FIRST GIVEAWAY!! Feather clip and earrings from SONGBIRD GLORY!

Y'all, I am so excited to announce my FIRST GIVEAWAY!! 

I am so happy to introduce you all to the stunningly beautiful and immensely talented Jessica Inman, the crafty lady behind Songbird Glory! Lucky for me, she agreed to help me out with my first giveaway! I am a big fan and a repeat customer and am so excited to share her and her work with you all!

Meet Jessica! See that gorgeous turquoise feather hair fancy? Yep, that's her work!

YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN THIS BEAUTIFUL FEATHER HAIR CLIP and CHRYSANTHEMUM EARRINGS!

A handmade hair clip with brown, cream, and tan feathers, with a brown button accent.  The mix of classic, neutral colors is flattering in all hair colors.  Perfect for adding a little interest to a casual outfit, or for a night out on the town!

15mm grey resin mum earrings. The stainless steel posts are both lead and nickel-free.  These cuties are both feminine and modern and are a great accent to any outfit!

 If you live in the Atlanta area and were to visit Rebirth Boutique in Decatur, Shine Salon in Woodstock, or Tryst Salon in Alpharetta, you'd pay $30 for this lovely pair!

Jessica also has a shop on Etsy (which she asked that I note is a little bare at the moment as she is busy preparing for upcoming holiday craft shows) where you can purchase her unique items, but she also accepts custom orders (I know, she has custom made almost everything I've bought from her)! :o) Or if you live in the South, she will be showing at several upcoming craft shows... you can contact her for details at info@songbirdglory.com!

I absolutely adore Jessica's work so much that I have purchased several items from her - mostly for myself, but also for my daughter. Jessica custom-made three sweet felt and button hair pieces for my daughter that are our favorite go-to hair things today (and they're durable too with excellent quality felt!). The peacock feather earrings I'm wearing in the header of my blog? She made those for me too. And when I cut all my hair off, and needed an excuse to buy her lovely earrings, well, she brought a wide assortment to my house and waited patiently while I chose four pair that I loved. She does such beautiful work, and was so sweet to bring her shop to me!

Here are a few pairs of earrings I own ... they are my go-to everyday wear earrings.

And Jessica is so sweet. I am thankful to have gotten to know her a little bit more over the last year or so. She and I have known each other for a loooong time, but never really talked, except to connect over doing or wanting to do courses with Clayton College of Natural Health over the coffee bar at church. :o) Now we are back in community together at the same church where we met and I look forward to more great talks! You can meet her too - she recently started blogging about her adventures with Songbird Glory and about the most recent announcement that she and her husband Brad have decided to begin the process of adopting a baby! I am privileged to know this precious couple and to be in community with them and to watch their journey. 

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY - do these things:

1: Follow my blog - from under His feathers

2: Follow Jessica's blog @ Songbird Stories

3: "Like" Songbird Glory on Facebook

4: Leave a comment below and please include your email address! (so I know you've entered and can contact you if you win!)

Want to increase your chances of winning? Get an additional entry (be sure to leave an additional comment) - TWEET about this giveaway and mention me @brookehammel

GOOD LUCK!! Giveaway winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 6th!

candid. (life stories episode 1)

It's been a rough afternoon. I am tired. When I get tired, my brain doesn't work well; I can't handle the constant pressing from the children without getting overly irritated. I begin to think what a horrible mother I am. I start thinking about all the things that I'm doing wrong and how badly I wish I were able to do better, and wonder how much of me is truly capable, and how much therapy my kids will need when they're older... and will they like me and will I give them room to be mad at me, and will they have me over for dinner or avoid me like the plague? I just don't know on days like this. So I've just had a shot of rum because I can. And now I shall write and be candid with the world, because Jason is not home, all three children are in bed and the world wide web is a captive audience. The kitchen is clean except for the bowl full of cream cheese icing I have yet to decide what to do with (which may involve frosting the pan of brownies I MIGHT make in a little while that I got buy 1 get 1 free at Publix today). The floor is swept. The toys are put away. I braved the threat of encountering the giant wolf spider I failed to kill yesterday in the garage in order to start a load of laundry. I'm off the hook... for now.

