Wild Winter Weather

            Seriously, what is happening to our weather? This is the first of March and much of the country has suffered some of the most devastating storms and tornadoes we have ever seen!
On Friday March 2 we were told that a storm was coming that could possibly be the worst yet! I'm not sure if it's true in all areas of the country but in my area the weather forecasters can over exaggerate conditions to the point where you prepare and nothing happens.....it can really be frustrating. But worse it can cause people to become rather laid back about preparing for bad weather.
But when we heard that Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel was in town and was broadcasting live from the Ohio river we all gasped! Noooo, this kind of changes things...... this could be serious!! Not only was Jim in town but dozens of storm chasers began to arrive. So we all knew at that point that it must be a very serious condition brewing out there.

Not that my son and I could really see much of what was happening since we were stuck inside the Kentucky Fairgrounds working our booth at the Home and Garden Show. Soon however it all became the topic on every ones mind, and luckily a booth near us had a TV turned to the local weather channel. It was there that we watched in horror as the storms moved through our community!
Here is a clip from this mornings ABC News Good Morning America on the devastation.

Our cell phones began ring continually from family members checking on us and asking us to come home. We didn't know whether to stay or go. Businesses were closing,schools were dismissing immediately. And we knew we only had a tiny window of time to decide. We also knew we took a huge risk whatever we decided. Driving home in the direction of these storms could mean that we could get caught in something on the highway.Or we could stay and find out if these huge buildings would hold up better than they did in 1974. Back then this area was destroyed by a tornado and believe me it was all we could think about!

Before we could make the decision the storm began to pass through our hometown area.
A small town about 25 miles from where we all live and work called Henryville was in the direct line of these enormous tornadoes. In just moments after the announcement of the tornado warning we heard the TV announcer say Henryville had been flattened........flattened! I just stared at the TV in disbelief. We know people who live there it can't be flattened. But it was true. In addition to Henryville another small rural town was badly destroyed as well called Marysville.

So many tragic stories have started to emerge. The news that a toddler had been found in a field alone but alive sent cold chills through all of us. Where was her family. Who was her family. Then we heard the news that her Mother,Father and two siblings all had perished in the storm. Yesterday we learned that little Angel Babcock had died. Her grandmother told a local station that just before she passed away she reached out her tiny arms as if someone was picking her up. I think her parents were there with her, and did just that!

Another story that will stay with me forever is about a young mother who went to pick up her children from school and ran immediately to the basement with them assuming it was the safest place. Her house was hit by what could be the same tornado that destroyed Henryville. She was found alive shielding her children but tragically the rafters from the house severely damaged her legs, the last I heard she lost both of her legs. Please read her story here as it appeared in The Courier Journal one of our local newspapers.

There's the story of a school bus driver who's quick thinking saves dozens of students on her bus. As she sees the tornado approaching she makes the decision to turn around and head back to the school to try and save their lives. She truly believed that this was the end for all of them. Just seconds before they all make it back inside the school building the tornado hits the school and destroys it! They all survived because of her.

Her name was Angel! The child that died and the school bus driver who is being hailed as a hero are both named Angel......that gave me cold chills!!
 One of our employees told us that while they were tarping up roofs they noticed huge holes everywhere in the ground. It was from the unbelievable hail that this evil storm produced..... the size of soft balls.
And as if all of this wasn't enough to deal with, this morning we woke up to 2 to 4" of snow!!SNOW! Jim Cantore said never has it ever been recorded that snow has ever followed a tornado out break!
So we have gone from tornadoes and severe storms on Friday with 70 degrees in March to snow this morning with morning temperatures of 33-34 degrees!

