Crazy Busy Day

Today is going to keep us on the run all day long.  At 12:30, Steve and I have our “Crisis Management” class, then Nick’s skill builder will be here working with him.  At 5:30 the boys have “Horse Therapy”.  When we leave there it will be 6:30, so we will stop and buy a pizza, come home and eat, do homework,then showers and bedtime.  Whew…I am pooped out before we ever start..LOL

We shipped out the order for two different kinds of dog treats to a man in Oregon yesterday.  I also finally got the dog collar made and got that order sent to Canada. Mindy called this morning to say that she had sold another collar too.  Rachel called last night to ask me to take the peace sign purse off because her room mate when on my shop to buy a purse for a gift and fell in love with this purse and bought it for herself.  Rachel is coming home this weekend, so she can take it to her and save her the shipping charges.  We have certainly been blessed with sales lately and we hope it keeps right on…LOL  :o) I am working on some scented trivets now, and do they ever smell fantastic.  I mixed raw rice with whole cloves and whole allspice…added a few drops of cinnamon oil and this mixture goes into the fabric trivets I have sewed. The cool part is that when you use one and set a warm pot on it, it makes the smell come alive.  Plus, if anyone is like us, we keep our hot mats in a drawer in our hutch.  These would also act like a sachet.  I will take some pics when I am finished and post them. 

Our little great nephew is already going to be a year old tomorrow.  He is so cute and has been such a blessing to my brothers family.  I just want to say “Happy Birthday Elijah”.  :o)

Columbus Day

Today is our Columbus Day and Canada is celebrating their Thanksgiving.  It is rather interesting that the powers that be made it so that two countries that bordered one another got a holiday and no work or school on the same day.  Works out good for our family since we have  a daughter and son-in-law who live in Canada

We now have almost half of our 2 bushels of apples made into apple sauce.  Maybe we can get the rest made and in the freezer today.  Steve has worked on applesauce for the past two days while I was doing other things.  Yesterday I mixed up a double batch of “snickerdoodles”.  Bradly rolled the cookie balls in cinnamon and sugar for me which was a big help.  I must say though, it felt like I was never going to get them all baked.  They are so yummy though, that I have decided it was well worth the effort.  :o) 

While visiting another blog yesterday I came across a promotion for a really cool shop which is geared around animals and animal rescue as well as the promotion for getting your animals spayed or neutered .  The shop has pages and pages of buttons, key chains and magnets dealing with these subjects.  I thought I would give their shop a feature today.  Here is the addy and a couple of my favorites.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=21445

 

 

 

 

 

Finally Friday

It feels good to have the weekend upon us and it is a three day weekend at that.  Of course, by Monday, I will probably be ready for the weekend to be over and the kids back in school.  LOL 

Rachel is going to the Keith Urban/Sugarland concert tonight, and then she is heading up to Megan and Scott’s tomorrow to help them celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.  We wanted to get up to see them before the winter weather sets in, but we haven’t gotten our enhanced licenses yet. 

I wanted to let everyone know that Brad is doing very well.  We cried together over his loss of Grandma Nancy and then we talked about the good memories and ways we can remember her since there isn’t going to be a cemetery plot  for the boys to go to.  Brad is thinking of what kind of shrub, tree or plant his grandma liked and we will plant one in the spring in her memory.  Today his skill builder worked with him and she had a small bottle with a cork.  She had him write what he would like to say to his grandma and then he put it in the bottle.  He was very excited about that and showed me what he wrote.  I appreciate all the prayers, and I know that is what has made the difference.

I finished four purses today…all out of recycled clothing.  I will post them so you can see what you think.  Enjoy your long weekend.  :o)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadness

We have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster.  We found out yesterday that our dear friend had lost her battle with cancer.  She had been doing great after beating breast cancer in 2008 and then that went into brain cancer this past spring.  She was doing great and then started feeling dizzy and ill.  A spinal tap showed that the cancer was all through her body and her body just could not handle any more treatment.  This beautiful, generous and loving women came into our life when Bradly and Nicholas did.  She is Bradly’s paternal birth grandmother.  She became part of our family and all of our kids called her Grandma Nancy. As well as becoming a grandma to all of our children, she became a very good friend to Steve and I. She was only 9 years older than my hubby and she was so good to all of us.  She always treated Nicholas as her grandchild too and he doesn’t have any idea she was really just Brad’s grandma.  The hardest part is yet to come.  After school today, we have to tell the boys.  We are so concerned about how Bradly is going to take this news.  Grandma Nancy has been the one constant person in his life through all the upheavals and trauma he has endured in his life. It will hurt him terribly and my heart just breaks for him.  Any of you who believe in the power of prayer could pray for wisdom for us and comfort for Bradly. Your prayers would mean so much.

