Feeling Better and Making Plans

         Hello friends!! I'm back,well almost. At least I think I see a light at the end of this tunnel. It's only been 16 days, and for that length of time they tell me I'm doing very well. I am still using the walker but I'm not gripping it or leaning on it like I was, and thank goodness because my hands and shoulders were starting to ache. I'm not going to say that this is an easy process but when you think about what was done to my knee, you have to admit we live at a great time of medical science.

This was the day after surgery and boy was I swollen

I really had planned to share the good bad and the ugly with you all, but I decided against it. Mainly because I would never want to put someone off from doing this. I know it took me over 5 years to get my nerve up, and I would never want to cause someone to change their mind. I still have very mild pain and have to admit that the therapy is NO fun, but what it will give me back is so worth it!

My sweet husband cleaning the house and even the blinds while I'm laid up. Maybe that's why I loved Downton Abbey so much, I had so many wonderful servants these past two weeks.

The kiddos came over to see me soon after I arrived home.

I love this grainy photo of Preston doing some home work while his mom gets me settled in my chair.

The best part of being laid up I must admit has been having my daughter-in-law Amy here to help me and to drag me kicking and screaming off to PT each day. I used this time to hopefully get her interested in the wonderful British series Downton Abbey.

In the beginning she just didn't think it was something she would enjoy. It didn't take long before she was hooked!! I know that once I am better and back to work full time I will forever miss the time we shared together during these weeks.  She and I have shared some great moments laughing at the outrageously wonderful lines of the Dowager Countess and crying our eyes out at the heart wrenching moments!

If you haven't watched it I encourage you to. For me I love the fact that there is no vulgarity, no violence, and that's rare in today's TV shows and movies. Just a beautiful castle full of great manners, respect, and a style and culture that are gone now forever. Well I should also tell you that there are a couple of stinkers in the castle causing trouble and you do love to hate them.

Last weekend I had a lot of family come down to visit me and we also had a grandson who was turning 10. Since there wasn't much I could really do just one week after surgery I suggested before we went to his birthday party that they give Downton Abbey a try. Most of my family fell in love with it and some even made stops on the way home to get the second and third seasons. We have had so much fun texting back and forth about various scenes. My husband,brother,cousins husband,son and even my son's best friend are all into this show too by the way,this is not just a women's show.

Some of us are down to the very last episode of the third season and have decided to hold off until the rest catch up, and because some family members are just getting started. Once we are all at the last one and I am able to get around better I am hosting a Downton Abbey Viewing Party. I just feel strongly that we need a ceremony of some sort to end this fabulous third season that has made my painful time off so much more enjoyable.

I plan to use much of the silver and crystal I inherited and a few of my great grandmother's brooches and lace gloves. I have several hand embroidered doilies and napkins and when would you ever find a better reason to bring them out to enjoy than at a tea party!
As we talked about the plans and dates someone mentioned we should come in costume. Well why not I said wouldn't that be a blast! We haven't set a date yet but I hope to very soon. Amy is looking on line for a hat and we are going to stop by our favorite antique store because we pretty much know what's there and we have a couple of items in mind we simply must pick up.

I teased Amy and asked her if she would mind wearing this while she's taking care of me.

I think I'm coming as Mrs. Patmore. I adore this women who can cook up a meal for a dozen people without any real modern conveniences. In other words without a microwave. For goodness sake,now that is my hero. So the search is on for my outfit and all of the goodies to throw this charming event.
Nothing can get me feeling better than an event I'm about to host......so come on knee we have lots to do!

Number One On My List For 2013

         So another year is done and we are off and running in another year full of hopes and possibilities. I don't know about you all but I have never been a person who makes resolutions.....I know how I am and I would only let myself down.

What I like to do is make lists. I'm a crazy list person. I love the feeling of checking something off,the satisfaction that a chore or an obligation is now complete.
This year is certainly no different. I made my list for 2013 last fall and number one is getting the most dreaded chore I've had facing me checked off the list! I'm getting my left knee replaced. First let me say I truly hate that saying. While it is called that, it's really getting the cartilage replaced,and that's all the details I need to know. However you describe it or whatever name you give it it's something I've put off for nearly 6 years and now it must be done.

I have lived in pain for quite a while....not totally mind you it's only when I walk or stand for any length of time. I have missed out on so much because of these ugly, swollen, knobby things called knees. So it's time to get it fixed and get on with living a good life. I know it won't always be a pleasant process but with the help of my family, friends and some nice strong pain killers I will be back better and healthier in no time.

Jason has been a fitness fan for a very long time.I wish I could say he takes after me.

My crazy sons in my office one day trying to teach this old dog a new trick. I enjoyed a tootsie pop instead!

