The Chore Store made it on LIVE TV.

I had so much fun AGAIN today visiting the local ABC studio. My bucket is SUPER DUPER full today, KATCHOW KATCHOW. I thought I should have been super nervous being on live tv, but {besides the nip slip/F-bomb anxiety} I have felt at ease both times. Weird. And slightly awesome.

I thought to bring my camera along this time to get a few shots of the studio and hosts.

And.....You guessed it! I was that guest. That one who was actin' the fool once the camera came out. Yeah. But WHO IS NOT EMBARRASSED IN THE LEAST? Me. Three words. No. Nip. Slip. That's all that really matters, Amen.

They probably shouldn't ask me to be a camera woman, for real. That camera is SENSITIVE. My shakey hands + that = no bueno.

And ZOWEEMAMA these ladies are beautiful.... and SUPER THIN. {my poor ham bone arms were so embarrassed.} Next time? I will bring them donuts. And perhaps several buckets of lard. Need motivation to go on a diet? You can come with me next time... {boohoo.}

It was just a really fun day. And I hope everyone in the land starts a Chore Store. It really is a great thing.

Here is the video:  {enjoy!}

Find the original chore store post here:

http://fabricbliss.blogspot.com/2011/04/do-this-family-chore-store.html

{What have I been doing, you ask?} Why, I've been painting my couch! :)

Ahem. HEY! Whassup.whassup?! I just got some crap from my frenemy friend, Heather, today, about my seriously slacking on the ol' blog posting lately.... I know I am SO RIVETING ! I am QUITE CERTAIN that everyone out in Bloggyville has been fretting, wondering how they will fill the many hours in their day without a little fabfab snark! So HERE YA GO! 12 days worth, compacted into one blog post! You can thank Heather later, you LUCKY DUCKER you! :) {Do I overuse the exclamation point? It's just so hard to convey that I AM INDEED SHOUTING without it, ya know???!!!} And, just to clear the air, I was NOT huddled up in a ball on the floor for the last 12 days, crying over missing Quilt Market in SLC. I was not. I was not. I was not!!!!!! .... Well. CONFESSION TIME! Maybe I was just sitting in a dark room, huddled in my blankie, Osama style, feeling indescribable sadness.... Wah.

{this is not what I have been doing, but dear me, doesn't EVERYONE just LOVE the site of freshly ground beef????} {well, maybe except vegetarians and vegans.} {sorry for that, my herbivore friends.}

So, moving along.... my dad was in town last week! And, just like me, the old man CAN NOT SIT STILL! We were going, going, going all week, which left little {if any} computer time. 

{excuse number one for blog neglect - DAD IN TOWN}

He helped the boys transplant some cherry tomato plants into bigger containers {HOME DEPOT 2 dollar buckets, for the record! Yay for frugality! Boo for not being able to keep these ugly, bright orange buckets on our front porch. Burlap covers to come, soon!} - I think we got started a little late this season for these tomatoes, but Brighton is mothering them pretty hard, so I will keep you posted!

We also went and saw Grandma. 90ish years young. I can only hope to be half as awesome as she is when I am 90. {I didn't get a photo, but Gramps is 93ish and laying in a bed next to her. They have been married over 60 years!}

{This is my dad and Grandma. Seriously, friends, neither one of them has aged in 10 years. Some lady at Home Depot told me she liked MY HUSBAND'S SHOES!!!???!!! I was like YOU MEAN, MY DAD?! Do you think my dad would admit to using a little Oil of Olay? I really need to know his secret! I have more grey hair than him!}

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that I bought this awesome couch for $45 a week or so ago. Well, I HATED the fabric, so my dad and I spent the better part of last week PAINTING IT BLACK!  {excuse number two for blog neglect -PAINTED A COUCH}. We used a textile mix-in that keeps the latex paint soft enough to do this. Full blog post on this, soon! I promise! 'Cause you crazy girls out there KNOW you wanna paint a couch, too! It was a bit labor intensive, but my dad didn't seem to mind spending a large portion of his vacation on my crazy DIY project! We also did a LOT of thrifting and scored some great finds! We were scouting for some other couches to paint, but couldn't find any as great {or as CHEAP} as this one.....

Yeah! Whew. So, school is almost out! Summer vacation is all but upon us. Camden graduates from eighth grade in a little over a week! {I still remember my teal satin gown, pink frosted bonnie bell lipstick and 6" tall mall bangs from my own 8th grade commencement like it was yesterday. Surreal.} Another year under our belt. Before I know it, I will be 90 and my 30something grandkid will be visiting me with one of MY kids!  

FREAKING OUT!

