Look at this!

My favorite husband made this! It's stunning! He makes everything hold together without nails or staples. No really. Reclaimed lumber, too. He is amazing!


He made one for us several years ago that we use as the manger for the 'play safe' nativity set. When our kids were young, they spent time every day of the advent moving the animals or angels around.

Ahhh, memories.

How fun that someone else will be able to make memories with this sweet barn, available at our Etsy Shop!

Big week...

It's been a big week at our house! In and amongst the normal day to day stuff, there were some big events.

Best Hubby and I celebrated #26 with a nice dinner out, just the two of us. It was fun, the food was good and the company outstanding. ♥ that guy!

I sold 4 things, on the same day, at the Galena Vault. Woot! My new business is picking up and I'm very excited at the prospect. More than that, I'm so hap-hap-happy being creative. It's wonderful and I'm filled with gratitude!

We have a new baby in the family. He's sweet and adorable and spent most of the time I was holding him, looking right back at me. LOVE that connection. Babies, brand new, fresh from the presence of God, are a wonder and a treasure.

We also have a high school graduate in the family! We spent hours in the car to celebrate with him and it was good. The look on his face, the appreciation, the excitement, the joy. Oh, so worth it (have I mentioned I don't like long car rides?). I took a pic of him on my phone and said Oh, what a great picture of you... then showed it to him. He shrugged and made non-committal, noises. I said, No, look at this. This is a great picture. Of you! He looked again and smiled ear to ear. Yeah, he said, it is. I love kids. I love when they get an inkling of how great they really are.

This was Washington DC week for the 8th graders in our family. For some it was the longest trip away from Mom & Dad, which of course was harder for the parents than the kids.

Two new homes this week as well. Crazy right! Two different family members found the homes of their dreams and will be moving to them in the next couple of months! One is moving much closer and one a little further away. I, of course, think everyone should live right around me so I can see them whenever I want. Wait, is that selfish? Yes, well, I suppose, but there you have it.

We also lost someone this week. She was 86 and had lived a long life and was loved well and truly by her family. She will be missed and it's a difficult time for those who loved her. Godspeed and God's Peace.

Life is a jumble and comes in a mad rush at times. So much to be grateful for, the beginnings, the endings and all that comes between.

We create pressure

Okay, I admit it, I'm a big Dancing with the Stars junkie. From the first day through today I have watched every season. I don't really care so much who wins, except I want the person who wins to be more than a good dancer. I like the humanity aspect, the connection, the story. I also like to watch people create art with their minds and bodies. I like to laugh and this show has plenty of that, too. 

Anyway, watching earlier this week, one dancer, Derek Hough, said "Pressure doesn't exist. We create it for ourselves." And I thought to myself, huh, isn't that an interesting perspective on life. 

So I thought I'd share.

I totally pilfered this picture from the internet. I apologize in advance if it gets your unnies in a bunch. I just wanted to show one of the many beautiful pictures created by this seasons dancers. Derek's partner this season is Amy Purdy, the Paralympic Snowboarder.


Happy Tuesday! 

My son, the artist

Today I added items to the etsy shop that my oldest son created.


He's very interested in metal work and created his own forge. The bottle openers that are listed are his first creations. Very impressive.






The bottle openers are sturdy, substantial and indestructible. They are also simple, elegant and beautiful.

Of course, I'm a proud mama! He's so amazing and these are just one reason why.

In the market for a unique gift, a 6th anniversary gift, a 21st birthday gift or a bottle opener?

Patience...

As I'm sitting here, every bad joke about patience I've ever heard is flitting through my mind. I really can't resist...

I want patience and I want it now!

I am in the midst of a personally challenging situation. Without going into details I don't want fluttering around the web at the moment, I will summarize it as: I must deal on a regular basis with a person who isn't in control of their emotions, as in very like bi-polar. I am not a doctor and can't make any sort of diagnosis. What I am is frustrated, emotionally drained and pondering what options I have.

Must I continue on, dealing with this person and the wide, w i d e, mood swings? Or is it time to remove myself from the situation altogether? Is there some other option?

I'm reluctant to remove from it. I feel at turns like that might be running away, or allowing myself to driven away. Neither of which I find acceptable.

Continuing on holds little appeal because I have absolutely no way of knowing what will be presented. Happy, jovial, fun. Or mean and belittling. Any random little thing can set off a rant, followed by sickening joviality rather than apologies.

The situation, when this person is removed from it, is fun, interesting, appropriately challenging and something I care about. When this person is present, the fear of a verbal attack makes it tense, confusing and wholly unpleasant.

