{a pink tree for sophie}

My Sophie {LOVES} this time of year! She is always just bursting at the seams to decorate her room. This year was extra special as she just had this awesome room redo! {see it here}This  year she has a {PINK} tree that was upcycled from some {OLD} things her Mimi was getting rid of...

...she and her Mimi decorated it and it looks super sweet in her dreamy white room!

Miss Sophia is as happy as a clam with it and falls asleep to the twinkling lights each night...

...pictures to come of her {NEW} {OLD} curtains that were also upcycled from a friend...

{a special thank you to those of you who read faithfully...even these days when it is so very difficult to find the time, the energy or the creativity to blog at all...thank you... i love you all}

{Cyber Monday & Etsy}

Cyber Monday is here again and in celebration of my newly renovated Etsy Shoppe I am offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25.00. Upon receipt of your order & payment I will refund the shipping to your account!

A special 

{THANK YOU} 

to all of you!

{A is for Apron}

     I have been working the last few nights to get some things ready for the holidays and the Etsy Shoppe and I am so excited to finally share a few photos with you!

Farmhouse style is one of my favorites and no matter what I create or what fashion dictates, I seem to come back to it, again and again...

...I love the fresh and funky feel of whitewashed porches, chippy rocking chairs and well worn aprons...all those years on my grandparents dairy farm in Wisconsin left me with fond memories of these and other farmhouse style lovies....

A if for {Apron}...a sweet and simple two 

pocket apron that speaks of days gone by...

B is for {Buttons}...vintage looking calico prints 

make these loop back buttons super charming...

 

 C is for {Cards}...Farmhouse style note cards complete with 

ruffles, stitching and sweet, sweet peonies.

{sneak peek}

 The holiday are fast approaching and so is the hour when I will bring out the lights and the tree and all the festive goodies that bring a smile to my face...

...I seem to get in a super creative mood at this time of year, and this season is no exception. I have had so little time during the day, with school, work and trips to the hospital, BUT, I do have my nights...

...here is just a {sneak peek} of what I have been working on for my Etsy Shoppe. Stay tuned for more yumminess!

{ i am thankful }

Recently someone very dear to me became ill. While this man is not my {father}, he is someone I have called {dad} my entire life.

Two weeks ago he was diagnosed with Stage IV Advanced Prostate Cancer. The treatment was immediate, and so were the consequences. A rare and very serious side effect left us racing for the emergency room within hours of the injection. A three hour long operation to remove a large tumor that had ruptured in his brain, as a result of the treatment ensued. It has been a long and scary process.

Here it is two weeks later. He is recovering, but certainly not himself. He will come home the survivor of a brain operation, but his cancer will remain. I have given up hours upon hours of each day to keep his company...I have postponed appointments, and work continues to stack up on my desk. I have delegated most of my chores to my kind and ever helpful husband and children and learned that staying up way too late and getting up way too early are habits that can indeed be learned.

Some days I have been irritable that this devastation has fallen in my lap. This man has two biological children who could take the time to come here to be with him. Help him. Comfort him. Some days I am strong and carry my burden with shoulders high - yet another gift to God. The gift of caring. The gift of sacrifice. Some days I cry. I am tired, I am mad and I miss my family...but most days I am {THANKFUL}.

I am thankful for the gift of life. I am thankful for the gift of health. I am thankful that I have two men in my life that I can call {dad}...I am thankful that I have a supportive and adoring husband and responsible and caring children...and I am thankful for the gift of {REAL FRIENDSHIP}.

Right before this calamity struck, I was the honored recipient of many gracious gifts...


One woman I call friend blessed me with a rare and wonderful retreat...the chance to forgive myself and the world around me...the chance to be with people I love in a beautiful place. She continues to uplift me and remind me that I matter...that LIFE will not get the best of me. For that and for her { I AM THANKFUL}. {i love you Lorraine}

One woman I call friend has done one kind thing after another for me...little treats that I should and can not do for myself. Every day things that make me smile. She is supportive and encouraging..and makes me believe I am worthy...and she is kind and patient in waiting for what is hers...for these things and for her { I AM THANKFUL}. {i love you Sandi}

One woman I call friend continues to check up on me...calls and texts and cards in the mail. She makes me smile and always thinks of me and my wildly crazy life. She is always pointing out my sweet and wonderful children and their accomplishments, applauding their growth and mine...for these things and for her {I AM THANKFUL}. {i love you Barbara}

One woman I call friend thinks of me out of the blue. {Little Birdies} tell her things and then I find sweet goodies in the mail. She knows what is precious to me...and why...For this I and for her { I AM THANKFUL}.  
{i love you Cathy}

One woman I call friend, I have yet to meet. I talk to her via email and we have discovered a great kinship. She, too, thought of me recently and mailed me something most beautiful handmade necklace. She is amazingly talented and I will treasure her gift always. I look forward to the day when we shall meet. For this and for her {I AM THANKFUL}.
{i love you Gretchen}

One woman I call friend, I feel like I have known forever, and yet she and I have not met either...messenger of {angelic}thoughts. She sends me a kind word, a supportive thought, a cheery note, a surprise gift...and always a surprise it is. She has a calming beauty radiating from her words. She makes me smile. For these things and for her {I AM THANKFUL}. {i love you petite michelle}

One woman I call friend has been here for me through thick and thin. She sees the good the bad and the ugly in me and still she remains true. She calls, she listens, and yet she calls again. She is brutally honest and deeply sincere. She loves me no matter what and has made a great effort to comfort me these days. For these things and for her { I AM THANKFUL}.  
{i love you Connie}


I love these woman. Each and every one of them. With all of my heart and soul...and while I love their goodies and treats to pieces, it is {THEM} that mean the world to me. I think of each of them daily and can not bear for them to think that I do not. I am crazy and I am busy and and I am hectic, and so I have been remiss in my etiquette. There has been no time for thank you notes...less time for calls...an abbreviated text message at best...{BUT THEY ARE WORTH MORE} and I need them to know this. {THESE WONDERFUL WOMEN} are who I have admitted into my life, my soul, with a smile. I am so very {THANKFUL|} for each of them.

