Sweet Summertime

I thought I'd be relieved when school was over. I thought life would be a little easier, less of a commitment to get somewhere by a certain time. I thought there would be relaxing summer nights, gabbing outside with my sister, watching the birds come home for the night. But nooooooo. "Mom, can you take me here?" "Mom, we're all going to Janie's." "Mom, can you take us to the beach?" "Mom, can you take us to the mall?" "Mom, can you pick me up at 11:30pm when Lindsay's birthday party is over?" "Mom, there's volleyball practice tomorrow. I need knee pads." "Mom, can I sleep over Vickie's?" "Mom, can we go to Walgreen's for the new Seventeen magazine?" School's not even out for a week and I'm exhausted already!!

Can I change my name?? Can I tell you how I'm counting the days until my darling daughter goes to visit my other sister in New Jersey for three weeks, count em . . . three weeks!!!!! At least I don't have to rush around in the morning like a madwoman trying to get the dear to school by 7:15am. I don't have to worry about making nutritious meals as soon as I walk in the door. I don't have to worry about homework or studying for exams, uh, hers, not mine. No more track meets, after school study groups or signing this or that which must be handed in yesterday, or $5 here, $10 there, and the yearbook is only $85.

Yes, I know. It will soon be over. Freshman year flew by in a flash and I know the next three years will zip by also. For now, I'll try to enjoy the sweet summertime. Pina colada anyone?

Bella

Remember Bella?

Bella was 9 months old on May 1st. We had her spayed this past Friday. I was a nervous wreck all day, because, after all, my baby was having surgery. She came through fine.

As you can see, I wasn't the only one worried about her. Logan was worried about Bella.

And Rachel was worried about Bella.

It's amazing how attached you can get to a dog!!

Handmade With Love

We are in the very slow process of cleaning out my mother-in-laws home. All the time we spend selecting and arranging things in our home for our pleasure and then one day we are no more and our home is dismantled and our things are dispersed and it is sad. But this is not meant to be a sad post. This is a post giving honor to my wonderful mother-in-law, Denise.

My dear MIL devoted her life to her family. She loved her home and took great care and pride in everything in her home. She did not work outside of the home, but worked so diligently inside to make it a haven for all who entered. There were many things Denise loved to do, but needlepoint was one of her favorites. She had many pieces she worked on so lovingly and I want to periodically share some of Denise's special things with my blogging friends.

This piece below hung over Denise's television in her living room. I am going to hang it in my office at work. It will give me peace and comfort knowing that something that was so special to Denise, something she spent many hours working on will share my workday space with me. Isn't it beautiful?

Can you imagine the time spent working each stitch? I love it and I will so enjoy looking at it as I go about my day. I spend eight hours of every day at work. It's nice to have special memories from home cozy it up a little bit.

Pretty Painted Roses

On Saturday, my friend, Hope, and I went to a craft show at the South Florida Fairgrounds. I used to go to this particular craft show whenever it was in town and inevitably, I always found something to bring home. My favorite vendor was "Sweet Dreams". Linda and her husband, Walter, work together to make a variety of items with very pretty pink roses. I could never leave without buying something from Linda and Walter.

This clock is one of my early purchases.

I've always kept my Snow Babies on this pretty little shelf. I love the creamy white against the pale pink stripes.

I couldn't resist this birdhouse.

My absolute most favorite item is this rocking chair. This is an old chair that I inherited when my grandfather passed away in 1991. It always sat in a little area of my grandparents kitchen and it was where my grandfather would sit and listen to "nana" tell us stories of her youth and falling in love, or where he'd sit and watch us bake cookies, or play hangman. My nana loved pink. As a little girl, I was amazed that a grown-up liked pink as those were the days of "harvest gold" and "avocado". But everything in my grandparents home was pink, including my grandfather's little rocking chair. I was thrilled when I found that no one "claimed" this chair when my grandfather passed away.

