Update!!

I Thought you would like to know that although I'm not quite ready to come back to blog land full time, my doctor has found an array of drugs that have done wonders for me so far, and I'm feeling a ton better! (I know, perfect place to put a picture of me, but my family is so much more photogenic!)

At present, I have 2 days every week without cluster attacks! The days are random but I have 2 days every week and sometimes I even get 3 days!! It is a true blessing and I feel fabulous. See, I knew my cure was out there, I just had to be patient and wait and less than a year later, I'm getting close, I can feel it...

Anyway,

I am back in my sewing room! (Of course, it looks different in here, since my drug induced OCD has kicked in and I went on a cleaning rampage all over my house...not that my husband is complaining mind you) I even have a couple new dolls in the works. I hope to finish something up this week to post on eBay.

Anyway, I just wanted to write a quick update for y'all and I hope to have even more good news real soon! Keep an eye out for my new dollies on eBay and I hope your summers are good ones!

My Final Post...

Yes, Sad but True. I just don't know what else to do right now.

My health has taken an odd turn...it really started back in September 2008.

I wrote of the crazy wind storm we had that knocked our power out for over a week. What I failed to mention to everyone was that when the power was restored it brought with it some odd headaches for me that only occurred on one side of my head primarily behind my eye. They caused Excruciating pain like something was stabbing me in the eye (and lots of other "fun" symptoms too, but I'll get to that in a little bit). I couldn't tolerate lights or noises. And not just loud noises, but too many noises at once would send me over the edge because my mind couldn't seem to separate the chaos of it all. It was just crazy and painful and I was a mess! The headaches seemed to come and go at random. I never knew when. There was no warning signs they just were all of a sudden and they went on and on and about the time I thought I was gonna die from it, they would just disappear, leaving me exhausted and spent.

This went on for several months and brought several other symptoms. They started to come more often, the pain got stronger, they lasted longer, as soon as the pain in my head would start my nose would start bleeding, my eye would tear up on the side that hurt, as the months went on, the bleeding of my nose got less and less and soon the blood was more like a pink tinted mucus yuck and finally it was just clear and looked like my nose was running, then I started passing out from time to time. One minute I'm standing in the kitchen talking to my husband about something, the next my headache starts and I'm unconscious on the kitchen floor. Luckily, that only happened a few times and I was only out a minute or two each time. By this time, I wasn't sleeping at night night, maybe 2 hours at a time if I was lucky. My head was hurting all the time and waking me up all night long. I could hardly stand to be around anyone and spent most of my time alone hidden in a quiet dark room dealing with the pain.

Finally, the pain was so much I had to see a Dr. We were pretty sure it was a tumor or maybe an aneurysm at this point. Of course, I was hoping it was by now just so it could all be over soon. My body was tired but my mind was Exhausted! Well, when the Dr. was done examining me and looking at his results and everything he said I had Cluster Headaches.
Well, that's a relief! A quick, sure diagnosis. He seemed confident in his decision. Plus, a name like Cluster Headache isn't very scary. It's not like Black Plague or Necrotising Fasciitis or even Cancer. Surely I can beat something that ends in "headache".

Oh, how wrong I was...don't let the name fool you folks. This is no headache. And, it can't be beat. It can be treated. I will have pain pills to deal with the pain and there are an array of other medications I am going through while my Dr. tries to find the right combination for me to get the headaches under control. From everything we have learned up to this point, my condition will never be cured. My best hope is to find the medication that will allow me to control it so that my life can finally be my own again.

Now, I bet you're wondering what one of these so called "headaches" feels like. Well, let me explain this to you as best as I can. And keep in mind, my husband has had to go through these with me on a daily basis because my case is classified as a "chronic" case which means I have them every single day and will continue to do so until they find a medication that works for me. My children have been in the room with me while I was going through them so that they too can be made aware of what I am dealing with everyday...So, they start like this...

Out of nowhere, the initial pain strikes me, it's a stabbing sensation behind my eye. Like someone is trying to remove my eyeball from the inside out with a sharp knife. There is also a great amount of pressure and my instincts are to grab at my eye. Part of this is from the pain and part of this is for the fact that the pressure is making my eye feel like it is going to fall out of my head.

The next sensation I am aware of is the fire moving across my face and up my skull. Across my cheek it begins as a tingling sensation. Kind of like a severe case of something falling asleep mixed with a nasty sunburn. By the time it reaches my forehead, it feels more like it's catching fire and the burning starts picking up speed as it touches my head and runs down to the back of my neck. It seems to be under my hair and scalp and all I want to do is scratch at my head to make the burn stop.

As the tingling reaches across my cheek and touches my ear, it starts to ring. The sound is a hideously loud sound that drowns out every other noise.
Which is fine because by this time, nothing else matters to me anyway. The world could be ending and I would be oblivious to the whole thing. However, the crappy part is, when the headache and all this pain starts to ease back at the end, this ringing noise tends to linger on for a little while and make my ear throb for a bit after.

While all this is going on, my nose is running constantly which is pretty yucky all by itself and my eye on which ever side of my head is hurting at the time is watering all over the place too. And about this eye watering thing, most cluster headache sufferers have their pain on one side of their head, but me, I am SO Special, my headache can jump from side to side, yeah for me. One attack, the left side is under fire, the next attack it might be my right. I have to wait and see which eye waters first or where the pain strikes first to find out.

Oh right, I forgot the best part of this whole process,

Well, my attacks start at any old time of day. There are no warning signs. No times or patterns we've been able to figure out just yet other than mine tend to be stronger in the mornings and daytime and get shorter in the evenings. They last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour long each. When one ends another Can and usually Does start within a minute or so and often times another one after that, which is why they are called Cluster headaches. This process tends to drag on for a few hours depending on how long each one lasts. When I'm finally done and feeling well enough to get up and move around I tend to have a few more "aftershocks" as we like to refer to them here, through out the day. These are isolated incidents of a 15-30 minute cluster attack. And yes, I go through this every single day.

It truly has changed my life and my family's life. I stay home all the time. I never leave my house for long periods of time if I can help it. And if I have to go somewhere, I try to plan it in the evening hours when my odds are better that if I did have an attack it would be a shorter one. I always carry pain pills with me and try not to go to stores I can't get in and out of quickly. Better to have an attack in the privacy of my vehicle than in the isle of Wal-mart or something. Imagine trying to explain that to a store manager, lol.

My headaches can be triggered too. They aren't just random acts. We have discovered that there are sounds and smells that cause me to go into cluster attacks. Yeah, imagine that?
Our first discovery was the ice machine on our refrigerator. Every time someone used the thing I was racing through the house looking for a safe place to land for my attack. It took a while for us to figure it out but when I did I banned the use of it. It seems there is some sound the motor makes that triggers me, so now James keeps a bucket of ice in the freezer for us and when it needs refilling I find a nice safe place to be so he can do it.
Another trigger we found is when I am in the middle of an attack, I have to make sure whatever room I'm in, the windows are closed because thunder can prolong my attacks and so can the sound of a lawn mower. I know, it sounds strange. But there's something in the deep rumbling noises...
It was not a pretty sight when I discovered that. Now, a lawn mower does not cause me to have a cluster headache, but if one starts, it causes me to stay in my attack. Like, when it would normally ease back and the pain would start to go away, there is a tone in a lawn mower motor and the rumble of thunder that makes the cluster headache stay and continue to cause me pain. It's the craziest thing but the Dr. said it's quite normal and the key for me is to find my triggers and stay away from them. Ya think? Clever guy that one.


The craziest trigger yet happened just the other day. It was that time again. Yep, time to wash those grays right out of my hair. I used my usual color, chocolate brown, only thing that hides my natural auburn (yuck, hate my red hair!) anyway, I colored my hair and then jumped in the shower and used the after color conditioner and when I was all done I went into the kitchen to do a little cleaning while my hair dried. Well, it only took a few minutes and I was feeling pretty crappy. I went in to lay down. After a couple minutes, my first cluster started. When it was over I was exhausted, something was wrong and I knew it right away. In just a couple minutes the next one started and after that the next and the next and the next...I'm not even sure how many I made it through before I finally fell asleep. I woke up to another couple and then James came in to check on me and I started another one. I told him right away something was wrong and I was being triggered by something and I thought it was something I had done in the kitchen cause that's where I was when it started. He stayed with me, going through everything he could think of, all the while he was rubbing my back and stoking my hair and that was when he realized that although most of my hair was dry, in the very back there was some dampness near the scalp and he asked about my hair color...it finally dawned on me I wasn't smelling the hair color, I was smelling the conditioner. I barely made it through the shower to get the stuff out of my hair but once I did I started feeling so much better and the attacks stopped right away. That night I went to bed and all at once I started feeling like crap again, and realized I was smelling the stuff on my pillow so I told my husband to get rid of it for me and we could wash it in the morning or something and loving, tired creature that he was, he tossed it in the corner...I didn't realize it but I wasn't able to sleep all night. Couldn't get comfortable and ended up getting about 2 hours sleep. The next morning I found the pillow in the corner and I could have choked him! Big Bugger!

My kids are adjusting well. They know when I'm having bad days they have to be on their best behavior. They try to help out more and they know when I need them to be extra quiet or just let me have my dark places for a bit. They don't get hurt when I can't go to their school functions and they enjoy it when James records them for me and they watch them with me. It's hard for me to know I'm missing so much but I have faith that one day soon I'm gonna have the right meds to help me control this enough that I'll have enough of my life back that this won't be my problem anymore. Hope is all there is right now.