What good is this place if I don't take a moment to be real? Anyone who knows me knows that I am not one to hide much about who I am, where I've come from, and my experiences, much to my mother's chagrin. The struggle is to not let those experiences in themselves hold my identity... this is the daily struggle. I am almost 32 years old. When you exit your twenties, life takes a turn. I don't know what happens, but you realize that life doesn't go on forever... we have a responsibility to make our mark and mean something while we're here, and that time is of the essence. We are not immortal. In fact, my life could very well be half over. What a crappy thought. Especially when I think about how I spent, oh, about ten years of this life. I have lots of great stories to tell and a testimony, but the thing that remains is the pain. It never truly goes away. It is a force to be reckoned with until I pass through.

Which leads me to my next rambling thought... I was thinking of Heidi Baker tonight while I was washing dishes... I thought about something that made me think about death - and I imagined her saying that it was not a big deal to suffer, because Jesus suffered, and to go through everything he went through on this earth is something that we ought to expect to endure, and that she wouldn't consider herself a victim because he was not a victim. He was led like a Lamb. That is would be a privilege to partake in all he experienced when he was here, incarnate. I've said in conversations with deep friends that I feel that sometimes the Lord doesn't totally take away our pain, because it not only keeps us close to him, it also gives us a reference point. Now I am not saying that he doesn't totally take away the sting of some things, because he does and he has somewhat with me over time, but my own experience has been that I find myself often looking back and experiencing pain for various reasons related to the way that I lived my life from about 1996 to 2005... in a nutshell if I could have a do-over, those would be the years the locusts had eaten, that I long to be restored. Maybe the Lord is truly restoring them before my eyes, but I can't see it. I know he has redeemed my life so much, but the tendrils still extending backwards are hard to face at times.

So on nights like tonight when I feel kind of like a failure as a mother... when I am going on day five with Jason working till 9 or 10 at night and doing this mom thing all by myself, I feel so completely awful and all I can do is examine all my faults and shortcomings... These are my confessions and the weights on my heart tonight:

1. I struggle so much with my son (he has or is Aspergers - in the autism spectrum)... I wish I was more patient, loving, and accepting of him... and realistic as to what he is capable of vs what he is not capable of... He wants everything to be so certain, so sure, and I can't give that to him. 
2. I am SO bad at doing laundry. There are about four loads in baskets downstairs that need folding. For the second time in a week. Maybe I fold laundry three or four times a month? Ugh. 
3. My kids watch too much TV. WAY too much. :(
4. I am so compulsive towards getting housework and chores done but I lack the compulsion to sit and play with my kids. 
5. Poor innocent baby Noah has to hear me fussing all the time at the others. 
6. I wish I were more. In so many ways.
7. I spend more time regretting cutting my hair than thinking about sorting through the piles of mail and bills that I am in denial about that need to be looked at and filed away. 
8. I wish I laughed more easily.
9. I wish I could accept each day for what it is, instead of wishing for something better... because one day I will be longing for these days again... 

So there is the dark and candid moment I felt compelled to share. There. I said it. I guess I feel better now... ahhhh, er... yeah. I am tired. Haven't I said that already? My husband is home, and he brought me sushi and wine. So maybe it's time to stop wallowing. 

Tomorrow is our anniversary, and we get to spend a whole day ALOOOOONE without ANY of the children...what the heck is that like? I have no idea. All of this moment will seem such a blur once tomorrow afternoon comes and we've spent hours blissfully together, enjoying each other, without the strains of parenthood about us. 

I don't know how to close this except to say goodnight. Thank you for reading my crazy ramblings and candid remarks. Bed is calling. I shall be new in the morning.

<3 sleep tight, friends.

since Saturday...

A little recap of the last few days is in order. We had a very interesting weekend...

