Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

While I truly try to count my blessings on a daily basis, today is a day I am saying it outloud.

I am so thankful for my children and my husband. They have taught me that love has no bounds. I am so grateful that these children have come to me, and truly think I have been so fortunate to be part of a match made in heaven. We are all blessed with health and enough to get through each day without need.

My family is truly wonderful. I am so grateful my parents are still here with me. They both worked so hard to teach us to be good people, they gave up so much so we could have privileges they never had while growing up. They worked hard not to repeat mistakes of their own parents, while carrying on the good things of their own childhoods. They have always been very supportive and I have truly felt like I am a treasure in their eyes. I am blessed to call my sister my best friend, and my brother, although far in distance, would walk on water if he needed to for his family.

My husband's family is equally wonderful. I am lucky to have gotten them! His parents are always there to be counted upon for small and large things, and his siblings have taught me a whole new way to show brotherly/sisterly love through teasing! :-D

Although it doesn't complete the many things I am thankful for, I would like to end with mentioning my thankfulness for my friends. I have a small group that I hold ever-so-dear, they are each special in their own ways, they support me, make me laugh, share their lives and families with me, encourage me, love me and I could not go on without them. I hope that I do the same for them.

Blessings to all of you on this day and every day to follow.

Now put on those elastic waisted pants and eat up!! Hee hee!!

Slow as a Snail Saturday

Wow, I am having trouble getting motivated this morning! I don't know what it is!


Last night I went to my friend's house--a different college pal. She is the Queen of Rubber Stamps, tho' she will tell us she hasn't done it in forever. But she has a lot and loves them (they are her vice, we all have one! At least...) and spent some time stamping notes to stick in with my etsy sales. I am also running a promotion that if a buyer lets me know a purchase is a Christmas present, I will include an organza bag and blank gift tag so the wrapping is all done--so she has a tag punch and we stamped some tags. What a pal! There was lots of laughing and catching up as well. She made the BEST popcorn, I couldn't stop eating it... her secret was Orville Redenbacher's Popping and Topping Oil (http://www.orville.com/products_oil.jsp#products). I did NOT check the nutritional label (she assured me it was horrifying). Some things are best left just to enjoy... Here she is stamping for me with her daughter looking on!

She also generously is letting her heat gun live with me for a while! I have some plans with shrink plastic and embossing powder. I will elaborate when I actually get a chance to work on it! AND I got to sort through her scrapbooking scraps for my soldered pendants. She asked if there was ANYTHING ELSE from her house I wanted to take home. She is funny like that. Ha. Ha.

I have one more layer for my snowflake resin pieces. I am feeling a little nervous about popping them out... the mold seems a little resistant to the one finished one I tried to get out. I will continue. Either the plastic is not quite resin friendly--or I just need to let them cure even LONGER than I expected in this cold weather. I sure hope they work...

I realized I won't quite put the resin away, I wanted to do some sports related resin pieces for younger girls to have ready for my craft fair in mid-December. I'll have to head to Michael's to get some more resin before I start that, though. I really AM feeling ready to put it away for a while, but feel I should really finish that thought. I am planning to put little soccer ball, basket ball and ballet stickers in them. My friend mentioned above gave me the idea.

Hmmm, best get moving! All of this talk about what I need to do is getting the blood flowing (and that last dose of caffeine might have helped, too!).

Visiting with a Friend

Today I had the extreme pleasure of meeting with my long-time friend for a visit while our girls were in school (hers is in full day like my son, but my daughter is in for 2 1/2 hrs 4 days per week). I have known her so long, we spend most of our senior year of college together!! I graduated in December of '93 (and she Spring of '94 I believe!), so we have known each other a good, long time and she is a person I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life!! It was so great to see her and catch up in person, tho' we e-mail frequently.

She also has a shop on etsy: http://www.tronsgirl.etsy.com/
The thing about her is that she could always spot a trend before it became trendy! She is one to watch!! :-)

Very exciting to me--she brought me a new mold to use with my resin! SNOWFLAKES!! I went glassy-eyed with ideas as soon as I saw it, and she had some great ideas, too!! My girlie got some Caillou DVDs from the library--I think we may have to pop them in this afternoon and she can watch them from her couch-cushion fort. Then I can get the first layer of resin down and curing for these snowflakes! Keep an eye to my shop for the finished product! Can't wait!!!!

Isn't that a cool mold?!

Here is girlie in her fort, soon to be watching Caillou!