My youngest son has told me that as soon as I get the okay from my surgeon he will whip into shape! Jason works with us and he is also in the military as well as a avid fitness person. I admire his dedication.Sadly he did not get this trait from me. He works out everyday no matter the day for 2 hours and has done this for more than 10 years. He has been on me to get this fixed and get to the gym for a long time. Whenever he sees me in pain or struggling he will make me get on the floor and stretch....it always helps. I've learned through him that if we don't do anything else in our day as far as exercising goes we must always at least do stretches. He believes it's the secret to aging well and staying well.

I told the kids that the first thing I'm going to do when I learn to walk better this year is buy a pair of these shoes!

I'm just kidding of course but to not have to wear the most boring flat cushy shoes would be a real treat, so who knows I just may buy me a pair of glitzy heels! I do have to tell you I have spent a million dollars looking for the magic cushy shoes that would make walking feel normal.....trust me there are NO shoes out there that can fix this. I've even bought some that said they have a spring in the heal to take arthritic pain away....they don't, take the pain away that is. Soon my oldest son will be given the honor of cutting the heal open to discover if they really do have a spring inside. When I first spent over a hundred dollars on these beauties he asked that when I no longer needed them could he cut them open and check for an actual spring.
I hope to share this path with you all....the good the bad and the ugly. Well maybe not the ugly so much I still have some pride =)
I will be around to check in and who knows I might even be able to write posts more often since I will be off work for a while......and that my friends is number two on my list!

Ghosts From Christmas Past

      Since I opened my Etsy shop I have become an avid internet shopper. It's that little shop that has made time my arch enemy.Shopping the internet saves me oodles and oodles of time. But before the internet I was a huge catalog shopper. Do any of you remember back in those days before computers and Amazon when deliveries from most catalogs could take up to 6-8 weeks? Oh yes the good old days.
 This year unexpectedly I received a catalog that sent me back a bit emotionally. I haven't ordered from this particular catalog for a while so seeing it really surprised me. It's called Bits and Pieces and it has some wonderful items but I shopped it mostly for the jigsaw puzzles. My dad was a big fan of puzzles and always had one on the dining room table in progress. So seeing this catalog this year after his death was very hard for me and took me back to a spooky moment we shared with him many years ago.

Not a great photo but back in the corner behind her was the old wagon with Amish dolls.

My dad was a very quiet, patient man who followed in his father's foot steps by going into banking. He served in the USAF as a radio interceptor during the Korean war. He was very neat and tidy and extremely organized! He lived his life by rules and laws, very conservative in his beliefs. Honor and loyalty was everything to him. Right was right and wrong was wrong and there were NO gray areas to him ever! My brothers and I wish we had inherited some of his neat and tidy traits, but sadly we did not. He had several strong passions....golf, scouting, and more golf! But there was one other passion and that was jigsaw puzzles. So when he had time and wasn't playing golf he could sit for hours and work a puzzle. My mom wasn't interested in his puzzles at all they just weren't her thing.

They did however have a very sweet tradition with dad's puzzles. Whenever he finished one he would come and get her and she would then put in the last piece and they'd share a laugh and say they did the puzzle together! This was something that had gone on as long as I can remember.

Dad,me,Brent,and Barry the first Christmas after mom died having Sunday brunch at the country club.

After Mom became sick with lung cancer he didn't do any more puzzles. I guess taking care of her became a full time job. After she died we encouraged him to find his passions again and we all bombarded him with new puzzles.

A few weeks later when we were talking he asked me if any of us had touched his puzzle he was working on. NO I said absolutely not, none of us would ever go near it. We had been raised to never touch his things.....being a neat freak he would know immediately and throttle us. As a foot note I must also admit that we never walked into their bedroom either... that was just not done in our family. He went on to tell me that the last piece of this new puzzle was missing! He had started working a puzzle my brother Barry had given him. I thought to myself what are the chances that Barry would buy a puzzle with one missing piece, for heavens sake. Now in all the years, and I mean years that my dad had worked puzzles he had NEVER had a puzzle with any missing pieces!
I knew in my heart that no one had touched it but I called my brothers anyway and asked them. Both of them were like me totally puzzled about this (sorry I just had to say it).

I always looked for snowy winter scenes for him to take to Florida.

 So later on he framed the puzzle because he thought it was so strange that a piece was missing....he said "I guess your Mom took it since she couldn't be here to put it in with me". We all agreed but still it just seemed crazy. That started another tradition for our family. Dad occasionally would work a puzzle, glue it down and frame it for one of us.....always with the final piece missing. He never put the last piece in any puzzle after she died.....none of us ever do now, it's just our way of remembering her.

Many years later dad decided to move into a condo and my brother Brent bought the family home. One weekend we drove up there to help him go through things and pack up. My son Will and daughter in law Amy decided to join us to help box up and move some items.