Saturday morning started off rather sweetly. We don't really have a post office nearby, so the local Mom and Pop pharmacy in downtown Woodstock, called Woodstock Pharmacy, serves as my post office for shipping all the fun vintage stuff from my etsy shop. The cool thing for me is that the shared parking lot is behind the row of downtown stores, and since I enter and exit the back door, I have a good excuse to venture across the parking lot to the little itty bitty thrift store in the basement of the Woodstock United Methodist Church, which is only open on Saturdays. Last week I had to shop something on Thursday, and on the one time per month that they're open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I found them. And I found a TON of stuff for NOTHING! It was like a gold mine... we're talking vintage sewing patterns for $.25 each, vintage linens and clothing for not more than a dollar... super awesome, and run by some super nice old ladies who really didn't realize that the old stuff they have was of value to me. So this Saturday, I'd convinced the hubby to let me leave the kids at home while I stepped out to mail my package... and the doors were open to the thrift store, so I took advantage of the time I had and went shopping. Among some of the veerry interesting finds was a Kodak Instamatic camera in perfect condition, still new in box, and an antique tea set that after some investigation I found was worth significantly more than what they asked for it. :) So yay me, when I go back next Saturday, I'mon get me some good stuff! I was supposed to go back before they closed to pick up some stuff but I was late getting started on the cupcakes I was supposed to ice for the wedding we were scheduled to work that evening (Jason and I).

Which brings me to my next adventure...

Some of you may know that I used to have a baking business (called Fancy Pants Goodies - you can still visit my website). When I had my son Noah, I realized that continuing to take on as much business was only going to make me crazier, so I kinda quit. I sold all my equipment and made some much needed money, and that was that. Well, lately I've been taking on a little side work. I iced 11 dozen cupcakes for a wedding this Saturday night. It was an INCREDIBLE wedding! Jason and I also washed dishes for four hours for this wedding to make some extra side money. It was tough, but we were thankful for the opportunity. And of course, the wedding was AWESOME! I didn't take enough pics but I did take a couple... The wedding itself was in a pasture under big old oak tree (overlooking a lake)... the reception was in a barn, and the band was PHE-NOM-E-NAL! I wanted to go shake a tail-feather SOOO badly! Alas, there were dishes to wash and children to get home to. How I wish I had taken some pictures while we were washing dishes... but oh well. At least I got to look out the window onto a beautiful green pasture while I was washing. :) We washed about 300 glass plates, and all the serving dishes for food for 350 people... with some help towards the end. Dear God it was tough, but we made some money and that was good.

 Oh I forgot to add.. I dyed my hair the night before... as close to my natural color as possible. I'm growing it out again. Why oh why did I ever cut it. UGH! It looks dark now, but really, my natural color is about this dark.

Sunday was fun... went to church, and then in the afternoon when the kids were napping, Jason "let" me run out kid-less yet again down to Park Avenue Thrift since they give coupons to shoppers on Sundays to return to get 50% off on the following Sunday... well, I reckon I stocked up on some great vintage finds. One great thing I found was a vintage Astra toaster by Toastmaster. I posted a few photos of some other great finds as a sneak peak to my new inventory... I'm excited! Oh yeah, and sweet Bekah over at mylittleloves sent me a package... and to my delight it was this dress she'd had on her "shop my closet" page that I'd been lusting after. So sweet of her to bless me like that! Here's a not so great pic of me in it, and all the laundry I had in bags to put away behind me... hee hee!

On Monday morning one of the first things I did after getting all three kiddos settled in for breakfast was set to cleaning and restoring the toaster. It's totally chrome and needed some de-greasing and scraping of some stuff but when it was done my my it was oh so pretty.

Goo Gone ... that's the ticket.

NASTY.

gross...

Here are a few other neat things I picked up...

This stuff and other items will be up for sale on my etsy shop shortly!

Well, I reckon that's it for now. I'll be back tomorrow!

And hey, if you reeeead my blog, would you ever so kindly follow my blog? Either via Google or Bloglovin'll work... and thank you! <3