And I Even Mention Jacksonville Josh

My house is even more of a mess now- but it's on it's way to normal-and-better-than-ever town this very minute.

Normally, if I heard someone say they lost their income so they decided to do several fix-ups and add-ons to their house, I'd smile politely, then talk about them to Jim later. Those fools. Or, idiots. Or morons.

We recently celebrated our one year anniversary of living in our house, and there were a few projects we really had wanted to do since day 1. Jim would go loco if he had to sit around for this undetermined amount of time with nothing to keep his hands busy, and there is never time to finish these things when he's working long hours at work. So we're embracing the season to finish this stuff up.

So, Jim fixed up a few things with the flooring downstairs, he added in a playroom in the basement (using up half of our old laundry/utility room that was unfinished) and that room is just waiting for the taping and texturing and then the Paint Fairy ME will come and work her magic. She can't wait. It will also be full of deep shelves for storage of all our school supplies and misc. Then the old play room will be a bedroom for Hudson and Lily to share (kids sharing rooms builds character, you know) , and Hudson's room upstairs will be an extra space for... I don't know yet, but I'll try to make it cute... until we hopefully adopt and need it as a bedroom again.

Whew. You with me?

Then the monstrosity in my living room is Jim adding in a wall that the previous owner- I call him Jacksonville Josh, because all we know about him (other than his weird fix-up choices on a perfectly good new house) is that he moved to Jacksonville. Oh, Jacksonville Josh, I have so many questions for you- Anyway, Jacksonville Josh took out the wall to make more space, but really, it just looked ridiculous, and upon making an offer on the house, Jim and I had a long talk about how that wall was going to get put up hasta pronto, which turned out to be one year from then, which really, I think , is doing pretty good. So that wall is going back in, but better, with a nicely-sized storage closet with shelving for my kitchen overflow like our china etc, and also a coat closet, which we've sorely missed all winter. Word on the street is the paint fairy is going to choose a really fun color for the inside. OOh, I can't wait.

Of course Before and Afters are coming. Once there are Afters.

The Jalepeno Pepper is for a little project I have waiting for a nice warm day- stripping and painting an old dresser we got from Jim's parent's house. It will go in the living room, and provide storage for our DVDs etc when we put in the new flat screen that's going on the new wall. The flat screen we'll buy after we have a job again, and can save for it. Because we aren't complete fools, you know.

Jim has also decided to try to grow a beard, "Just to see what it's like." I tell him people are going to think he's fallen into a deep, deep depression and has let himself go, and he disagrees and keeps growing it, saying he's just trying it out and "broadening my horizons". I digress.

Side note- I'm now working many days of the week at a best-case scenario job, which I love. I absolutely hate being away from my family so much more, but we do get our days together still, and when I'm not there, Jim gets extra time with them at home, which is really important. The job itself is great, and when I'm there, I can just do my thing- but the rest of the time, I'm a bit of an emotional mess, adjusting to being away so much, missing out on things, and squeezing in all I can and need to do before I leave. But really, I can do it. I just need to figure out a new normal. There's got to be one out there. I plan on keeping the job (because it's awesome) after Jim goes back to work, but only 2-3 days a week, which is really manageable. I don't plan on telling you where it is on my blog, because people, you just have got to have boundaries. You should not say anything that gives an exact location of you to the entire world. We have to be safe, ya'll. All my real life friends know, of course, but if you are a great blog friend and would love to know, I'll of course tell you all about it. Just shoot me an email. It's riveting, I tell you.

And I leave you with poor pictures of a little cheap project I recently did in our bedroom, which is also the office... Easel paper, upholstery tacks, a brown washable marker, and the Word regarding love.

My House Looks Like This.

$M: In case you've ever wondered.

$138,095.00.

That's how much you could be making as a fabulous stay-at-home mother, if anyone was counting, and handing over some green.

You can find this here. And read it here...

NEW YORK — If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.
This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Mass.-based compensation experts.
The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.
The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.
A mother who holds full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85,939 for the work she does at home, Salary.com reported.
Last year she would have earned $85,876 for her at-home work, it said.
Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home.

Mothers of the Web, you may not get paid now, but I hear the rewards of a job well done come later, and are highly satisfying. And you already know it's worth it.

And if you want, by all means, go get yourself a Starbucks, or some shoes, or some earrings, or something every once in a while, for goodness sake.

