Here is another apron I made for a christmas gift.   A little different but same pattern as the last one.

Today was a very productive day for me and I found myself getting all sorts of different things done.
It has been a long while but decided to take the day and do all fun things and I never left the house.  I finished another present, it being a framed scrapbook page for someone (can't name names here), worked on some Christmas Cards.  I will post later.  Sewed a little, made myself a nice healthy dinner and tried a new recipe for roasted tomatoes from Ina Garten's cookbook.  Very good. Going to get some knitting done and before bed some reading.  All in all a great day.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope if you are making gifts for the holidays that you had as good a day as I did. 

Since taking a break from the house I decided to put forth some effort in making some Christmas gifts.  This apron I made for my neighbor who had two dogs but recently lost one.  A Maltese.  Her whole life is dedicated to animals but dogs mostly and I know she will love this.  I wish I could get more of the Doggie Newspaper material.  Unfortunately I bought just enough for a project not knowing what I would make and have tried to go back to the quilt shop where I bought it for more, but there is no more.  I think I could sell a 100 of these aprons with this print as the response I get from those who have seen it have told me so and I believe it.  Oh well, such is life.

Some of the headlines are:  #1 Chronical Best Seller - Curb your Owner.  and then there's "Fifi's Gone Sniffing!" by Goldie Retreiver.  Another one is "Love Triangle at Love.Dogs.Com  .  So cute and funny little articles written from the dogs point of view.  Wish I had bought the whole bolt now.
I think I may have a cat material too but have to go through my stash to find it. 

I'll be posting more crafty things as I get closer to Christmas but I have to make sure the recipients aren't watching. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope this finds you all looking forward to the holidays and the closeness that they bring between family and friends. 

Again I am daunted by unforseen circumstances.  Since I have been unable to do this work due to health issues, I have been forced to hire people to do it for me.

I am awaiting the installation of my laminate flooring.  I was all set to get it started.  I am helping the person who is helping me.  Another trip to the hospital for an overnight observation and now I have decided I can do nothing physical until I can get myself back in shape.  Another delay.  Another dissappointment, another bout with depression as I fight my way back to a place where I might be able to function.  By that I mean a mental place as well as a phsical place.  Both seem to elude me and leave me feeling incapable of progress.  Another excuse?  Seems sometimes I am full of them.  Perhaps they come along in time to slow me down till the money arrives.  I don't know.  There is a deep fear of running out of my savings before the work is done.  Maybe it's the universe's way of making sure that doesn't happen.  Either way, it is another delay in my moving into this new space.

For now I must replenish my spirit, my desire, my health.  I'm tired.  This journey to come back again has worn me out.  I find I'm beginning not to care any more.  I know that to be temproary thinking, and it's what makes me know I must get away from it for a while till I am ready to "take it on" again.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Oh how fortunate I have been and blessed.   The storm left little to no damage.  Just a couple of pieces of the siding around my windows blew off.  And that was the day after the original landing of the storm.  So nothing to complain about but everything to rejoice about.

My heart aches for those who now are going through what we went through with Irene but in an even more devastating way.  I hope that they find the help that they need but that their spirits stay in tact.  It will be a long and weary journey back to where they were but perhaps with more forethought on what is really important and not in just replacing "stuff".

For me it will be back to the work already in progress.  Prayers and blessings to those who struggle and I will do my part in making a donation to help as others have helped me. 

It's Monday night, the night that hurricane Sandy is due to arrive here in the Northeast and I haven't even finished the repairs from hurricane Irene.  Everything is on hold, but I'm finding myself not caring at all of what is to come.

Perhaps because I have no control over it, perhaps because I know what it is like to not know what is to happen and because I know that no matter what happens, if I am alive tomorrow and can see another day, that all is well.

I can no longer afford to let life and her lessons keep me down.  I've been down so many times for so many reasons, that I just don't want to be there any more.  And........ I have faith.  Faith that what is to come will show me things I did not know,  That life is more than what is destroyed.

  Perhaps our creator has gotten so upset with the violence and destruction here on earth with people and the wars and the fighting that he/she/it has decided to show us some real violence in order to calm us down.  In order to put the right things in order and prioritize our lives so that we understand the precious gift of life and how it cannot be taken for granted and should not be destroyed for the sake of religion, or oil or any of the other forsaken beliefs. To know that to wake up in the morning and wonder how many people you will kill today is not what was intended when he gave birth to you.
To bomb buildings and destroy towns and villages and the people in them after years of building and hard work is not in anyone's best interest and does nothing to make the world a better place is not what should be done.

Perhaps to wake up in the morning and rejoice in the air we breathe, to soak up the beauty of a sunrise and realize that life is ours to enjoy.  That if we have love in our hearts we can bring peace and harmony to those around us and help each other in the  struggles that life brings.  That we don't have to participate in those events and circumstances that bring us anger and fear and resentment.
That we can decide to surround ourselves with people who make us feel good about ourselves, and in doing so we create a life that is joyful and playful and one in which we want to give of ourselves to someone elses life and build on that.

Enough babbling for now.  I don't even hear the wind blowing and it has hardly rained.  I'm thinking my God is sparing me.  The wind is overhead and not on the ground here.  My windows are not rattling and they always do when the wind blows.  Perhaps he has decided that I and my neighbor who is in her 80's and lost her little dog this morning have had enough lately and the storm is going over and around us.  I will let you know.  Right now there is no fear in my heart. 
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