urgent prayers update...

!!prayers requested!!

OK bloggy pals, while some of us are eating and enjoying our families, others are fighting for their lives.  Ive just heard from my sister Valerie and her husband has gone on full life support and is not doing well.  She stated that he is deteriorating.   She has asked us to pray for a miracle.  Please pass this on and share with anyone you think would be willing to pray.

Lets Pray for a JOhns miracle.  
thank you!
FYI
Valerie and John have only been married a few years.. her previous husband who she also adored died of cancer.
I just cant imagine her going through this again.
please keep them in your prayers.
thank you my friends! 

UPDATE
thank you for your prayers, but John passed away this morning.  please keep my sister in your prayers at this time if you think of it.
thanks again bloggy friends. 

Thanksgiving day

 Hello bloggy friends!  Happy Thanksgiving!  wow!  this year seems to have just been flying by... soon it will be christmas and then on to a new year.  Already!  that was so fast!  well, were not quite there yet. And today is a day to slow down and be thankful.  Well, I say slow down.. but a lot of people will be out shopping like crazy people.  not me.  the last thing I want to do is be around a huge crowd of crazed people.  I can stay right here in my small crowd of crazed people that I know and love! lol!  and I should mention that some of my very own crazed people will go out later tonight... why??? because they are just that... CRAZY!!

 Ive been sick all week... yes, again.. a nasty cold I guess.. left work early both monday and tuesday.  thankfully I had yesterday off and of course the rest of the week.  I forced myself to make pies.. I cheated and used store bought crusts... never before have I done that for a holiday.  then Im pretty sure I over cooked all of them.  2 pumpkin, 1 apple, 1 sweet potato pie, and 1 pecan.  I also dropped a jar out of the cupboard right into a fresh out of the oven pumpkin pie and left a large crater in it!  I made the pies on tuesday night then packed them all into a cooler and put them out on the front porch to keep them cold in stead of taking up room in the fridge.  I do hope those pies are ok and that I didnt breath millions of teeny tiny nasty little germs all over them!  

I made the stuffing yesterday..  hope its good.  you know when you dont feel good nothing tastes right.  Im afraid it'll be a little dry.    I have some things to do this morning before the 28 pound turkey goes in the over..  what ever was I thinking 28 pounds?  thats freaken huge and I can barely lift the bugger! ha!  I sure do hope that it is thawed all the way through!  

Well so thats were I am in the dinner making process...  hopefully I will not infect my whole family with my gross germs.. there will be no kissing and hugging of my little cutie pies.  that may be the worst part of the whole day!  however will I keep my hands off of them!?  lol!

But I am thankful.  thankful for so many things..

things like:

my husband and my kids! and my GRANDBABIES!

my home and the sweet community we live in.

my pets and all the awesome animals that God created! 

Im thankful for heat and water and food!

sugar, tea, cinnamon and bread!

music! all kinds of music, big band, musicals, and Christmas music!

Im thankful for art and creativity and talent that is all around us! 

Im thankful for the 4 seasons. Im thankful that snow is pretty and that the cold makes me appreciate my cozy little house! 

Im thankful for my car and my job and the people I work with.. even those I'm not so fond of.. because they make the people I am fond of that much more special!  I'm thankful for my friends.. a huge blessing because I have so many wonderful and close friends! 

Im thankful that we were able to raise our children in this area and never worried about their safety in school!  Im thankful that my kids are all healthy and well and beautiful!  and that they are close and they are each others best friends and that they like to spend time with each other.  Im also thankful for their spouses and significants as they all fit in well in our family and make us whole!  And they helped in the whole process of giving me grandbabies!

Im thankful for America and freedom and soldiers!

I'm thankful for God and his son and forgiveness!

Im thankful for ice cream and cookies and pies!

Im thankful for craft and fabric stores, for old things, odd things .. for colors.. all colors!

for sunshine and beaches  and days off from work!

For teddy bears and dolls!

for holidays! halloween, easter, valentines day, thanksgiving, 4th of july and christmas!

and Birthdays!

and birthday presents to give and receive!

For computers!! and the Internet which I find totally amazing!

for technology and really smart people!

for medical advances and researchers..

for health insurance

for the moon and stars,  for scientists!

for my health, for the ability to get up and go to work everyday and to be able to do the things I want to do.

and for so much more, my list could go on and on.. because Im thankful for things like toothpaste and hand lotion!  paintbrushes and glue and for the time I have to play and create in my little craft room! lol!

I'm thankful for my blogland buddies!

I am just thankful period.  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Did you really just read all that!  

Happy Thankgiving my friends! 

gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble 

bears and babies...