Hot Pepper and Strippers.

more to come...

Ladie's Night Out

Grace earns a date, or a $10 monetary equivalent - her choice- as a reading reward. Once she can read through an entire age-appropriate book, lengthy poem, etc. independently and without missing a word, she gets her reward. We've eaten a lot of Panera thanks to literacy.

In late January, she decided she wanted to save her rewards for the Sleeping Beauty Ballet, coming in March. Baby girl saved $40 in rewards- $30 for tickets, and more for dinner out- between then and now.

And the morning of the very highly anticipated event, I surprised her with a new dress, and a new necklace, and we were both just very, very blessed at the all-out girliness of the evening out. That deep purple dress looks fantastic with these flats, btw. But I digress.

Jim pressed me to take her to our favorite place, but I just couldn't bring a child there- though Grace is always a lady when we go out, every bit as much grown up as I am practically when it comes to manners, I knew the servers would so high brow my youthful dining companion.

So we went to the Olive Garden- she'd never been- and she was highly impressed with the "fanciness" of the dim lighting and the cloth napkins and the music. Oh, her little five-year-old soul was blessed, blessed. The child adores ambiance.

Then we had some time to spare, so she requested a Target run, where she used some allowance money to purchase a lovely new princess night gown, which gets worn every night and washed once a week. How's that for ladylike?

The ballet was so fun- we had great seats. She loved it. Think of Vivian in Pretty Woman, in that red dress seeing opera for the first time. There you go. That's her experience in a nutshell.

These are the things mothers dream about doing with their little girls, am I right?

10 Years Younger

I talked about money all week last week. I'm so done talking about money. For a while. Blach. Let's move on to talking about me.
Doesn't that sound selfish? I'm just going to go with it.
I had the most hilarious set of events happen to me last week. On 2 separate occasions, 2 separate and unrelated people, in a series of situations too particular to be worth your time describing- 2 different people assumed I was a minor. Like, an under 18 minor. Not just that I couldn't consume, no, that I couldn't vote. Or fight in a war. Or go get my ears pierced sans parents.
And I am so legal, peeps, so legal. I can do whatever I want. I have one husband and four children (the first of which was born after we were out of college, thankyouverymuch, so I was no "young" mother) and I can even rent a car. And I'm so old, I can't name a single person from High School Musical, and I had no idea who Chris Brown was until a few weeks ago, and I rarely can stay up past 10. Beat that, high school punks.
Everyone always says I'm cute. I'm so cute. I throw a rare picture of myself on the ol' blog, and you can count the word cute in the comment section over and over again. Oh, and don't even get me started on videos. I have a cute voice. I'll admit it. It's cute. Not raspy and woman-like. It's just cute. I've accepted it. In general, I suppose, I'm cute. I'm no vixen. I've got dear friends who very clearly embody "righteous fox" or "full-out hottie" and a couple who are so freaking sophisticated, they make me smarter and sleaker just being next to them. But I am the cute one. I hold the title proudly. I'm the Midge to my friend Barbie. I can rock that role just fine. Free to be me and all.
So I get it. When I'm not with my kids, I can imagine that someone who gets called cute as much as me is going to be mistaken for a few shades lighter on the age spectrum. I've even been told I'll appreciate that quality when I'm older. Like when I'm 50 and I pass for 35 easy. So OK, I'm waiting for that I guess.

So, I suppose you could say someone makes a tactful or not tactful comment about my youthful exterior about twice a month. Some just think I'm a college student, my children's nanny, or have even been known to ask how old I was when I had my first baby. Nice. I know. So anyway- it happens all the time. I suppose there are worse things they could be calling me. I'll take it.

But seriously, two assumptions that I was under 18 in the same week?

And the big hot tamale of a kicker? This week my grey hairs grew so out of control, I had no choice but to leave them in- I usually just pluck them out, but all the sudden just yesterday a close inspection revealed like, 20 of them. Bright white ones. Natural childbirth? Yes please. Pulling out 20 strands of hair? No thank you.

So, how old do you think I am??

How to Lose a Job Day 3

So to keep up yesterday's convo:

1.How to rock it if you lose your income.