As we were looking around tying to decide what would make the move and what would not we heard Amy shout "oh my gosh you better come in here". She was standing in the dining room with a strange look on her face holding one of mom's beloved Amish dolls. She said look what just fell out of the dolls apron!! We all just stood there staring down at a green puzzle piece, none of us moving to pick it up. We had nearly forgotten all about the missing piece, until then. Finally my Dad walked over picked it up and then proceeded to a spare room closet with the piece in hand. Sure enough it was the missing piece!!

Similar to her Amish dolls

We all laughed and tried to make sense of this discovery. Dad was not someone who tossed things about his house willy-nilly. Shoot he would get crazy if we kids sprinkled salt on the table or our dinner place mat was not straight while eating. There were no logical answers to this except one......did mom return and hide the piece? I don't believe that but we all laughed and said " Well she must have looked down and said if she couldn't put the piece in then NO ONE could".
I guess we'll never know for sure how the puzzle piece came to be inside of the dolls apron. We do know that dad being dad had cleaned around those dolls for years and years and it hadn't shown itself until that day.

I still carry it in my wallet. The green is nearly gone but the meaning still remains.

 I still carry this poor ole puzzle piece around with me and have thought that someday I should get charms made in this shape for each of us. To us it represents my parents and the sweet game they played together all of their married life.

I Don't Feel 60!

      I am soooo soooo sorry that I tend to disappear at times. After working so hard to gain all of you wonderful followers I feel as if I let you all down. How on earth do you do it all? Some days I sure could use a magic wand.

The main reason I have been MIA is that my Etsy shop's holiday season started a lot earlier this year. Etsy shoppers are getting very smart,and are shopping earlier! So Needless to say I have struggled with finding time to sit down and write. All I've basically had time for lately are little comments on my Hopewell Creek facebook page. I would love for everyone to stop by my page and become a follower. It's certainly a quick and easy way to stay in touch these days.

Then this last weekend we celebrated my 60th birthday. The kids asked me what I wanted to do especially since it was such a big milestone. I told them I wanted to do what I love the most....crafting with friends and family. So that's what we did!
A dear friend of mine volunteered to come and teach us the basics of wood carving. She said the easiest way to start is to carve a Santa Claus face using sweet potatoes. Kathy is a great artist in woodcarving. She has been featured many times in Santa magazines as well as Christmas and holiday magazine issues. She has taught this technique in schools and nursing homes. I must admit I was a tad worried that someone would cut themselves,but she assured me that wouldn't happen, and it didn't!

She is currently selling in her online shop Scattered Seeds these beautiful doves. They are intended to be used as a comfort for anyone who may be going through some difficult times. They have been designed to fit in the palm of your hand and you pray. Stop by her shop and check them out they would certainly make a great gift this holiday season!

 Everyone was amazed when they saw a few samples of some she had done years ago. They had the look of a piece of driftwood.Young and not so young participated and no hurt themselves, not even a paper cut.

It was absolutely too much fun and a wonderful experience! We can't wait to see our creations after the drying process. Once dried they are ready to paint, or leave simply leave natural.

After the class with Kathy and all of the slivers of potatoes were swept out of the garage we moved on to other crafts. I tried to keep the crafts centered mostly around Christmas ornaments. My daughter in law brought the supplies to make an ornament that has been floating around on Pinterest. It's where you pour a tiny bit of floor wax inside of a clear glass ornament and than add glitter.
I am here to tell you that they look great! And you don't have to use the exact brand of floor cleaner/wax that the directions say you do. We didn't and they turned out fine.

Since we knew there would be a lot of small ones who probably wouldn't care anything about crafting we decided to rent a bouncy house to keep them busy. This is what two of my grandson's looked like at the end of the day! Yes they stayed very busy until the bitter end!

We played with paper clay,polymer clay,beads,stamps,stencils and paper....and etc!

On top of all of the crafting we all fought over holding the new baby. She is such a joy and everyone is so tickled to have a new baby, especially at the holiday's!

It was the best crafty birthday I could have ever imagined! Kinda took the sting out of turning that big milestone after all!

Halloween: An Excuse to Dress Up and Act Silly

         We just recently went to our kids annual Halloween party and as always had a great time. They do such a great job of hosting a family friendly party for parents to bring their kids and for their teenage son to have his friends too.
I wanted to share a few things we did and some creative ideas I found our there in blog-land. First from Formal Fringe I found a great idea for some illuminated skeleton hands.

I really wish I had found this idea before the party. I did however do something I saw a while back and I honestly can't remember where I saw it. I apologize if I'm not giving someone credit for this. But its little light up eye balls made from ping pong balls placed over battery operated votives.

You simply cut a hole and using permanet markers draw on a black dot and some red squiggly lines around it.

This photo does not do them justice,they were very cool!

We placed them all over outside and I have to say they did look great!
I also made these little favor bags for the kids to take home with them that I saw on Pinterest.