Through many years of use, the pink was faded and worn. When I finally decided that it was okay to change the look of this family heirloom, I commissioned Linda and Walter to refinish it with the pretty pink roses that I've always loved. They did a great job, I love it and I am so happy this little rocking chair is mine!!!

Having not been to one of these craft shows in a couple of years, it was a real pleasure to go on Saturday. I was very happy to see that Linda and Walter were still there, still making things with pretty pink roses. Not that I needed another clock, but this was Saturday's purchase.

It was great to see my crafty friends again. It's always interesting to see the many ways we connect with people in different places and spaces.

Finally Had Time to Make Something

Life has been a bit out of the ordinary lately and I haven't been able to do any crafting. I was very happy to sneak a little time this morning to finish up my mom's birthday gift. It was such fun! Here is the before picture.


And here is the finished product.

I am so pleased with how it turned out and I think my mom will love it. It was such fun to make and really did not take that long. I can't wait to see what she thinks.

Thought I'd share some pictures of the Palm Beach shoreline on a recent evening. It was so peaceful and serene.

This is why I live here . . . because it's not always hurricanes and hot, steamy weather.



It's my little corner of God's big, beautiful creation . . .

As the sun goes down on another day, the moon will light our way . . .

Hope you have a great week!!

To All Mom's . . .

Hope you enjoy the day!

May Day

My mother-in-law passed away on Friday, May 1, 2009 at 7:30 pm. I am so happy that I went back on Thursday night to tell her my feelings. I was going to go home and talk to her on Saturday because I couldn't be there on Friday. My brother-in-law encouraged me to go talk then and not wait. I could barely get out what I wanted to say as I was crying so much, but I told her how very special she was to me, all the wonderful lessons she taught us all by the way she lived her life and the beautiful memories I will carry with me forever. I thanked her for all the love she has given and assured her I would do my best to take care of things when she was gone. I told her I wanted to know she was okay, but please . . . do not come back and visit me. She loved that!

And so a beautiful life goes. We are here one minute and gone the next and our legacy lives on for those that love us. My mother-in-law was a unique individual in that she told it like it was, oh the stories I could tell, but her unconditional love was everlasting and that is what I will always remember and hold close to my heart until we meet again . . .

Seize Your Moments

Life has been so very interesting lately. My mother-in-law became a Hospice patient last night. She left the hospital on Monday for rehab and it was determined yesterday that she was unable to participate in the rehab plan of care due to her progressive decline in cardiac functioning. She will be evaluated this coming week for the next step. Thank you all for your well wishes. Only God knows our journey. We need to make the most of our ride.

I've been so immersed in my MIL that I forgot to acknowledge my one year blogaversary this past Sunday, April 26th. It is such fun to have this outlet and it has been wonderful making many new blogging friends. I want to have a giveaway because they are always a hit. I'm debating on finding something really unique, fun and pretty to give away, or to offer a gift certificate to perhaps either Michael's or Home Goods. My personal life situation right now will have to be my determining factor, so I will see how things go the rest of this week and whether I'm able to go blogaversary shopping or not. Either way, please check back with me. My goal will be to post my giveaway by this coming Sunday, May 3rd. Keep us in your prayers, please - strength for God's will. Thanks!!

A Crafting I Will Go

I am crafting tonight and loving it!!! My life has been a bit nuts lately with my mother-in-law being hospitalized and all that goes with that. Looks like she'll be discharged tomorrow which is a good thing, but she can't even get out of bed on her own so we need to find a rehab until she's strong enough to go home. That's a whole other story.


Anyway, back to the good stuff. My mother's birthday is coming very quickly. Her name is Esther. I am going to embellish her initial "E" with buttons, pearls and silk roses. So far I've painted the letter an antique white. Tomorrow I'll get out my trusty glue gun and glue away and cover everything with glitter when done. One of our fellow crafty bloggers, and I unfortunately cannot remember who, made a very pretty wreath covered in white buttons and pearls. I thought a wooden letter would look pretty done the same way. Hopefully I'll finish it in time for my mother's birthday and I'll be sure to show you the finished result.