I don't sew much anymore but I feel the urge to get back into my sewing room more and more every day. My girl Kate is really hoping I'll teach her how to sew dolls and that's gonna be my push I think to really help me.

Well, I just wanted to let everyone out there know what I've been dealing with here. And although I'm leaving blog land here. I doubt I'll be able to stay away forever. Don't worry for me. I'm going to be fine. When this thing is under control I'll be back to let y'all know! And I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures of my family and what we've been doing too!

Until Then...

Time Just Keeps Getting Away From Me...

My Goodness, time sure does fly by doesn't it? I can't believe I've let my blog get so far behind. But then again, with my full house there hardly seems to be much free time these days. So, here's the latest on us...

Brian starts his last round of his cancer treatments today. So far, he's doing well and things are looking really good for him, Thanks to all who have been keeping him and his family in their prayers.

My nephew has accepted a job in the Air Force. He'll be in the security department and he seems really excited and eager to start. He'll be leaving in June to start boot camp in Texas, so a big Congratulations to you Shane and Good Luck!!

My son Quentin had his 14th birthday on April 4th. We got him a cake and everything and took him out for dinner. He got quite a few presents including a new computer chair, a docking station for his iPod, some clothes and such and a ton of money which we took him shopping with after dinner. He was able to pick out several video games he's been wanting so that was nice for him.

Quentin also had his confirmation on the 5th. He did such a Wonderful job! I was so proud of him standing in front of the whole church and answering his questions and doing his first communion. He's worked hard for it.

My Poor little Kate was sick for the party and instead of cake she got medicine and was none too happy about the whole situation.

My baby Sierra turned 11 on April 10th. She's out in California with her dad so we sent her money out there so she could go shopping and get whatever she wanted. It sucks having to miss her on her bday but I got to call her and we all talked to her and she was having a really nice time so, I Love you Sweetie and Miss You Bunches!


We had a nice Easter too. The girls did an egg hunt here at our house after church. And they gorged on tons of candy! We went to my sister in laws house for dinner. All I had to do was make dessert and she did the rest so of course I was all for that! It was nice getting to visit with them. Funny, we live about 5-10 minutes from them and only see them a few times a year. It's crazy how that works...

Let's see...I think that covers all the important events. I'm still having a blast with my iPod touch. I figured out how to buy my books online and download them to my iPod so now I'm constantly toting it around reading a new book...I LOVE THIS THING!!

I haven't been doing much sewing lately but tonight the TDIPT Mercantile will be updating so I put together a neat little Americana doll to share with y'all. Hope you like her!

Until Next Thyme...

So Much has happened...

We just got the best news we could have ever imagined! As y'all know, I've been posting about my brother in law Brian and his battle with advanced kidney cancer. Well, since he was diagnosed, he's undergone 2 rounds of really aggressive treatments for it. They were so hard on his system he wasn't able to complete either round but the Dr. said his reaction to them was what they were hoping for and it was a good sign.
Last week, he went in for another scan to see what was happening with his tumors and between the medicine and the prayers and Brian's determination to beat this, his tumors have shrunk in size by HALF!! He's doing Much better and his zest for life is even stronger if you can imagine that!
He has a couple more rounds of treatments left to do and I know they should be starting soon so I'll post again when we know more but I want to say Thanks to everyone who offered up a prayer for Brian and his family and I hope you'll continue to do so.

Our nephew Shane has enlisted in the United States Air Force. This is him at his swearing in ceremony. He's selected a couple jobs he's interested in and as soon as a spot opens up for him, he'll be given his orders to leave for boot camp.

Everyone is so proud of him, especially his mom (Dollgivers Attic), and his Grandpa who retired from the Air Force in 1962.

My husband took me out a couple weeks ago. We played some pool (one of my favorite pass times) and then had dinner. It was nice to have a little time away from the kids. We found a spot they are preparing to build homes on and it had such a nice view of the Kentucky skyline, I had to try to get a picture. It might not look like a great picture but I think it's pretty good considering we were in Indiana when I took it. We try to go out a couple times a year without them. Anyway, on the drive towards home, we got to discussing what I wanted for my birthday. Well, most years I don't have a clue and usually just ask for something for the house, but this year, I've decided I wanted an iPod touch. I use my MP3 player all the time and figured an iPod would be even better. So, James decided not to wait, he turned the car around and headed to Best Buy and bought me my iPod! I LOVE it!!! I've never been one who cared much for electronics, I don't even have a cell phone. But this thing is Fabulous! I take it everywhere now. I can even check my email from it! I'm so excited and having so much fun using it and finding all the cool things it can do...I can play mahjong (just Love that game) from it too!!


The kids started their spring break on Friday. Yeah, a whole week of having them all home, all day...well, at least the weather's nice enough that they can play outside in the afternoons. Of course, spring break also brought about report card time...my kids did Fabulous as usual! Do I sound like a bragging parent? Guess I must be! I'm always so excited to see them come home waving their report cards at us cause they know they did so well. I remember when I was in school, I had to lie to my mom and say report cards weren't out yet so I could buy some time to try and figure out how to get one of my friends to forge my moms name so she didn't know I got a bad grade or something...I'm so glad my kids are SO Much better than I was!
*I know the pictures look really small but if you click on them they get bigger so you can read them!

Poor Quentin didn't have a good last day of school though...he had a field trip to the Morengo Caves. Really neat place, of course, he wouldn't know cause the silly boy tripped on the steps at the place and twisted his ankle bad enough he couldn't walk for the tour and had to sit it out. He came home afterwords, limping and when we looked at his ankle it was so swollen you couldn't even tell it was an ankle! His dad ran him to urgent care where they did x rays and what not and luckily it was just a bad sprain but they gave him an air cast to wear for a week till it got better.

I haven't been getting much sewing done here. Of course, between my new iPod and my books, who has time? I imagine if things pick up and start selling again I'll start sewing but for right now with everything being so slow, I'm enjoying the down time...

Guess that about covers everything around here for now...

Happy Birthday To You...

Yesterday was my hubby's 36th Birthday! He took a couple days off work and I got to treat him to lunch a couple times and he got his gift from me and the kids first, of course...a new video game for his PSP. I know, 36, sounds like a silly gift but if you knew James you'd know nothing beats a new baseball game for him.

Last night, he opened his gifts from his family and he got so many neat things. All sports related of course. He was pretty excited with it all. Including the new wheel barrel (thank you Will!) I plan to help him make good use of it come spring!

We did his cake tonight after a dinner of pizza (his favorite). I got him a Dale Earnhardt cake from the bakery. He was really happy with it too! He has a shelf in his office full of Nascar cars he's collected over the years and he was able to add the one from his cake to his collection. It's a wind up one but he liked it anyway.


My big news is that today my swap box arrived!! I was in a swap in my TDIPT group. My swap partner Pam (Goldieloo Woodworks) sent me the most Magnificent swap box ever! I got hand made soap, and lotion and candle tarts and a drink holder and the Sweetest little chicks you ever did see!
There's candy and a diffuser (caramel scent ~ YUM!), and a sweet little bunny decoration, but my favorite piece is the candle box she made me! It's just perfect and she does such Wonderful work! I also got some of her wooden block signs which I just adore and already have neatly placed on shelves in my home. And the Springtime Welcome sign is super! Gosh, there's just so much!
Thank You so much Pam for being the Best swap partner Ever!!

Did you use the glue?

Katie came to me the other day while I was at the table reading and asked me if I could fix her little rubber stamp she got for Christmas. Seems the rubber piece you put the ink on came off the little wooden handle part. Anyway, I looked at it and then sent her off to my sewing room to retrieve my Elmer's glue which I used to repair the piece. I laid it aside to dry and set the glue on the table and went back to reading.
After a while I headed down to my sewing room to work on a few things. I forgot the glue on the table, not that it was a big deal. Anyway, hours later, my husband comes down to my sewing room and asks me if I was the one who used the glue. I thought it an odd question and said yes. Well, he looks at me like I had finally lost my mind and his tone was no less accusing, and he says, why'd you do that? did you really think it would hold? I thought for about a second and said yes, I thought it would be just fine but since by your tone, it obviously didn't hold I have some super glue I can use instead.
He says to me, do you think that will really work? Now, I'm a bit irritated with him and I say, I have some gorilla glue around here somewhere too but it sure seemed to me that the Elmer's would have been sufficient. So, he's still staring at me like I have no sense left in my head and he says, didn't you think that kind of glue would just melt over the heat? I said, well, it never occurred to me that a stamp would need to be around such heat but if you want to use something else go right ahead.
Now he's looking a bit confused as am I, and I say, what do you mean heat? What are you talking about? He says the pan lid, didn't you glue the handle back on with the Elmer's glue? I said no, of course not! I glued Katie's rubber stamp back together with the glue.
Suddenly, his eyes are darting in the direction of my sons room...seems while my son was unloading the dishwasher, he dropped the lid to the big fry pan on the floor and the handle on top of the lid broke off again. Well, Quentin, thinking he'd get in trouble for it saw the glue on the table, grabbed it up and used it to replace the handle so we wouldn't know.
James saw the lid laying on the counter where Quentin had put it to dry and not knowing it was broken, he picked it up by the handle causing it to come off in his hand. He figures it just broke again as it has done before and then he sees the glue mess under and wonders what the heck it is, not daring to imagine it was plain white glue until a brief look around the kitchen where he spots the glue on the table and figures it all out.
For whatever reason he then comes down to me to ask if I did it and since his very basic question was, did you use the Elmer's glue? I said yes not even realizing that I was coping to a crime I didn't commit...we had a good laugh over it though.