I'm certainly no doomsday person, but this sort of insanity really stops me in my tracks. It confirms what I already knew, that we are not in charge. At any given moment with absolutely no notice anyone of us could be gone!! As a women at the fairgrounds said to everyone standing in disbelief of the news," get yourself right people, get yourself right with the Lord, he's coming"

A Day in My Crazy Life

        I have been experiencing a writers block of sorts lately. I have been racking my brain for a topic,an idea, but nothing really seemed to come to mind,certainly nothing blog worthy. I just haven't been in a very creative mood. I guess you could say I have the blahs! I know this will pass and it has too because I have too much to do. I sure hope I don't lose followers or even worse bore to death those who stick with me.
I am very grateful for the fact that I work with my family, it does make a difference. On top of everything we have to do to settle my Dad's estate and clear out his condo, it's tax time! Not my favorite time of year to say the least.
So in the mist of all this there was one day this week I had to laugh. My oldest son had an idea of how we could better use Quickbooks so he was trying to show me. Well My brain just wasn't in the mood to learn any new tricks, yes I am an old dog!
You see at the shop I am it for the office staff. Amy works when she can,but she has the kids and that makes it tough for her. So I do most all of it. I answer the phones, I set the appointments, I do the payroll, I pay the bills. So as an example of what our phone system could sound like......for appointments press 1 for Rebecca....for human resources press 2 for Rebecca....for accounts payable press 3 for Rebecca....for accounts receivable press 4 for Rebecca.......for complaints press 5 for Will...hahaha well that part I will pass on!

On this particular day Amy had just arrived and so had my youngest son Jason (right). Well before I knew it everyone was in my little office trying so hard to teach this hard old brain of mine with new ideas. Nope just wasn't the best day for it!
Soon I was on verge of screaming when Amy handed me a tootsie roll sucker and we decided to capture this tender moment of me and my little boys. They are a couple of goof balls and thank goodness for it because it does help to laugh, especially at times when you don't think you can.

 I also had several nice surprises for Valentines Day,one of which was a delish box of chocolates and some beautiful pink roses. There were more roses when I got home from my hubby and some assorted yummy chocolates from the grand-kiddos.
I also wanted to totally veer off topic here and share a couple of photos with my grandsons during the plays they performed in last December. I had intended on writing about the holidays and the fun things we did, but all that changed on December 28th.

So much fun to have both boys in A Christmas Carol at Floyd Central HS

It's always a great moment when my teenage grandson gives me a hug!

Tax time will pass, and with hope, prayers, and of course lots of chocolate I will clear the fog from my brain and then my creative juices will hopefully start flowing again....... I sure hope you all will stick with me while I work through this, and regain my passion for creating toys and blogging!

Paint By Number Art Idea

             While stopping by some blogs I haven't had time to visit lately I found an awesome idea. It's another one of those  "why didn't think it" idea!! Ponder and Stitch a wonderful blog I discovered a while back from an Etsy team we both belong to. This idea I think everyone will go crazy over. So many times I have walked through a thrift store and noticed stacks and stacks of unloved and just plain ugly framed art. What a great idea to turn these discarded pieces into what looks like fun paint by number pieces. Paint by number pieces have made a return to the collector scene....and who on earth would have who'd thunk it!

This has me so excited to take a trip to our local Goodwill to see what I might find to re-create some fun art pieces. You can also go to the site where the entire tutorial can be seen. Under the Sycamore is a brand spanking new blog discovery for me, and I can't wait until later when I can steal some time to go back and check it out further.
I just had an idea. Wouldn't it be fun if Goodwill or other local thrift stores hosted  re-create classes? Classes where you could learn creative ideas on how to re-purpose and re-use items you find in their stores. For all I know they may already have them, but if not it could be a blast!

Another Clever Place To Create

Zakka you've done it again!! Check this out on her blog zakka life.

 She found a fun and creative web site that allows you to create word clouds from your url, or twitter feed  and etc. The web site is called tagxedo . It looks really interesting and it made me wonder if this could be used to create a special valentine gift for someone. I must admit I haven't tried it yet but I certainly will very soon. They show lots of examples of what all you can do with your word clouds. She said it's fairly simple and easy to use......that's good because if not I will need my teenage grandson to help me! I am not from the computer generation.

Thank Goodness for Distractions

Distractions, busy hands and lots to do,can be a powerful medicine for grief I think. Thoughts and memories still invade my brain but I know it's a process and it takes time. My funny and full of life family have been so supportive and always there to make me laugh and smile.

Can you tell he has a passion for military and survival equipment?Makes it hard to blow out candles!