It's so much fun to make something!!

Rachel . . . Again

I don't understand this whole track thing. I'm thinking it may be a South Florida thing, because they do things a little differently here, but I really just don't understand it.

About two weeks ago, Rachel had a track meet to determine who would qualify for the county meet. Rachel did not make it.

Today there was a district meet to determine who would qualify for the regional champs meet. I don't understand how you can have a meet for county champs and not make that, but then have a district meet for regional champs and make that.

Yep - Rachel made it to the Regionals!!!! That meet is next week in Coral Springs. They miss practically the whole day of school and I have to figure out who can cover me at work so I can go.

Rachel starts out slow and steady and sprints like wildfire once she comes around the last bend. She usually passes three or four runners in that last section. She's got a reputation for her phenomenal sprinting finishes. It just amazes me how she can go around four laps with such ease and dig so deep at the end to bypass half of her competition. Yes, I am very proud of Rachel!

Just Checking In

This is where I'd rather be . . .

But this is where I've been . . .

My mother-in-law just got moved out of critical care last night and what a week it has been. She had a heart attack last Wednesday and things pretty much got progressively worse from there. Why is it that the minute you get into a hospital bed, things just spiral? She wound up in kidney failure - a result of the dye from the cardiac catheterization, most likely. Heavy doses of fluids would help with many, but with the multitude of cardiac and pulmonary issues my MIL has, she had congestive heart failure. Okay, so a little of this, a little of that . . . steroids to strengthen her lungs gave her an incredible rash, she also wound up with thrush and best of all - massive confusion, which led to another whole series of "stuff". But, she started rolling her eyes and tapping her fingers last night, so that's a good sign.

We're moving along . . . slowly . . . and I truly miss my life. Does that sound selfish? Okay, I'm being selfish right now. I do not like being on constant overdrive. Years ago, I thrived on that lifestyle. Not any more. One of my biggest pet peeves is negativity, so I'm not going to moan any longer. Just want to say I miss you all!

Life Goes On

What a week! We had a surprise visit on Saturday night from my brother-in-law and his son, both named Mark. They live in North Carolina and decided to make a quick trip to us for Easter. It was such a pleasure to see them both. My nephew has been living with his mom in Illinois most of his life and only came to live with his dad last November. I haven't seen him since he was about 8 years old, and now at 18, he has grown into a nice young man.

Easter was wonderful! It's such fun to watch a bunch of teenagers going nuts looking for the hidden eggs with money in them (forget the candy)!! Guess it doesn't matter how old you get!!

It's always busy when out-of-town relatives are visiting, and we were all thrown a real curveball when my mother-in-law wound up having a heart attack and subsequent hospitalization. We've now been busy visiting her in ICU and waiting for test results. Fortunately she is at the hospital I worked at for many years and am still well-remembered, so I know all of the "back doors" to tap on.

Rachel's last track meet is today and while she did not make "county" as we had hoped, she's looking forward to this last meet. She's got a real positive outlook in that she has no regrets for not making it. She said as a freshman, it's not her time, and was happy for all the juniors and seniors that did make it. She told me not to worry about it, that she would be there when she was ready to be there.

So, things happen and life goes on and we try to keep up with it. It's times like this that I so miss the normalcy of my life, you know, watching Dancing and Idol, tossing clothes from the washer to the dryer, figuring out what I'm going to make for dinner, squeezing in time for the fun things I enjoy doing - like creating, blogging and reading. It is all those "mundane" things that really do give our lives value, purpose, peace and happiness.

Easter Egg Garland

I received my Easter Egg Garland in today's mail. I was so excited to see the eggs I received.


