It's Alive!!!

Hi Friends...

First, can I just say the response to my last post was overwhelming.  The number of texts and emails and messages and high-fives I have gotten is amazing.  Thank you for having my back!  It warms my heart to know that so many people are on my team...and how many people wanted to take those girls out back behind the woodshed and give them a good wallop across the backside.  (Okay really...I have never lived anywhere with a woodshed, so I'm not sure why that phrase popped into my head, but it seemed to work there!)

An interesting discussion did come out of this.  Obviously my boys are too young to read my blog and my daughter is not usually interested...she is living it, why would she need to read about it.  But this post was different and I insisted that she read it.  Bad words and all...she knows I'm not perfect and I know she has heard those words before.  (We did have quite an interesting discussion about the phrases "meth head" and "crack whore."  I think I did a pretty good job explaining them without actually having to define the word whore  Not sure I could have managed to get through that one!)  She read it and then went off and did her own thing for a while.  A few hours later, in the car on the way to dance (because we are always in the car on the way to dance!) she asked me some questions about why they behaved the way they did and why people were so mean.  She had some interesting insights...I forget sometimes that my little girl is not so little anymore.  (Insert sad face here!)  She said she thought that their parents must not have done a very good job with them and that she thinks they must not feel very good about themselves to treat other people like that.  Now, I know better than to gush over her about things like that (so not cool, Mom!) but inside I was gushing like crazy.  She promised that she would never, ever, ever behave that way toward another person.  And I totally believe her.  This year has changed us all so much.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own stuff that I forget about the impact all of this has had on the whole family.  I'm glad kids are so resilient...while I will never forget this year, they will be able to push it to the back of their minds and mostly forget all about it.

But now, the real reason for today's post...drumroll please...My Etsy shop is officially open!!!  Yay!  It has been a couple of weeks filled with lots of applications, paperwork, product trial and error, market research (thank you to those friends that let me badger them constantly!) and tons of time taking pictures and writing policies and listings.  A big thank you to my VP of all things Technical (Steve, if anybody was wondering) and my legal department (again, if you are wondering, that would be my mom!)  Without their help, my ship would have already sunk!  I have a few items already listed, with more to come in the next few days.  I expect to add items pretty regularly, so please, check back often.  The address is www.sparklesandspitballs.com.  Right now I am maintaining two separate sites, this one and the shop, but soon you will be able to find both in the same place...how convenient!  So, come visit, drop me a message through Etsy Conversations, leave me a review, and shop if you find anything that makes your heart skip a beat.  Don't see what you are looking for?  Send me a message and together we can come up with a custom listing for you!  Thank you for all your support on this.  While the last few weeks have been busy and even exhausting, they have also been exhilarating.  I'm a small business owner!  Who woulda thunk it?

That's it for now...don't forget to tell all your friends about www.sparklesandspitballs.com and the badass, meth head crack whore who is the crazy lady behind it all!

Love and sparkles to you all,
Gayle

P.S.  For those of you keeping score, I am still waiting for the results of my scans.  Anxious, nervous, hopeful, impatient.  All at the same time.  As soon as I know, you will know!  Cross my heart! --G.