{trying to follow this advice}

{buy your own poster here!}

Do this! {A family CHORE STORE}

Today I had the ABSOLUTE PLEASURE of going over to my gal-pal Heather's house, where we set up her very own family 'Chore Store'. Oh.... don't know what a chore store is, you say? Keep reading!

We started our own family chore store about 2 years ago. Whilst complaining about what dreadful beasts my children were whenever I asked them to do ANYTHING around the house, my friend, Sharyn mentioned that one of her mom-friends had tried this with her pack of 6 - and I was immediately smitten with the idea! I had seen the power of a ticket counter in action at both Chuckie Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, so I pretty much KNEW this concept would work for my family. And it DID! So, here's how it works.

Make chore lists for each of your kids with daily and weekly jobs. Associate payment amounts in ticket form for each chore. We did daily and weekly chores on one list. Because these are framed behind glass, the kids can easily use dry erase markers each day to help them remember what chores they've done and haven't. It helps if you keep a separate accounting of jobs completion if you don't plan on doling out tickets daily. {But its really kind of fun to hand out 'paychecks' every day at the beginning :)

{We worked REALLY, REALLY hard to make sure the frames were spaced just right and total level..... OMG I AM TOTALLY LYING! Heather is my kind of hammer-er! She eyeballs it, hammers impetuously and occasionally taps the tops of nails to keep things on the level. She is balls-to-the-wall in the hardware department and I LOVE IT! Level? We don't need no stinkin' level!}

Now, go buy stuff you know your kids want. Stuff that speaks to them. Cheap stuff from the dollar section TOTALLY WORKS! Well, maybe not for teenagers, but definitely for the younger crowd. Now, decide what each item is worth.

For Heather's store, we figured out that each ticket should roughly be worth about 25 cents. But some of the really cool stuff she knew her kids would LOVE? Bumped up those prices. More bang for your buck, totally. See that red bucket? It's full of coupons for 15 minutes {each} of computer/video time. Genius!

Doesn't this make YOU want to come over to Heather's house and get your chore on?

There is also room for extra chore OPPORTUNITIES! For real? My kids were BEGGING BEGGING BEGGING to get to do extra chores. {ahh, the power of cheap, plastic toys.....}
It is a beautiful thing...

A few last pieces of advice:
*Make sure your kiddos initial their tickets when you give dole them out. Totally prevents the "HE/SHE TOOK MY TICKET" issue. *Also, you will probably want to establish a safe place to keep tickets for each child. Nothing more heartbreaking than to lose saved up tickets... *Also, I encouraged my kids to talk about pooling their tickets to buy bigger ticket items that benefit the lot of them {like a coupon for a night at the movies or a new game} It is a great lesson in learning to work together :)

Heather has this great basket to keep everything together, up and out of the way until Saturday mornings when her little chore store will be open for business. I imagine she'll get her receipt book and bags out, set stuff up so it's ready to go at 9 am {because don't we all hate when our favorite store doesn't open on time}greet each little hard working customer with a smile and thank them each for a job well done! {Oh, and we rotated who got to shop first}

And by the way, isn't Heather's house delightful?

Every room.

Every nook and cranny. ... Maybe I just WILL move in. Heather, any chance there will be FABRIC stocked in that chore store????? :)

My astronaut.

My 9 year old delivered his first speech in class yesterday. He did great. He had to study an American Hero and give a speech as if he were that person. I won't assume that he chose John Glenn strictly for the costume potential. I'll let myself believe (for the most part) that he values Glenn's hard work, bravery, innovation and the ability to realize so many different firsts in one small lifetime.

But the costume did turn out pretty great. And it looked awful fun to wear.

Funniest part- He started out by introducing himself.... As Glonn Jen. And I didn't even laugh out loud. Proud of me?

Happy Fall.

I love fall. And I LOVE my family.

Daily, I treasure the blessing of not only being a mom and a wife, but also a sister and a daughter and an aunt and a friend.

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There are other roles that I play in my life that sometimes cloud what is most important and has the most meaning. And then I get a reminder about what IS the most important.

At the end of the day, when I kiss my kids and my husband goodnight and reflect on another finished day, it does not matter how clean my house was. Or what the neighbors think about my Halloween display (which this year is completely NON existent and I could not be happier). Or what a great mom/crafter

/Martha/ creative genius my friends think I am.

I need a reminder of that every so often, as I catch myself getting caught up in things that on the surface seem SO important. But a year from now? I'll wonder why I was so stressed. And in a decade? I won't even remember a single detail....

I am imperfect. I am human.But, I am learning. Day by day. And constantly reminded about what is the MOST important.

Happy fall, my friends.

i'll cherish this when she's older .or. why does target sell black furniture to people with young children? .

ETA: Yes. She was standing on the coffee table. Dancing.