Aren't they pretty? Jennifer at Artrageous Afternoon hosted this fun event. Jenn is a very together person. She is a mom, an art teacher, very artistic in all she does (go check out her blog) and she handled this egg swap with such comfort and ease.

We get different things from the different blogs we visit and we visit for different reasons. The end result, though, is usually always the same. We leave the blogs we visit with so much more than when we arrived and growing in any way is always good.

My one year blogaversary is at the end of April. Every year in our lives is full of changes and blogging has been such a positive change for me. I have met some truly wonderful women that have inspired me to be creative, motivated me to be resourceful, made me more aware of the beauty around me and encouraged me to visit new places. I've had proud moments, happy moments, embarrassing moments and enlightening moments. I wouldn't trade any of them. More than anything, this is fun!!

I never did a 100 post giveaway so I will make up for that at the end of the month. I'm looking forward to giving something back for all the good I've received over this past year. Stay tuned . . .

Mind Wide Open

Should you get the urge to spark your creativity, be sure to visit Gail at Mind Wide Open. On the first of every month she offers an image and a word prompt for anyone to run with and then offer up in a challenge. I first heard about this site through Joy at Joy to the Blog. I've lurked at the site for several months and decided to participate in the challenge this month as I could not resist this image. The word prompt was "moments". I made this collage below in my sketchbook. This is my rendition of "Stolen Moments in Time".

I've only recently started giving myself the opportunity to explore different ways to express my creativity. When soaking up the sun in South Beach recently, I was reading, "Living the Creative Life" by Rice Freeman-Zachery. This is an excellent book that you should definitely check out. She talks about how everyone is creative, but not everyone takes the time to go further with some of those thoughts or ideas that pop into our heads at any given moment.

In all aspects of my life, I am trying to capture each moment and not rush through any of them. I have become so much more peaceful and content and I think a little of that came out in my contribution to the April Mind Wide Open challenge. There's so much stimuli that comes our way each day. I don't want to miss any of it.

My Easter Trinkits

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved holidays. I once loved the dressing up part of holidays. Now I love dressing up my home. Are these not adorable little bunnies?

This little arrangement is on my coffee table in the living room. Here's another view.

My mom bought these chicks and bunnies for me about thirty years ago. Geeze, that makes me sound pretty darn old. I guess maybe she was pregnant with me at the time. Yeah, that sounds good!!
This little bunny family sits atop my television armoire watching over us.

A co-worker handmade these bunnies for me at the first hospital I ever worked at in East Orange, New Jersey, ummm, back in 1978. Yep, older than dirt, don't I know it!

The tall bunny in the photo below of my dining room table was a recent find for me. I saw her at Home Goods this weekend and her poor little ear was off. Fortunately it was lying right beside her. I found a wonderful Home Goods employee who reduced her to $5.00. I'm going to encircle her ear with tiny pearls to cover the area, once I glue her ear back in place. She is a lovely addition to my collection of Easter goodies.

Here's a close up of the little bunny and chick egg holders on my dining room table. They're so cute, you just have to see them up close!

Have you seen The Farm Chicks new cookbook? It is luscious!!! This Easter basket I made in ceramics in 1985 and is just so patiently awaiting the arrival of the Easter bunny with lots of goodies for good little girls and boys. Hmmm. Do I have any of those at my house this year?

A couple weeks ago, Deb, our Garage Sale Gal, said something about a vintage plaid lunchbox. Turns out to be a replica of the one I carried to school each day as a little girl. I was pleased as punch when my purchase from Deb arrived last Saturday. It took no time at all to set up my new treasure in my kitchen. This lunchbox brings back warm memories from days gone by and cozies up my kitchen too!

I decided to enter the April Mind Wide Open challenge. There's no turning back now as I've already submitted my entry. Nerves and confidence rattling - can you hear it too? Wednesday is the official posting day, so I'll share my creation with you then.

I've been busy decorating and creating. What glorious fun!! We're supposed to have fun, right?