Most of the kids who come to the party each year are in theater with our oldest grandson. Theater kids are always ready to help out on the "scary walk" through the woods that the little ones....and the older ones enjoy. They have to hide or position themselves to look like a statue and of course come to life and scare the pajibbers out of everyone. A lot of acting goes into this and the giggles and blood curdling screams always make me laugh.....from far of away of course! You see I'm a chicken and very "G" rated so I don't do haunted houses....or backyard scary walks of any kind!!

Everyone in our family waits to see what Jason ( our youngest son) decides on for his costume. Last year he was Batman complete with theme music. We wondered how he would ever top that....but he did! He came as Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer. Of course he won all of the big prizes!!

He's here with our little Cat in the Hat Niece.

My husband and I went as Frankenstein and I was the Mad Scientist who created him....as all wives have to do over many years haha! Shhh don't tell him I said that!

The costume that I thought was the cutest I've seen in a long time was Patrick( our oldest grandson) and his girlfriend. They came as the 1940's end of WWII famous photo (often called) The Kiss.

These aren't costumes they are the real deal. I think they are a couple of little old souls they both really enjoy nostalgia. So they searched for the actually clothes. His is a Navy uniform from that time period and hers is a 1940 Red Cross nurses dress. I just loved it,what a sweet idea. I get rather worn out with all of gory costumes so this to me was rather refreshing!

The host and hostess!

So many great costume ideas! We ate too much, laughed too much and the kids and Abe Lincoln danced the night way to Dance Central 3!

                There's no better place to be for us than partying with the kiddos!

Babble's Top 50 Etsy Parents Shops and Little Ole ME!

     Thankfully it is the end of another busy and stressful week here in construction land where I work by day. What would we do without weekends to re-charge ourselves? So as I was about to leave the office I decided to do a little web surfing and found my shop in The Top 50 Etsy Parents Shops on Babble.
I'm kind of excited,tickled,thrilled but mostly very,VERY honored......all at the same time!! Go here to see the list of all 50 shops.

There are six catagories, Vintage,Home Goods,Paper Goods,Jewelry,Clothing and Handmade Dolls and Toys which is the catagory I'm in. I am among 12 wonderful toy shops.
If you haven't shopped on Etsy than you have truly missed out on some of the best places to shop. I go there first before I go anywhere else.....and have found so many great gifts from all over the world!

For me making felt toys is my passion.It truly was an Ah ha( moment as Oprah says)when I opened my Etsy shop. I realized what I was suppose to do at the ripe ole age of ....well lets say over 50.....way over 50 haha! I'm never not thinking about ideas or picking the grand-kiddos creative brains. I have so many ideas and never enough time it seems to sit down and create them. I am always happy when I am sewing!!

Stop over and see all the great Etsy shops on Babble, I'm among some of the most incredible artists!!

In Love With Fall But NOT Spiders

Some examples of leaves from down at the creek. I love the contrast against the purple bench.

          It happens every year and still I remain in awe of how incredibly brilliant the trees become this time of year. I am a mid-west girl at heart and I guess couldn't imagine God's amazing color display this time of year. Some mornings as I drive into work the trees look as if they have been set ablaze as the sun comes up!

I took this photo on a back road while waiting for a train to pass.

Is it just me or do your tastes change with the seasons? This time of year I'm loving squash,persimmons,caramel apples, and pumpkin roll....well actually pumpkin anything! But it's no wonder since we are totally surrounded with the most amazing yellows,oranges,and crimson reds.

Since I'm talking about all things fall I must confess something else. You see I have a passion for fall leaves, pine cones, but especially acorns. If you walked into either my office or my work room and opened just about any book you will most likely find a few colorful leaves pressed inside.

 I just can't help myself they are just too pretty to walk past. Besides I might just need a few for a project someday. Ha! Ha! yes I'm well aware that is what all hoarders say on that reality TV show!


Who could resist picking this up?!

 I also may be the only women in America who has ever boxed up and moved a (decent size haha) collection of acorns before! More than likely my purse has a few acorns in the bottom of it from a walk to the car and back. I hoard them like a squirrel or..... like just maybe they aren't going to make them anymore. Oh well we all have something we do that makes us unique......don't we!

And one more quick item I want to share with you. I recently saw a quick and easy way to make spiderwebs for your Halloween decor. Our local Ben Franklin shared this on their facebook page and I just had to try it.

 They couldn't be easier. Simply squirt Elmer's Glue on a piece of wax paper in the shape of a web and then sprinkle any color glitter you like over the glue while it's still wet.

Once it completely dries peel it off of the wax paper and voila you have a pose-able web to add to your decor. They are really very glittery the photo doesn't do them justice. The one thing I won't add is a spider!! Nope no spiders in my decor EVER!! I once threw out a brand new National Geographic magazine because it had a spider on the cover.....yep you guessed it I have a few other small quirks to deal with =)