Grandma Nancy is the red head in the middle back behind Brad and Nick.  Nancy’s mother is in the pink shirt and she is lovingly called “Cookie Grandma” by all of her grandchildren.  My mom, Grandma Hubbard is in the blue slacks.  This photo was taken three years ago at the boy’s adoption.:o)

Davey

Nicholas and Bradly will be starting “Horseback Riding Therapy”  this coming week. This will be Nick’s third session and Bradly’s second session. Each session lasts for 6 weeks and they are quite excited about getting to ride again.  The hard part is that Nick’s horse “Davey” is being retired as he is old.  Davey will be going to live at the home of a girl with special needs whose horse passed away a while ago.  It will be a good life for Davey and this girl, but it this news left Nicholas devastated.  He cried so hard when we told him.  The head of the program had suggested we bring Nick up to say good bye before classes began and before Davey was moved.  In the midst of his tears Nick said he didn’t want to say good bye.  I told him he didn’t have to say those words, that he could say “hi” I will miss you.  He perked up and decided to go see Davey and take him a few carrots and an apple.  Judy, who heads up this program, is just wonderful with the kids and the horses.  Judy talked to Nick about her first horse when she was a kid and how, after all these years she has never forgotten that horse.  She told him he would never forget his first horse either.  Nick did very well and is wondering which horse he will be riding this week.  They match the kids with a horse…the horse chooses the child.  The really cool part is that these horses have all been rescued and some had been very abused.  If there is a child in the program that has suffered from abuse, those horses always pick one of those children, because they seem to be able to relate to the child.  I think that is so wonderful.  This is a pic of Nick when he went to say his good-byes.  :o)

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Yesterday kicked off the official “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.  I was impressed to see that even the NFL jerseys as well as many other items have been made up in pink and that the players will be wearing  to show their support for this special month.  Of course, the way those football players are built, they would look masculine in pink or any other color.  :o) 

We are heading out for a fish fry lunch with my parents.  We have not had one in so long, I can’t even remember the last time we partook of a fish fry.  Our 29th wedding anniversary is on Sunday, Oct. 4th, so we figured this would be our only chance to go out to eat without kids, so we better take it.

Today is my brother James 47th birthday.  Wow, it is hard to believe he is that old, but then I remember that I am 4 years older than he is…ouch!!

I thought in the spirit of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I would put up the pics of the few items I carry in my shop that promotes this awareness. :o)

 

 

 

Zippered cosmetic bag

 

Patchwork Bag

 

 

 

 

zip change purse

Fall

Fall has been my favorite season for as long as I can remember.  I love the beautiful colors, the crisp air, apple cider, and pumpkins.  Of course once Fall arrives we all know what that means…snow will be following right behind…..and that I don’t like.  Actually, if we only had snow for the month of December, that wouldn’t be bad because I do love snow for Christmas.

My hubby made a fresh pumpkin pie yesterday (yes, it is great having a baker for a hubby).  It was so delicious. 

Tomorrow we have to keep both boys home from school as they both had dentist appointments.  We go all the way to Batavia (an hour away) because there is a wonderful pediatric dentist there.  We discovered him when we started doing foster care.  I wish we would have had someone like him when our older kids were young.  Megan had a very bad experience when she was 6 and has been very leery of dentists ever since.

I listed a new clutch purse that I designed.  I will tweak the design just a bit when I make another one, but overall I am very pleased with this one.  I like the first one I made, which didn’t have the fleece interface.  I know some women prefer a more relaxed purse…I like the fleece interface to give it a bit of shape and body.   One of my tooth fairy pillows sold last night, so that was encouraging.  I am hoping with the holidays ahead of us that business will start picking up soon.  :o)