I was pretty pissed off yesterday. It's an hour before the end of my bunny auctions on eBay and I had bids and suddenly after a quick refresh of the page, my auctions are gone! Seems, eBay decided to cancel my auctions and informed my bidders that the auction had been cancelled, and they just pulled them! I was livid! They send me a message saying I had written in my auction that I accept money orders and checks and that is no longer acceptable by their new rules. WHAT? That is completely ridiculous! To top it off, I didn't even get my eBay listing fees returned to me because they claimed that my auctions were cancelled due to my breaking the rules...UGH!! So, I removed the words from my auction and re listed them HERE, but I tell you what, I have no intention of telling my buyers I will no longer accept their checks or money orders! Screw eBay if they think otherwise! I may not be able to use the words in my auctions but if someone pays me that way, I'll accept it just like always and if someone emails me to ask about it, I'll let them know that too.
But, enough ranting for now. I think my English, Irish, heritage gets the better of me sometimes. It's quick, sharp and I seem to be able to hold a grudge better than most anyone I've ever known.
I'm much better now though...guess I'm more mellow in my old age. A few years ago, I'd have been plotting a trip to the eBay offices in California to kick the crap outta someone over my frustration with their stupid rules, lol...now I just require a bit of ranting most of the time...

The girls are still sick. Sam has a nasty little cold and cough but she's managed to stay in school because she has no fevers. Kate on the other hand had to go to the Dr. yesterday morning, only to find out she has strep throat again. She has some antibiotic now and will go back to school tomorrow. Quentin is starting to come down with something now too. I'm doing my best to stay away from everyone as much as possible...

I've been doing a lot of reading the past few days. I begin to think I'm only relaxed anymore when I'm curled up in my chair after everyone is in bed for the night, wrapped in my blanket, reading a good book.

Today was a reading day for me. I've only been sleeping about 3-4 hours a day for the past few days and I'm just beat. I took a sleeping pill to help and still, nothing more than 4 hours and I wake up a couple times over those hours, not sure what the problem is but I'm sure it'll pass, hopefully soon...

For some reason, we keep getting mail here for my in laws who live in California. Nothing overly important most of the time, until today...
Shirley, your paper work from the Scooter Store arrived. There's a FREE personal mobility assessment enclosed! You think on it some and I'll send it out to ya if ya want!! LOL

Sick Kids all Week...

Our weather has been So crazy! The other day it's raining, and an hour later it's snowing and we've been getting these crazy wind gusts out of nowhere...well, one such gust of wind got hold of our basketball hoop and knocked it over, naturally it went the only direction where it would actually land on something important...my rhododendron bush...I was so Upset! It was my absolute favorite and now it's gone! The hoop split it in half. Well, not quite half, a good 2/3 of the bush is gone. I only hope that the part that's left will continue to grow and maybe in a couple years it'll be back to where it was or better. It's always something. At least the snow makes everything look nicer...can't wait for my garden to start blooming again.

The girls are still sick. Kate has it now. She's been plagued with high fevers the past 5 days while Sam is coughing all the time. Of course, once the medicine breaks the fever there's no stopping the bursts of energy they have then...Kate's played checkers with all of us now. She beat me of course, I'm more a chess kinda girl myself. And, I'm gonna have little grains of moon sand in my kitchen forever I'm sure now. Sam has read every book she has to me now and Kate has watched every cartoon at least twice!
So far, the rest of us are fine and I sure hope it stays that way but I think for as long as they've had this bug our odds aren't very good.

I'm staying busy down in my sewing room. Have a few more bunnies on eBay and will be adding more items this coming week. Of course, I'm also still selling my books on eBay too. It makes me sad to see each one go but I keep reminding myself of all the new books I want to read. I've got a list now, a Really, Really, LONG list of titles I plan to get. I've found most of them on Amazon.com so now I just have to start ordering them.

I went to my neighbors house the other night to watch movies and hang out. I'm heading over there right after the snow had come down and of course, I own the only boots in the country that were made Without traction on the bottoms. So, I'm walking over, movie in one hand, soda in the other and yeah, you guessed it, I started sliding down the very tiny little hill that separates our houses and with no hands to break the fall, on my ass I landed. I'm sure some of my neighbors had a good laugh over that one...

Anyway, we watched Saw 4 and 1408 while I was there. They were both OK, nothing great though. I'm done with the Saw movies myself. The first one was Super but all of them after that have progressively gone down hill for me. And to know they plan to make 7 of them, UGH! They've managed to turn a really Great movie into a cheesy series like Jaws and Friday the 13th. I mean really, why can't they just leave well enough alone and let the good movies be...1408 on the other hand is my movie. I'm a big Stephan King fan and I prefer my movies to be twisted rather than gory. The ones that try to be scary usually aren't but the ones that are twisted, definitely my kind of flicks! My favorite movies are still Primal Fear and the 6th Sense because I never predicted the endings. They took a twist you just couldn't see coming and that to me, makes a Perfect movie! Well, then there's the Notebook for when I'm in that sort of mood. No better love story will ever be written in my opinion, it's the perfect one.

Well, I suppose I should go get busy here...

Happy Valentine's Day

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day but my hubby took most of Friday off to spend with me and the girls.

James took me to my favorite restaurant, Cheddars, for lunch and then he took me to the jewelry store and bought me a new necklace. I just Love it! Afterwords, we went to the school and went to Sam's class party. She started running a fever not long after we got there so James took her home to have some medicine and I went on to Kate's class party. After school was out, we went home and looked through all the cards they got at school, and they got to enjoy some of their party treats too.

Sam is pretty sick. Her fever is running high and doesn't seem to go down for very long. We're keeping the medicine in her and lots of sleep in hopes she'll be better before the weekend is over.

So, it's that time again, TDIPT Mercantile is all updated and I was ready! Been staying busy in the sewing room as much as possible and managed to make a couple more bunnies and some of my bunny nodders for my shop this month. Have I mentioned how much I Love bunnies? They are one of my favorite dolls to make to be sure.

Well, I've finally done it...I've begun to list my books on EBAY to sell. Not sure how I feel about it yet. It's the strangest thing but they almost bring me a sort of calm to be able to look across the room and see them all lined up on my shelves...but, it's time to be out with the old to make room for the new. I plan to use the money I make on them to go toward new books cause Lord knows I wouldn't make it a day if I didn't have something to read.


Our snow is all gone. I mean Completely! The temps have even gone up to the 50-60's so when we look outside now it's hard to imagine the kids out there building their snowmen just a week ago...

Well, back to the sewing room for me...

Close Call...

Funny thing happened to me the other day. James had an outing all planned out for all of us to go grocery shopping and to the book store for me (the new Sherrilyn Kenyon book came out ya know), anyway, we were due to head out after he got off work so I scurried off to start getting ready.
I was just coming out of the bathroom, fresh from my shower, wrapped in my towel and thought, since no one seemed to be about, I'd just grab my drink and book in the living room to take to my room with me.
So, there I was heading back up the hallway still in my towel only now my hands are full when I hear the girls coming my way. UGH! Of course this is when they'd come upstairs...so I start jogging down the hall to get to my room before they see me (I mean really, who wants to see their mom wearing nothing but a towel?) well, you guessed it, my short jog caused my towel to start coming undone and nothing I could do about it with my hands full so, I quickly ducked into my room and shut the door. Now, I'm thinking to myself, "that was close", when I hear the girls coming up the hall chatting with each other on their way to their room which is right across the hall from my own. Of course my sweet little 5 year old Sam says to her sister in a nice hushed voice, "I think Mom needs a bigger towel".
Guess it was closer than I realized...

So, it's still nice and white outside here. It's more ice now than snow but it's white and that makes everything look prettier than they normally would. The kids had several more days out of school because of it...did you know, they can close the school because it's too cold outside? How ever do they survive in places further north where it really gets cold and snowy?


Oh well, the girls got to take advantage of one of their snow days and decided to go out to play in it before it finally melted away. They had such a good time! They built little tiny snow people. And even thought to put little snow hats on their heads...Unfortunately, they only lasted through the night though. By the next morning they had already started to melt away.

They had a nice snowball fight too! It was like the front line in the war. Neither girl thought to duck and cover, they just stood there making their snowballs and throwing them at each other until they realized that dad was out there and made a much more fun target!

Before they called it a day, they had to make snow angels of course. And Sam didn't want hers confused with her sisters so she wrote her name next to hers.
All in all, I'd say they had a pretty nice day in the snow...

The weather station is already trying to predict another snow storm heading our way in a week and a half. I don't know how they think they can predict such a thing so far in advance, they're hardly ever right anyway.
The school here has already been closed for like 10 days now this year due to bad weather. You'd think we lived in Arizona or somewhere where a foot of snow might be a shock. I mean really, we get snow every year here. Usually not very much and it never seems to last very long but it comes and yet the people in this area act like it's some fluke of nature when we do.

Guess there's not much else happening here. Just spending some time with my nose in a book and working in my sewing room a bit. Have a few more bunnies in the works...well, guess I better head off to get busy on something here...Hope you enjoy the new music play list I added to my blog. Was time for a change I guess, until next time...

Happy Birthday To You...

Well, Happy Birthday to two of my sister in laws! Rhonda and Debbie have both had birthdays in the past couple days. Rhonda's was the 30th and Debbie's was the 29th and I would announce your ages but since I like you both so much I'll just let it slide this year... ;) Really, I hope you have both had a Wonderful party and got everything you had hoped for! Wish we could have been there to help you celebrate. (the picture above shows Rhonda, JoAnn, James and Debbie).

