"Somewhere children dance to the joyous music of life

and elsewhere they only cling to existence.

They are all ours."

{ laurie kohl }

So, since I just don't seem to make cards and scrapbook as much anymore (not much time!) but I DO want to blog still (my sister likes to read my blog, what can I say?) I decided to start posting the simple things I do each day. Boring for readers , but a way to kind of keep a journal and for my sister to keep in touch (other than the zillion phone calls).
I LOVE to bake and practice frugality and lately I have found some wonderful sites that have given me great inspiration. I learned of homemade laundry soap from the Duggar's site (you know, the people with nineteen children) and while I would never aspire to wanting that many children, I do think they do a wonderful job and the few times I have watched their show on TLC I am amazed at the organization and normalcy that seems present in their home. The main reason I wanted to try the soap came from reading all the praise about it and how gentle it seems to be on skin. My youngest deals with itchy skin constantly and so I thought to my self, "Self, you gotta try it!" I was pleasantly surprised. It IS mild and it has helped my son, but most of all, I LOVE the smell and the way my clothes and towels feel so soft and smell so fresh. The recipe does make lots and both my mom and daughters have benefitted from the abundance of the stuff, but since it is so economical I am happy to share! I did scent mine with some honeysuckle oil that I have and while that makes it smell even better, the Fels Naptha soap has a citrusy smell to it on its own. I also started using white vinegar as a rinse and the only caveat to that is that there was still some static after using the dryer. No problem! I diluted one bottle of softener with an equal amount of water and keep sponges in there. When I throw the clothes in the dryer I put an almost wrung out sponge in with them and Voila! static is gone! If you want to try the soap you can get the recipe here
http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html.

The second thing I have made this week is homemade yogurt. I know, it is an easy thing to buy but darn, the homemade stuff tasted so much better. I added vanilla to it and made it slightly sweetened. Give it a try..http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/

A Christmas Gift

So much for being back!! My intentions were good to post, but then Thanksgiving and then Christmas happened! However, I am happy to post this little "thing" i made for my mom and dad. I had no idea what I was going to do when I started stitching and wish it looked a little more random but I am happy with it. I took a recent photo of them and printed it onto linen. Then I just took some scraps of felt and some twigs and started stitching. My bird looks a little off kilter, but I could not be bothered to redo it! I want to make another but have it more random. I got the idea to stitch something from this blog.. http://rebeccasower.typepad.com/rs_out_of_hand/2009/12/index.html I so want to make some little journals with all kinds of stitching. I must say that it is so soothing to me to just sit and stitch. My mind wanders and and I seem to forget all my worries.! Try it! Today is a beautiful day out. I even have some of my windows open to let the fresh air in. Will have to close them soon as the natives are starting to complain. I am going outside to take some pictures of some of the little fairies I made and will post one later..

I'm Back!

It has been so many months since my last post. It is time to get with it. I have not been idle! While card making and scrapbooking have not been my main interest lately, I am slowly getting back into "paper" and i am loving the feel of it on my fingers. I have been doing lots of baking, felting and homemaking. I moved my "happy place" room upstairs but found that was not working for me.. not happy up there! I have all my lovely children home for a few days and guess what they are doing!! Yep, moving everything back downstairs.. What they won't do for cookies! For now, a picture of my three oldest.. Emily is 25, Sarah is 21 and Sweet William is 18.. Patrick was a bit camera shy... I am going to try very hard to post each day. Tomorrow look for one of my fairies!! Have a super Thanksgiving..

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

It has been an extremely sad week at our house. Molly, our twelve year old golden retriever started losing weight about five weeks ago. I attributed it to old age and didn't pay much attention. However in the last two weeks it was melting off her and she did not want her food any longer. Last Thursday I took her to the vet. He did blood work and called me later that night. I took her in the next day for an ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed his suspicions and also what the bloodwork showed. She had a horrible cancer. It is the kind that attacks the blood vessels of the spleen and it had also already moved into her liver. To say we were devastated is to put it mildly.

My oldest daughter and I picked Molly out from her litter when she was just four days old. We visited her every week and brought her home as soon as she was eight weeks old.

She was a character from the beginning. Till the end of her life the retriever in her was alive and well. There are still some socks outside in the yard that I can't bring myself to pick up just yet. She ALWAYS brought us something when we came in the door from being gone. Whether it be socks, a stuffed toy, an old manky bone or someones undies.. She didn't care, she HAD to bring us a present..

My brother used to call her a "science project". Probably because she did not look like a typical golden.. She was purebred but she was a curly girl. She had a pink nose too!.

Our vet told us that with the spread of the cancer surgery would only prolong her life a few months at the most. We took her to a specialist on Monday, but she confirmed our vets diagnosis. Molly was so very tired. She just wanted to sleep and I could not get her to eat. We tried pain pills and anti nausea pills and they helped a little, but she was just not herself.

Emily and I made the decision that as hard as it was for us to let her go, we wanted her to go when she was still able to enjoy a walk along the river where she could chase squirrels and birds. We did this on her last day and also took her to her favorite pet store where she roamed around and stuck her nose into everything.

Tuesday night our dear sweet Molly crossed the rainbow bridge. No longer is she here to greet me when I come home. No longer can I look into her beautiful brown eyes nor pet her soft velvet ears.

Our hearts are broken still, but we know we gave her the best gift we could. Leaving us while she still had her dignity and a small zest for life.

Good Bye Angel Molly......

