At The Sock Hop

Our library hosted a Sock Hop and my family and I couldn't resist. I gathered up my gang and two of my daughter's friends and we all got dolled up in leather jackets and poodle skirts. We had an amazingly fun time. Here is a picture of my son looking "Oh so cool!". He was definitely swooning the ladies....OK, so I mean the little old ladies who thought the kids were adorable. There are times that you really get to see your children's true personality come out and this was one of those moments. I've discovered that my son is an amazing dancer who can pick up on dance instruction very quickly and who, to this day, jumps at the idea of dancing with me in the living room and reliving our Thriller lesson. My oldest daughter is quite the "ham". She won the air guitar competition when her finally included jumping in the air and landing in the splits. (Ouch..poodle skirt and all) My youngest daughter is also quite the actress. She proved this when, in her air guitar ensemble, she slid across the floor on her knees, leaned back and gave the best guitar solo I've ever seen! I was amazed at how unafraid they were to be completely silly in front of a group of strangers. I loved it and realized we have raised them well.

The newest addition to my shop!

Here is a piece from my shop that I just added a few days ago. Feel free to click on the link to the right to browse around all of my other designs!

Who Is The Finicky Frog?

There is a little shop on SR 331 that I love to visit when I'm in the area. It's an old house turned into a shop called Olde District 5. Its flags and banner wave you in as the wind blows them outside on its deck. The rooms inside are all divided up into primitive and shabby finds, and it always smells so good with all of the warm, spiced candles sitting on the shelves. You see, I have a fancy for all things rusty, so this shop definitely gives me my fix.

One day I was walking through, and there on this shabby table sat a frog statue. Her arms were crossed up toward her chest, and her little chin was jutting up into the air as if to show her displeasure. Now, alone you might see her and give a bit of a grin but to top off all her demeanor, she was under glass. You know, one of those gorgeous bell shaped terrarium glasses. The whole thing was also surrounded by a garland of moss which made it all appealing to my imagination.

Everytime I would see her, I would giggle at how clever the shop owner was to contain this little thing, and my mind would wander into why such a thing had to be under glass. The other frogs were free, all standing around with their "welcome" signs or instruments of some sort (why do we always imagine them playing instruments?). But not her. There she continued to sit in all her attitude.

I would visit this shop several times over the next few months and, like the first time, giggle as I'd turn the corner and see her. Oh, sometimes she was moved, but never far from her original spot. Occasionally, she was on the floor or found toward the back of another display. But I still was left wondering what kind of mischief she could have gotten into to deserve such confinement.

My dear husband fully appreciates my love for all things rusty and, of course, that's one of his quirky endearments for me. He will lovingly pull the car into any shop I'd like, come around and open the door for me and roll out a red carpet as he says, "Buy anything you'd like my love!"....ok...really...he pulls over when I start going, "Ooo OOO OOh ohhh." and start pointing like a gorilla. And he says, "Ok Ok Ok." with his little crooked grin. He walks through these shops with me as I circle around and aRouNd and around again because we all know you can't just make one pass through these places and expect to see it all. So many things are always tucked away in nooks and crannies and hanging over your head, so, one pass just isn't sufficient. But he usually does so quietly without complaint, and he will entertain our son as his eyes start to glaze over. Sometimes, the entertaining distracts me and I have to give a look to get the crew in order and, once again, I get the little crooked grin usually followed by a, "What?" My daughters, however, have come around to the appreciation of these places, and they make their suggestions, but often they end up back at the Webkinz taking inventory of what they have and don't have.

One day my dear husband pulled over, for said gorilla, to my favorite Olde District 5. Here we were, wandering around and there she was, once again under glass. Of course, the giggles came and before I could turn to continue the tour those wonderful magic words suddenly came from behind me, "Why don't you just buy it? You laugh at it every time we're here." Now my friends, this doesn't happen often. Oh, I buy things, but there is rarely the "suggestion" to buy things-- if you know what I mean. I turned and said, "REALLY?" and that was that. She was mine!


I got her home and picked out the perfect place for her in the living room, right on the coffee table. All components together stand about one and a half feet high, so this is not something to be ignored in my petite living room. I did, however, discover the necessity of the glass terrarium. You see, when it's off she seems to just talk and TaLk and talk and have an opinion on anything and everything. The only way to keep her quiet is to contain her. Clearly she doesn't like this from the expression on her face, and I've often thought of putting a little tag on the glass that says , "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." But, I'm afraid that would be more humiliation than she could bear. You see, often her opinion is right, but I'd like to get there in my own sweet time without all the suggestions. I acknowledge her as I pass through the living room, and for the first few days I had her, I would tell her to stop looking at me like that, but she would persist.

So, here is my own little shop that I've named after her --www.thefinickyfrog.etsy.com. It's become a true blessing in my life and it has given me the opportunity to express the creative gift that God has given me. For many years I put those things aside and tried to put my round peg in all the square holes.

We often hear all the advice from people we love,and they tell us what we should and shouldn't be doing and we start to completely ignore what God already put in us.

I began to see all of these creative gifts develope in my children as they got older. Wesley is such a talented musician, Maddie is an amazing artist, and Morgan is a passionate chef. But, how was I going to encourage them to pursue those things fervently if I didn't do that myself? I would hate to one day be the one they were putting under glass.
In a strange way, the Finicky Frog reminds me to pursue my dreams , to use the gifts God has blessed me with and not to take what others say too seriously. Most importantly, I've learned to be careful of what I say about myself because,as we all know,we can sometimes be our own worst critic.

I hope that this has given you a little picture of who I am and I would love to hear your feedback as I continue to Blog away. Take Care to all of you!