Now for what I've been doing this past week...and remember you can click on any picture in the slide show to make them stop and get bigger so it's easier to see them...

Be careful what you wish for...it seems it wasn't long ago when I wrote of how I'd learned this lesson and yet, here I am once again shaking my head with yet another lesson...

Here I've been sitting praying for snow to finally come and by God it sure did! We have about a foot or so which really isn't all that much but it was brought to us on the tail of an ice storm that we didn't need.

The freezing rains were so bad that they caused layer after layer of ice to form on everything! Trees were snapping under the weight and even power poles were breaking from the pressure. And you know what that means...yes, downed power lines all across town and no power during some of the coldest temps we've had yet! Luckily ours was only out for just over a day but some folks will have to go without for a week to 10 days!

Now, I don't mind having no power, I lit a ton of candles and read my books and even did some of my hand sewing projects to keep me busy. We had plenty of things to eat that didn't require cooking so that was fine as well. It was the unbearable cold I was stressing over! It was 56 degrees inside our house! Yuck! It wouldn't have been such a problem if we had a fireplace but of course we don't...now I'm hinting to my hubby that maybe we should look into adding one or finding a new place to live...I don't think he's taking me very serious, yet...

The kids have been out of school for the past 4 days. Now we're upon the weekend and I'm hoping that they can go back on Monday! James said if the school is closed on Monday, we're driving the kids over and dropping them off anyway! lol

Brian is doing OK right now and looking toward another set of treatments in the near future so I'll keep y'all posted as to what is happening on that end. In the meantime, the town had the auction for him to raise money for his Cancer treatments and it went Super! They raised over $100,000 for his medical expenses!! Everyone was so Supportive and so many turned out for it it was all very overwhelming for him and the whole family really.

Now that the power is back on here, I've been busy plugging away in my sewing room again. I finished up another bunny to add to eBay. I have several more started and I am really enjoying making them. I lost the enjoyment in my sewing there for awhile and it seems it's finally coming back to me! I plan to take full advantage of it too!

Of course, I'm still making time for my reading...my little library is growing quite a bit actually. I average reading about 25 books a month these days, can't seem to get enough...

James had the kiddies out playing in the snow this afternoon. They had so much fun! The ice is finally starting to melt off of everything and the cold isn't quite so bad as it has been lately. Me, of course it would seem I'm coming down with the beginnings of a cold. And Sam seems to be just starting with one too so we'll see how this all plays out in the days to come.

Well, I suppose that's everything for now so until next time...

Another Weekend Passing Me By...

Brian went through his next bought of treatments in San Fransisco. He did much better and made it though 6 treatments this time. The Dr's were positive and told him his body was responding exactly the way they had hoped it would so his spirits are high.

Not much new here for me. I'm trying to stay busy in my sewing room. Listed a couple more things on eBay last night and have a couple more yet to get listed. I'm in this bunny mode right now...just Love them so I have quite a few in the works for the upcoming months.





Finally got the kids report cards ready to show off! I can't keep myself from bragging on my babies! I told Quentin I hope to see more A's on his next one so we'll see what he does. I can't believe my boy is gonna start high school next year! Where is the time going?

My clever Kate...I was sitting in the living room the other evening watching something on TV and James was in his office which is just off the living room and he and I were chatting through the walls with each other. Anyway, I asked him something and at that moment Kate happened to be coming down the hallway and she answers me and so I glance her way and said "I wasn't talking to you" so she makes a big show of looking around the room with that (mom is losing her mind, look on her face) and then says, "then who were you talking to, yourself?"
Naturally, I told her to just go clean her room!

Well, I guess I'm gonna head down and get some sewing done this afternoon. It's too cold to do much of anything else. They keep saying we're gonna get some snow but I'm not holding my breath for much more than some flurries that will be gone in a few hours...sure wish I lived somewhere that got lots of snow in the winters...

TV entertainment ain't what it used to be...

So, I don't know what it's like where you live but it's COLD here! We keep getting the freezing temps which would be fine if we were getting the snow to go with it...but No...just the little bits of flurries that cover everything for but a few hours and never get deep enough to be very pretty. Oh well, what can ya do?

Our school saw the flurries we've been getting tonight and have already issued a 2 hour delay on school tomorrow. I imagine it must be that some of the kids live way out on the country roads and the buses might have trouble out there because from where I sit, it never seems to make sense to me. Our roads are pretty clear.

James and I have been watching a show together. For Christmas I bought him a set of DVDs for a show called Home Front. Some gal had recorded them for the 2 seasons they ran and is now selling them. Which is a good thing cause you can't get them any other way. I had never heard of the show myself. My husband got hooked on it years before and then it was cancelled and he's been telling me about it for years so when we found this gal selling it of course we had to get it! Anyway, it's a neat little series set back in the 1940's. We have been watching a few episodes every night for the past few nights and I am so hooked! I can hardly believe with some of the crap on TV these days that they ever cancelled this show.

I mean really, we've been watching that show the bachelor. Come on now...I'll admit it cracks me up but really, where do they find all these incredibly hot guys who happen to be rich, have great jobs, good families, and appear smart (at least till they reach the end and make their final choice), who also happen to be too busy to actually date and find their own dream girl? How many more seasons of failure can we actually look forward to?

The poor guy on there now had a gal in the first episode who told him about how she does these "vision boards". She cuts out pictures and words of her ideal life and glues them to a board and then she claims she just makes them come true. LOL If only it were that easy! Anyway, when he eliminated her she was saying how that wasn't what she envisioned. As my husband would say...guess she better go "envision" herself some cats to keep her company through her crazy years...

Anyway,

I just posted my TDIPT Mercantile updates! I finished several new pieces and I have to say, the bunnies are my favorite! I'm gonna get started on a few more items to post on eBay this week. Now that I'm finally getting back into the sewing mood the ideas of what to make are starting to haunt my dreams! lol I swear, I wake up and have to grab a pad of paper to jot down some note or sketch of a doll I dreamt about, it's really annoying sometimes. There are much better things I'd rather be dreaming of...

My kids all brought home their report cards this week. Of course, my smart little bugs all have Excellent grades! I'm so proud of them!

Well, I think it's about time for the kiddies to get to bed so James and I can pop in the next episode of our show, Night All!

Is that Gonna Break...?

We got some bad news the other day...Brian has been sent home from the hospital where he was receiving his cancer treatments. We knew what they were giving him was going to be really hard for his system but it never occurred to anyone that he might not be able to complete them. He did manage to get through a few of them but then his liver and kidney levels went too low and they had to stop them. His spirits are good though and he's keeping a positive outlook and he will be returning to make another attempt at the treatment a week from Tuesday so he could use some extra prayers to help him get through it this time.

The rest of us, well...

My husband went in for a physical. I sort of "urged" him to do it (which involved stomping about and threatening him). But after all our brother in law is going through and how he never even realized he was sick before it was too late, I mean can anyone really be too careful? He did get a tetanus shot and what a cute little Tweety bird band aid they gave him! He also found he has high blood pressure and cholesterol. I teased him that the blood pressure probably has some to do with being married to me, (of course I fear that may be more truth than jest) but he adjusted his diet and it seems he has that under control for the most part so now we're working on his cholesterol and he's reading everything he can about how to get those numbers down where they need to be. On the good note, the Dr. hasn't put him on any meds for it yet and seems to think it can be controlled through his diet and exercise so he caught it pretty early...of course I'd never say "I told you so"! lol

We had a small snafu with our toilet seat and had to replace it. We decided to try one of those soft touch cushy seats. Well, lets just say it sounded like a better idea than it actually was. Of course I did get a good long laugh over my little Sam using it for the first time. She's never sat on a seat that actually squishes under you so, she touched it and looked at it and then started to sit down only to jump back up like something had bit her...her dad asked what was the matter and she had her most serious little face on when she looked at the seat and then at him and asked if it was gonna break when she sat down.

Not much else new here...I'm still sewing away trying to get ready for the TDIPT Mercantile update on the 15th. I have a few new things ready for that so I'm excited! Of course I'm still reading through books like there's no tomorrow, I average about 4 a week now that I'm sewing too.
I'd much rather be taking a nice vacation to some of the places I've read about (Like Scotland and Ireland) but I imagine the only traveling I'll ever get to enjoy will be through my books...I think my husband fears that if I ever managed to get overseas I'd never come back...of course, he might be right!

Catching Up Again...

The new year has only just arrived and already I feel like time is flying so fast I can hardly catch my breath. A lot has happened over the past few weeks here, I mentioned how my luck at Christmas time never seems to be very good right? Well, case in point - after all the time my husband spent stringing (over 2000) Christmas lights on our tree, we had a short and all the lights went out. I suppose it could have been worse, it didn't catch fire or anything right? Most people would have been freaking out over this sort of thing but for me, I just chalk it up to another Christmas memory. Needless to say, our tree was rather dark this year but it didn't stop us from having a Fabulous Christmas anyway!

One of the most important things that happened before Christmas was my daughter Sierra came back from her dads. I was so excited to finally have her back! I swear she grows just too much for me to keep up with. She's only 10 right now but she's starting to play around with make up now so we had some fun with that, going through my make up and showing her how to use different things. Normally I would have hated the idea of her wearing it this early but I know it stresses her dad out even more than it does me, and I must admit to getting just a little pleasure in making him squirm just a bit by seeing her in it...shame on me...