So, in the midst of the turmoil, the message above is sent to me. Is this person here to teach me patience? Or is this person here to teach me to get the heck out of Dodge? How do I know?

Come on, world wide web, tell me the truth... How do I know?

Well, unfortunately, no ready answers have appeared.

AAAAARRRGGGHHHH

So you know how you have a conversation with a person. A fairly important conversation. One where the other person nods and responds and appears to be listening.... And then some time later, same person claims no knowledge of the thing you talked about. The thing they responded about, nodded their head about.

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!

Some days I just want to stand on the back porch and scream. Like today. Really loud. And long.

Phew. Okay, I think I'm coming back from the edge. Do you ever think it's someone's mission in life to drive you bonkers? Oh, no? Well.

Anyway, the weather is freaking beautiful today and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Cool and breezy with warm sunshine. It's awesome, I tell you.


Well, that's it for today. I just needed a mental health post and you lucky, lucky people get to read it. Hope your day is filled with more freaking beautiful and less aaaarrrggghhh!

I'm back!

Not in the creepy 'Shining' way, but in the good, "Hey, I've missed posting and now that I have a few minutes I'm going to do just that" way.

So, some really sad news... Our dog passed last weekend. She came to us when she was 7, from a family with a young son who developed dog allergies. She was sweet, silly, stubborn, curious and fun. Ahhhh, look at that face. We loved her very much. It's been quite a blow. The worst is when out of total habit, you are expecting to see her and then remembering that won't be happening. WAAAAHHHH. Do I regret all the time before last Friday just because this part sucks? No. We loved her and loving her is wonderful. Missing her sucks. That's really all I have to say about that. It's been a weepy week and I'm exhausted of and by the weeping.

Some good news. We bought a new mattress and box springs and it is arriving any minute! It's been 21 years since we bought our last set. 21! The old set is hard as a rock and one wire pokes, just a little bit, out the side. Not enough to actually be noticeable, but enough that it will scratch you good if you're not careful. The new bed is a king size and we are excited! Looking forward to the extra room. Of course, going from queen to king means all new bedding. I now know more about bedding than I ever cared to know. Seriously!

So, because we rarely ever do anything simply, a new mattress set has become a complete refresh. It all started with choosing King over Queen. If it were another Queen, it would have been so easy to keep the old stuff! Ah, hindsight. But, we chose King and needed new bedding. New bedding against old walls... so, we decided to paint. Which is a very good decision, because it's been years since we painted and the room needed it. For inspiration, I found these decorative pillows.
 

They are simple, cheerful and modern, which is my current decorating style. It's been a week of shopping, not my favorite thing, and painting, not my favorite thing. We decided to split the effort. Hubby painted and I shopped. It took two tries to get the paint right. I know. We originally chose pale gray, but it was so cold that neither of us liked it. So next we went with a taupe-y stone color. It's awesome. It's a version of the color of the inside of the dark gray shape on the left side of the floral pillow. Love it. It's a perfect neutral that will compliment this palette and whatever strikes my fancy later.

I find sheet shopping a challenge. It's not that I'm particularly picky (I say just a tad defensively) it's that I don't really want solid sheets. That and I've been burned before by the lure of high thread count, only to discover that the sheets are so thin they wrinkle like mad and don't last. I am certain I want cotton. I don't want 1000+ thread count, but do want more than 200. I like patterned sheets and the pattern matters. So that's my dilemma. Oh, and I absolutely refuse to pay over $100 for sheets. Okay, so I'm picky. In my pickiness I have been everywhere once and some places twice looking for what I want. So far I have sheets in solid colors I don't love, a down comforter that I do like, a duvet cover that while it is beautiful, is going back and a soft fleecy throw that I'm still considering.

The duvet cover that is going back is primarily white. I just feel so uncomfortable about that. I don't think I'm pristine enough for a white duvet. I mean you couldn't touch it is you had one little bit of cheeto on your person. And the fact is my husband is a cheeto addict.

The last duvet cover, I made from two top sheets. You see, I don't really like sleeping with a top sheet. Between my need to be able to put my foot or feet out and my husband's sheet stealing ways, the top sheet never stayed put. So the last time we needed sheets, I purchased two sets, used the tops to make the duvet cover and had four cases and two fitted sheets. It was AWESOME. Of course, because it was awesome, I want to do that again. But not with a solid sheet! Dang it!

So the search continues.Once the bed arrives, we are going back out into the fray, to find and purchase the perfect sheets! Oh yes, we are.

When it's finished, I'll post some pics.

Until then, if you are a pet owner, give your pet some extra attention today in honor of Daisy. She was such a sweet soul and she is missed.