If you don't already have one, get together and make a list of every expense and bill you have. Figure out how much you need to spend every month to stay in the black.
If you have savings, figure out how long it will last.
If you think you'll need to take in extra income right quick, talk over your options- if hubs takes an in-between job, he'll lose his unemployment, if he's going to file for it, so weigh out which is more valuable. Perhaps Mama will have to go to work for a stint, or perhaps you'll wait it out for a bit and see if a new career presents itself in the near future.
Talk about what you'll do with your insurance, in case of an emergency.
Make a commitment to avoid using credit cards unless _____. You two get to decide, but decide together and stick to it. Be very, very careful with using debt right now. You can make it.
Talk about what you'll cut and what you'll keep in your lifestyle. It's not forever.
When you let go of some things, and hold tight to each other, you may have never felt so rich.
There are a lot of options here- Either way, get ALL your money's business on paper, and MAKE A PLAN.

2. Things you can (and need) to do with all that time.

After the first week when you kind of just relax and enjoy the mini-vacay, you need to get back to some kind of a structure in your day.
Decide what time you're going to get up every morning, and stick to it- perhaps just keep it the same as always- if you start sleeping in all the time, you'll start feeling grubby and it will be really hard to get out of the schlump.
If you're going to enjoy the extra family time, create a new "normal" of what a day will look like.
Plan in some fun things you can only do now that he's home every day, like mid-week trips to museums or the zoo (things you have a membership for), picnics, trips to the park, trips to grandma and grandpa's etc.
Your Hub will have time for his hobbies that he maybe hasn't had for a while, so encourage him to enjoy them.
Mamas, talk over how you spend a typical weekday with your Hubs, because he may not know all the things you squeeze in. For instance, Jim's a very hands-on dad, and when he's home, he's very involved in everything. But that's always just been weekends, which are so different from the week, the day-to-day stuff.

3. It's like being honeymooners all over again.

Remember how hard it was to figure out how to "do life" together once you tied the knot and shared an address? It was probably also really, really fun, but let's face it. We all made a lot of mistakes and learned from them. Now, it's all a new game.
He's home a LOT. Like never, ever before, perhaps. He's not used to it. You're not used to it. Your kids aren't used to it. It's awesome, but it's also super tough after a while to maintain normal life, and to get things done.
Perpetual Saturday cannot last forever.
He'll be on your turf, and you'll need to talk it all over so he knows what to expect, and so you two know what to expect from each other.
He'll feel a little out of place after a bit- you may not think so now, but you may very well start to get on top of each other's nerves, and you'll just have to work it out. You may even, if I may be so blunt, annoy the bejeebers out of each other from time to time- so talk it over, laugh it out, embrace the unique season, and make it fun.

There are a few challenges, and several hidden rewards in losing a job.
It's not forever- so bear it, and enjoy it as much as you can.

How to Lose a Job Day 2

I talked it over with Jim last night, and we came up with a few suggested things that you can get on top of right away to help you stay afloat.

Like I said, that first day, don't make ANY big decisions. It's just not a good time. Wait until the next morning.

I asked Jim what his first piece of advice for a man who's just lost his job would be, and he said, "Don't panic." Then I said, "I told them that yesterday." But we'll say it again. Do not freak. OK? Don't freak.

1. Look over all the information you received from your employer when they met with you the day before. Look at all the options you have available to you for unemployment, your insurance information, how long it will last, and how to continue your current coverage if you want it (very expensive), and how to receive other kinds of benefits available in your state, if you wish to receive them.

Look at your state's website, find the right phone numbers, and call someone if you want to speak to a human. They do this every day, they will have a lot of answers, and may even be very nice and helpful.

Get the ball rolling on receiving unemployment benefits etc first thing, if you'll want them, because it all takes a few weeks to get into effect, and you don't want to waste time if you're trying to keep as much money as possible in the bank.

Oh, and Jim mentioned that you need to read all the fine print. For everything. Read it ALL.

2. Go Hunting. Find the best websites for job searches in your area, and for your specific type of employment. Gather information on companies in the surrounding area (as far as you'd like to drive every day without moving) and if you can't find much online, just call them directly.

Organize your list of possible jobs, and what you'll need to apply for them. Research their websites, see what kind of company it is and what they're looking for. Tailor your cover letter and updated, shiny new, resume to that specific company. It's the bomb these days, people, applying for jobs, because it's all online. It really is simple.

