George and I are having a relaxing weekend. Since my mother is in the hospital, I am trying to stay calm and lay low. It is best for me if I don't try to do too much when I am thinking and worrying about her. The doctor is hoping that they can reduce the fluid retention and hope that they can send her back home soon. She is 96, and her heart is not good, and this is probably the result of that. She doesn't want to hear the words "heart failure", but that is what the heart doctor said...and mom was very upset. We all were. So I am praying and hoping that she will be better and home soon, but in the meantime...one day at a time.
The flip side of this worry is my elation over Michael and Michelle's upcoming marriage. I am so excited for them. The wedding is September 3rd, and they are now out shopping for a townhouse. It is just so nice for two young people to be so happy. I am thrilled beyond words. My only goal for their wedding is to get through it without tears, something that seems unlikely since I hardly ever think about it without tearing up.
Today is Sunday and it is time for me to go cut crosses out of construction paper that my Sunday Schoolers will use to fold up into boxes. It is a nice little craft project for them, and they are so fun and cute. Off to church.
Have a great day.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
A rainy day project
Have you ever had a little space all your own? Well. I have a new little "beadie studio" in my kitchen. George worked to get the shelves up today, and I put up my boxes of beadie items. Nothing makes me happier than to have a little space to work all my own. It is a small area that was the kitchen "nook". The table was there when we moved here, and it was too big for the area. We never even tried to squeeze ourselves in there to eat breakfast. So, finally, two years later, I decided enough was enough. Today is a rainy Sunday afternoon and George made two trips to Home Depot to get the shelves and put the brackets into the studs on the wall. These shelves aren't going anywhere...and neither am I!
A customer sent me a lovely little thank you card with a tea bag in it. You can see it in the window. How nice! I'm a happy girl.
Have a great day.
A customer sent me a lovely little thank you card with a tea bag in it. You can see it in the window. How nice! I'm a happy girl.
Have a great day.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Easter at our house
It was a busy Easter season for us, and it always is around this time of year. Wednesday night was bell choir practice, Thursday we took the night off, Friday we went to Good Friday services, Saturday we baked five bundt cakes and a big batch of chocolate chip cookies and then went to the Easter Vigil service and stayed through the reception until 10 p.m, then came home and frosted five cakes, went to bed and set the alarm for 6, got up and dressed for Easter sunday, carried cakes to the car, made coffee for 100 people, served TWO coffee receptions after two church services and I played in the bell choir. Whew. We got home today at 1:00 p.m., dog tired, and both of us took a nap. Then we had a lovely ham dinner and went for a ride to Gloucester to see the quiet harbor and the lighthouses and have an ice cream. Now it is time for bed again.
Luckily, tomorrow I have the day off. It is one of my favorite days off--Patriot's Day and the day of the running of the Boston Marathon. I like it because it is a day off that I never had before I moved to Massachusetts, and this year it is a good day to have off to recover from Easter!
I'm adding some "not so good" pictures here of cakes and an exhausted baker---me.
Have a great evening and hope you enjoyed Easter as much as we did!
Luckily, tomorrow I have the day off. It is one of my favorite days off--Patriot's Day and the day of the running of the Boston Marathon. I like it because it is a day off that I never had before I moved to Massachusetts, and this year it is a good day to have off to recover from Easter!
I'm adding some "not so good" pictures here of cakes and an exhausted baker---me.
Have a great evening and hope you enjoyed Easter as much as we did!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Treasures From My Home
I recently started selling some antiques and small treasures that I have here in my home. My thoughts are that over the years I have collected some beautiful things, but as I get older (egads!) some of these things have just lost their appeal to me and I'm ready to move them on. I try to take good pictures, write good and honest descriptions, set a very fair price, and then just throw the listing to the winds of Ebay. So far, the winds are favorable. I have sold 8 out of 10 things that I have listed and my little "treasures" business is a success.
Today I listed these Royal Tara Bone China Sugar and Creamer Set that I believe my aunt gave me a long time ago. In the thirty years or so that I have had them, I have never once used them, and they are just sitting in amongst the larger pieces in the china cabinet looking lonesome. So, I wrote a listing and am selling them.
It is fun to sell these things and find homes for items that I no longer want. I believe that Ebayers like to find something that is truly valuable, or unique, or something they feel that they can't live without. I have sold antique Dunkin'Donuts cups, Mary Englebreit candle holders, a pewter candlestick, some lavender sachet, and a Lenox bird figurine. I have even sold more than that, but I can't remember it all right now. One thing I know, I will not miss these things, and I wish them well wherever they may land.
Have a great day!
Today I listed these Royal Tara Bone China Sugar and Creamer Set that I believe my aunt gave me a long time ago. In the thirty years or so that I have had them, I have never once used them, and they are just sitting in amongst the larger pieces in the china cabinet looking lonesome. So, I wrote a listing and am selling them.
It is fun to sell these things and find homes for items that I no longer want. I believe that Ebayers like to find something that is truly valuable, or unique, or something they feel that they can't live without. I have sold antique Dunkin'Donuts cups, Mary Englebreit candle holders, a pewter candlestick, some lavender sachet, and a Lenox bird figurine. I have even sold more than that, but I can't remember it all right now. One thing I know, I will not miss these things, and I wish them well wherever they may land.
Have a great day!
