For Sale

I have been organizing since my kitchen if FINALLY painted....not finished but painted. Anyway, the clean up and organize bug has hit. So I have a few offers for you. First of all, the TENTH person to comment on this blog will receive a FREE SCRIM RULER!!! Woo Hoo! How's that for generosity??? The rest will be sold on a first come first serve basis. And due to the fragility of the scrim, I will ship priority mail which is an extra $4.05. The crocheted pins will be shipped as inexpensively as possible and I will let you know what the cost is when you email me. Okay...the two rulers available are from my retreats. One says A Strawberry Weekend and has a bird holding a strawberry in his mouth. The other design says Bee Kind Bee True 2006 and has the same bird holding a bee skep in his mouth. Each ruler is hand made by Marcy Pumphret from antique piano keys and costs $24.00. The thread winder (only two left) has the strawberry bird and costs $34.00. Same shipping applies. If you buy multiples, you will only pay the actual shipping.
The four crocheted pins were made by my mother...the QUEEN of crochet! She used perle cotton and the tiny purses have old buttons from her collection. I painstakenly made the mounting cards using book board and acid free paper. The purse pin is $22 and the sunflower is $15. Aren't they the coolest?
Remember to post your comments and the TENTH post will win a ruler!!!

Violet

I got a phone call yesterday morning from Courtney telling me that since I thought Violet was so cute then I could have her! Guess she only let Courtney get a little over an hour of sleep! I didn't say I told you so! But it's always harder when you add the second "child".
The picture above is of baby Violet on my lap shortly after Courtney picked her up. She is six weeks old and so tiny! I wish I had a picture of her beside Chloe. It's hard to believe that she will grow to be so big...and so quickly!

Martha, family and other news

I was posting so well there for a while. Then life interrupted! I wish I knew how to be one of those super organized, always on top of everything kind of girls. Chuck says I always am trying to do too many things at once which is probably right.
On early Friday morning I will be flying to New York City to be in the audience of the Martha Stewart show. I'm going with my good buddy Brenda Miller who is a huge fan of Martha! Just so you know, I will be wearing a brown sweater set and brown glen plaid slacks. And the cutest shoes ever! I got these http://www.eddiebauer.com/eb/product.asp?product_id=30263&nv=3|21473|104&lview=&color=245*Tan&cm_cg=C104&tid=&c=&sc=&lp=v1i010 and they look just fabulous with skirts and slacks!!! I am the pickiest shoe person ever as I have big feet which make me soooo self concious. Silly isn't it? Who cares?...but that's my thing. So when I find something that I like, I'm thrilled! Then on Saturday, Brenda and I will be doing an all day Good Things workshop with Martha and her staff! I am going to learn flower arranging. Brenda thought it was best that she do the holiday table setting class when I asked if paper plates would be used. Ha!
I spent this past weekend in Fairmont with my family. We had a great time! All my kids were there and my siblings. We had a cook out on Saturday with Mom and Dad and then Sunday after church, went to Chuck's Mom and had a delicious meal of ham (my favorite!!!) and all the trimmings. YUM! Chloe and Maggie were very well behaved. Maggie is having some real issues with her hips and was miserable on Saturday. But perked up Sunday and is glad to be back home today.
Speaking of the dogs, Chloe will have a new baby sister this afternoon. Courtney and John will be picking up Violet from the breeder. She is a six week old great dane with a merle coat which for those that don't know..including me until recently...is a grey coat with black spots. She will certainly make Chloe's life interesting I'm sure. Chloe has been queen of her universe for three years and will probably be quite put out by a new puppy. Guess Courtney will eventually work up to a human baby! LOL!
Watch for puppy and Martha pictures coming soon! In the meantime, here is a picture of Elisabeth and her boyfriend Carey with me trying to be a camera hog!

Happy Labor Day

My Dad took so many pictures of my brothers, sister and me when we were little but he put every thing on slides. So I've been slowly having them put onto cds so I can print and share them. It costs a fortune but isn't it fun to look at old pictures!
We didn't float away over the weekend from Ernesto. I haven't heard the final total of rain but luckily for us, the heaviest rain stayed east. I have more flowers blooming now than I have had all summer! So I'm trying to enjoy them before the frost comes. The weather is cooler and I have the cooking, cleaning, redecorating bug. I get it every fall. I love, love, love having my windows open again. I really do not like being in air conditioning all the time. But with the thermostat in my body set at HIGH now, I can't seem to get out of it when the temperature outside gets over 80.
I am babysitting my grand dog Chloe starting this weekend for a week. Courtney and John are going with his family to Charleston SC. Courtney will be getting a new puppy in a few weeks so I will soon be watching two great danes! It will be interesting to see how Chloe reacts to Violet the new baby dane. Chloe is the most loving dog I have ever seen and I think her feelings will be so hurt when Courtney brings Violet home. I'll show you pictures soon.
Poor Chuck worked all weekend and is exhausted. He is still in bed...so I am enjoying a few minutes alone. I think we are going to go for a drive today. I love to drive out to the country and look at farms. Of course I am dreaming that someday I will live in one!
Happy Labor Day! And good luck to all the little ones going back to school!!!

Running

I'm running! I won't call myself a runner yet as I just started but I STARTED! Courtney has been after me for a while to do it as I have been whining and whining about not fitting in my clothes all of a sudden. So I dressed up in my sports bra, Nike running socks, tshirt and shoe and took off in the rain. I surprised myself how far I managed to run! Now I have a calendar on the refridgerator to mark my walk/run progress and will put on fun stickers to keep me motivated. Notice how it doesn't take much to amuse me! Give me stickers and pretty paper and I will do anything! Now that I've announced this publicly, guess I have to stick with it. If you want to start and don't know how to do it, go to this cool web site: www.runnermom.com. There is a ton of good information to help.
My trunk show is now in Pennsylvania....Shelley at Covered Bridge NeedleArts in Bridgewater has my models for the whole month. Stop by and see Shelley and her new store, I hear it's fantastic!
I'm tired now and have to nap.....