3. Once you've sent off your resume to every possibility, and your applications are in for any new benefits you'll want to receive while unemployed, you exhale. And let it sink in that you'll be home with your family for a little while, and since there's nothing you can do but wait, you might as well enjoy it.

It will be "perpetual Saturday", as I like to call it, for that first week. Lots of down time. Just enjoy it. Sleep in a little, hang out, watch TV, play outside with your kids.

It's really, actually, really fun. But it's not all sunshine and roses. There are still several sticky situations to handle- with your money, your time, your relationship with each other, and with all that family time you'll be getting.

I'll be back tomorrow with some ways to ease the transition into Not having an income, Having lots of free time, and Being all up in each other's space all day long for the first time, perhaps, ever.

How to Lose a Job Day 1: Love Your Man, Secure Your Kids

Ya'll, I have had the worst sinus infection this week, and I'm more than tipped off my rocker, but I made a promise and I'm trying to keep it. Nope, that picture has nothing to do with anything...well, I do eventually talk about kids... so there. It works.


I know there are a lot of you out there that are getting concerned about the economy. Some of you think daily about the chance of you, or your spouse, losing a job and the what-ifs that come with that scenario, and some of you are right in the middle of it, like me.


I don't have expert advice, so you should find an expert for that, but I will try to run down some of the things we experienced and learned through our first job-loss, that were reaffirmed in our second. Sometimes things are less scary if you've heard someone else tell what they did through it. So if you find yourself where we are, you can at least know there's someone that's been there, and we're fine. And you'll be fine.


I want to say first, that both times we've been left jobless and incomeless have actually been incredible blessings. And I'm not just trying to sound spiritual here, or wax fake-optimism. If we ever started to believe we were in control of our lives, our money, our resources, then having them taken away is a glorious wake up call to smell the goodness of the One who gives and takes away. And a reality check to re-realize our worth is in HIM, not what we DO. It's actually a tremendous feeling of freedom to just have to throw your hands in the air and know you're surrendered to the Provider, in case we'd been losing touch with the reality of our daily need for Him. And you can read more waxing about that here.

I'm going to break these posts down day by day. Starting with the day you get the news. And I write from the perspective of a family with one income, and who deeply love the Lord. Many of you can relate to our dynamic, some can't, but maybe you'll find this interesting to read anyway.


Step One when you hear the news is simple: Do not be afraid. And don't freak out. You will be fine. Even if it's hard, and in ways it will be, you will be fine. You can lose savings, a home, and be fine. You will be OK.


My career is at home. I've been working hard at it for nearly six years. Jim's career is in engineering- basically, pick what I'm good at and then trek over to the polar opposite, and you have Jim's job. And we both really, really love our jobs. So Jim being without his is a very tough thing. He loves the highly technical, fast-paced responsibility of his work. And it's a big blow to all of the sudden have a job you thrive in taken away.


My point: It's hard for a man to lose his work. There is something to it that I think women can't completely understand. And your husband might not be able to beautifully articulate all this to you, or understand how he's feeling himself. He does not need to hear how upset I am over and over again. He doesn't need me to ask him 20 questions all basically boiling down to, "What are we going to do?!" He needs a strong, loving friend who's 100% beside him. Both days we got the ax were actually fantastic days of affirming our love and partnership to one another. We just jumped off that ledge together and knew a good amount of peace. If I had immediately jumped in with a series of nagging questions, or expressed disappointment in him as if he had control over losing his job, and gave a list of my top 100 worries... it would have really wounded our bond, I think.


Step 2: That first day, just love on each other, and keep the other words few. You can talk that all over tomorrow, after a good night's sleep levels your heads a bit.

And about your kids...

So, your husband gets home, perhaps early, perhaps your kids heard you talking to him on the phone about it, perhaps they're confused. One thing every Mama knows is, they probably already know something is wrong, even if you haven't told them. Kids know these things, intuitively. They read us with frightening clarity. They might not completely understand what's going on, but they know something's up. And our anxiety rubs off on them, almost instantly. You know what I mean.


Something we did both times that I think really sealed this deal for our kids was to be very upfront with them, from the beginning, about what was going on. Well, Hudson didn't care, but Grace, Patience and Lily are old enough to understand, and they needed and deserved a clear explanation- they're just as much affected by the change as Mom and Dad.