It has been a loooong winter. My father had a couple of relapses, and we thought for sure that we would not have him for Christmas. It isn't that we are pessimists, but the doctors even told me to have my sister come home asap at one point. But darn!! that man just loves us too much!! He is back home and doing pretty good. I am thankful and grateful to have him around as long as possib

It has been such a long time..

...since I have had the time or the energy or the inclination to post here. I have received several emails from different people and just wanted to post a note.
We got our two girls settled. One into a new apartment and one into her first apartment. This freed up a room in our house. After much going back and forth it was decided that the boys would each move downstairs into their own rooms and the HUGE upstairs bonus room would become my haven..a place for me to put some of my antiques, my scrapbook stuff and my computer. It is looking great, but so far I have not had time to fully unpack and put everything away. I am still in the process of making it cozy, homey and MINE! I finally got a curtain up and my husband has installed some of my shelving. I am anxiously looking forward to fall and to all the lovely cool weather. Then I will finally be able to start creating again!

On a little bit of a sadder note, my beautiful father who I love with all my heart and soul has not been well. He has been in and out of the hospital the last several months and last week was admitted for congestive heart failure. He is home now but is on oxygen all the time. He has become so frail and I know in my heart that our time with him is limited. There are so many things I want to tell him, but neither of us has ever been the kind of person who shows much emotion. He loves me and I love him and there is no question of that between us but I want so much to tell him how I feel. Another reason for my not taking much time to post here, it seems there are more important things to do right now. So for now, just a "hello" and I hope to be back to blogging soon!

School Days and other milestones..

It is that time of year again... we have the new back pack on the bed, that "new crayon" smell in it that brings back such memories to me of all my "first days", the crisp new clothes, socks and undies, new lunch box, and a clean new calender to fill in with all the upcoming school events. I love this time of year, not only because it means I will have some time to myself again, but also because I am lucky in that my boys love school and can't wait to get back into their school routine and see all their friends.

We have another milestone event happening this weekend, that makes me a little teary eyed. My sweet Sarah is 20 and is moving into her own apartment. She is starting her second year of college and I am lucky that I had her for one extra year after high school. Thankfully it is only about fifteen minutes from us and five minutes from her grandparents. She is totally thrilled and it is a sweet little apartment. It is a super safe area (but then, we live in a wonderfully super safe small town!) and she is so excited to have her own space where she can "do whatever she wants, whenever she wants", as she puts it. We have had fun this week going back and forth taking little things and Saturday will be the day she will move in and spend her first night alone. It is time, but nonetheless I will miss her. She is my second child to move out, and I still have two more to go, but I know it will seem a little empty here with her gone. ANYWAY, I always think of this poem each year as school starts and wanted to share it. I am anticipating next week when it will be just the animals and I at home each day and I will have time to sit and create.. Hope you are enjoying these days last days of summer.

World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light blond hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school. And never again will she be completely mine.Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodbye and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse. Gone will be chattering little hoyden who lived only for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

Now, she will learn to stand in lines and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for deadlines.She will learn to giggle and gossip, and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

Now she will learn to be jealous, and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside, and now she will learn how not to cry. No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew.

Now she will worry about important things like grades and what dresses to wear, and whose best friend is whose. Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time, and staying after school, and which little girls like which little boys, And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls.

And she'll find her new heroes. For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus, her pal and playmate, her parent and friend. Now, alas, she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right.)

No longer will her parents be the smartest, and greatest in the world. Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of the group, with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too.Today, she'll begin to learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. That "the group" can be a demanding mistress, and I'll standon the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So WORLD, I BEQUEATH TO YOU TODAY ONE LITTLE GIRL in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light blonde hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL - Daniel Valentine-

summer lovin..

I have been making some fabric postcards, but since my old printer won't work on the new computer I can't scan them and I am too lazy to get the camera out and set them up!! BUT, here is a picture of our pumpkin patch. Patrick is excited to see we have five little pumpkins about hte size of grapefruits on there. It is fun to go out each day and check on them.

The Dog days of summer are here.

My computer just gave up and died last week. After my dd's bf, who is a whiz at computers, checked it over, he said it wasn't worth fixing.. I did buy it four years ago at a "day after Thanksgiving" sale for $250. I think I got my money's worth out of it!! SO, shopped around and got a wonderful buy on this new one. LOVE the flat screen, love the new operating system.. Vista. Now, I just have to transfer everything I need to keep from the old one to the new one..

Haven't had time to make a card.. Well, I did make a couple of fabric postcards, but can't post them just yet. Instead, here is a photo of the love of my life.. he is devoted to me, never talks back and doesn't mind if I am late feeding him once in awhile. He watches me with adoring eyes, will go with me wherever I want and is happy to just "be" with me..

Tucker, my golden retriever. The "girls" are sweet too, but he is just my sweet boy..

This little light of mine

The whole time I was making this card I kept singing that Sunday School song in my head..
I have enjoyed making some round cards the past few days, but think I prefer the square ones!
Used up some Daisy D scraps and a K and Company sticker and a little red gingham brad. I do believe that red polka dots and red gingham are my all time favorites.. no wait, I love pale blue and yellow too.. Patrick and I made a giant Reeses peanut butter cup today for Williams birthday tomorrow. We found this hilarious site called Pimp that Snack. It is British, and since my mom is English and all my kids have visited quite a few times, many of the treats were familiar to us. Basically you take a snack and make it HUGE.. It is fun just to check it out. The peanut butter cup was easy to make. I will post a pic tomorrow..