We have a tradition we do every year where on Christmas Eve, we go to church for the evening service and when we get home we get to open all our stocking presents. The kids love this way of doing things almost like a work up to the Christmas morning craze. And let me say it sure makes for some really well behaved children during the church service too! lol.

I think everyone pretty much got what they wanted this year for Christmas, Santa brought the girls just what they asked for in their letters to him (an mp3 player for Katie and a play doh set for Sam), Quentin got his PSP and Ipod Nano which of course meant we didn't see or hear him for several days while he got accustomed to them. Sierra got her guitar (not an easy thing to pack in a suitcase for her return trip to her dads) and games and Goodness, we all got so many things I can't even begin to start listing it all...it was a good year for us all I think. I took a ton of pictures and I have to say, it's good to be the one taking the pictures and not the one in front of the camera! lol

I HATE Christmas Shopping!

What a pretty sun set we had out here the other evening, I've never seen the sky turn quite so red so I though I better take a picture of it...sure was beautiful from my back porch. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can even see bits of the blue in there, so neat...

We still have so much decorating to do here...the tree is done but the rest of the house and yard still need to be finished. I guess I have a hard time getting into it since I'm not a huge fan of Christmas. I mean, for me it's always been a bad time of year and each one seems to get worse for me. The pressure, the shopping, the stress, the work involved, the money...it's just more than I prefer to deal with. But, my husband loves this season and so I do what I need to do...like last night...we went Christmas shopping. Need I say more?

I Hate shopping! I hate all shopping that requires me to leave my house and especially during the busy seasons. People are crazy out there in their shopping frenzies! Not me, I'm completely content with my old out of date comfortable clothes and worn out faded jeans with the bottoms ragged from dragging the ground when I walk barefoot, which is most of the time since I hate shoes too. I'd rather be out of style than have to shop. I prefer to order online and have it delivered when I can.

Have I mentioned I'm not much of a people person either? I mean I get along with people just fine but I get so very nervous and agitated when I have to be around too many people at one time. Of course it probably doesn't help that I only leave my house here maybe once a week and then it's usually to the gas station for a soda pop, or the book store or Walmart...ugh, just the thought gives me the shudders...

Moving on...

I listed a Santa in my TDIPT Mercantile shop. I don't think I'm gonna be doing any other Christmas dolls being so close to the holiday and all. I can't wait to make some bunnies though! I Love making bunnies! And maybe some angels for the new year, who knows...

Oh yeah, my son got his glasses last week. I think he looks quite nice in them. He'd been getting headaches all the time and since he reads the way I do I had a feeling his eyes might be the trouble, I mean really, what else could give a 13 year old daily headaches? So, he had an exam and here he is!

Well, we're expecting an ice storm here this evening. It's been raining most of the day and now the temps are dropping below freezing so they are expecting the roads to ice over and be pretty nasty tomorrow...we'll see...time for me to finish up the book I started last night,

Until next time...and if you don't mind, keep Brian in your prayers please. He's starting that cancer treatment the first week of January and he's gonna need the prayers and good thoughts.

What a Long Lonely Weekend

James went to California to see his family for a few days. He left at 4am on Friday and will be coming back tomorrow evening. Not a long trip but he'll be there for his dads birthday party and he gets to see Brian and the rest of his family too. He was worried about asking me if he could go for fear I wouldn't like him leaving but I was thrilled he had this chance! How could he not go? If I had a family I'd never consider not visiting every chance I had! This is only the third time he and I have spent a night away from each other in our 8 years together and I must say, it's been more difficult than I imagined. Guess I'm not used to being alone anymore.

Well, it's been just me and the kids for the weekend here...

The first night my friend Jamie came over and while our kids played together, her and I sat in the kitchen drinking wine, a couple bottles in fact.
After she left, I stayed up till 3am and then when I finally tried to sleep, I tossed and turned and stared at the clock till after 5am. Guess I'm not used to sleeping alone anymore...

**I know James is still keeping tabs on my blog even from across the country so to him I say, we Love you and regardless of the troubles we've been having lately, I miss you. Come home safe.**

So, on Saturday when I woke up, I found it snowing outside! Nothing can put me in the holiday spirit like getting snow! I'm not a big fan of Christmas really. Never had a really good one and I guess it always seems like more work and trouble than anything else to me but I still have hope that one of these years I'm gonna have that perfect Christmas that will erase all the bad ones from my past. Guess that's the hopeless romantic and forever hopeful soul in me...I mean, what's left when all hope is lost? I plan to never know the answer to that.
The girls and I decorated the tree. We had fun and I think we're just about ready to start on the rest of the house. The snow didn't stop all afternoon which was Fabulous!
Poor Katie, she ended up with a tummy ache. She was sick all evening and stayed in bed through the night and into the Sunday afternoon. For me, I ended up in bed around 4am where I tossed and turned for an hour or so and then woke up this morning at 8am to make breakfast.

So, this morning I found the snow had all melted away :( And after not much sleep, I had to put what energy I had left into my morning coffee. Normally, I'm a tea drinker but after a few days of no sleep coffee was required.
So, I decided to try out that coffee from Starbucks that arrived the other day in my swap box. Now, I have been buying my coffee online from Dewey Egbert's which is a wonderful coffee from Holland I believe. Let me just say, I'm switching my brand! This pot of coffee this morning was one of the best I've had! I used my french vanilla creamer and a touch of sweetener and I was in Heaven! And having something I can pick up in the local grocery shop will make it much more convenient too. Not that I plan to give up my tea...

The rest of this day has been a bit of a blur, I've been keeping busy cleaning up the house and cooking and decorating and such. The girls are keeping me on my toes too and tomorrow James will be back and our lives can go back to normal which will be nice even though I'll probably sleep the whole first day just to catch up on it! lol

Well, time to go find things to keep me busy...maybe it's time for another book...

A Christmas Story...

We're finally getting ready for Christmas here at my house. A few days ago, the whole family piled into the jeep and headed off to get our tree, now we bought it at the Home Depot in New Albany which is where we get it most years and although we found a Huge tree and managed to get it on the roof and home safe and sound I can't help but share our funny story from last years excursion...

So the story begins...

Last year we went out in search of the perfect Christmas tree...now I have to have a real tree every year because they smell so Wonderful in the house and after having lived in California for so long with our fake tree, well, I just need a real tree each year. So, we headed off and searched everywhere for our tree and finally found one! It was perfect and I should mention that this was the first year James and I had to get our own tree and hull it home on our own because usually we went with his sister and they would hull our tree in their pick up truck for us...so here we are...we bought the tree and James was so proud of himself getting it on the top of the jeep and then he went about securing it down to the rack on top with the many bungee cords he had in the back. So, he was testing it to make sure it was all snug and secure and when he was satisfied, he climbed in the driver seat and off we headed for home. It was pretty late that night and dark out too so we're driving along and had just tuned off the highway to start heading toward town. We were heading up what was normally a busy main road and luckily we were all alone and no other cars were near us because suddenly there was an odd sound and James looks over at me with huge saucer eyes and says, "OMG! Was that the tree?" I told him to pull over and check cause we couldn't see anything in the rear view mirrors. So, he pulls over and we both get out just in time to see our tree rolling down the road toward a driveway. James was so freaked out and I of course was laughing at the whole situation and there he goes, running down the road toward the tree. Luckily it went where it did cause just then a car was heading our way and the tree had just made it to safely settle into a ditch where it wouldn't get run over or cause an accident. So, James heads down the road to retrieve our tree and comes back holding it and tosses it back up on the roof of the jeep. He hunts around for the cords he used to tie it down only to find them missing. So, while he's scrambling trying to find something else to hold it down with, I start walking the road to see what happened to the bungee's. Low and behold, I found them laying in the road. They had pulled so hard that the hook on the ends were completely straight out and not even looking like hooks anymore! I grabbed them up and showed him that their stretching and unhooking was probably the sound we head. I'm still laughing at him and naturally the kids in the back seat are finding the whole thing humorous as well but poor James was so Upset! Well, I helped him get it all tied down again and we headed for home. This time, James must have pulled over 4 or 5 times in the short trip remaining between us and home so he could make sure the tree was still with us. I naturally laughed at him each time but he was so worried about it. I just reminded him that we were lucky cause if that tree had come off at any other moment after we bought it it would have struck a car and caused damage or hit the highway and caused an accident. It was a blessing it came off on a deserted road, that shouldn't have been deserted because it was such a high traffic road to begin with and that it managed to roll to the one safe place on that road. And the best part was, we only had one flat side to the tree once it was finally up!

Well, this year when we got our tree, James first went to Walmart to pick up some proper tie downs. He bought a 4 pack of those straps with the ratchet locking device people buy to hull large appliances and such. Guess you can't be too careful and he wasn't about to lose our tree this year! He even took all the back roads home so we could avoid the road with the tree sucking vortex that got us last year. lol The funniest part this year was in the store while we were hunting for the tie downs he wanted, little Sam looks at him and says, are those for the tree? James tells her yes and she says is it because you lost the tree last year? I'm desperately trying to muffle my choked laughter at the stricken look on his face by her reminder...poor James.

Now, to add to his delight...he got to put the lights on it a couple days later when the branches were finally settling out a bit. It really is Much larger than we originally thought but I Love it anyway! It took over 2000 lights and my hubby complained after each new strand he had to add and my snapping pictures wasn't helping him much but the joy it brought me...lol...now, he had to pull the tree out from the wall some to get the lights on so he could walk around it and then when it was done, he planned to push it back in place. Apparently, it never crossed him mind that pulling it out was far easier than pushing it back was gonna be cause after several attempts he was finally laying on the floor flat on his tummy, shoving the tree as hard as he could and using the sofa as leverage for his feet, such a sight! I was laughing so hard I thought I'd cry at the sight but my quick mind made short work of remembering to snap a picture of him! If only I'd been fast enough to get him covered in pine needles and sap once it was back in place!