I think that it's best if you tell your kids first, before you call your best friend, or your families, tell your kids. If you don't, they're going to overhear you anyway, and might get worried- as we've seen how people react to hearing that news- usually they're really, really upset for you, like more upset than you are. Sit your family down together with both Mom and Dad and in whatever way is fitting for them, let them know what's happened, and that it will mean making a few changes to the way we do things, but it means good changes too- that Daddy will be home more and we'll get to do some really fun and special things together. Explain that Daddy's new job is to find a new job, so sometimes he'll be working hard at the computer (resumes etc) and when he is, we need to let him work hard. Most importantly, right away we spoke truth all together as a family about God's control and care for us, His love and that He never, ever leaves us. So we'll take this closed door as a gift, and pray for the next to open. And in the meantime, we'll just enjoy what He's got for us now, in this surprise vacation.

Kid's really, really love and need to be a central part of these seasons of life. They see God's hand at work in your family, and they won't have the chance to witness their parent's faith in action, or to see their own faith grow, if they are completely shielded from it. Our kids have loved to see prayer and faith in action in their own house- to see their prayers answered. Yours will too.


So Step 3: Just give your kids strong feet to stand on, and they'll be fine. And be careful what you say and in the attitude you reflect in the coming days and weeks around them- they do NOT need to know everything that's going on. You can decide what they hear and don't, but make sure you do keep some conversations just between you and your husband, so they don't get too much information.


Our kids have loved it when Daddy's lost his job. Just yesterday Grace told Jim, "Daddy, I really like it when you lose your job! It's really, really fun."


If you stay tight as a family, love on each other like crazy, hold close to Jesus, and don't give way to fear, your kids may mark the occaision as some of the best times they can remember. I know we all have. They may feel more loved, more secure, than ever.


I'll be back tomorrow with the practical side of things that you may want to do the next day- after that good night's sleep.

18 Months of Hudson

He'd just gotten up from his nap.

He wanted the afternoon snack pretzels so bad, he paused to say and sign "please" every few poses or so.

He was wearing a sweatshirt that really stopped fitting him about...six months ago.
Maybe his big body in that little hoodie is just a visual representation of the internal struggle his mother seems to have with letting him grow.

He had a little something in his nose.

He was charming and handsome and winsome and ready for the camera as always.

Here he is, as he was, in all his 18 Month glory.

$M: Tips from our house to yours. And we know a little bit about this now.

Would you believe, Jim was laid off again?

We enjoyed five years of steady employment before the first layoff, which was actually a complete shutdown of the company, last summer. You can read about that here. And we still look back on that as a really, really wonderful time.

Between then and now... See, then, that company was a part of the beginning... all those companies several months ago that just couldn't hold on any longer, and then they all started falling...you know how last fall the news just got very cluttered with stories of companies filing, failing, bailing, etc. and then The Man who gets to decide, decided that we really were in a recession?

So the last time he was laid off, it was new for us, but the economy wasn't quite where it is right now. Things just looked a little sunnier back then. And Jim had several options for new jobs in his field (mechanical design engineering). And he got one, in short order. It meant a commute, but really was a great job.

Then after a few months, it was announced that they were putting the kibosh on regular pay increases, then a little later, layoffs began, and Jim survived several. He was given much more responsibility, and made very important to the team (meaning, job security, as much as he could have it, with so little tenure to speak of). Then the pay decreases started- every salaried worker was cut 8.5%, and then a couple weeks later it was changed to 15%. Which, when coupled with a 2.5 hour daily commute... well, things were going to get dicey for us anyway.

And then last week, Jim was let go- with great reluctance, and a promise that he'd be asked back the moment they could afford him. We know they mean it, but are of course not holding our breath.

And so, here we are again.

And you know, at first it was of course not great news, but we'd been trying to decide what to do anyway, with the commute and the pay decrease.

But we know Who's we are. And we are in good hands. And we're not forgotten.

And we've done this before. So we knew what to expect, and what to do next.

We knew there was a chance this could happen, but of course it's still, you know, not what we wanted to happen. But we're sure, we'll be OK.

I know of at least a few of you who have been through this in the past year along with us. And there are some common threads we all shared.

I wanted to write a little about the practical things we've learned, and so I'm hoping to return later this week, after an important picture post tomorrow, ahem, with some things we've learned and experienced in the last 2 job losses. And so perhaps, if you end up in these same shoes, you'll at least know someone else has been there too.