 Do you get tired or seeing the same old same old here?   Im deep in over my head almost in bear making.  Ive finished all of these over the last few weeks.   thats three  single orders in the first pic.

 These 6 bears were made for my mother in law who lost her brother this year.

 These three were made for a woman whos husband died a couple years ago.  He happened to be the director of social services where I work.  

 And this giant order went to Jane Palmer a bloggy facebook friend!   I have a bunch more orders to do.  a young mother 36 years old died unexpectedly a few weeks ago leaving behind 5 children.  sooo sad!   and 2 orders of 4 and another order of 5!  Plus 18 santa/elf ornaments.  so Im not sure if I'll get to do any christmas crafting!  Not complaining though.  Im thankful for the orders and the exposure. 

 so, I know you already saw the base pics for these photos.. but Im addicted to picmonkey and had to play there a little bit!  

 arent they sweet? 

 oh...  I can never leave anything alone.. everything gets dressed up and decorated!  LOL!

I do soooo ADORE all my little grandpies!

Ok then.. I shall be off... gotta go sew for an hour before I leave for work..  

but just one more thing...     

we have been very lucky the past couple days, because while our neighbors, some starting at only 15 miles south and also to the south west are getting slammed with 70 plus inches of snow and are in states of emergency.. we have not gotten any.....

Our turn will come for sure at some point.  I feel bad for all the people who are stranded on the thruways..   it is seriously a disaster and I am praying for all those stranded people.  I just can not imagine being stranded like that!

let me just say I am sooooooo grateful that we were spared!

Happy Wedesday my bloggy pies!

******************************

These crack me up!

 fun times at target!

 violet is freaken hysterical!

Torry didnt really want to cooperate.. but we bribed him.. (well his mother did!)  Not that I wouldnt have.. because I have been known to resort to that!

lol!  I LOVE these pictures!
lol..  I cant stop looking at them!

have a great week!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

thursday morning rushing around.

 good morning good morning good morning!     eating and bear making.. and of course computer time.. up at 5:00, dont have to leave until 8:30... plenty of time that I putter and play in and then...always at the last minute Im in a rush!   I have 40 minutes to fit in all the things I didnt do yet, like shower, iron, feed the cats and the bird.. pack a lunch. pack up a bear to work on on lunch..  lol! take something out of the freezer..   etc...  

but just wanted to pop in for a quick hello!  Frannies saying hello too by the way.  Figgys too busy chasing a toy around.  

so  many bears to make still.....    but I will get them done!  have a great thursday girls!

uhg.. Im on call starting tomorrow for a week of CPS..  Hope its manageable so I can get a good chunk of these orders done!  

happy day!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

home today.. thanksgiving planning...

 oh that darn condition I have..   "Hyperdecorphilia"!  Im forever grateful to my cousin Paul for diagnosing me.   At least I know whats wrong with me! lol!    Really I only have one bin of decorations for thanksgiving.  this is just some.  most of these are in the living room except for one towards the bottom which is over the kitchen sink.  

 Anyways.. I have thanksgiving on the brain.  as it happens with every holiday, birthday ,  day.. you know me.. every freaking thing becomes a big event! LOL!  I wish I was joking.  Well, maybe its not really a bad thing.  I just try to make everything a little more fun.  right?  I just get that old obsessive thinking going on and then everything takes steps towards over the top!  

 So as it is with Thanksgiving..   Im flipping back and forth between keeping it simple..   or going all out..   Im not sure I know how to keep it simple.   What does that even look like?   I have visions of   macys thanksgiving day parade in the morning, with the lovely smell of turkey roasting wafting through the house.  Tables beautifully set up with cute little turkey napkin ring and cute little place cards.  Glasses of wine,  great appetizers and everything you could possibly want for dinner and then all kinds of pies.  Followed with fun family time, maybe a little game playing...   little grand kids dressed in their cutest little outfits.   

 Doesnt that all sound great?  but it does require a lot of work to pull off..   its just not a simple task.  Well you all know that.     so what would simple look like?  cooking all the food and putting it out on the counter and letting everyone get a plate and plop somewhere to eat it?  Just the regular old turkey and stuffing and stuff.. nothing above and beyond?    no special appetizers.. no extra goodies..?     no table decorations?  hmmm..   I dont think I can do it.   I think I have to go a little overboard.  

 After all its all for the people I love most in this world and I like to make everything a little extra special for them.   I do think that last year I said.. lets just go out to eat next year!  lol...   that is not something I would even consider doing ...  but Im thinking about the time Im trying to clean up after thanksgiving dinner this year, that those words will probably come out of my mouth again! LOL!