Well, now that his work is done...the kids and I are doing the decorating this weekend. I prefer to keep it simple so, we just toss our ornaments on it and some bows usually and call it done. I'll update some pictures when we have it all finished up for y'all!

Until then...

I Got A Blog Award!!

I'm so Honored and Excited to have received this award from
Mae ~ Tattered Cow Wings...

Thank you So much for choosing my blog!

Now it's my turn to pass it on to someone else...

Here are the rules for this award :

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 1 blog (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!
3. Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

So, without further delay, the person I am passing the award on to is

Peanut ~ Country Folk Keepsakes

I'm a Huge fan of her blog not to mention her Wonderful sense of Humor! Congrats!!

My TDIPT Swap Arrived!

My TDIPT Christmas Swap Goodies arrived in the mail the other day! Look at all my new treasures from Carol ~ Cooljinks! She really put together an Awesome collection for me and I'm sure I don't have to tell you the kids and I already devoured most of the chocolate! YUM! Thanks so Much Carol!

I'm looking forward to trying the coffee this weekend, I've never had Starbucks coffee before! Can you believe that? The price for living in a small town I guess...
But the little votive candles smell Wonderful and are already being used! Candles are my Favorite!

And look at the Adorable little teddy bear she made for me! I Love him! And the tree was a nice touch too. Thank you!

Now I must say, these yummy pumpkin soap covered leaves are Truly a Unique gift! I've never even seen them before and now they are being displayed in one of my dough bowls on my table and when I walk in the dining room their scent is just Heavenly!

A better look at my little bear! I'll be leaving him on display all year! How did you ever know teddies were my favorite! I don't even remember mentioning it! Love him!

What do you Believe In?

Tonight just turned into one of those philosophical nights...I'm still fighting off a cold and my head is all foggy and my thoughts are drifting here and there and of course what better time to blog than now? lol

I believe in Fate. Destiny. And although I'm not a superstitious gal, I don't walk under ladders, or break mirrors and that sort of thing simply because I figure, why take the chance?

I believe we all have a soul mate somewhere out there and I believe in love at first sight. I think everything happens for a reason including the people who somehow touch our lives whether they be good or bad.

I believe in God but I will be the first to admit I often question his motives. I haven't been to church in a while now because my faith is wavering.

I find it hard to believe we're the only intelligent life in the universe because then what does that say about God? If he's all knowing and all powerful and oh so loving then why would he have created a single race of people who by their own free will and choice continue to destroy themselves and others? That sure doesn't sound like a smart man to me. Kinda takes the whole "putting all your eggs in one basket" to a whole new level don't you think? And if we're the smartest and best he could come up with in all his greatness and glory then it seems to me we're not the only ones with a lot to learn...

This is my Brother in law holding my daughter Samantha just a couple hours after she was born. He's her God Father...


and now he has cancer. He's the nicest, kindest man I've ever met. One of those people who would give a stranger the shirt off his back if it would help and never think twice on it. He doesn't smoke or even drink and he lives a good clean simple life taking care of his family. His name is Brian and he's only 40 years old. A couple months ago, the Dr's found cancer in his kidney. He had it removed and everything seemed fine with them finding it so quickly. Since then, he's been tasted and scanned for everything and now, he has cancer in his lungs and it seems to be spreading quickly. He's going in for an aggressive treatment to help him fight it and everyone is praying for him. His Dr. gave him a 5% chance of beating this but I also believe Brian is one the stongest people I've met and if anyone can beat the odds then surely he can.

I can't help but wonder why a good person, someone who would never hurt another would have a disease that does nothing but cause pain and death while someone who has no compassion for life and wreaks havoc on as many innocent folks as possible would get to live to a ripe old age?

This is where my crisis in faith comes in and I remind myself that I do believe everything happens for a reason and although I do believe in God, I'm questioning his motives right about now...

I think it's time for me to go back and lay down again but I hope those of you out there reading this who believe, will say a prayer for my brother in law Brian because he and his family could use all the strength and prayers they can get right now.

My Mid Life Crisis?

Well, it would seem that our weather man predicted right! We actually got some flurries yesterday and we're getting more today. They even stuck for a little while! I hope this is a sign that we'll have a long, cold, white, winter...sigh...nothing could make me happier right now.

It was a pretty lazy Sunday for us here. Nowhere to go, nothing important to do...well, there was football and that's pretty important. We prefer the pro teams unlike most folks from around here, I guess we kept some of our California ways after all...I couldn't believe there was a tie though! Leave it to Cincinnati and Philadelphia to tie in overtime because neither team could score, oh well, what can ya do?

The girls and I worked on a family school project of Sam's this afternoon...She had a turkey that she had to decorate up all nice using various items and since I have a huge craft room just full of such items we went on a scavenger hunt to locate some things to use. Sam held the basket while Kate and I pulled this and that from the many drawers and shelves. Once we had everything we were going to need, up to the kitchen table we went...I was responsible for the glue and glitter while the girls handled the coloring and placing the craft items where they wanted them...Sam has to take it in to school to share with her class today and she is just So excited that she's hardly able to contain herself.


My days and nights still seem to be a little backwards yet but I'm getting some good sleep during the afternoons while everyone else is working and at school and my sewing is getting done while everyone sleeps at night and I actually have some peace and quiet so I'd say all in all it's working itself out quite well.

It's the weirdest thing, seems like everything I liked only months ago no longer holds my interest. I don't seem to enjoy anything I used to. Maybe this is my version of a mid life crisis? Can you have a mid life crisis at 36?

I made dinner the other night and my mind was so scattered...I made a pot roast and corn and scalloped potatoes and rolls. Well, I put the corn on the stove, turned on the burner and then prepared the rolls on a cookie sheet to head to the oven. I'm arranging them and suddenly I notice smoke coming off them...James looks at me and I grab one up and flip it over and sure enough, I've not only turned on the wrong burner but I've set the tray of rolls on it and they are cooking! UGH! Lucky I was able to save them and dinner turned out quite yummy despite me.

Anyway, my dolls have been listed on EBAY now. Added a couple more this afternoon, so hopefully they sell and I can try to put some Christmas money together. Of course I'll be needing book money too since my unread collection is being depleted at break neck speeds.

I'm So looking forward to the new Twilight movie coming out in just a few days! I wanted to be at the opening show but since crowds of people tend to freak me out I'm waiting for an afternoon showing on a weekday while everyone is at school or work. I'm So excited though!!

Guess that's about everything from me, until next time...

I'm still alive...

My mind is swirling around and around...it's as if I have no shut off for my thoughts anymore and it's seriously impairing my ability to sleep these days...as a matter of fact, it's 4:30 am here and aside from a shot nap this afternoon I still haven't been to bed yet...my little Sam has is not having the sleeplessness I am though, lol

Unfortunately, I'm not getting as much sewing done as I would like to but I am making more progress. It seems my desire for my work is taking a backseat to the
turmoil in my life.

Yes, James and I are at it again...same old fight different day. I know, looking at him I wonder how I can possibly stay mad at all, but I'm gonna try for a little while anyway...we always seem to get through these things just fine but the havoc it wreaks on my here and now is almost debilitating...OK, enough of the bad stuff for a while huh?

So, Quentin returned from his trip with his dad. He had a good time, brought back souvenirs and stories and all I could think about was how grateful I was to have him home finally.

Progress reports come home from school the other day and everyone is doing exceptionally well! Kate and Quentin are AB honor roll kids and Sam is still going to be tested for the gifted program. Her report was Super even though they don't get
letter grades in kindergarten. They just make me so proud! And not just because they're smart but because they are such good kids.

We all went to the store the other day, while we were shopping we came across several different families also shopping with their kids and they were having such an awful time, some were acting out and others crying and throwing tantrums and you could look at the mothers faces and see how badly they were wishing they were anywhere else but there in that moment with them and I couldn't help but look at my babies and thank God that these little smiling faces were mine and I wasn't feeling what those other parents were.

I am trying to be productive, I finished these pilgrims up the other day and now I have a Santa headed for eBay too. Hoping to finish these snow people over the weekend as well.
They're coming along...



Our local weather man says we're supposed to have snow flurries this weekend but so far nothing, sigh...I sure wish it would snow. I Love the snowy weather. The
peacefulness of it and the cold. Any reason to stay inside and snuggle works for me! Plus I happen to be a Huge fan of hot chocolate, but I gotta admit, I hate those little stale marshmallows they add to the instant cocoa...I mean really with all the
technology this world has to offer and that's the best they can come up with?

Well, guess I'm gonna sit here and read till my brain finally shuts down for some rest...
James is taking the kids to church this morning, for obvious reasons I'll be staying home. Besides, I'm sure it wouldn't look good for me to choke the life out of my husband in front of God, pastor and the congregation...better to let my wild temper settle a bit before he and I get that close again...

And the News Gets Better and Better...NOT!

Well, the bad news is Kate went to the Dr. this morning and guess what she has? Yep, strep throat...along with an ear infection of course cause nothing can ever be just as simple as a cold now can it? So, poor baby has once again been asleep most of the day and hardly eating anything and of course since I've been taking care of her, guess what I woke up this morning? oh yes, a sore throat...UGH! Can't wait to see what's next here...
Anyway, she's on the antibiotics to get her feeling better and after tomorrow she should be able to head back to school...