So if you're fearing our same fate, or if you're cruising on the same ship with us and we didn't even know it, these posts might be for you.

Step one is just me letting you all know what we're going through, so if you felt alone, you'd know you weren't.

Losing your job used to sound so negative, something to be ashamed of. Now, it's almost chic. Everyone's doing it. It's the new black. Or whatever. You are not alone.

I may even get Jim to guest post. What do you think? Can I get him to do it?

Paws and Thaws: A Trip to the Dog Park on a Freakishly Warm March Day

Bebo loves to get some dirt in his skirt.
Making muddy buddies.

Did I mention it was muddy?

Hudson screamed "Pu-peesh!" approximately 78 times. That's about half as many times as this little wienerschnitzel shook the water out of his ears, only to splatter me in the process. He sure was sweet, though.

She's Back!

I'm just checking in, all. Sorry for the sudden absence, as if you minded big time, you know?! It's just that I was vacationing, alone, as a matter of fact, for a few days of uninterrupted time to myself, with my pots of coffee, pan of brownies, my book, my girl movies, and my dogs. Oh, and my endocrinologist. And when I'm home alone, I don't like advertising it to the entire web of the world. You know. I like to be safe and secure like that.

Jim and the kids went to his parent's house on Monday and just got back yesterday. It was a spur of the moment trip, and I had that long-awaited trip to the endocrinologist, you see, that I couldn't reschedule, well, unless I didn't want to be seen until the end of May. He's a popular guy, I suppose. Sheesh.

So, I went ahead and stayed behind. It was fabulous.

Book read: Peace Like a River (but I'm not quite done yet).
Movies watched: Pretty Woman, Enchanted (twice), The Music Man.
Foods eaten: 8 gallons of coffee, Diet Soda, turkey sandwiches every meal (I hate cooking just for myself, and really like turkey sandwiches...OK?), oh, and 1/3 a pan of brownies, which were finished off once everyone was back.
The silence and pajama wearing and freedom to do absolutely nothing and whatever I wanted at the same time was just exactly what I'd call The Bomb.

And getting my man and the small Kochs back was The Bomb too. So basically, it's all The Bomb.

And now I'm back. And now I'm going to go finish that book...

And after reading this post to myself...Whew! No chance a writer like that is going to produce the next Great American Novel! Yikes!

That's Right, Folks! *Updated*

I went and opened myself a little tiny etsy shop.

Looks to me like the links are working now (fixed them last night- whoops on my part!), and you can also visit the shop via the etsy sidebar, just click on an item or it's title. If you have more trouble, let me know! Links can be crazy, you know!! Thanks!

Custom Ordering from Lemons & Sugar

Here's all you need to know when placing a custom order from my etsy store. Visit the store at lemonsandsugar.etsy.com for more information, including other items in the shop, more about me and Lemons & Sugar, and pricing information.

There are several premade items to see in the store, but I love custom creations!

All cards are a generously-sized 5x7, white cardstock, with coordinating envelopes.
Orders are sold in packs of 8 (But you can mix and match! See below...).

Each pack will arrive bound with a pretty ribbon and in a protective sleeve.

1. Choose your FONT. (plain or typewriter.)

2. Choose your COLOR.

TRADITIONAL print is available in: lime, chocolate, berry, and powder blue.

EMBOSSED print (a slightly raised, textured image) is available in gold, silver, black and distressed lemon. Remember the charge is slightly more for embossed prints and they can't be combined in the same 8 pack with traditional prints.

3. Choose your TEXT. Remember, if it's a monogram, type it EXACTLY as you want it to appear in the design! If you have questions about monograms, let me know! These make AWESOME wedding gifts!

You can include up to 8 characters, including spaces.

In special cases (long name, perhaps?) we can work it out and include more letters! Just let me know!

A variety of numbers and symbols are available as well.

Remember, you can MIX IT UP! Every pack of 8 you order can be made up of ANY of the above combinations you can dream up, but again, you can't mix embossed cards and plain text in the same pack due to pricing issues.

Oh, and I love cards with a trendy feel that you can't find just anywhere, but will not create orders with offensive messages :).

Again, if you have ANY questions, let me know!

These are great for children, birthdays, pats on the back, for newly married couples, baby showers and new mothers, friends, and of course, for yourself!

Let me know how I can help you today!

You can visit Lemons & Sugar on etsy here.