Like this weekend for example, boy was it a busy one. A few family members drove down to see our oldest grandson perform in another play,and to celebrate our middle grandson's 9th birthday. There's still lots to do in regards to my father's estate,but that can wait for a little while.We all just needed to be together and enjoy the day! It turned out to be a wonderful day full of laughter.....the best medicine!

Grandchildren,nieces and friends,oh my!

Then the big kids decided they'd better test the new Nerf weaponry!

 Another distraction that has helped me greatly has been Pinterest! Oh my I am so addicted. What a fun invention that is. During some of our long days at the hospital taking turns in ICU, Pinterest was a nice way to not think. Everyone had a phone or Ipad in hand surfing the web,playing games, or like me pinning some great finds to my boards. Wow have I found some clever craft ideas,some yummy recipes and some things I may have to save up for!

http://pinterest.com/pin/253046072782662571/    A balloon T-Rex!!!

http://pinterest.com/pin/253046072782664398/ Key lime cheesecake bars

I have been back to work for a week now,physically but not always mentally. Today I am back to work a little more focused and will be in full swing with my passion which is Hopewell Creek Designs. It's rather scary how the body can just go through the motions doing what has to be done, like driving from point A to point B.....and then realizing you have no memory of the trip.

I am a tad behind schedule on my orders but I'm working hard to catch up. I also have tons of emails to finish catching up on and blogs to stop by and visit. I think besides hugging my grand-kids the one thing I know will help me start to get back to normal is to design something new for my shop. My Dad loved to hear about what I was making and how things were selling. I hope to have a new Campfire up and ready very soon. This idea has been in my head for ages,now I simply have to make it a reality..........or I might actually explode!
So Hello again......... I've missed everybody!!!

His Painful Fight Is Over

      It's hard to remember what day it is today or where on earth I have left my cell phone.....just found it in the refrigerator to tell you the truth. But one date will stick with us forever, and that is December 28 2012. That's the day we put our father in the hospital for what we believed would be for a short time. It was the longest two weeks of our lives. After many ups and downs, and moments of good news followed by hours of devastating news, our Dad lost his battle on January 12th.

Many years ago at the country club for Christmas brunch.

Dad and my two brothers many years ago.

He had laid out his wishes and we did the best we could to honor and follow his instructions. In the end we hoped we had made him proud that we did all we could to save his life in such a way that he would have his life back. We knew he did not want to ever see the inside of a nursing home. We feared that would be the out come and were making plans for him so as to avoid that at all costs. But in the end God took him home and we were grateful that he was out of pain and with our Mother.

During his trips to Europe to over see and open the bank branches on many Army bases.

We worked feverishly to put together his funeral in a matter of two days. Dad was the most organized person I have ever known. So it was no surprise that he had written his own obituary and had a photo taken for the newspaper. We hope the funeral honored who he was and what all he had done during his life. The final military honor guard ceremony I believe would have made him very happy.

Here is a link to his obituary and a brief slide show of photos we put together at Flanner and Buchannan funeral home.
He was always so proud of his years in the Air Force during the Korean War. What he did was top secret and he took those secrets to his grave. He was a man of strong character and solid dedication in everything he did. He never said an unkind word and felt his opinion was his own and never forced it on anyone else.

My Mom and Dad are seated on the right of the photo.

Memorial weekend 2011 on my deck with my niece,brother and sister in law.

His presence in our lives will be forever missed...................but the spirit of who he was still remains.

My Heart Is Breaking

          I am sad to say I haven't had a moment to think about writing a post since December 28th. After all the great news about my Father's cancer,we began to notice he was growing weaker,and weaker. In the beginning we thought it was perhaps the side effects of the drug he had started taking. He became so ill that he was hospitalized on the 28th with nearly complete kidney failure. So each and every hour of each and every day has been the most horrendous roller coaster ride of serious health concerns for him,and emotions for us. Without going into detail we believe that he had simply let other health issues go. He kept them from his doctor as well as us. It wasn't his cancer,but another condition that is now threatening his life. His cancer tumors which have shrunk so small that they are no longer a strong concern,according to his oncologist.
So now we pray, and hope, and wait......and of course worry that he will not survive to be able to enjoy this good news.
Life can be so hard but preparing to say goodbye is truly the hardest part of all!