Now, my worse news...my son Quentin is leaving tomorrow night with his dad to visit his Grandpa in Arizona. He's gonna be gone for a whole week and I'm already going nuts over the whole thing. I don't know why but for some reason every time he leaves here I feel his loss like nothing else, guess he'll always be my baby even at 13.

At least he's excited over the whole trip. His Grandpa is renting an RV thingy and they are going to head off to Phoenix for the Nascar truck race and the Nationwide race along with the practice and qualifying for each series. I happen to be a big Nascar fan myself, and the trip sounds like fun even though I'm gonna miss my boy like crazy!


On the flip side, we just got Sierras plane ticket and she'll be returning from her California trip with her dad soon and I can't wait! I've missed her So much! And can't wait to catch up on everything I've been missing with her.


I'm still plugging away at my dollies here...only a couple more days before I need to have at least 4 or 5 of them done...busy, busy.

Naturally, I stayed up last night after everyone went to bed so I could read and of course I finished one of my new books already...but I'm still making progress on my sewing so James hasn't taken the rest of my books away just yet, lol.

I'm Being Black Mailed...by my Hubby!

Woo Hoo! Look at me go! I've been in my sewing room and making the most of it...OK, so I've been in the living room watching TV and stuffing doll bodies but who cares? I'm making progress finally! Now I just have to wait for the coffee stain to dry and I'll be ready to start cranking out some Christmas goodies to share with y'all.


Not that I had much choice...my hubby said no more books for me till I get some dolls done for my up coming sale deadlines. I know I told him a while back that I'd start sewing when I finished my last book but I didn't think he was gonna black mail me with it...I think he's getting smarter in his old age...can't complain though, these are the books I've bought in the last couple months and there's a couple missing that I have loaned out to a friend...speaking of which, how are you liking those books Mrs. Wanda?


Kate stayed home from school today. She's still really sick. Poor girl, if she's not doing better tomorrow we're gonna have to get her to the Dr. This has just been going on too long now for all of us.


Well, almost bedtime for everyone here except me of course since I still have work to do...we headed into Louisville this evening when James got off work. Seems my husband is preparing himself to take a test at work so he can move up to a salary spot in the actuary department at Humana. Turns out, he needed a book to help him study for said position and you know what that means don't you? Yep! We got to go to the book stores! The big ones in Louisville!! I was so excited! And of course I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left a book store without a book so I bought 5 new ones!! Of course we made a compromise that I need to have at least one doll finished tomorrow if I'm gonna start reading and of course I've Happily agreed, so...tonight I'll be stitching away on my quest to start a new book! (Guess he's not so good at the whole black mail thing after all! It lasted what? A whole 10 hours? LOL)

But we did pick up some pizza while we were out for dinner and that was nice cause that means no clean up and the kids are already off to bed now so off I go to start my evening...hope to have a new creation to share with y'all tomorrow!

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Halloween was a great time! The girls had so much fun and got lots of candy. They were witches this year and although the hats turned out to be a real pain in the butt trying to keep them on their heads, everything else was pretty good. They were all excited when they left one house and came running up to us with Kate saying "they said we were Cute"! And they got to see some of their friends out in the neighborhood and they though that was neat.


The next day, my poor Kate...she is so sick right now. She's been in bed for the past couple days hardly making it out for anything more than some meds from time to time and then last night...last night, I was up with her every half hour. I finally made it to bed this morning at about 8am and so did she so while James took the other kids to church, her and I slept, Finally


...then something curious woke me around 2 or so...I thought I was dreaming when I heard James in his office explaining what a quarterback is supposed to do on a third down and why the quarterback in question was stupid to not be doing that...so, I wandered down the hall and opened the door and there he is sitting in his chair watching the football game on TV and explaining it to our 5 year old daughter who is in there with him playing with stickers and asking him questions and then saying "oh" from time to time as though she understands him perfectly. Too Cute!

Tonight, I'm pulling a late night trying to get some sewing done. I have a couple on line shops I'll be needing to update in just a few days and need to get busy making sure I have everything all ready to go for those...first up is gonna be the WSOAPP Shoppe, I'll be adding some new items to that one on the 7th and then I have my TDIPT Mercantile update on the 15th and that one is gonna be such fun! We had a theme of White Christmas there this month! I have several Super items in the works and can't wait to share them!

Belly Button Lint...

I'm still alive. Barely. I can't believe I'm still sick, it's going on like a month now and I'm just as ill as I've been since the beginning. Some days are better than others and mostly it's just crap in my chest, or normal flu symptoms but it's been enough that I hardly even feel like coming down here to my sewing room to get on the computer even. The kids and James have all gone through it on one level or another and with each one that gets it, I get it worse...I've never been able to understand my rather unfortunate immune system. Seems every little tiny germ I'm exposed to takes on a life of it's own in my system and what a normal person can shake off in a couple days my system takes weeks to overcome it. And lucky me, I seem to have either a tolerance or allergy to most medicines. If it's not one of the many I'm allergic to then my body simply requires triple the dose to get the normal effect. Guess I'm one of the many anomalies in this world, just sucks that it takes about 8 Advil migraine tablets to relieve even a simple headache for me...oh well, such is my life...

I've finally read all my books (although, I'm actively seeking out the next ones I wish to add to my collection) and have now decided the boredom of being locked in my room is too much for even me to bear with nothing to read so I've ventured down here to my sewing room and have decided it's time to start creating again. I've finished stuffing and assembling 8 bodies and hopefully I'll have some wonderful new creations to share with y'all soon.

Last night James came to me so we could just chat like we often do. No matter how sick or down I'm feeling he always finds something to make me smile and feel better about and last night it was belly button lint...
I swear his belly button is better than any dryer trap ever created. Without fail he will have a bit of lint in his belly button whenever he's laying there and I always make sure to tease him for it and bring it to his attention often...well, a little while back a friend of mine and I were chatting about odd illnesses and out of the blue she decided to share with me the fact that her husband had a yeast infection in his belly button. (Oh Lord, all I could do was think that is Too Much Information and surely not the kind of image I needed to have of this man I see so often) with that in mind she is explaining to me his symptoms and creating a rather vivid picture, that it took all I had not to throw my hands over my ears and start singing to keep from hearing her words...now with this new information in tow, how can I not come and tell my husband.

So, we're laying there the other night and I'm teasing him over his belly button lint and he looks at me and says the lint must be the bodies natural way of fighting off the yeast infection So, now I'm laughing so hard I'm in tears and he keeps going on with now every time I bring up his lint he can tell me at least he has no yeast infection but for our poor friend, when his wife brings up his infection, where's he gonna go with that?

So, you see where our wonderful talks go when we have nothing pressing to discuss...I was laying there with my head across his stomach last night while he was running his hands through my hair (because that is my most favorite thing for him to do as it relaxes me like nothing else) so, I'm laying there and finally settled from out lint conversation and I'm tracing his lips with my finger and it occurs to me, he has a pretty mouth, nice lips and smile and all so I'm all serious and I tell him I think he has a pretty mouth, now, I didn't think it through in my head first to realize how that might sound once the words were spoken and in an instant, he smiles at me and says good thing he's never been to prison, so back to laughing so hard I'm in tears again...

Tonight been pretty quiet. Not much to do so I think I'll sew for a while here and then head back up to watch some shows on TV I've been recording. Seems I never really watch TV anymore so it might bring on a nice change of pace...

I think I'm going to be sick Forever!

UGH! I swear I'm Always sick! I caught this nasty little bug that comes out of nowhere, one symptom at a time so I get to feel like crap for not a few days like most illnesses, no this one last more than a week! Then when I think I'm finally getting it under control to some extent the rest of my family starts coming down with it and now, guess what? I get to start all over again while I help take care of them! UGH!! This So SUCKS!! OK, enough of my tirade, I'm trying to use today to be productive, update my blog, do some sewing and what not. I did find some Wonderful pictures of my babies from 2002-2003 on a disk I thought long gone. Anyway, I've been on bed rest for most of this past week cause I've felt so bad with this yuck, so since I can move today I better get something accomplished before I revert back to the worse part of this whole illness I guess.

So, not too many things have been happening while I've been trapped in bed. I've been lucky James loves me enough to make sure I don't run out of books to read when I wake up and can't focus on much more than that. And he did buy me the most Awesome present ever! I've been nagging about wanting a circle pendent necklace for a while now and I was pretty sure I had him talked into getting me one for Christmas but he was out shopping the other day and found the pendant I wanted and so, my Wonderful husband, bought it for me a little early to help cheer me up while I was sick. I would be jumping up and down right now if I felt even a little bit better than I do. But don't worry about my sweetie, he'll be properly Thanked as soon as I'm up and about.

My sister in law Debbie sent us some Wonderful goodies after she returned home from her visit with us here...(I knew she wouldn't be able to resist our charm once she came out for this visit! lol) the girls were so Excited when they received a shirt and book and stickers form their favorite Aunt! Kate immediately wanted to say thank you so we gave her a call and let them chat with her.
Of course my gift was the best of all and although I wanted to call her on the phone and tell her how much I liked it, my voice has been mostly gone and with this sore throat I thought I'd convey my sentiments through my husband and then jump on here and share her kindness with all of you, so, Thank you So Much Debbie! I absolutely LOVE the Adorable make do! And he has a very special spot in my living room right now!
But I think James might argue that he really has the best gift...right now as I'm typing this he is upstairs watching the Raiders play football because his ever loving sister has a sling box and has granted him access to watch his favorite football team play all the way across the country!