So today is Veterans day.  and I am sooo grateful for them.  the freedoms we have here are amazing.  I cant imagine life any other way.  we are blessed!

And because its Veterans day, I have today off.  And, I am fighting the urge to go running around shopping and looking at stuff I dont need.    What I need to do is stay home and work on bears.  I have 8 bear orders totally another 24 bears to get done.  Plus 18 start ornaments..   I really want to have everything done by the end of the month.  it is possible..   it I would stay home and off the computer.. and stay focused!    ha! but here I sit ..

but not for long..

I will stay home today.. I will stay home today..  I will stay home today.... yes I will yes I will yes I will!

well, but i do have to go to the store to get some italian sausage to put in the spagetti that Im going to make for dinner.. 

Okeedokie girls.. Im outta here for now!

have a great day!

oh..   heres a few pics of this weekends birthday boys and girl!

Violet turned 1

Carson turned 15!

And my youngest, little robby roni, turned 26!

woohoo!

amazing, I had my last baby 26 years ago!

happy day everyone!

 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

always happy for the weekend!

Well, I managed to get halloween put away and thanksgiving out.  The county has off on election day, so its a good day to take halloween down.  I actually started at 5:00 am and had all of it packed up and back upstairs  before noon.  then I brought down my one bin of thanksgiving and it took me the rest of the day to put it out and get it just right...    oh that darn sickness...  hyperdecorphilia!  lol!

IN other news..  Yesterday was Violet Eloise's first birthday  and today is her party.  She is sooo stinking cute.  I really can hardly contain myself around her!  (or any of my pies for that matter.)

 I just have to say that Im totally impressed by all of my children and their spouses and significants and the way they take care of their babies!  they are all really good parents.  Im so grateful for that.  Im probably more aware of it due to my job where I see piss poor parenting every single day..   So I know and appreciate good parents when I see them! Anyways my babies are really good parents to my grand pies..  I am so thankful for that.  which brings me to these two pictures..   What a wonderful glorious way to greet my little violet when she woke up on her first birthday!!  with birthday morning balloons!!  

How exciting for her!  

looking forward to her party today.. 

camera battery is charging... all my grandpies and family will be there..

tomorrow is Carsons birthday gathering (step grandson)  so a busy weekend.

and inbetween all the partying.. I have a couple dozen more bears to make..  but I did finally get Janes bears finished and in the mail and she has received them and loves them all. 

woo.. that was a big order! but they did turn out cute.

have a great day everybody! 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

twick or tweat pictures!

 Torry pie was an owl.  He was supposed to be a ninja owl.. but he luckily changed his mind other wise he would have had to carry his sword..  and he would have gotten tired of that!   isnt he stinking awesomely adorable??

 Violet was a wee little cute mousey!  but she didnt go out trick or treating.    she took a nap instead!  lOl!  Gosh she is sooooooo stinking cute, I can hardly stand it!  And.. her birthday is next weekend!  party time! I made her the sweetest little birthday crown yesterday.  I cant wait to see it on her.

 Marlas looked so cool!  Tiffany made the girls costumes.  Marla was a beautiful crow!  but if you asked her what she was, she would say, "im not a bird..  Im not a crow..  Im black!"  god.. she is a beautiful thing.   I am soooo blessed with these beautiful little creatures in my life.

by the way, you cant tell from the picture, but I had pink hair with big black spiders in it.  I uh.. deleted the pictures that could see them in on accident..  Ive been doing that lately..  a little too quick with the delete button..  

 look at this little precious autumn fairy peanut!  omg...   could she be any cuter?

 Woah!   girls just wanna have fun...   lol.. even if they dont know they are having fun!  she was probably thinking.. what the heck  who messed with the lights!  

 Then theres Bethany... cat woman!   I love that she dressed up.. she is so my daughter.. there is no denying it!  nor would I want to deny it.  I love her so  much!

so that was it for halloween pics.  I uploaded them all on facebook and flickr.  but I really didnt take many.  

I had Torry over on saturday for some grammie time. 

 We had some "hot twocklet!" and watched a movie.  Just in case you dont know this...    I love my grandbabies!  

yeah, I didnt think I ever mentioned that before!

so here it is, another monday.  maybe a little more laid back since I wont be obsessing about halloween.  Now my dilema is finding time to put halloween away.  but I have soooo many bear orders .. I  shouldnt even be on the compuer! 

and the question is.. . to leave halloween up til I get christmas out or to get the turkeys out first...

oy vey.. the work... the time...    but I do want to visit with my turkeys. pilgrams and indians!  lol!

I gotta go cut out some bears!

have a great day my bloggy pies!