Monday, April 10, 2006
Dining 1950's style
This weekend I asked George to take the round table out of the alcove in the kitchen and donate it to the Salvation Army. It was too large for the space and the table had become a too convenient place to dump stuff that we didn't know what to do with. I remembered something my mother always says, "When cleaning house, things always get worse before they get better." She is right. Things got worse. But gradually, even though George did not have the same vision of the final project that I did, he motored on, and we cleaned out the space, put in an oblong table and I moved my beading supplies in. Stacking tables made into shelves and my big cloth boxes stacked on the floor made a great storage area for my beads and supplies. I think it is a miracle that I actualy KNOW where everything is, but I do, and I am careful about putting things away when I am finished with a project, since I hate not being able to find things when I want them. With the daylight coming in from the window, and two nice lamps, as well as my small Ebay photo studio, I now have a really cute area to do my beading and all my things are finally moved out of the dining room.
Dining rooms are made for the kind of 1950's style dinners that George enjoys. When we have dinner together, he really likes to sit at the table. It is a noble thing. Sometimes I convince him that we really want to watch TV and eat in the den, but even when I do that, I realize that he is right, and we should probably eat in the dining room like civilized people did in the 50's.
Maybe it is the fact that we do not have three young children sitting there with us like he did many years ago, but sometimes two people sitting across from each other in a dining room alone seems...well...lonely. But we have a beautiful dining room set, and now I can enjoy it. Yes, I will!
And I love my new "Bloom where you are planted" Beading Space!
Have a great day!
Dining rooms are made for the kind of 1950's style dinners that George enjoys. When we have dinner together, he really likes to sit at the table. It is a noble thing. Sometimes I convince him that we really want to watch TV and eat in the den, but even when I do that, I realize that he is right, and we should probably eat in the dining room like civilized people did in the 50's.
Maybe it is the fact that we do not have three young children sitting there with us like he did many years ago, but sometimes two people sitting across from each other in a dining room alone seems...well...lonely. But we have a beautiful dining room set, and now I can enjoy it. Yes, I will!
And I love my new "Bloom where you are planted" Beading Space!
Have a great day!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Oklahoma is OK!
I just returned from a week in Oklahoma. My mother had improved enough to come home again from the nursing facility, and she was all packed and ready when I got there. She had spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted to do when we got home. She had some trouble balancing her energy, and has had a little set-back, so she was in bed resting most of the last two days I was there. I was sorry to see that, but hoping that she is recovering nicely under the care of my brother who is there now.
It is hard to be 96. She has all her marbles and then some. And she wants what she wants when she wants it...like most of the rest of us. She drives herself, and strives to have things done right.
I had a good time. I enjoyed going out to Cherokee Trading Post and getting a pair of beautiful silver earrings. I enjoyed going to Braums for a delicious frozen cone, and I enjoyed going to Hobby Lobby for more beads and jewelry wire. The weather is beautiful, warm and sunny. I even enjoyed watching a thunderstorm roll in on Saturday after noon that included a tornado "watch". Oklahoma weathermen really know what they are doing. They had pictures of the clouds from helicopters and tornado watchers in vans. They could tell you within a mile exactly where the wall cloud was. It was exciting to watch. No tornadic activity they said, and they were right, until it got to Tennessee where lots of people died from that same storm. The weather was just right over Oklahoma that day to form a big storm, and the rain and hail came down in buckets for about two hours on Saturday. We were never in danger and Oklahoma sure needs the rain.
The downside of the trip was when I put a shrink wrapped baked potato into the microwave for too long (don't ask). I heard my mom say in her sweet voice, "Honey, is the potato done yet?" Oh Panic! The house was filled with black smoke. I hustled mom to the front porch and ran back to throw the smoking potato outside. I ran to check on her and when I went back to the kitchen, I noticed the little grass fire that had started outside from the charred and smoking potato. So I ran back for a couple pitchers of water and put the fire out. The microwave was ruined. I tried to clean the black insides, and that wasn't going so well. Then I plugged it in and restarted it several times and the thing just sat like a paperweight. I called the Sharp Company. They said it was probably a goner. I went to Wal-Mart and bought another Sharp microwave for $54. I was happy I hadn't burned the house down!
That was the excitement of the week. I'm home, at work, and glad of it.
Have a great day!
It is hard to be 96. She has all her marbles and then some. And she wants what she wants when she wants it...like most of the rest of us. She drives herself, and strives to have things done right.
I had a good time. I enjoyed going out to Cherokee Trading Post and getting a pair of beautiful silver earrings. I enjoyed going to Braums for a delicious frozen cone, and I enjoyed going to Hobby Lobby for more beads and jewelry wire. The weather is beautiful, warm and sunny. I even enjoyed watching a thunderstorm roll in on Saturday after noon that included a tornado "watch". Oklahoma weathermen really know what they are doing. They had pictures of the clouds from helicopters and tornado watchers in vans. They could tell you within a mile exactly where the wall cloud was. It was exciting to watch. No tornadic activity they said, and they were right, until it got to Tennessee where lots of people died from that same storm. The weather was just right over Oklahoma that day to form a big storm, and the rain and hail came down in buckets for about two hours on Saturday. We were never in danger and Oklahoma sure needs the rain.
The downside of the trip was when I put a shrink wrapped baked potato into the microwave for too long (don't ask). I heard my mom say in her sweet voice, "Honey, is the potato done yet?" Oh Panic! The house was filled with black smoke. I hustled mom to the front porch and ran back to throw the smoking potato outside. I ran to check on her and when I went back to the kitchen, I noticed the little grass fire that had started outside from the charred and smoking potato. So I ran back for a couple pitchers of water and put the fire out. The microwave was ruined. I tried to clean the black insides, and that wasn't going so well. Then I plugged it in and restarted it several times and the thing just sat like a paperweight. I called the Sharp Company. They said it was probably a goner. I went to Wal-Mart and bought another Sharp microwave for $54. I was happy I hadn't burned the house down!
That was the excitement of the week. I'm home, at work, and glad of it.
Have a great day!
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