Happy New Year!

Today is usually a day of reflecting on the events of the past year and I must say this day is no different except that I haven't been watching all those shows on television. You know, the ones that rehash all the news and events and deaths and tragedies the world has experienced during a 12 month time period

So what did I do today? Well back up a couple of days, or better yet how about 4 weeks to be exact... to that awesome day when this little guy was born. Yup, he's one month old today!

Isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen? Yeah, I think so too! I feel so lucky to have my daughter and son-in-law living here so I can help pitch in with grandma time and watch him grow. Can you believe they still ask me if I want to hold him? Silly kids! Speaking of kids, here they are in our joint multi-purpose craft and hobby room. Emily and I were cutting out paper snowflakes for Sandy Hook (see below). I just found out today that they received so many they don't want more sent, so guess these will be used to decorate something else next year. Maybe Oliver's nursery?

Matt said he finally has the incentive to get his train layout completed so Oliver can play with it. What fun to be able to all work on our crafts together. Oh yeah, we installed a small flat screen tv on the wall above Emily's area so we can all see it. This week we began watching Downton Abbey which is proving to be all they say it is and quite entertaining.

There are sooooooo many projects already floating around on my to do list for 2013, but for starters and for tonight I need to make a few "necessaries" for Emily. What would those be? Well if I tell you that she's breast feeding would that be enough? I found some tutorials for making breast pads out of flannel and either fleece or wool, so will make a couple of prototypes to have her try out, then will make a week's supply when we know what works best. I also unassembled a soft navy blue leather purse that I could never get rid of because I love the feel of the leather and paid far too much for it to give away. It just isn't made to suit my ever-growing space needs for an every day purse. Now that I have one of those keyboard case things for my iPad it leaves both sides of it unprotected, so I want to use the leather to make a slipcover/envelope-type case for it. Then I need to make a cover for the Kindle that Emily won recently. We have some ideas to use felted wool sweaters in a patchwork pattern to make a cover. I'll be sure to post pics of all of these projects after they're done. For now, enjoy the snowflakes!

 

 

 

 

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Do you believe in ghosts?

Friday, November 16, 2012

Would you buy your dream house if the price was right BUT you also were told it was inhabited by ghosts?

That is the NaBloPoMo prompt for today. Funny because as we continue to adjust to our new blended multigenerational family in a house that got used to just two people that dream house is getting bigger and more necessary! Every day it seems that we add something to the list of must-have: kitchen the size of this whole house, sunroom with dog shower and drying station, huge craft room, multiple hobby rooms, media room with multiple levels like a theater, fertile soil for gardening, outbuildings for old cars and tools, and the list goes on. You'll notice one thing that is not on the list: must be ghost-free! Who cares if some long lost soul gets lonely every now and then and pays us a visit? This house is gonna be so darn big that they'll have to spend all night looking for us anyway!

On a more serious note though, let me tell you a personal story about my ghost. A very dear friend of mine who used to love listening to Beatles music with me died not long after the release of Anthology I which includes the long lost Lennon song "Free as a Bird". We played the song at his memorial service and I listened to it over and over through my sobbing at home afterwards. Sometimes just out of the blue my stereo would turn itself on and play that song! Or if I was listening to it or another golden oldie the volume would turn up very loud. I kid you not folks, I could quite literally sit across the room and watch that volume dial turning! Don't even TRY to tell me it wasn't him there to comfort me or just joke around trying to make me laugh as he often did! Eventually when he saw that I was finally able to cope with the loss he moved on and the stereo got back to normal. So would I deny myself and family our dream home just because there were ghosts? Absolutely not! Hey, the more the merrier!!!

Now back to the world of the living. How about a few pictures from our mile-long hike through Winter Wonderland out at Lake Shawnee? It's an annual fund raiser for TARC, a provider of resources for persons with developmental disabilities.

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