling.  Can not believe December is here and it is time for extra family goodness. Baking cookies, making fudge, shopping and more shopping!  I have to share what a loser parent I truly am!  Jack came home from school wanting me to get food that won't spoil in a bag so he can give at school in their community giving back program.  His EXACT words were for the "hobos"! Have I done such a great job of making him aware of the economy and even good thriving families can be thrown on their feet.  It took me down fast that comment. At first I wasn't sure how to explain and making him feel as if he said something bad was not my intent at all to prove.  So after explaining that maybe a Dad lost his job, perhaps a family member got sick and they had a lot of medical bills, could be a death and the family didn't have a way of getting an income.  It just made me sad to think that my son would think that someone in need was a hobo!  Now he is only 8 so that could contribute to this thinking but I just want to be a better parent than that!  I guess the point I am trying to make is this is the season for compassion as well as giving.  The next time you see a collection pot, maybe give alittle deeper knowing there are real families in need.  Not lazy looking for a hand out but some folks that truly had some bad times! ♥ Okay, I don't even know where I am going with this...:)

I will end by saying I have missed keeping in touch. Life has been so hectic with the kiddos and sewing. 

Have a great weekend.

Sharing a picture of meg who made the u17 usa team.

 

wow........

I finally logged back in here and it looks completely different. the format and choices on typepad... one would think it would take years to get that much progress...:)

WOW---it is good to be back in the swing of things. BUT in moderation.  The big guy, for those of you who do not know him, well he is the one who kinda wears the pants in this house...you know, eric...well he said if it EVER gets back to where this place starts looking like a sweatshop(AGAIN)---well i am shut down for good.  I really doubt that ever will happen cuz if my creativity outlet gets pulled well let's just say something of his will get shut off as well...so it is all good! ☺

 

In a nutshell the past few months----my twins Sammy and Tony graduated high school:

 

Drove to San Francisco SOLO with Meg, her friend, Tony and Jack for a week...while Meg went to Rugby Camp at UC Berkeley.  I for the life of me can NOT master navigation.  It was really getting on my co-pilots nerves(my son Tony).  She will say next right, but is it really the NEXT right???? I swear I can't find my way out of a paper bag and I humbly admit it! Then to top it off I run over a HUGE tire on I-5 4 miles from my exit on the way home.  Just something to add to MOM CAN'T DRIVE...grrrrr. Luckily it just blew my turn signal bulb. 

Sammy has moved out did start working with her Dad the following Monday after graduation but she quit last week.  When she came down to visit this week, she informed me she isn't going to work for now, she is a princess. I still haven't commented to that one!!!  She has a cute little apartment with John, a new puppy and kitten nestled in Laguna Hills.  This is both of them as we stopped for gas on moving day:

Our oldest, Eric jr, turned 21 a couple of weeks ago.  Went on his FIRST date with a girl (yes even mom was beginning to wonder). 

Next week Eric and I celebrate 22 years of marriage.  Sammy is going to take Jack for the night...wooohooo!

She has had both Meg and Jack up to spend the night twice now and it felt soooooo empty. To think years ago in the middle of chaos I thought it would be different!

Here is the latest little dress. These prints are amazing.  They all blend so perfectly, too. (no they are not in the same line) lol.  PERFECT for Thanksgiving.  THAT isn't that far away, you know!!!!♥

 

i AM alive and doing well.

well....for the most part i am good! ♥

i opened back up and had to close again to complete orders and this time really break for family.

we are having drama ALL the time it seems with two teenage girls. ONE being EIGHTEEN now so she feels any boundaries and rules are out the window...yep.

i did yard work for the first time in a LONG time today, i have to say it completely kicked my ass and then some!!

going out to dinner with sammy and her boyfriend and eric.  mixed feeling over this but hoping all goes well.

i have three more things to complete and then i will be-lax a little bit more.

miss the chaos maybe a tiny bit!!!!

♥ Mary Jo

oh how i wish i could have last night every night!!!

we always have been the house that the kids were at. up until i started sewing, and then my priorities of having dinner ready shifted to getting the box at the post office before closing.

i had the best night listening to my daughter's laugh with their friends. i mised that more than anyone will ever know!

tomorrow is their last day til they break for a week. truly looking forward to it.

wished i had gotten a few pictures but i was too wrapped up in the moment ♥

it is looking GOOD...:)

finished this work week up with my FINAL trip to the post office for three weeks!

It feels awesome!  This week I shipped out 49 items, two HUGE boxes to two customers who have these boxes monthly! Tracey---your 8 dresses and 8 bottoms to match.  I have done everything but sit on my hands to not get into my fabric to make something new...well i did a few times, but i have everything done and taking a break. the "break" i was on for the past 10 days has been a sewing frenzy to get everything up to the minute current!

so Sunny if you are reading this, your dress you ordered this morning well i hopped on that baby and it is on its way to you as i write this...♥

Have a fantastic Easter/spring break.  next week i am doing an overhaul on my house also known as the pig pen these days.  I just don't function well when things are NOT immaculate clean and organized.  Boy, do i ever have a week ahead of me!!!!

then the kiddos are off from school we are doing nothing but fun things.  i am in a very good place right now and i just wanted to share it. ♥♥♥

Off to target with Meg.  Sammy and her boyfriend are taking Jack to toys r us and out to dinner, i hate leaving the quiet house but cleaning supplies await me!

well-deserved break

i will list the 4 nautical sets in bigcartel for those of you who have stated your interest in it.

also the ava rose lace dress, i am not taking anymore orders until after the easter break.

Sail Away with me...

I think I have already named one that but I really could care less...the name fits!

LOVE David Gray and that song, I would surely sail away with him...that is of course if i didn't already have plans with eric or if i  wasn't tied to my sewing machine...:)

This perfect little outfit will take her through any cruise vacation, lake or harbor boating adventure as well as memorial day or the 4th of july.

this top is an open back from the bodice down and buttons in the back, ribbon can be either left to tie around waist of top or sewn in place (you decide).  Wide cropped pants polish off the nautical look with white anchors.

 

...THANK YOU ALL who have written me saying how much you love the new face of tickledpink girls, it is just the beginning of a few added treats that will come in months ahead.

Garden Swing Dress:

I LOVE the way this little simple dress came together, cotton lace is a timeless trim that just makes this dress even more special.