As for me and the rest of this day, I've been trying to get some sewing done here. It's taking everything I have to just stay down here and get it all done cause what I really want to do is down some more medicine and head back to bed...

This Past Week...

My Goodness, it's getting harder and harder to get in here more often to update y'all on what I've been up to. I can't believe a Whole week has passed me by without me even noticing~

So, last weekend, James parents and his sister headed back home from their visits with us. James was so sad when his mom and dad left. We went over to his sister Jo's house to see them off from there and when they drove off down the road away from us James started to cry. It broke my heart to see him ache so much and know that there was nothing I could do to make it better other than to get his mind on other things...which I did by reminding him of the Halloween decorations he needed to get put up at our house...he stayed sad for a couple days but he tries to hide it the best he can. I guess we're so close now that I can feel when he hurts no matter what kind of happy face he tries to wear...



My Halloween decorations are nearly done. I know, about time since Halloween is almost here. Can you believe how fast this year has gone? It feels like I went to sleep one day and when I woke up the time was just gone. Well, here are some of my Halloween pictures of our house, some are in the daylight so you get a better look and then the night ones to show of the lights...Did I mention that Halloween is my most FAVORITE holiday?

The kids have been doing their half days of school this week and even a couple of days off for their fall break and parent teacher conferences, which we had Tuesday.

Kate's was first. Met her teacher and saw her report card and the teacher just gushed on and on about her! She had a perfect report card and is just excelling in every possible way. Here's her report card, I'm so proud of her!

Next, we went to Sam's class...her teacher also gushed on and on about how smart she was and kept talking to us as though we didn't know it already, lol. She too had a perfect report card and she was recommended to be tested for the gifted and talented class. Not sure exactly what that means, guess it's the equivalent of the honors classes in higher grades. But we are just so Proud of her too!

We have always know what smart wonderful little girls (and boy) we have but it sure was nice to hear everyone else saying so too!

Our final stop on the conference rounds was for Quentin...he had me worried about it, I'll admit. Started mentioning all these things he wasn't sure about and tests that weren't great...so, I went in expecting the worst and was so pleasantly surprised to find out he's on the A B honor roll and is doing so well and all his teachers just Love him! His only downfall, (and Every one of his teachers mentioned it) is he reads in class rather than paying attention like he should be. But he does well anyway and no one really complained much.

When we left the school we headed up to Louisville to my favorite book store. Well, we ended up hitting a couple of them so I could find everything I was looking for, which I did and now have 3 more books to finish this week and add to my ever growing collection!
I gotta say though, I've found my Heaven on earth. For me, it's a book store. I wish I could just get locked in one of those places Forever ~ (Of course it would need to be one with a fully stocked Starbucks inside it) I must have walked down the same couple isles several times and each time I still managed to find something new and exciting I couldn't help but pick up and browse. I've even started a list of books I want after I finish these ones and added probably a dozen to my Christmas wish list.

So, it's Friday now and in the past 3 days I managed to finish 4 new books. I think I really need to slow down on the reading but I just can't seem to not have a book in my hand. Guess that must be where my son gets it from.

I woke the other morning with a nasty sore throat and much to my families joy, I'm losing my voice. Now, I can't eat anything because it all hurts going down and I think I'm rubbing all the skin off my nose from blowing it so often. I do hate getting colds but with fall upon us, guess it's to be expected. At least with me being sick I have a better excuse to stay in bed and read.

OK, so today it's looking more and more like strep throat now...in a couple days I think I'll need a Dr. to give me some antibiotics to help get through it faster.
On a good note, last time I had strep throat I was a sewing maniac (was gonna say sewing machine but that just wouldn't have been right now would it?) trying to get my mind off how bad I felt then I ended up making more money in that couple weeks than in any other time since I started making dolls!

Before I get too sick my hubby is taking me to the mall to pick up a few more books to tide me over through the weekend. OK, back from the mall now and guess what my Wonderful husband bought me? 9 new books!! I'm so excited! I can hardly contain myself while I go through them trying to figure out which one I want to read first! Sometimes being sick isn't so bad after all...

The Past Couple Days...

So, I was finally able to lay down Wednesday night at 3:33 am...that's not when I fell asleep though. It seemed like Forever before I was relaxed enough to drift off and it seemed like mere minutes when my husband woke me up to get the kids ready for school...but I stumbled through the morning ritual, drifted into the shower and then drank a Huge glass of Coke to help with the waking up process...
Finally, hair and make up are, well, good enough for today's outing...on the plus side, it's another rainy day and that always makes me feel better and it gives me an excuse to have a bad hair day.

So, my MIL Shirley and SIL Debbie showed up around 10am and we started the day with a stop at the local coffee shop for a big huge cup of chocolate-y caffeine goodness. Once that was kicking in, we made our way to my friend Pam's house to check out her wool supply for dolly heads.

She had some wonderful stuff for us as always and then on to some shopping for the afternoon...Pam drove and took us to several little Amish shops we never would have found without her! They had some of the neatest little things and some of the best scenic views I've seen since I moved here!

We drove up to Paoli and on to Frenchlick and of course found a ton of other little shops that we had such fun exploring and buying up some neat little prim items. And isn't this just the cutest little church you've ever seem? It turned out to be a Wonderful day!

So, today...well, I got almost no sleep last night...up till after 4am, then up to do the kids and shove them off to school at 7am and then I couldn't get back to sleep till almost noon and up again at 2pm...well, today we had everyone over to our house for dinner. BBQ as usual since it's so much easier when you have so many folks to feed...but there were burgers, brats, and hot dogs, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, chips and I made some of the queso we all Love so much...I think it was a success, we had apple pie for desert and when dinner was done, Jo and her boys and Debbie went back home for the evening while Shirley and Will stayed with us to play some cards.

We played pinochle and of course, men against women as usual...this time we gave the guys a break and let them win 3 games to 2. I mean really, if we always win they'll never play with us again...

So, we were playing and I had James grab me a glass of soda while I was dealing...so he does and I thank him of course and then Shirley asks me what I'm drinking. Coke I say and she looks at me with her most Innocent of faces and says, shouldn't you be drinking diet? Do you think she was trying to tell me something? OK, so that's the real reason I let the guys win that last game...LOL ~ just kidding Shirley, you know you're my Favorite Mother In Law!

Now we're back in game mode and suddenly my FIL Will looks up and says Somethings on Fire! Of course we all jump and run to the living room and sure enough the candle on my coffee table was flaming up real high and wax is melting and running out of the candle holder like lave flow...we caught with mere seconds before the wax reached my camera sitting nearby and the flames were just millimeters from my new book! UGH! So, all was saved in the nick of time and the wax dried and I was able to get it off my table mat with little problem so no real harm done I suppose.

Anyway, tonight I'm planning to get some reading done before I turn in for the night even though you'd think I'd be dropping over from lack of sleep my mind seems to be racing, which means no sleep for me anytime soon...tomorrow I have a full day of sewing planned...with any luck, the day will be an uneventful one.

A Lazy Rainy Day Here

Well, I managed to weasel my way out of the Dr. appointment today. I know, I know, probably not one of my smartest moves but I am feeling better and it really seems like such a waste of money to go have tests run to find out I'm just fine.
So, since I have a whole day of not passing out under my belt now, I'm gonna wait this thing out a little longer and see what happens. I promised my ever concerned hubby that if anything else happens I'll go in right away and not try to find another way out of it...(See, that's the face of a girl who desperately needs a hair brush, not a Dr.)

I have also found out that mac n cheese doesn't make me ill ~ Of course James is the best mac n cheese maker in the world (OK, so I'm a little biased ~ maybe not the Whole World but most of it anyway)...I figure if I can keep it down then that is surely progress of my getting better and wouldn't you know it, I didn't even need to see a Dr for that diagnosis...

So, today I got to sleep in till like noon! Oh I am so rested up it's not even funny! James went on a field trip with Kate to a farm and pumpkin patch. They had a good time and she was so excited to share her stories with me when she got home today. They each got a pumpkin too which is nice and will come in handy with my Halloween decorating around here. Sam has the same field trip next week and is So excited that her daddy is going on that one with her too!

I read some of my book this afternoon and worked on a doll that I should have had finished a week ago but better late than never I always say. I have several other dollies I'd like to get started on too. I keep waking up with all these doll images in my head and I need to start getting them on paper and then making them before my muse leaves me.

It's raining here today. I sure do like it! I don't think I'll ever get enough of the rainy days...

Tomorrow, Shirley and Debbie and I are going to a friend of mines house to check out her wool supply. She always has the best wool for our dolls! Then there are a few shops out that way we want to hit, an antique store and the coffee shop here in town...not sure what else yet. I imagine we'll come here so Debbie can finally see our house. Funny to think she's never been here before. I have Quentin doing some cleaning for me to help out and the girls cleaned their room too so tonight, James and I will make sure everything else is all ready to go so I'm not embarrassed to show her around...we are one of those clean on the surface families you know. At first glance everything looks OK but upon further inspection...anyway, we'll get everything cleaned up as much as possible.

Tonight, I'm just gonna be sewing away. Hope to finish this snow woman and maybe get a few other doll bodies all made up and ready to go. I was happy my Christmas angel in my WSOAPP Shoppe sold already! Those quick sales are what keeps me in this doll making business ya know.

Guess that's everything for today, tomorrow should be a busy update with everything we have planned to do...I'll be sure to take my camera along and get lots of pictures to share.