So here is your {THANK YOU}. 

 {merci}

My little handmade card that expresses my overflowing thanks.
No matter what comes my way in life, I LOVE YOU.

{sometimes you just dance to the music in your heart}

Some things in life just make us smile. For Sophie it is {MUSIC}.

The beat is something that lives within this child. She is lovingly referred to around here as {the happy child}. So happy. All the time happy. Wake up kinda happy.

She loves to hear music. She loves to sing and dance. Not in a class. Not on a stage. Just for herself.

There is not a time when she is not {dancing} through the room, or {trilling} her thoughts out loud. If she has something to tell you there is a very good chance she will sing it to you. In {OPERETTA} style, no less. She thinks that this is a perfectly fine way to communicate. Sometimes, when the {OPERA} is out, she sing songs her message to you in a British accent. It matters not to her that even British accented singers don't sing this way. It is entertaining to {HER} and that is all that matters.

Why does she do this? I asked her one day. She told me that she was {dancing to the music in her heart.} There is nothing more perfect or wonderful than an answer such as that...and so she is the happiest child we know. Dancing and singing her way through the days...

...making us {SMILE}. Enjoy today's feature presentation!

{THE END}

 

{if you have a lane, you have a chance}

...the results are in. The Regional Meet concluded. The results say she will not advance to the State Meet...that she is not a winner. You decide.

My sweet, sweet Olivia. She practiced endlessly. She worked tirelessly. She prayed for victory. She went into that meet a champion. She gave it her all, gaining time, yet again.

She swam, and she swam and she swam. Pre-dawn mornings that extended into late night bus rides. Day after day, meet after meet her encouraging attitude coaxed not only her own tired body on, but those of her teammates. She was a true Captain. A real leader. An athlete worth knowing. She was a champ.

She beat her own personal goals, fought off fatigue and weathered the unusual cold. No wind, no ticking clock, no "this has not been done before" could slow her down, extinguish her cheer.

If she is not a {winner} than what is she?

Congratulations CHAMP! I love you!

{two pumpkins, two spirits, one love of creating}

 This was what each child was given. A single, beautiful pumpkin. No guidelines, no rules, no restrictions.

{Just carve.}


As they began, I knew that each pumpkin would get a different makeover, each child being so different in their own personalities.

It was amazing to watch as they created, carved.

One child dug right in. No planning, no strategies, no worries. Just a hunker down attitude that made me smile. She reveled in the {ooey gooey} parts and would have been content to make pumpkin seed and mush pies all day. Not a planner. Just a {fly by the seat of your pants kinda gal}.

One child was pensive, tentative. Sure he loved the {ooey gooey} part too, but in a slightly {okay step one is complete, let us please move on to step two now way} His pumpkin on the other had did not have one single strand of flesh, not a solitary seed left in it when his cleaning and scraping was complete.

 

One child grabbed a pen and began to draw. I asked her what her pumpkin would represent. "I'm not sure!" she said. "Maybe Harry Potter." Quick as a fox her hand raced across the face of the pumpkin. In approximately 5.6 seconds her {giant orange squash} had a face...

 

 ...Harry Potter it was. At least I thought so. It had glasses. I assumed. Something I should never do when it comes to Little Miss Sophia.

 One child sat. And sat. And sat. Thinking and planning what to draw. What to {transform} HIS gourd like squash, aka {Cucurbitaceae} into...

 One child wielded a tool and went to work. Sawing away like there was no tomorrow....not giving much thought to the lines she had drawn....just {winging it} as she went...

 One child finally came up with a plan...a {robot} it is. After a careful steadying of the pumpkin, he lined up, mapped out and began to draw his very careful lines.

 One child hacked away...determination and speed driving her.

 One child carefully inserted the saw tool and slowly and with great care began to punch out his lined areas. One at a time. On the line. Exactly on the line.

 Time was his friend. Accuracy his goal...

... precision ultimately important.

 ...and so they worked. Her face a tell tale sign of the delight she was having in carving...

  

 ...his showing the determination of a rocket scientist.

 And so I learned how wrong I was. {Again.} Not Harry Potter at all. It was Sophia herself. The "scar" on her pumpkin's "forehead", not a scar at all. Bangs. Yep. Bangs. Sophia doesn't have bangs. But she wants bangs, and so her pumpkin self image has them...or one anyway...and green hair. Who knew?

 And I was contented in knowing that Ethan's intended robot would be just that. {a robot.} He would follow through no matter the obstacles that befell him along the way. He was predictable, but thorough. Not the {fly by the seat of your pants gal} that Sophia was. He was my {mini rock}. The {chip off the proverbial block}. His father's son. Someone I could depend on with my guesses.

So when the carving was complete, and the pumpkins on display, all were happy. Two children. Two pumpkins. Two very different spirits, but {one love} of creating.

{and the perfect mix of me...someone who writes all of her dreams in her agenda. someone who will fly anywhere with her planner.}